Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.7.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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garimāṇam
—
increase in heaviness
From garu (heavy) — same root as guru (heavy with knowledge). Garimā is one of the eight aṣṭa-siddhis — the yogic power to become heavy at will. Kṛṣṇa, source of all siddhis, manifests garimā for a moment to dismantle Yaśodā's bodily concept that He is small.
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giri-kūṭa-vat
—
like the weight of a mountain peak
Giri (mountain) + kūṭa (peak) + vat (like). The same Kṛṣṇa who later lifts Govardhana with one finger here cannot be lifted by His mother. The reversal is structurally Vaiṣṇava: aiśvarya and mādhurya occupy the same body, switching by Yoga-māyā's arrangement.
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voḍhum
—
to bear Him
Infinitive of vah — to carry. Same root as vāhana (vehicle, carrier). The verse's verb hints at the deepest theology: Kṛṣṇa is the One who carries (jagad-vāhaka), never the one carried. When Yaśodā holds Him, He is allowing the holding; when He withdraws permission, no one bears Him.
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satī
—
the chaste / virtuous (mother Yaśodā)
Satī — true, real, virtuous; the feminine of sat. Repeatedly applied to Yaśodā in this chapter. The Gauḍīya frame: vātsalya-rasa requires the devotee's chastity-toward-Kṛṣṇa, the refusal to relocate maternal feeling onto any other object. Yaśodā is satī because Kṛṣṇa alone is her son.
Lālayantī. Sometimes a mother lifts her child, and when the child falls in her hands, the child laughs, and the mother also enjoys pleasure. Yaśodā used to do this, but this time Kṛṣṇa became very heavy, and she could not bear His weight. Under the circumstances, it is to be understood that Kṛṣṇa was aware of the coming of Tṛṇāvartāsura, who would take Him far away from His mother. Kṛṣṇa knew that when Tṛṇāvarta came and took Him away from His mother’s lap, mother Yaśodā would be greatly bereaved. He did not want His mother to suffer any difficulty from the demon. Therefore, because He is the source of everything ( janmādy asya yataḥ ), He assumed the heaviness of the entire universe. The child was on the lap of Yaśodā, who was therefore in possession of everything in the world, but when the child assumed such heaviness, she had to put Him down in order to give Tṛṇāvartāsura an opportunity to take Him away and play with Him for some time before the child returned to the lap of His mother.
"What use are all these things for me, the Lord of all wealth?" When Krsna was one year old this event took place. Bhagavatam 10. 26.6. says that when he was one year old, Trnavarta took away Krsna. Placing Krsna on her lap and lifing him up in the air with her two hands Yasoda became blissful. Krsna then became heavy like a mountain top. Yasoda was not able to carry him. Knowing that Trnavarta was about to take away Yasoda along with himself, and wanting to avoid pain to Yasoda, Krsna displayed his aisvarya sakti and became heavy, so that she put him on the ground. "Yasoda can only lift me a little, but I want to play in the sky." Desiring like this, Krsna let the asura Trnavarta approach.
