FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.58.3

परिष्वज्याच्युतं वीरा अङ्गसङ्गहतैनस: । सानुरागस्मितं वक्त्रं वीक्ष्य तस्य मुदं ययु: ॥ ३ ॥
pariṣvajyācyutaṁ vīrā
[parishvajyaachyutam veeraa]
aṅga-saṅga-hatainasaḥ
[anga-sanga-hatainasah]
sānurāga-smitaṁ vaktraṁ
[saanuraaga-smitam vaktram]
vīkṣya tasya mudaṁ yayuḥ
[veekshya tasya mudam yayuh]
pariṣvajya — embracing acyutam — Lord Kṛṣṇa vīrāḥ — the heroes aṅga — with His body saṅga — by the contact hata — destroyed enasaḥ — all their sinful reactions sa - anurāga — affectionate smitam — with a smile vaktram — face vīkṣya — looking upon tasya — His mudam — joy yayuḥ — they experienced .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
pariṣvajyācyutaṁ vīrā
pariṣvajya
embracing
acyutam
Lord Kṛṣṇa
vīrāḥ
the heroes
aṅga-saṅga-hatainasaḥ
aṅga
with His body
saṅga
by the contact
hata
destroyed
enasaḥ
all their sinful reactions
sa - anurāga
affectionate
sānurāga-smitaṁ vaktraṁ
smitam
with a smile
vaktram
face
vīkṣya tasya mudaṁ yayuḥ
vīkṣya
looking upon
tasya
His
mudam
joy
yayuḥ
they experienced .
  • acyutam — Kṛṣṇa, the infallible
    From a (not) + cyuta (fallen). Kṛṣṇa never falls from His position; embracing Him, the embracer also stops falling. Gauḍīya tradition takes acyuta as the name of the unbreakable shelter — once held, never dropped.
  • aṅga — with His body
    The literal body of Bhagavān — sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Gauḍīyas reject any reading that treats Kṛṣṇa's form as material māyā. The body that destroys sin by touch must itself be wholly spiritual.
  • saṅga — by the contact
    From √sañj. The same word that elsewhere denotes binding attachment here denotes its cure: contact with Kṛṣṇa unsticks every other contact. Sat-saṅga purifies, but aṅga-saṅga with Bhagavān is its source.
  • sa - anurāga — affectionate
    Compound sa (with) + anurāga (deep loving attachment). Anurāga is a Gauḍīya technical term — in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, a stage of prema where the beloved appears ever-new at every moment. Kṛṣṇa's smile carries that bhāva.
  • smitam — smiling
    Kṛṣṇa's smile is doctrinally weighted in Gauḍīya texts — Rūpa Gosvāmī catalogues it as a primary ālambana of rasa. One smile of Bhagavān destroys what scriptures-full of penance only promise to weaken.
The heroes embraced Lord Acyuta, and the touch of His body freed them of sin. Looking at His affectionate, smiling face, they were overwhelmed with joy.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that since the Pāṇḍavas were never sinful, the term enasaḥ here refers to the suffering caused by separation from Kṛṣṇa. That unhappiness was now vanquished by the Lord’s return.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The heroes embraced Lord Acyuta, and the touch of His body freed them of sin. Looking at His affectionate, smiling face, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Kṛṣṇa did not deviate from giving the greatest bliss and embracing them for a long time (acyutam). Their sorrow (enasaḥ) was destroyed by his association. Seeing his face they became joyful. His face then smiled with great love for them.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

They embraced him because they were the best devotees (vīrāḥ). He also did not fail to embrace them or to give them the highest bliss (acyutam). Or absorbed in embracing them, he did not have them fall from his chest. They became free of saṁsāra or the sorrow caused by it (enasaḥ). Seeing his face they became joyful. His face then smiled with great love for them. Seeing his face smiling with affection they became blissful because of his natural beauty or because of considering his mercy upon them.

Related values
Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)Bhakti (Devotion)Saurya (Heroism / Bravery)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Samata (Equanimity / Even-mindedness)Nyaya (Justice / Righteous Judgment)Vairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)
Related verses
The heroes embrace Acyuta and His body's touch frees them of sin; looking at His affectionate, smiling face, they are overwhelmed with joy. Embrace carries purification; the smile in the face is part of the encounter.
Reflection Questions
  • Where do you under-credit embodied embrace as part of devotional purification?
  • What smile in His face have you not yet taken in?

A bath in the Yamunā does not merely wash the skin — it reaches what the skin alone cannot touch. The Pāṇḍavas' embrace of Kṛṣṇa is that kind of bath: the touch (aṅga-saṅga) destroys what no penance could.

Putanā's deliverance by Kṛṣṇa's touch

In SB 10.6, the demoness Pūtanā came to murder the infant Kṛṣṇa with poisoned milk. Yet because she had assumed the form of a mother and offered her breast, Kṛṣṇa accepted the touch and granted her the destination of a nurse.

Gauḍīyas read this as the topmost emblem of aṅga-saṅga-hata-pāpa: even hostile contact, if it brings Him near, destroys sin. The Pāṇḍavas' loving embrace receives the same grace from the affirmative side.

📝 My note

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