Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.58.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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medhyān
—
fit to be offered in sacrifice
Repeated from verse 15 — the same word, now in the carrying. Gauḍīya: the Bhāgavatam links action and offering tightly; medhya marks every step of the hunted body's journey to the altar.
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tṛṭ
—
thirst
Thirst — the body's plain need. Even great warriors carry bodily limits, and the verse honestly logs it. Gauḍīyas: Bhagavān's līlā is woven into bodily fact; the next encounter (with Kālindī at the river) happens because Arjuna got thirsty.
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yamunām
—
to the Yamunā
The river of Vraja, the river of Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Even outside Vraja, Yamunā remains kṛṣṇa-priyā — Kṛṣṇa's beloved water. The scene is being staged at her bank for a reason; her daughter Kālindī will appear in the next verses.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda often explained, the kṣatriyas, or warriors, would hunt in the forest for several purposes: to practice their fighting skills, to control the population of ferocious beasts, who were a threat to human beings, and to provide animals for Vedic sacrifices. The killed animals would be given new bodies by the power of the sacrifices. Since priests no longer have that power, the sacrifices would now constitute mere killing and are thus forbidden. In the Fourth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we find that the great sage Nārada severely chastised King Prācīnabarhiṣat for abusing this principle of authorized hunting. In fact, the King had become like modern sportsmen, who cruelly kill animals as a so-called hobby.
They offered the meat suitable for sacrificial rites to the king. Arjuna (bibhatsuh) went to the river.
The servants took those animals which were pure (medhyān), suitable for sacrifice to offer to the king. Yudhiṣṭhira is called the king since he had the nature of a king. By killing the violent animals to prevent them from killing others, those violent animals which were unsuitable for sacrifice got benefit.
The servants of Arjuna or the king offered the pure animals to the king, who followed the rules of a king. This excludes tigers etc. They did not kill to eat the animals, but to offer at the special śrāddhā rites. Completely thirsty because of being completely fatigued, he who rejects bad acts (bībhatsuḥ) went to the Yamunā. This indicates he had no desire for Kālindī.
- Where do you forget the sequence of work-tiredness-rest in your devotional life?
- What does honoring your body's rhythm look like in practice?
A craftsman, after long hours at the forge, walks to the river — not to escape his work but to receive the water that lets the work be done at all. Arjuna, having shot his quota for the yajña, approaches Yamunā as the daughter-of-the-Sun, the river that nourishes Vraja itself.
My note
Source: vedabase.io