Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.44.5
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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jigīṣantau
—
the two desirous of winning
Dual desiderative participle from √ji. From the wrestlers' side, both are desirous of victory; but from Kṛṣṇa's side, this desiderative is only theatre. Gauḍīyas note: Bhagavān never plays to win; He plays.
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apacakratuḥ
—
they harmed
Dual perfect of apa + √kṛ — to do ill to, to injure. The reflexive turn — ātmanaḥ, of themselves — makes the verse universal: anyone who wrestles against the body of Bhagavān finally only wrestles against himself.
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ātmanaḥ
—
their own (bodies)
Genitive of ātman. Here it means simply 'their own [bodies]', not the ātman as Self. The doubled reading is still permitted: the demoniac act against Bhagavān is always also an act against one's own ātmā.
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utthāpanaiḥ
—
by liftings
From ut + √sthā (to lift up). The first of four nouns in iterative case — the verse becomes a list of techniques, a wrestler's manual rendered impotent by the Lord's playfulness.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that although Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma did not, of course, harm Themselves, it appeared that way to Cāṇūra, Muṣṭika and others of mundane vision. In other words, the Lords were fully absorbed in the pastime of being wrestlers.
They would fix the feet and knees firmly and lift the opponent who had fallen on the ground. Using their hands they would carry the opponent around. When the opponent had a hold on the throat, he would throw him off. At other times they would fix themselves firmly so that the opponent could not move them. In this way they injured their own bodies. Though the Lord’s body cannot be injured at all, it is described in this way according to the impression of the spectators.
Kṛṣṇa was not actually injured but acted in this way in response to Cānura’s injuries. Or Śukadeva describes it in this way because of lamentation in prema. Or it only refers to Cānūra being injured in fighting with Kṛṣṇa.
- Where does your devotion look like 'self-harm' from outside while you know it is play?
- How do you tell the difference between actual harm and the appearance of it?
The wrestlers hurt their own bodies in their zeal for victory — like a man who burns his hand pulling the gold from a fire he never needed. Cāṇūra grinds himself down against the body of Bhagavān; the body of Bhagavān is not even being grazed.
My note
Source: vedabase.io