Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.30.23
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ulūkhale-badhnāmi
—
I am binding to the grinding mortar
Phrase: ulūkhala (mortar) + badhnāmi (I bind). Yaśodā's exact action of SB 10.9. Dāma-bandhana is the supreme proof in Gauḍīya theology that love-rope alone holds Bhagavān; the gopī here speaks Yaśodā's verb in the first person.
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bhāṇḍa-bhettāram
—
the breaker of pots
Compound: bhāṇḍa (pot) + bhettṛ (breaker, from √bhid). Kṛṣṇa's signature offense in Vraja — breaking the gopīs' yogurt-pots to steal butter. The gopīs love Him for this crime; in re-enactment they recite it like a litany.
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haiyam-gava-muṣam
—
the stealer of the freshly-churned butter
Compound: haiyaṅgavīna (fresh butter, from hyas-go-pīna 'yesterday's cow-milk') + muṣ (thief). The technical word for the previous day's butter — the most-prized prize. Kṛṣṇa is mākhana-cora, the butter-thief; this verse names His sacred crime.
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bhīti-viḍambanam
—
the pretense of fear
Compound: bhīti (fear) + viḍambana (mockery, imitation). The fear is not real — Kṛṣṇa in Vraja is never genuinely afraid. The Gauḍīya teaching: even His seeming-fear before Yaśodā is rasa-display, not weakness. The gopī enacts this with bhakta precision.
When the sudden appearance of strong unmada was pacified, the identification with Krsna also slackened. Returning to their identities as gopis, seeing one gopi showing enthusiasm in imitating Krsna’s stealing butter and breaking the yogurt pots, Yogamaya played the role of Yasoda and performed the required actions. "O naughty child, you have stolen butter and run away. I will tie you up." Yogamaya, playing the role of a gopi imitating Yasoda, bound up a gopi with a garland. The gopi hid her face with her two hands, enacting fear.
One gopī acted as Yaśodā as previously described. The other gopī who was slender because of suffering from separation acted as Kṛṣṇa. Another gopī acted as the mortar. The gopī made movements with her eyes to suggest fear (sudṛk). She covered her face with her two hands, acting like a fearful child. She imitated his trembling and crying. They also enacted other pastimes.
Now imitation predominantly mental is described. One gopīs, different from the others, a messenger who was more elderly (anayā), following behind acted as the mother. Or one gopīs who was most gentle, most outstanding acted as his mother. Previously his mother had bound him up with a very soft rope of cow hair. Or first with a garland, and then with another material (anayā) a gopī acting as Kṛṣṇa was bound. Attempting to tie him up many times, they were able to bind him with a garland. They acted according to their fancy. One gopī was thin. Because of the pain of separation she immediately became thin. Out of prema they imitated the Lord being controlled by his devotee. Tatra can mean “in that imitation” or among the gopīs (tatra) one became the mortar. One gopī imitated fear by moving her eyes and covered her face with her hands. This is a quality of a small child when he is afraid. She imitated his characteristics of fear: trembling, hairs standing on end, crying slightly and pitiful voice. By imitating fear, it is imitation of his mentality. Fear is a product of the mind. The Dāmodara pastime, which shows he is controlled by the devotee is the best of all pastimes. Thus it is at the end since one should conclude with sweetness: madhureṇa samāpayet. Since killing Dhenuka and Pralambha were done by Balarāma, they were not enacted. They did not imitate his stealing the gopīs clothing or attracting the wives of the brāhmaṇa, since they were shy. They did not consider the particular rasas of each pastime, since they concluded in the soul of the rasas (Kṛṣṇa) Breaking the Yamalāruna trees was not imitated as it was included in the Dāmodara pastime. The pastimes imitated are not in correct order because Śukadeva, in describing the gopīs bewilderment in separation attained a similar bhāva and gave up inspecting the sequence closely. Or the gopīs imitated the pastimes in the order written, for single to group enactments, and in that, from lesser to major pastimes. Or they manifested the pastimes from single to group enactments. Or because of pain in separation or absorption in the enactments they lost awareness of the correct order.
- What loving 'rope' do I offer Kṛṣṇa that lets Him stay close?
- Where am I trying to force what only tenderness can hold?
When the most-beloved story in the household is the time mother tied the boy to the mortar, the children will, decade after decade, re-tie each other with garlands and cower in mock-fear. One gopī binds another with a flower-rope and declares: now I will bind the butter-thief! Vraja's children play Dāmodara at the churn.
Yaśodā tied Kṛṣṇa to the wooden mortar with rope after His butter-theft and broken pot — but every rope was two fingers short of the next, no matter how many she joined, until He accepted being bound (SB 10.9). Hence Dāmodara, 'bound at the belly.'
The gopī tying her slender friend with a flower-garland and playing the role of Yaśodā the binder is re-enacting Dāmodara-līlā. The second gopī, covering her face in mock-fear, plays Kṛṣṇa Himself — eyes shut, accepting being bound, the world's smallest captive. Sanātana Gosvāmī's Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta treats this as the supreme demonstration that prema binds Bhagavān when nothing else can.
My note
Source: vedabase.io