“While living in Vraja I do not deserve to be covered up or restricted at all.” Thinking in this way, Kṛṣṇa desired to go into the sky. When he was one year old (ekadā), this event occurred, since it will be said later: eka-hāyana āsīno hriyamāṇo vihāyasā daityena yas tṛṇāvartam ahan kaṇṭha-grahāturam At the age of one, while sitting peacefully he was taken up into the sky by the demon Tṛṇāvarta. But baby Kṛṣṇa grabbed the demon’s neck, causing him great pain, and thus killed him. SB 10.26.6 Yaśodā cared for him, kissing him and giving him her breast. Sometimes she lifted him in her arms playfully. She was knowledgeable (satī) of how to care for him. She was not able to carry him by her own strength. She was alone at the time. Later a similar condition is described: ekadā gṛha-dāsīṣu yaśodā nanda-gehinī karmāntara-niyuktāsu nirmamantha svayaṁ dadhi One day when mother Yaśodā saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. SB 10.9.1
“While living in Vraja I do not deserve to be covered up or restricted at all.” Thinking in this way, Kṛṣṇa desired to go into the sky. When he was one year old (ekadā), this event occurred, since it will be said later: eka-hāyana āsīno hriyamāṇo vihāyasā daityena yas tṛṇāvartam ahan kaṇṭha-grahāturam At the age of one, while sitting peacefully he was taken up into the sky by the demon Tṛṇāvarta. But baby Kṛṣṇa grabbed the demon’s neck, causing him great pain, and thus killed him. SB 10.26.6 Though Kṛṣṇa who reveals at all times his unlimited nature as bhagavān has other attractive pastimes during this period, which are well known to the people of Mathurā, such as defeating the demon disguised as a brāhmaṇa named Śrīdhara, these pastimes are not related since they are not well known. Or Śukdeva could not tell all these unlimited pastimes in the short seven days that Parīkṣit had left of his life. Children generally begin to walk when they are one year old, if they are strong. Before crawling, one astonishing pastime is mentioned. Or Śukadeva simply relates pastimes with increasing sweetness. Sometimes there is deviation from this, on considerations of chronology. Generally the events related are not strictly chronological. That will be seen in various places. Yaśodā cared for him, kissing him and giving him her breast. Sometimes she lifted him in her arms playfully. She was knowledgeable (satī) of how to care for him. He became heavier that a mountain of rice or heavier than the gold peak of Meru, or heavier than all mountains. She could not lift him. Since she always carried him with affection why he had become so heavy at this time? Or though he is by nature heavier than countless universes, for the devotees he is light. In order to kill Tṛnāvarta, he manifested greater heaviness so that she would take him from her lap. Or Yaśodā’s power to carry him disappeared.
- NRM SB 10-07-18-37
- Jananivas Pr SB 10-07-18 Bengali Translation - 2020-01-08 ISKCON Mayapur
- Padaseva Pr SB 10-07-18 Oriya
- Bhakti Vikas Sw SB 10-07-18 - 2000-04-20 Vrindavan
- PrahladAnS SB 10-07-18 - Matter is not Spirit - 2023-09-23 ISKCON Slovenia
- PrahladAnS SB 10-07-18 Slovenian Translation - Materialno ni duhovno - 2023-09-23 ISKCON Slovenia
- 02 - RGS SB 10-07-18-37 - Trinavart Leela - 2008 Vrindavan
- 07 - RGS SB 10-07-18-37 - Nama Sanskar-07 - 2008 Vrindavan
- Vrindavan Chandra Das Goswami SB 10-07-18 Hindi - 2020-08-06 ISKCON Vrindavan
- Notice one moment today when a heaviness lifted from your life unexpectedly, and offer silent thanks to Kṛṣṇa for the protection you did not see arranged.
- Speak to someone you love about a fear you carry for them, and then formally entrust that fear to Kṛṣṇa instead of trying to control the outcome yourself.
- Refuse to measure Kṛṣṇa's care by visible comfort — when something feels suddenly 'too heavy,' read it as His preparation, not His absence.
A toddler who has fallen asleep in his father's arms feels, in the moment of waking, the full weight of the man's chest — the same chest that was bearing him gently a moment ago. Yaśodā feels Kṛṣṇa's weight the same way: the universe-bearing Lord, who normally hides His mass within Yoga-māyā, allows His mother a single instant to feel what she is actually holding.
After the lac-house, Bhīma carried his mother Kuntī and four brothers on his shoulders and ran for miles through the forest (MBh Ādi-parva 145). Yaśodā, asked to carry Kṛṣṇa for a moment, cannot — because the One she holds is heavier than what Bhīma carried in all his lifetimes.
The contrast is exactly the verse's point: even the strongest devotee can carry only what Bhagavān allows him to carry. Yaśodā's failure to lift Kṛṣṇa is His teaching, not her weakness.
My note
Source: vedabase.io