Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.45.28
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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manaḥ - dattāḥ
—
given (away) in the mind
Compound: manas (mind) + datta (given). Mental gifts are real gifts in śāstra. Vasudeva had performed mānasika-dāna on Kṛṣṇa's birth night, when no physical dāna was possible. Bhagavān reads the manas.
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anusmṛtya
—
remembering
Anu + √smṛ — to remember after, to recall. The bhakti-verb par excellence (cf. SB 7.5.23, smaraṇaṁ viṣṇoḥ). Vasudeva's anusmṛti recovers an old saṅkalpa across years of terror.
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mahā - matiḥ
—
the magnanimous
Mahā + mati — great-minded. Vasudeva's epithet here is about manas — fitting, since the dāna was a manas-dāna. The mind that gave is the mind that remembers.
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adharmataḥ
—
impiously
Adharmataḥ = unrighteously, by adharma. Kaṁsa's theft is named adharma. Vasudeva restores the vow despite the theft; dharma resumes where adharma had paused.
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janmaṛkṣe
—
on the day of birth (constellation)
Janma-ṛkṣa = birth-star. The vow was made on Kṛṣṇa-janmāṣṭamī itself. The chapter quietly authorizes janmāṣṭamī-dāna as a high pious act.
At the time of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, Vasudeva had been imprisoned by Kaṁsa, who had stolen all his cows. Still, Vasudeva had been so jubilant at the birth of the Lord that he had mentally donated ten thousand of his cows to the brāhmaṇas. Now, upon Kaṁsa’s death, Vasudeva took back all his cows from the late King’s herd and gave ten thousand of them, according to religious principles, to the worthy brāhmaṇas.
When Krsna and Balarama were born, Vasudeva mentally gave the cows in his possession to the brahmanas. However, Kamsa had stolen all those cows. Now Vasudeva went to Kamsa’s goshala and took those cows back, and gave them to the brahmanas.
Kṛṣṇa-rāma-janmarkṣe refers to the time of birth of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Hearing of Balarāma’s birth Vasudeva also had given cows mentally as he did at Kṛṣṇa’s birth (SB 10.3.11). He gave because he was generous (mahā-matiḥ). He gave because of remembering his previous mental giving and his intention to give in the future at the time of the birth of his sons, when he was imprisoned.
Kṛṣṇa-rāma-janmarkṣe refers to the time of birth of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Hearing of Balarāma’s birth Vasudeva also had given cows mentally as he did at Kṛṣṇa’s birth (SB 10.3.11). He also had heard of the birth of Balarāma and had given mentally at that time. He gave because he was generous (mahā-matiḥ). He gave because of remembering his previous mental giving.
- What vow made in a hard season is yours to fulfill now that things are easier?
- Where does freedom allow the completion of earlier intentions?
Vasudeva remembers — anusmṛtya — the cows he had mentally given away the day Kṛṣṇa was born, the cows Kaṁsa had then stolen. Now he recovers them and gives them anew. Bhakti is exactly this: an old vow, long buried by force, finally given the body Kaṁsa took from it.
In SB 6.1-3, Ajāmila on his deathbed calls his son's name 'Nārāyaṇa' — and the same anusmṛti that names a son names Bhagavān, and a lifetime of sin is wiped clean. The Bhāgavatam's doctrine of nāma-smaraṇa rests on the strength of even unintended remembrance.
Here Vasudeva's anusmṛtya is different — he is recovering a deliberate vow under terror — but the principle is the same. Smaraṇa held under pressure is not erased; it waits for its moment. Bhagavān honors mānasa-dāna (mental gift) as a real gift, even years and a tyrant later.
My note
Source: vedabase.io