Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.72.31
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bhīruṇā
—
cowardly
Instrumental adjective. The demon's epithet for Kṛṣṇa. Gauḍīya reading: the insult is the demon's last gift — Bhagavān, who accepts the title Ranchor out of compassion for citizens, will now accept this insult as the pretext to step aside while Bhīma kills Jarāsandha.
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viklava-tejasā
—
of impaired strength
Compound instrumental. Tejas viklava — strength gone weak. The slander; refuted by the rest of Canto 10 and by the present moment, in which Kṛṣṇa's tejas will pour into Bhīma.
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sva-purīm
—
Your own city
Compound accusative. Sva-purī — Mathurā as Kṛṣṇa's own city. Vaiṣṇavas note: Mathurā is Kṛṣṇa's eternal abode in His prakaṭa-līlā; the relocation to Dvārakā is a strategic dwelling, not abandonment.
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samudram-śaraṇam
—
to the ocean for shelter
Accusative pair. The 'shelter' Kṛṣṇa took was the ocean — yet from that 'shelter' arose Dvārakā, paradise on water. Gauḍīya: when Bhagavān 'takes shelter', He builds a new shelter for His devotees.
The actual meaning of this is :" I will not fight with you, fearless and strong (tvaya abhiruna), as my heart is now distressed (vihvala cetasa). Leaving Mathura by your own will you have gone to your house in the ocean."
The phrase tvayā bhīruṇā can be taken as tvayā abhīruṇā: you are not a coward. Therefore you gave up your city, and built a house in the sea for performing pastimes.
I will not fight with you, whose heart was disturbed with fear in battle. Thus you gave up Mathurā and took shelter of the sea. The other meaning is this. You were not afraid (abhīrunā). Without fighting you became agitated. You gave up your city in order to play without worry, by conquering everyone. Thus you made your house in the sea.
- Where have I judged a withdrawal — mine or another's — as cowardice when it was actually wisdom?
- What changes if I read Kṛṣṇa's apparent retreats as strategic?
A demon's insult against the Lord lands on the speaker like a stone thrown at the sun. Jarāsandha calls Kṛṣṇa a coward for the Mathurā retreat to Dvārakā — not knowing that the retreat was itself Kṛṣṇa's līlā to save the citizens and seed the great city in the sea.
When Jarāsandha attacked Mathurā seventeen times and brought Yavana hordes on the eighteenth, Kṛṣṇa relocated the entire population to Dvārakā built by Viśvakarmā in the sea. Gauḍīya purport: Bhagavān is not bound by martial pride. He moves the citizens to safety, accepts the name 'Ranchor' (one who left the field), and waits to undo Jarāsandha at the chosen hour — which is now.
Jarāsandha's insult thus accidentally narrates a Kṛṣṇa-līlā the citizens of Dvārakā cherish.
My note
Source: vedabase.io