Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.65.19
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
varuṇa
—
by Varuṇa, the demigod of the ocean
The Vedic deity of waters. Varuṇa's tribute to Balarāma is a demigod-bowing-to-Bhagavān motif; Gauḍīyas read such episodes as demonstrating that the cosmic hierarchy serves Vraja-līlā.
-
devī
—
divine
Lit. 'goddess' — feminine of deva. The liquor is personified as a divine female. The Bhāgavatam genders Vraja's pleasures; even the wine arrives as a devī.
-
vāruṇī
—
the vāruṇī liquor
A specific celestial intoxicant named after Varuṇa. In Bhāgavata tradition this is not ordinary liquor — it is divya-vāruṇī, available only in līlā-frames. Gauḍīyas distinguish carefully: Balarāma's mada is rasa-mada, not material drunkenness.
-
vṛkṣa
—
of a tree
Tree. The hollow of an ordinary tree becomes a vessel — the Vraja-vegetation is recruited into Bhagavān's pleasure. Gauḍīyas read every tree in Vṛndāvana as a kalpa-vṛkṣa awaiting its cue.
-
gandhena
—
with its own aroma
Instrumental of gandha (smell). The forest is perfumed by what flows. Gauḍīya theology: Bhagavān's līlā transmits itself by fragrance — the senses of devotees are designed to receive it olfactorily as well as visually.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that vāruṇī is a liquor distilled from honey. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī adds that the goddess Vāruṇī, the daughter of Varuṇa, is the presiding deity of that particular divine liquor. The ācārya also quotes the following statement from Śrī Hari-vaṁśa: samīpaṁ preṣitā pitrā varuṇena tavānagha. Here the goddess Vāruṇī says to Lord Balarāma: “My father, Varuṇa, has sent me to You, O sinless one.”
The goddess of liquor, Varuni, was the daughter of Varuna. She was falling forth in streams from a hole in the trunk of a kadamba tree (vrska kothara). According to Hari Vamsa she said to him, "I have been sent before you by my father Varuna." Sridhara swami says that varuni is a type of liquor that arose along with the nectar of the devas. The varuni made the forest even more fragrant than before.
Vāruṇī, the presiding deity of liquor was the daughter of Varuṇa. She flowed in the form of streams from the hollow of the kadamba trees of Vṛndāvana. The deity of liquor and the liquor are considered non-different, like rivers and their deities. In order to forbid distinguishing the difference between the two, the verse states that both were present during the pastimes. Hari-vaṁśa also describes this. Samīpam preṣitā pitrā varuṇena tavānagha: O sinless one, Varuṇī was sent near you by her father Varuṇa. The place became even more fragrant than before because of this.
She was beyond this world (devī), arising from the churning of the milk ocean, or the presiding deity of liquor. Because she arose from Varuṇa, she is called Vāruṇī. Samīpam preṣitā pitrā varuṇena tavānagha: O sinless one, I was sent near to you by my father Varuṇa. (Hari-vaṁśa) She flowed in the form of streams from the hollow of the kadamba trees of Vṛndāvana. The place became even more fragrant (adhi avāsayat) than before because of this. Though previously the place was fragrant, because of her special fragrance, the place was additionally perfumed.
- Where do I confuse seriousness with spirituality and miss God's playfulness?
- What 'overflow' of grace have I refused because it did not look serious enough?
When the Lord enters a forest, even the trees become hosts: a hollow becomes a wine-jar, and the wind becomes a sommelier. The cosmos rearranges its objects into instruments of His pleasure — this is the Vraja-physics that ordinary worlds do not have access to.
My note
Source: vedabase.io