Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.57.30
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ariṣṭāni
—
ill omens
From a-riṣṭa (un-auspicious). The Bhāgavata's standard term for negative portents — disease, eclipse, drought, social disorder. Gauḍīyas treat ariṣṭa as the cosmos's signaling system, calibrated to dharmic disturbance.
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śārīrāḥ mānasaḥ tāpāḥ
—
bodily and mental distresses
Compound + noun: śārīra (bodily) + mānasa (mental) + tāpa (heat / distress). Two of the three classical tāpas — bodily, mental, and (next phrase) external. Gauḍīyas note: this verse rehearses the trividha-tāpa schema from the Bhāgavata's opening (SB 1.1.2).
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daivika - bhautikāḥ
—
caused by higher powers and by creatures
Compound pair: daivika (from devas) + bhautika (from beings). Completing the trividha schema — adhyātmika, adhidaivika, adhibhautika. The whole tāpa-taxonomy is invoked. Gauḍīyas: a city without bhaktas suffers all three at once.
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muhuḥ
—
again and again
Adverb of repetition. The distress is not a single incident but a steady weather. Bhāgavata uses muhuḥ to mark anartha that has settled into a pattern.
The word daivika here refers to disturbances caused by supernatural beings. These disturbances often manifest as natural calamities like earthquakes, tidal waves or extreme weather. Nowadays materialistic people attribute these disturbances to earthly causes, not realizing that they constitute punishment at the hands of superior beings. The word bhautikāḥ refers to trouble caused by fellow creatures of the earth, such as human beings, animals and insects. According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, Akrūra took the Syamantaka jewel and went to reside in the city of Benares, where he became known as Dānapati, “the master of charity.” There he executed fire sacrifices on gold altars with elaborate assemblies of qualified priests. Some residents of Dvārakā felt that the unusual calamities were due to Akrūra’s absence, forgetting (as described in the next verse) that the Supreme Lord’s personal presence in Dvārakā precluded that possibility. Because when the Lord comes to earth His pastimes resemble those of human beings, the principle of “familiarity breeds contempt” comes into play. It appears that during the lives of many saintly persons and incarnations of God there always exists a class of people who fail to appreciate, or who only occasionally appreciate, the position of the great souls among them. On the other hand, the fortunate and enlightened souls who recognize the true position of the Lord and His associates are supremely blessed.
Ariṣṭāni refers to calamities like earthquakes. Another version has ariṣṭā. In that case the masculine form is poetic license. There were various sufferings (verb is understood) of the body and mind which were ādhyāmika suffering, caused by one’s own body. There were also daivikā sufferings (caused by nature) and bhautika (caused by other living entities) sufferings.
- Whose absence in your community is causing community-wide ill omen?
- How does this verse honor specific devotees as actually loadbearing?
Akrūra leaves and the city begins to ail — the rains miss, the body and mind unsettle, omens stack up. The Bhāgavatam shows how the absence of a great bhakta is felt at the level of weather. Gauḍīyas read this as evidence that devotee-presence is itself a kind of yoga-kṣema for a city.
My note
Source: vedabase.io