Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.78.6
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ānṛṇyam
—
freedom from debt
An- (without) + ṛṇa (debt). Vedic culture recognizes three debts — to ṛṣis, devas, pitṛs. Dantavakra invents a fourth, to dead friends, and frames Kṛṣṇa-vadha as repayment. Gauḍīyas hold that the only true ānṛṇya is śaraṇāgati.
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ajña
—
ignorant one
A- + jñā (to know). The vocative Dantavakra throws at the omniscient Lord. The Bhāgavatam keeps showing demons inverting epistemic categories: the all-knower is called ignorant, the eternal is called mortal.
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mitra-vatsalaḥ
—
affectionate to friends
Mitra + vatsala (from vatsa, calf — tender as a cow to her calf). The very term vatsala that names Yaśodā's love is here used by Dantavakra in distorted form, claiming vātsalya for his loyalty to dead allies.
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bandhu-rūpam arim
—
an enemy in the form of a relative
Bandhu (kinsman) + rūpa (form) + ari (enemy). Compound that captures Dantavakra's whole hermeneutic: he reads sambandha as deception. For the devotee, every form of the Lord — even the wrathful — is bandhu-rūpa.
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deha-caram
—
moving within the body
Deha (body) + cara (moving). The simile is the inner illness — vyādhi. Ironically, what truly moves within the deha is the Paramātmā Himself, whom Dantavakra is naming as disease.
According to the ācāryas, the word ajña indicates that in comparison to Lord Kṛṣṇa, no one is more intelligent. Further, the word bandhu-rūpam indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa is actually everyone’s true friend, and vyādhim indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul, the object of meditation within the heart, who takes away our mental distress. Furthermore, the ācāryas translate the word hatvā as jñātvā; in other words, by knowing Kṛṣṇa properly one can actually liberate all of one’s friends.
That person who attains you by thinking of you delivers his friends. O person for whom nothing remains unknown (ajna) Being affectionate to my friends, I will free myself of debt to them, by delivering them also, by knowing you, who seem to be an enemy in the common eye but are actually a friend, who are the supreme object of meditation (vyadhim), and are the supersoul situated in the body (deha caram) Vyadhim can also mean one who rids one of all suffering and sickness.
It is necessary that I repay my debts. I will kill you who appear to be a friend but are actually a great enemy (bandhu-rūpam). You are like a disease causing great suffering to my body. The real meaning is as follows. Having known (hatvā) you, an enemy, as a friend, dwelling with the body (deha-caram), thought of in the mind (vyādhim), I will repay my debts. Or, having known you, who destroy all mental suffering (vyādhim) since you are antaryāmī (deha-caram), I will repay my debts.
Though you are my relative in form (bandhu-rūpam), internally you have great hatred for me. Though related to my body, you cause great suffering, like a disease in the body. The true meaning can also be found in the words.
- Where have I called the Lord (or His correction) a disease when He was the cure?
- What about my situation needs to be reread as friend rather than foe?
Dantavakra calls Kṛṣṇa a disease in his body and himself the physician. He plans to repay his dead friends as one pays back a loan — by killing the supposed creditor. The arithmetic is precise; only the names are inverted. Kṛṣṇa is the body's life, not its illness.
My note
Source: vedabase.io