Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.66.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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parihāsa-kathām
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joking discussion
Compound: parihāsa (joke) + kathā (talk). Bhagavān enjoys parihāsa with His devotees — the Vraja-līlās are full of it — but here parihāsa is reserved for the imposter. Gauḍīyas note: Bhagavān's humor is not contempt; it is the relief of a King who is in no danger from a paper rival.
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utsrakṣye
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I will release
Future of ut-√sṛj (to throw upward, to unleash). The verb suggests something held back finally let loose. Pauṇḍraka had asked for the weapons; he will get them. Kṛṣṇa never breaks His word — even to a fool.
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mūḍha
—
O fool
Vocative of mūḍha (bewildered). The Bhāgavata-tradition's diagnostic term for the soul deluded about its own identity. Compare BG 9.11 (avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam) — those who deride Kṛṣṇa for taking human form. Pauṇḍraka has done worse: derided Him by appropriating that form.
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cihnāni
—
the symbols
Returns from verse 6. Pauṇḍraka named them; Kṛṣṇa will now wield them. The same word, two mouths — one boast, one promise.
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vikatthase
—
you are boasting
Present of vi-√kath (to boast forcefully). Echoes katthanam of verse 7 — the assembly named his speech a boast, and Kṛṣṇa now uses the same word back to the source. Speech that has been recognized as boast becomes the rope by which the boaster is hanged.
The Sanskrit word utsrakṣye means “I will hurl, throw, let loose, abandon, etc.” Foolish Pauṇḍraka demanded that Lord Kṛṣṇa give up His powerful weapons, such as the disc and the club, and here the Lord replies, utsrakṣye mūḍha cihnāni: “Yes, fool, I will indeed let loose these weapons when we meet on the battlefield.” In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda nicely describes this scene as follows: “When all the members of the royal assembly, including King Ugrasena, heard this message sent by Pauṇḍraka, they laughed very loudly for a considerable time. After enjoying the loud laughter of all the members of the assembly, Kṛṣṇa replied to the messenger as follows: ‘O messenger of Pauṇḍraka, you may carry My message to your master. He is a foolish rascal. I directly call him a rascal, and I refuse to follow his instructions. I shall never give up the symbols of Vāsudeva, especially My disc. I shall use this disc to kill not only King Pauṇḍraka but all his followers also. I shall destroy this Pauṇḍraka and his foolish associates, who merely constitute a society of cheaters and the cheated.’”
I will make you give up those symbols (utsraksye) by which you falsely glorify yourself. Or I will throw (utsraksya) my symbols, my sudarsana cakra etc., at you and at those with whom you are talking.
After the assembly had laughed loudly (parihāsa-kathām anu) at the false talks, the Lord spoke to the messenger. You said, “Give up your weapons.” Yes, I will release those weapons about which you boast. Or, I will release on you my weapons which you praise as my symbols (yaiḥ).
- Do I dance around confrontation when truth-telling would be cleaner?
- Where is firmness, not anger, the right response to delusion?
A boy with a wooden sword challenges a swordsmith to drop His blades; the smith laughs, lifts the steel, and tells the boy he will indeed use them. Kṛṣṇa's reply to Pauṇḍraka is gentle in tone and lethal in substance — the laugh of a Person who has all the time in the worlds.
My note
Source: vedabase.io