Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.74.3
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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aravinda - akṣaḥ
—
the lotus-eyed Lord
Compound: aravinda (lotus) + akṣa (eye). A name reserved for Viṣṇu-Kṛṣṇa whose glance is cooling, opening, fragrant. Even when describing Kṛṣṇa's strategic submission, Yudhiṣṭhira names Him by His soft, mādhurya-suggesting epithet.
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dīnānām
—
of those who are wretched
Genitive plural of dīna (humble, fallen). Yudhiṣṭhira places himself among the dīnas. Gauḍīyas teach that dainya — felt insufficiency — is the very door to bhakti; here even the emperor of the earth claims it.
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viḍambanam
—
pretense, imitation
From vi + √ḍamb (to mock, to mimic). Not deception — the loving feigning by which Bhagavān adopts a role beneath His station. The Bhāgavatam uses viḍambana for Kṛṣṇa's Vraja-childhood; Yudhiṣṭhira is hearing the Rājasūya as the same kind of līlā-act.
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bhūman
—
O all-pervading one
Vocative of bhūman — the unbounded, the plenum. Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Kṛṣṇa as the limitless even while pointing to His self-limitation. The juxtaposition is the verse's whole devotional charge.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “[Yudhiṣṭhira said,] ‘O Kṛṣṇa, You are unlimited, and although we sometimes think of ourselves as royal kings and rulers of the world and become puffed up over our paltry positions, we are very poor in heart. Actually, we are fit to be punished by You, but the wonder is that instead of punishing us, You so kindly and mercifully accept our orders and carry them out properly. Others are very surprised that Your Lordship can play the part of an ordinary human, but we can understand that You are performing these activities just like a dramatic artist.’”
That you (sa) accept the orders of us low persons is certainly a disgrace for us (atyanta vidambanam). People will mock us for making the supreme lord our order carrier.
You protect or accept with reverence the orders of us who are worthless or suffer greatly and consider ourselves controllers. O lotus-eyed Lord! He calls out with prema on realizing Kṛṣṇa’s compassion, beauty and sweetness. O Lord with continual powers (bhumān)! He calls out to nourish his praise of Kṛṣṇa. We consider accepting our orders to be an imitation, the laughing stock of the people since you should not do this. Or, it is not proper to do completely.
- Where do I take the Lord's responsiveness to my prayer for granted?
- What freshness of wonder could I bring to His willingness to be 'directed' by me?
A father who could lift the house lets his small son tug him by the hand and lead him through every room. The strength is intact; the consent is the love. Yudhiṣṭhira sees Kṛṣṇa's submission to his Rājasūya planning and calls it viḍambanam — the loving pretense by which the Lord plays small.
The Lord of the three worlds tied the reins of Arjuna's chariot and turned them at Arjuna's word. Vyāsa records that Kṛṣṇa even washed the horses' wounds at night. The Bhagavad-gītā's setting is itself the viḍambanam of this verse — sarveśvara playing sārathi.
Gauḍīyas treasure this image because it shows that Kṛṣṇa's lordship does not exclude His becoming subordinate to those He loves; it is the same lordship freely choosing that subordination.
My note
Source: vedabase.io