Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.70.25
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa
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O Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa (doubled vocative)
Reduplication in Sanskrit intensifies, but in nāma-bhakti the doubling is itself the rasa: the name once is calling, the name twice is taking shelter. Mahāprabhu's whole mahā-mantra is built on such reduplication.
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aprameya-ātman
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O immeasurable Soul
Aprameya — beyond pramāṇa, beyond proof. The kings address Bhagavān as one whom no measure can contain, and yet they confidently call. Bhakti is the means by which the immeasurable becomes intimate.
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prapanna-bhaya-bhañjana
—
destroyer of the fear of the surrendered
A compound epithet that is one of the Bhāgavata's signature names for Bhagavān. The grammar is decisive: He destroys fear only for prapannas, those who have surrendered. Śaraṇāgati is the condition of His protection.
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śaraṇam yāmaḥ
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we come for shelter
The verbatim phrase of śaraṇāgati. Echoes BG 18.66 (mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja) and SB 7.5.23 (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ … ātma-nivedanam). The kings perform ātma-nivedana from inside their prison, and the rescue is already structurally ensured.
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pṛthak-dhiyaḥ
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of separated mentality
They confess they are pṛthak-dhī — given to separate thinking, to the illusion of being independent agents. The confession is itself the beginning of bhakti: only one who admits pṛthak-dhī can give it up.
Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that the kings present their entreaty in this and the following five verses. In this verse they take shelter of the Lord, in the next three verses they describe their fear, and in the last two verses they make their prayerful request.
Six verses explain their request to the Lord. First they surrender by uttering twice "Krsna" out of respect. "Though we do not understand your true form (aprameyatman), we know that you are the protector of those who surrender to you (prapanna), and therefore we surrender to you. Neglecting a prayer for devotion to you, we instead are intent on deliverance from our own suffering, having intelligence separate from you, with our own interest (prthag dhiyah)."
The words of the kings are in six verses. O Svayam Bhagavān (kṛṣṇa)! Repetition of his name indicates their miserable condition. Because you are Svayam Bhagavān, you have unsurpassable powers (aprameyātman). Because you are supreme, we surrender to you since we fear saṁsāra. You can deliver us. Why are they afraid? Our intelligence is separated from you: we are devoid of bhakti.
The words of the kings are in six verses. O Svayam Bhagavān (kṛṣṇa)! Repetition of his name indicates their miserable condition. Because you are Svayam Bhagavān, you have unsurpassable powers (aprameyātman). Because you are supreme, we surrender to you, since we fear saṁsāra. You can deliver us. Why are we afraid? Our intelligence is separated from you. We see differences between friend and enemy, though actually jīvas have oneness. Or we have independent intelligence, though we are dependent on you, and are your aṁśas (pṛthadhiyaḥ). Or we think we are separate from you: we are devoid of bhakti.
- Has my surrender been more late than glad?
- What if my fearful turning toward the Lord is still genuinely welcome to Him?
The kings cry 'kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa' — the very name repeated is the medicine and the message. Like a child calling 'mother, mother' in the dark, the doubled name is itself the saraṇāgati. They have not finished the sentence; the name has already begun the rescue.
In SB 6.1-3, Ajāmila on his deathbed called out 'Nārāyaṇa' meaning only his son's name — yet the Viṣṇu-dūtas came, because the holy name has its own force, beyond the speaker's intention.
The imprisoned kings here are wiser than Ajāmila — they actually intend Kṛṣṇa — but the principle is the same. Doubled name (kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa) is the original kīrtana, and the SB's whole nāma-doctrine sits in that little reduplication.
My note
Source: vedabase.io