Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.46.37
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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priyaḥ-kaścit
—
anyone especially dear
Adjective + indefinite pronoun. Uddhava's wording is careful — the negation is of 'specially' dear. Gauḍīya tīkā: this verse states the aiśvarya-frame of equanimity, which the mādhurya-frame (where the gopīs are infinitely dear) will later both qualify and complete. Both are true; the chapter holds the tension.
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amāninaḥ
—
for Him who is free from desire for respect
Genitive of amānin — one without māna (pride / desire for honor). The Lord has no māna-need; therefore no one can flatter Him into preference. Gauḍīya: this is the doctrinal floor on which the gopīs' māna (verse 60.41-44 and later) operates as a lover's tool, not a lord's.
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uttamaḥ
—
superior
Adjective: highest. Coupled with adhama (lowest) — neither category fits how Bhagavān regards anyone. Gauḍīya: in pure bhakti, varṇa-grading dissolves; the verse states this in tattva-frame before the gopīs demonstrate it in līlā-frame.
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samānasya
—
for Him who gives all respect
Genitive of samāna — one who honors all. The Lord respects all beings; therefore He receives no special respect. The doctrine elegantly inverts ordinary hierarchy. Gauḍīya: this is the textual basis for the Vaiṣṇava ethic of trinad api sunīcena.
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āsamaḥ
—
completely ordinary
Asama — without equal, beyond comparison. Uddhava deploys the negative-of-comparable. Gauḍīya: the Lord is incomparable not because He outranks others on a scale but because He is not on the scale. Acintya.
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apriyaḥ
—
not dear
Negation of priya. For Bhagavān no one is apriya either. Gauḍīya tīkā: this verse defends Kaṁsa's killer against any charge of dveṣa — Kṛṣṇa felt no enmity even toward Kaṁsa. The līlā is uncontaminated by aversion.
For him no one is dear. “We do not think is within us. Because of obtaining dear women in Mathurā, why will he come back?” Among the jīvas some end their karma by various material means and, assuming the status of lovers, attain the fourteen levels of bhāva. “But such bhāvas mean nothing to him.” In three verses Uddhava explains. The verb asti is understood for all the negative statements. For Kṛṣṇa, no one is especially dear by doing him favors. Not at all. No one is disfavored by him if they do offenses. Not at all. A person who is excellent by beauty or learning is not praised by Kṛṣṇa, nor is a person who is inferior because of ugliness or stupidity condemned by him. Nor is anyone completely ignored (āsama) by him because they have neither good nor bad qualities.
“Why will he return, when he has many women in the city?” Among the jīvas some end their karma by various material means and, assuming the status of lovers, attain the fourteen levels of bhāva. But such bhāvas mean nothing to him. That is explained in three verses. For Kṛṣṇa, no one is especially dear by doing him favors. Not at all. No one is disfavored by him if they do offenses. Not at all. That is because he is amāninaḥ, without conceptions of friend or enemy. He does not notice a person because he is high or ignore a person because he is low. He is not even not neutral (asamaḥ).
- Where do you mistake equanimity for indifference?
- Could you treat all others with equal respect while still loving particular devotees?
For Bhagavān no one is dear or hated, superior or inferior — and yet He is not indifferent. The seeming paradox names His perfect equanimity: He treats every being according to its own bhakti, not according to His preference. The sun is the same; what changes is the eye looking up.
My note
Source: vedabase.io