Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.66.29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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prītaḥ
—
satisfied
Past participle of √prī (to please). Śiva is pleased by sincere worship — even when its motive is grim. Gauḍīyas read Śiva's prīti here as the impartial mercy of a controller of tamoguṇa: he grants what is asked, and the asking carries its own karma.
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avimukte
—
at Avimukta
Locative of Avimukta — 'the never-abandoned (by Śiva)' — an especially holy area of Kāśī. The detail is sharp: Śiva appears in his own city at the moment Kṛṣṇa has just devastated its army. The two Lords meet, structurally, across this verse without ever speaking.
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varam
—
a benediction
From √vṛ (to choose). The boon Śiva offers — but the same root yields the meaning 'choice,' so the verse is also saying 'Sudakṣiṇa chose his choice.' Gauḍīyas note: many of the Bhāgavata's tragedies turn on a vara wisely given by a deity and unwisely chosen by a mortal.
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pitṛ-hantṛ-vadha-upāyam
—
the means to slay the killer of his father
Compound: pitṛ (father) + hantṛ (killer) + vadha (slaying) + upāya (means). A four-link compound packing the entire vow into one word. Gauḍīyas note: the precise grammar of the request will determine the precise scope of its execution — and the execution, in verse 40, will obey the grammar exactly.
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īpsitam
—
desired
Past participle of īps (desiderative of √āp — 'wishing to obtain'). The technical term in Mīmāṁsā for the goal of a sacrifice. Gauḍīyas warn: every īpsita has a price tag the asker rarely reads. Sudakṣiṇa's price is his own life.
Siva, asked Sudaksina, the king’s son, to choose a boon (varam adat).
Śiva, also called Avimukta, was the presiding deity at the tīrtha. Thus the place was called Avimukta. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says avikute mahākṣetre toṣitas tena śaṅkaraḥ: at Avimukta, Śiva became pleased with him. Because he was omniscient (bhagavān), he gave a tricky benediction. The son chose the boon of a method of killing him, not the boon of killing him. He had lost his intelligence at that time.
Śiva, also called Avimukta, was the presiding deity at the tīrtha. Thus the place was called Avimukta. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says avikute mahākṣetre toṣitas tena śaṅkaraḥ: at Avimukta, Śiva became pleased with him. Or another version has avimuktaḥ. The lord called avimukta was pleased with him. Or the lord, being independent (avimuktaḥ), controlled by his devotee, was pleased with him. Because he was affectionate to his devotee (bhagavān), he gave a benediction. Or because he was omniscient (bhagavān), knowing that opposite effect of his boon, Śiva gave the boon, because he was the best devotee (bhavaḥ instead of vibhuḥ). Or because he was omniscient he gave a tricky boon acting against persons inimical to brāhmaṇas. He gave a method of killing only but not the actual killing.
- When I have asked God for things, what has the asking revealed about my heart?
- What would I ask for if I asked for what is really needed?
A son asks the gentlest father for the gift of a weapon to kill his brother-in-law; the father, who knows the outcome, hands it over anyway — because the son must learn for himself that some weapons cannot be aimed. Śiva grants Sudakṣiṇa exactly what he asks, and grants thereby the lesson the chapter is teaching.
My note
Source: vedabase.io