Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.67.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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saṅkarṣaṇaḥ
—
Balarāma — "the one who draws together"
From sam- + √kṛṣ (to draw, to pull). Saṅkarṣaṇa is Balarāma's tattva-name in the catur-vyūha (Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha). The verse uses His doctrinal name precisely where His unmoving fullness is on display.
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acalaḥ-yathā
—
like an immovable mountain
Acala = unmoving, mountain. The simile is doctrinal as well as poetic — the Lord is sthāṇu, fixed at the center, while the world's blows arrive at His periphery. Gauḍīyas note: equipoise under offense is Bhagavān's, and by His grace, His devotees'.
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pratijagrāha
—
He grabbed, took hold of
Perfect of prati- + √grah (to receive in return). Not pratiśrutya (to repel) but pratigṛhya (to receive) — the Lord accepts the falling weapon. Reception, then response.
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sunandena
—
with Sunanda, His club
Sunanda — the personal name of Balarāma's club; "the joy-giver." Even His weapon has a name and a personality. Gauḍīyas hold that Bhagavān's paraphernalia are cinmaya, persons in their own right (cf. Sudarśana, Kaumodakī).
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patantam
—
(the tree-trunk) falling
Present participle of √pat. The trunk is mid-fall; the Lord acts inside the moment, not after it. Bhagavān's response is contemporaneous with the offense, not delayed.
Balarama struck him with his musala (pestle or club) called Sunanda.
Balarāma accepted the log and remained without moving like a mountain. He did not move at all. The tree was insignificant. Balarāma again and again tolerated his offenses since he remembered that previously Dvivida had served Rāma.
Balarāma was motionless like a mountain. This indicates that he was very heavy. He countered the tree with his hand or plough because he was a member of the caturvyūha (saṅkārṇsaṇaḥ) and directly the Lord (bhagavān). Thus he struck Dvivida. Or Balarāma was qualified to grab and strike at the same time. He was full of all powers (bhagavān) and was non-different from Kṛṣṇa (saṅkarṣaṇaḥ).
- What 'tree' am I currently trying to catch alone that I should hand to the Lord?
- Where do I forget the mountain-like steadiness available to me through Him?
A mountain takes a falling tree without a tremor; Saṅkarṣaṇa receives the demon's blow exactly so. Acalaḥ — "unmoving" — is the chapter's central word: Bhagavān is not invulnerable by absence of contact, but by the quality of His being-in-contact.
Hiraṇyakaśipu rains every conceivable weapon on Nṛsiṁha-deva — and the Lord receives the entire arsenal with no perturbation, then takes the demon on His lap and tears him open at twilight (SB 7.8). Same pattern: aṅgāra na hāṅa — He receives, He does not flinch, then He acts in His own time.
Gauḍīyas read this acalaḥ-yathā stance as the structural signature of avatāra. Bhagavān's stillness under attack is not absence of response; it is the gathering of an exact response.
My note
Source: vedabase.io