Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.53.36
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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netra - añjalibhiḥ
—
with the cupped palms of their eyes
Compound: netra (eye) + añjali (cupped palms). One of Vyāsa's signature kāvya-images. Gauḍīyas treat it as a model for darśana-bhakti: the eyes themselves become the offering-vessel.
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papuḥ
—
they drank
Perfect plural of √pā (to drink). The same verb the gopīs use for drinking Kṛṣṇa's flute-song (10.21.5). Vyāsa transplants the Vraja-vocabulary to Vidarbha — the citizens of Kuṇḍina momentarily become honorary gopīs.
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mukha - paṅkajam
—
lotus face
Compound: mukha (face) + paṅkaja (lotus). Kṛṣṇa's mukha-paṅkaja is the standard meditation-object for vaidhī-sādhana in Gauḍīya arcana-paddhati. The whole city is engaged in spontaneous unscripted dhyāna.
The people drank the incomparable sweetness of Krsna’s lotus face. This indicates the quantity of sweetness of his face. It was wonderful because of the number of people drinking and the unlimited supply of sweetness of one face.
They drank the honey of his face. This means the people tasted the intense sweetness of his beauty. Though the beauty and the face are different they are considered one in this verse (they drank his lotus face) because of intensity of the beauty. The metaphor of the cupped hands of their eyes suggests continuous drinking. It also suggests the drinkers had great thirst. What a marvelous lotus this was!
The citizens of Vidarbha, men and women, heard that Kṛṣṇa, who attracts all hearts or who is the form of the highest bliss (bhagavān), had come. They gathered near him and drank the sweet beauty of his face, just as a bee drinks the nectar from the lotus out of attachment. They looked for a long time with absorption.
- When did you last 'drink' Kṛṣṇa with your eyes rather than just glance?
- What changes when seeing becomes drinking?
The whole city tilts forward at one news, drinking the Lord's face through their eyes as through cupped palms. Darśana in this verse is literally that — the eyes become añjali-mudrā, and the face of Kṛṣṇa becomes the water of the offering.
When Kṛṣṇa first entered Mathurā as a boy (SB 10.41), the women of the city ran to their windows and rooftops, drinking His form with their eyes — abandoning cooking, children, husbands. Vyāsa's image was unforgettable enough to be reused here in Vidarbha-pura.
Gauḍīyas read both verses as the SB pattern: Bhagavān's bodily appearance does what no doctrine can — it pulls darśana through the eye like water through palms.
My note
Source: vedabase.io