Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.19
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ātma-ārāmaḥ
—
self-satisfied
Ātmā (self) + ārāma (delight). Bhagavān is ātmārāma — self-delighted, needing nothing. Gītā 3.17 same word. Gauḍīyas: the line cuts off any reading that Kṛṣṇa enters the rāsa from need; the rāsa is overflow, never deficit.
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līlayā
—
as a pastime
Instrumental of līlā. The verse's load-bearing word: He enjoys līlayā, i.e. by way of play, not by way of necessity. Gauḍīyas: every event in Canto 10 must be read through this instrumental — what looks like passion is play.
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kṛtvā tāvantam ātmānam
—
making Himself expanded that many times
Tāvant (that many) + ātman (self). The same Self, multiplied. Jīva Gosvāmī's prakāśa-vāda (one Lord, many simultaneous forms) is directly rooted in this verse.
As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out, it has already been explained that Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternally free from all material desire, perfect on the platform of spiritual self-satisfaction.
Then Krsna enjoyed with each gopi privately in a separate grove. He expanded himself into as many forms as there were gopis. Though his self satisfied (atma rama) he enjoyed with the gopis.
Now special pastimes in relaxing after the rāsa dance are described in two verses. He expanded in as many forms as there were gopīs. Since he has no inside and outside (SB 10.9.13), though of human size, he possesses all powers. He can also just by his desire produce many forms: citraṁ bataitad ekena vapuṣā yugapat pṛthak gṛheṣu dvy-aṣṭa-sāhasraṁ striya eka udāvahat It is quite amazing that in a single body Lord Kṛṣṇa simultaneously married sixteen thousand women, each in a separate palace. SB 10.69.2 This is repeated here because he became one again when they became tired and then expanded again to enjoy privately with each one of them. Both unmarried and married gopīs were there (gopa-yoṣitaḥ) since they are described separately in Chapters Twenty one and Twenty-two. Hari-vaṁśa says yuvatīr gopa-kanyāś ca ratrau saṅkalya kāla-vit: Kṛṣṇa, knowing the time, gathered the married and unmarried gopīs in the night. This is described by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. He enjoyed intimate conjugal activities (ḷīlayā). He displayed all his sweetness (bhagavān) since his essential nature was special pastimes expressing the maturity of prema-rasa and since he automatically distributed this prema-rasa by attracting the hearts of everyone in the universe. This will be clear later in the text, and is explained in Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta. He did this though he was ātmārāma. He enjoyed privately with each gopī in separate groves near the rāsa arena.
Two veres describe the ultimate goal. By his special powers he expanded himself for each gopī. Some were married (gopa-yoṣitaḥ). Some were unmarried daughters of cowherds. Or they were all wives of cowherds--some were married to cowherds and some regarded themselves as married to Kṛṣṇa by dedicating themselves to him in the Kātyāyanī vrata. This is explained by the great devotee in Lalita-mādhava and other plays. The Lord, who manifested the essence of his qualities (bhagavān), enjoyed with conjugal rasa (līlayā) or with various amorous activities. He distributed special prema himself, attracting the hearts of everyone in the universe, since he was composed of the special pastimes of the highest prema-rasa. That is revealed later and explained in Bhāgavatāmṛta. Though he was an ātmārāṁa, he enjoyed. Both these qualities were displayed separately in the nearby bowers. Or in the rāsa dance his ātmārāma nature was concealed. His nature as the Lord and as sweetness is indicated by this statement.
- Where do you confuse needing nothing with loving no one?
- How can you serve Kṛṣṇa from fullness rather than from emptiness?
One sun and a thousand pots of water — each pot fully reflects the whole sun, not a fragment. So Bhagavān expanded into as many forms as there were gopīs, and not one gopī received a partial Kṛṣṇa. This is acintya-bhedābheda enacted in body, not theorized in book.
When mother Yaśodā looked into baby Kṛṣṇa's mouth (SB 10.8), she saw all universes within. The same Lord who contains all universes within one mouth multiplies one body into many in the rāsa — the principle is identical: spatial and numerical logic do not bind Bhagavān.
Gauḍīyas pair these two darśanas: the One who is many within is also many without. Acintya-śakti, not paradox.
My note
Source: vedabase.io