Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.46.28
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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yaśodā
—
mother Yaśodā
The personification of vātsalya-rasa. Gauḍīyas understand her name (yaśa-dā, giver of glory) as fulfilled precisely in moments like this — her tears confer glory on her son, not the other way around. Vraja-glory flows upward from the lover to the loved.
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varṇyamānāni
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being described
Passive present participle of √varṇ (to describe). Uddhava is presumably retelling — though the verse does not record his speech, the participle does the work of indicating it. Nanda recites, Uddhava replies; Yaśodā listens, body weeping.
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caritāni
—
the activities
Accusative plural of carita — deeds, the standard līlā-word. Verse-21 had kriyās (worldly action that slackens); verse-28 has caritāni (Kṛṣṇa's action that elicits tears and milk). The same root family, opposite trajectory.
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aśrūṇi
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tears
Nominative plural of aśru. The first of the eight sāttvika-bhāvas Rūpa Gosvāmī catalogues. Yaśodā exhibits it as natural response; later sādhakas seek it as a sign of attainment.
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avāsrākṣīt
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she poured down
Aorist of ava-√sṛj (to release, let flow). Active voice — Yaśodā is the agent of her own weeping; tears are not passively cried but released. Gauḍīya grammar: even bhāva is performed by the bhakta, not visited upon her.
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sneha - snuta - payodharā
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her breasts wet with milk out of love
Compound: sneha (affection) + snuta (flowing) + payodhara (milk-vessel, breast). The signature phrase of Vraja-vātsalya; identical to SB 10.9.5. The Bhāgavatam declares by quotation that the love is the same love, on either side of the going-away.
From the very day that Kṛṣṇa had left for Mathurā, mother Yaśodā, though counseled and consoled by hundreds of men and women, could see nothing but the face of her son. She kept her eyes closed to everyone else and cried constantly. Thus she could not recognize Uddhava, treat him with parental affection, ask him any questions or give him any message for her son. She was simply overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa.
Being able to control himself with gravity, Nanda was able to respect Uddhava as guest in the proper way, to look at him directly, to introduce himself, to ask pertinent questions and to speak about Krsna’s godly qualities. But Yasoda, drowning in the whirlpools of the ocean of unsteadiness, was not able to offer any hospitality. This is expressed in this verse. Continuously tears fell from her eyes and milk dripped from her breasts. In spite of hundreds of men and women giving advice to her from the day that Krsna left for Mathura, she would just say, "I do not want to see anything except the face of my son." Tears poured from her closed eyes, soaking her clothing. She could not ask questions to Uddhava to understand who he was or to make him an object of affection, and could not give him messages for her son. Her breasts (payodhara) flowed with milk out of affection for her son. Payodhara also means cloud. Yasoda was like a cloud showering rain (of tears or milk).
Though Yaśodā heard Nanda say that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were the best of devatās, she was fixed in thinking of them as her sons. Thus the verse says putrasya caritāṇi (her son’s activities showing power). The word ca indicates she heard about his beauty and sweetness as well. The present participle varṇyamānāni (being narrated) indicates that Nanda started and continued telling the stories without break. She discharged tears abundantly (ava), dampening her clothing since she could not speak, inquire or do anything. This description was also applicable to Nanda and others. Her breasts flowed with milk for a long time, indicating her naturally intense affection.
Hearing that her son was a devatā, Yaśodā could not stop seeing Kṛṣṇa as her son. Rather her affection increased. This shows her intense vātsalya. The present tense is used to indicate that just when the description of Kṛṣṇa began, at that moment she heard. The word ca indicates descriptions of his form and qualities as well. Her breasts began to flow with milk. This shows her intense affection. This continued for a long time. Tears flowed out everywhere (ava), dampening her cloth. She could not question, speak, or do anything. Thus she was different from Nanda.
- Where do you suppress physical responses to spiritual memory?
- What in you would 'flow' if you let memory of Kṛṣṇa land fully in the body?
Yaśodā does not speak. Her body speaks: tears from the eyes, milk from the breast. The same body that fed Kṛṣṇa now leaks the same milk in His absence — vātsalya at its most somatic, the body refusing the lie that the child has gone.
In the Dāmodara chapter, Yaśodā's breasts overflowed while she churned — sneha-snuta-payodharā — and the milk's overflow was the bodily form of her love for the child at her feet (SB 10.9.5).
The same phrase returns here in 10.46.28: sneha-snuta-payodharā. The Bhāgavatam quotes itself across thirty-seven chapters: the body that overflowed in His presence overflows the same way in His absence. The substance of vātsalya is constant; the occasion alone has changed.
My note
Source: vedabase.io