Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.71.27
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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mātuleyam
—
maternal cousin
Kṛṣṇa is Kuntī's nephew — son of her brother Vasudeva. The kinship term sets the rasa: family-affection (vātsalya tinged with sakhya), not subject-to-Lord formality.
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prema - jala - ākula - indriyaḥ
—
whose eyes were filled with the water of love
Compound: prema (love) + jala (water) + ākula (filled) + indriyaḥ (whose senses/eyes). Gauḍīyas read prema-jala as bhāva-water — the body's visible reading of internal love.
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suhṛt - tamam
—
the dearmost friend
Suhṛt — well-wisher; tama — superlative. The Lord is the topmost well-wisher of all (Bg 5.29 — suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām); the Pāṇḍavas perceive Him in that bhāva.
As cousins they did not show undue reverence with each other. They were overwhelmed with affection. They embraced and felt bliss. Then their faces blossomed with smiles. All their senses were filled with prema. Then Nakula, Sahadeva and Arjuna shed even more tears out of joy than Bhīma and Yudhiṣṭlhira as they embraced their best friend Acyuta. All their senses were covered with prema (prema-java instead of prema-jala). This should also be understood. Out of prema Kṛṣṇa was also fixed in embracing them (acyutam). Arjuna is mentioned last because he wanted to embrace Kṛṣṇa for a long time. Or overcome with intense affection, he could not come quickly and thus arrived last.
As cousins they did not show undue reverence with each other. They were overwhelmed with affection. They embraced and felt bliss. Then their faces blossomed with smiles. All their senses were filled with prema. Then Nakula, Sahadeva and Arjuna shed even more tears out of joy than Bhīma and Yudhiṣṭlhira as they embraced their best friend Acyuta. All their senses were out of control because of prema (prema-java instead of prema-jala). Embracing Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma felt bliss. Or being blissful, Bhīma smiled and his senses went out of control because of prema. He could not do or say anything. The Yadus were friends. Uddhava was a greater friend. The Pāṇḍavas were the greatest friends. Thus Kṛṣṇa was their greatest friend (suhṛttamam). They cried tears of joy with quivering etc. (pravṛddha). This should also be understood: out of prema Kṛṣṇa was also fixed in embracing them (acyutam). Arjuna is mentioned last because he wanted to embrace Kṛṣṇa for a long time. Or overcome with intense affection, he could not come quickly and thus arrived last. He is also mentioned last because Kṛṣṇa was most dear friend (suhṛttamam). He wore the crown which Kṛṣṇa had given him (kirīṭī).
- Where am I holding back tears that bhakti would welcome?
- What freedom comes when even my strong parts cry in the Lord's presence?
Bhīma laughing through tears, Arjuna and the twins embracing the infallible Lord, is like four lamps that have not been lit for months suddenly catching from one flame — each takes the fire in its own colour, but the source is the same touch.
Each brother greets Kṛṣṇa in his own mood: Bhīma's vātsalya-tinged sakhya (he laughs in tears), Arjuna's confidant-sakhya (the Gītā-friend), the twins' awe-tinged respect (yamau bow first, then embrace).
Gauḍīya rasa-theology delights in such gradations — one Lord, plural relationships, all simultaneous. The Pāṇḍava household becomes a small laboratory of mixed rasas, with Yudhiṣṭhira's dāsya-sakhya at the centre.
My note
Source: vedabase.io