Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.49.26
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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dāna-pate
—
O master of charity
Title of Akrūra. Dāna-pati = lord of giving — Akrūra is named in tradition as a paragon of dāna-dharma, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra here recognises the office. Yet the dāna being given is verbal counsel, not gold.
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kalyāṇīm
—
auspicious
Feminine of kalyāṇa — that which leads to well-being (śreyas). Dhṛtarāṣṭra correctly diagnoses the words; the tragedy of the next verse is that diagnosis is not the same as cure.
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amṛtam
—
the nectar of immortality
The classical Vaiṣṇava metaphor for śabda-brahma. Even a blind king tastes that sad-upadeśa is amṛta — the Bhāgavata is gentle: the failure that follows is not a failure of recognition.
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na tṛpyāmi
—
I am not satiated
Negative present of √tṛp (to be sated). Atṛpti — never-being-satisfied — is also the mark of kṛṣṇa-kathā in the Bhāgavata (1.1.19, naiṣātiduḥsahā kṣut). Dhṛtarāṣṭra brushes against the truth without grasping it.
In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was in fact proud and felt he already knew everything Akrūra was speaking, but to maintain diplomatic gravity he spoke as a saintly gentleman.
"This Akrura, thinking himself learned, is speaking proudly in giving me philosophical instructions. Do I not already know all of this?" Thinking to himself proudly in this way, Dhrtarasta appeared grave and spoke like a great saintly externally. "O master of charity! Just as you give food to satisfy the hungry in Mathura, so you are giving knowledge to satisfy this ignorant person in Hastinapura."
Having made up his mind that he could not be equal to his sons and the Pāṇḍavas, in answer to Akrūra’s request that he was capable, with cunning, in order to deny his own fault, and to deny his independent mind, and to find fault with Kṛṣṇa, he first speaks in order to satisfy Akrūra. Whatever you have intended to say, exactly that and nothing else has pleased me. I can never be fully satisfied with your words. You want to give us good instructions (dāna-pate—master of giving)!
Having made up his mind that he could not be equal to his sons and the Pāṇḍavas, in answer to Akrūra’s request that he was capable, he first speaks in order to satisfy Akrūra with cunning, in order to deny his own fault, and to deny his independent mind, and to find fault with Kṛṣṇa. Whatever you have intended to say, exactly that and nothing else, has pleased me. I can never be fully satisfied with your words (anayā). You want to give us good instructions (dāna-pate—master of giving)! Or I can never be satisfied in the same way (anayā), just as a mortal can never be satisfied with nectar. Thinking that Akrūra would be angry if he did not agree to his words, to avoid his anger he first praises his words, so that Akrūra will receive his words.
- Where do you receive teaching with appreciation and not act on it?
- How is appreciation without action its own form of self-deception?
Dhṛtarāṣṭra drinks Akrūra's counsel like a dying man tasting amṛta — he knows it is exactly what is needed. But, as the next verse will reveal, he is the kind of vessel that will not hold what is poured in.
My note
Source: vedabase.io