Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.41.15
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
aṅghri-avanejanyaḥ
—
coming from the bathing of the feet
Compound: aṅghri (foot) + avanejana (foot-washing). Names the Ganges by her origin-point, not her geography. Vaiṣṇava grammar: tīrthas are tīrthas because of what once touched them. Caitanya-caritāmṛta says tīrthas come to the bhakta, not the other way.
-
śarvaḥ
—
Lord Śiva
Nominative. Śiva accepted Gaṅgā on his head — vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ. Gauḍīyas hold Śiva as the greatest Vaiṣṇava; his receiving Gaṅgā on his head is itself an act of bhakti, not aiśvarya.
-
śucayaḥ
—
being purely spiritual
Nominative plural of śuci. The Ganges-waters are intrinsically pure — but their śauca is borrowed from contact with Kṛṣṇa's feet. All purity in the cosmos is, finally, contact-purity.
-
sagara-ātmajāḥ
—
the sons of King Sagara
Compound: Sagara + ātmaja (self-born, son). The sixty thousand burnt princes. Their svarga-gati is given as proof of pāda-toya-mahimā. Akrūra is building a chain of precedents to justify his invitation.
Apah refers to the water of the Ganga. "That spiritual (sucayah) water of the Ganga, having washed your feet, which gave svarga (svar yata) to the descendants of Sagara and which Siva holds on his head, purifies the three worlds. "
That is the glory of the water that washed your feet. The power of being touched by that water is most astonishing. Other holy places become impure by burning up great sins of the people who visit. But your foot water as the Gaṅgā is most pure (śucayaḥ) and never becomes impure. Not only does it purify the three worlds but it is worshipped by Śiva, the chief of all the protectors of the planets, who is worthy of worship. Śiva holds that water on his head. athāpi yat-pāda-nakhāvasṛṣṭaṁ jagad viriñcopahṛtārhaṇāmbhaḥ | seśaṁ punāty anyatamo mukundāt ko nāma loke bhagavat-padārthaḥ || Who can be called by the name Bhagavān except Mukunda whose toe-nail water purifies the universe along with Śiva and becomes arghya for Brahmā. SB 1.18.21 The impurity of the crematorium (Śiva’s place) becomes purified. Thus the water from your feet is the ultimate goal of all people. Not only does that water purify by its touch but it produces the highest purity, giving attainment of Brahmaloka to Sagara’s sons just by touching that place where the sons of Sagara were burned up-- even though they were great offenders and were burned up because of their offenses. The sons attained the three worlds (svar), meaning the top of the three worlds, Brahmaloka. This is explained in the Ninth Canto. That water purifies. It is most worshipable. It liberates the worst offenders and gives them the highest goal. That is the order of glory stated here.
- Where could you participate in a stream of grace that started long before you?
- What 'Ganges' in your own tradition do you treat as folklore rather than as living current?
The Ganges falls from Kṛṣṇa's toenail, washes Śiva's matted hair, redeems Sagara's sixty thousand burnt sons — one river, three sanctifications, all radiating from a single foot-bath. Pāda-jala is more powerful than the river it produces.
King Sagara's sixty thousand sons were burnt to ash by sage Kapila's glance after they accused him of stealing their sacrificial horse (SB 9.8). Generations later, Bhagīratha performed tapasya for thousands of years to bring Gaṅgā from heaven; Śiva caught her in his jaṭā to break her fall; finally she touched the ashes, and the burnt princes were lifted to svarga.
Akrūra compresses the whole story in one line: 'the water that bathed Your feet purified three worlds, Śiva took her on his head, and the sons of Sagara went to heaven.' Gauḍīyas note: the Ganges is great because of Kṛṣṇa's foot, not the other way.
My note
Source: vedabase.io