Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.64.19-20
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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dharma - kṛcchra - gatena
—
by one in difficulty regarding dharma
Dharma (duty) + kṛcchra (difficulty, narrow pass) + gata (gone). The technical term for a true dharma-saṅkaṭa, where standard rules give no clean answer. Nṛga is in the genuine condition the Mahābhārata calls āpad-dharma.
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gavām lakṣam prakṛṣṭānām
—
a lakh of the best cows
Gava (cow) + lakṣa (one hundred thousand) + prakṛṣṭa (foremost). Nṛga offers ratio 100,000:1. The poet's number-play makes the point exact: brāhmaṇa-property is not a commodity to be exchanged at any ratio.
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kiṅkarasya avijānataḥ
—
of your servant who was unaware
Kiṅkara (servant) + a-vijānataḥ (not knowing). The king reduces himself to the brāhmaṇas' servant and pleads ignorance simultaneously — śaraṇāgati and a-jñāna together. Gauḍīyas note: even surrender does not automatically clear aparādha; the offended one must consent.
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niraye aśucau
—
into the unclean hell
Niraya (hell) + aśuci (impure). Nṛga foresees what kind of consequence awaits. The Bhāgavatam names specific hells; Kṛṣṇa will later name Kumbhīpāka (v. 37–38) for those who steal brāhmaṇa-property. The king's fear is precise, not vague.
I have fallen into a painful situation concerning dharma (dharma-kṛcchreṇa). Instead of gatena vai Sometimes upāgate is seen. With inner purity, giving up all selfishness, this cow should be given to me (pra---dīyatām). You should be merciful to me, who should be delivered from difficulty (kṛcchrāt). The difficulty is described: falling into hell. Or, you should be merciful to me who have fallen into hell because of my sin (kṛcchrāt).
- Where in my life do I refuse to plead because it would damage my self-image?
- How does owning ignorance in front of others actually deepen, not destroy, my dignity?
A king offering a hundred thousand cows for the return of one — the precise arithmetic by which the world tries to ransom a vaiṣṇava-aparādha and discovers no quantity will buy it back. Aparādha cannot be paid down with bulk piety; it can only be cleared by the offended one's mercy.
Durvāsā Muni offended Mahārāja Ambarīṣa — a vaiṣṇava — and Viṣṇu's Sudarśana cakra pursued him across the three worlds. Brahmā could not save him, Śiva could not save him, even Viṣṇu told him only the offended devotee could (SB 9.4–5).
Durvāsā returned and fell at Ambarīṣa's feet. Ambarīṣa, who had not even known he was offended, prayed for Durvāsā's protection — and only then did the cakra withdraw. Nṛga offers a hundred thousand cows where Durvāsā offers austerity-points; both discover that aparādha is cleared only by the offended one's mercy, not by ransom.
My note
Source: vedabase.io