Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.51.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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palāyanam
—
fleeing
From parā-√i. Kālayavana names what he sees, but he misreads it. Bhagavān's palāyana is never fear; it is līlā-strategy. The Yadu-lineage 'rule' he cites is a kṣatriya-dharma fragment used by an asura who has no dharma.
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yadu-kule
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in the Yadu dynasty
Compound: yadu (descendant of Yayāti's son Yadu) + kule (in the dynasty). Bhagavān's chosen lineage in this avatāra — the dynasty Vasudeva, Devakī, Nanda, Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa adorn. Even an asura must invoke it, because everyone in the universe knows where Bhagavān has descended.
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kṣipan
—
insulting, hurling
Present participle of √kṣip (to throw). Kālayavana hurls words because he cannot hurl himself onto Kṛṣṇa. Verbal aparādha against Bhagavān is the precise mark of the un-cleansed heart — and it is the cause, the very next clause states, that he cannot reach Him.
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ahata-aśubhaḥ
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whose sinful reactions are not cleansed
Compound: a (not) + hata (destroyed) + aśubhaḥ (inauspiciousness, sin). The hidden cause of his failure. Gauḍīyas read this as the diagnostic verse for darśana itself: without pāpa-kṣaya, Kṛṣṇa's nearness is no nearness at all. Mucukunda, by contrast, has the burning glance because his austerities cleansed him.
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prāpa
—
he reached
Aorist of √āp — the same root as durāpam (verse 6). The asura cannot prāpta what the yogī cannot prāpta — only because in his case the inability is punitive, not gracious.
Seeing he could not catch Kṛṣṇa, Kālayavana began scolding him in order to stop him. Since Kṛṣṇa was famous among the Yadus for his courage, he should not flee. Scolding him, he followed him, but could not catch him at all (pra—āpa). The reason is ahata-śubhaḥ, literally “he had not destroyed his sins.” Since his sins were eradicated by suddenly seeing the Lord, presence of sin cannot be the cause of his not attaining the Lord. One could propose that if Kālayavana’s auspiciousness were unimpeded, he would have caught his enemy. However, he could not catch Kṛṣṇa because of his inimical mentality and actions. One should not lament that Kālayavana did not get libration, since he did attain liberation later. However, just with the destruction of their sins, demons do not attain the Lord: ye ca pralamba-khara-dardura-keśy-ariṣṭa- mallebha-kaṁsa-yavanāḥ kapi-pauṇḍrakādyāḥ | anye ca śālva-kuja-balvala-dantavakra- saptokṣa-śambara-vidūratha-rukmi-mukhyāḥ || ye vā mṛdhe samiti-śālina ātta-cāpāḥ kāmboja-matsya-kuru-sṛñjaya-kaikayādyāḥ | yāsyanty adarśanam alaṁ bala-pārtha-bhīma- vyājāhvayena hariṇā nilayaṁ tadīyam || The demons headed by Pralambha, Dhenuka, Baka, Keśī, Ariṣṭa, the wrestlers, Kuvalayāpīḍa, Kaṁṣa, Kālayavana, Dvivida, Pauṇḍraka, Śālva, Narakāsura, Balvala, Dantavakra, the seven bulls, Śambara, Vidūratha and Rukmi, as well as those with bow in hand glorious in fighting on the battlefield, such as the Kāmbojas, Matsyas, Kurus, Sṛñjayas, and Kaikayas will attain sāyujya or Vaikuṇṭha by the Lord or through his instruments Balarāma, Arjuna, Bhīma and others. SB 2.7.34 The Lord cannot be attained by any ordinary means: yat-pāda-pāṁsur bahu-janma-kṛcchrato dhṛtātmabhir yogibhir apy alabhyaḥ sa eva yad-dṛg-viṣayaḥ svayaṁ sthitaḥ kiṁ varṇyate diṣṭam ato vrajaukasām Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, whose foot dust cannot be seen by yogīs in samādhi who have controlled their mind by severe hardship for many births, is eternally situated here, directly visible to the eyes of the people of Vraja. Ah! How can the good fortune of the people of Vraja be described? SB 10.12.12 The special means is indicated for attaining the Lord: bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā śva-pākān api sambhavāt Only by bhakti with full faith can the devotees obtain me, Paramātmā, the object of love. Bhakti fixed in me purifies even a dog eater of his low birth. SB 11.14.21 pāda-saṁvāhanaṁ cakruḥ kecit tasya mahātmanaḥ apare hata-pāpmāno vyajanaiḥ samavījayan Some of the cowherd boys, who were all great souls, would then massage his lotus feet, and others, qualified by being free of all sin, would expertly fan the Supreme Lord. SB 10.15.17 In the above verse hata-pāpmānaḥ refers to the highest bhakti devoid completely of indifferent or hostile attitude towards the Lord. Thus in the verse the phrase ahata-aśubhaḥ means his inimical attitude towards the Lord. How could he attain the Lord in the manner that Yaśodā caught him as he ran away?
- Where does your unfinished karma keep you from reaching what you chase?
- How does honest reckoning narrow the gap insults can't?
A father who refuses to wrestle a drunken stranger is not weak — he is unwilling to dignify the contest. Kālayavana's taunt ('Yadu-born, you must not flee!') misreads Kṛṣṇa's grace as cowardice. His sins are still un-burned, so the contact he craves is the contact he cannot have.
Earlier in this canto (SB 10.50), Kṛṣṇa retreats from Jarāsandha seventeen times, each time letting the demon think he has won. The Yadus, including Balarāma, are also visibly 'fleeing.' Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Bhagavān's apparent retreat is a strategic kindness — He reduces the asuric burden of the earth one engagement at a time, on His own timetable.
With Kālayavana the same principle operates at single-combat scale: the 'flight' is itself the weapon, drawing the asura to the precise cave where his accumulated pāpa will combust.
My note
Source: vedabase.io