Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.79.24
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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tuṣṇīm
—
silent
Adverbial — the state of remaining silent. Silence as etiquette before an unread elder; in Gauḍīya śravaṇa-culture, silence is the proper posture before a senior Vaiṣṇava whose instruction is about to come. Even the victors of Kurukṣetra know to wait.
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abhivādya
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offering obeisances
Absolutive of abhi + √vad, 'to greet formally.' Even Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna bow — the verse is precise. Yudhiṣṭhira and the twins bow as the customary younger relatives; Kṛṣṇa bows as the younger brother who never breaks the elder-junior protocol with Balarāma.
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vivakṣuḥ
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desiring to say
Desiderative noun from √vac, 'one wishing to speak.' The verse embeds the Pāṇḍavas' interior question (kim vivakṣuḥ iha āgataḥ — 'what has He come here to tell us?'). The grammar makes them readers of Balarāma alongside us — they too are trying to interpret His arrival.
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kṛṣṇa-arjunau
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Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna (dual)
Compound dual — the Bhāgavatam's standing pair, the Lord and His sakhā. The dual form binds them as one acting unit. They have just driven the Pāṇḍava cause; now they bow alongside the king and the twins, equal in deference to Balarāma.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “The reason they were silent was that Lord Balarāma was somewhat affectionate toward Duryodhana, who had learned from Balarāmajī the art of fighting with a club. Thus, when the fighting was going on, King Yudhiṣṭhira and the others thought that Balarāma might have come there to say something in favor of Duryodhana, and therefore they remained silent.”
They remained silent, worried about what he had come there to say.
Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna welcomed Balarāma last, as mentioned in the verse, since they were ashamed because of being the two main kṣatriyas left when all the other kṣatriyas and friends were killed in the war. They wondered, “What has Balarāma come and what does he want to say? Does he want to point out faults or good points?” They were silent, unable to say anything.
- Whose mixed loyalty in my life deserves my silence and patient waiting?
- Where do I rush in to control what a respectful pause would unlock?
Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva bow and stay silent. They know Balarāma's mind — He sided with no one in this war, and now He has come at the climactic moment — and none of them wants to risk hearing the wrong instruction. The silence is the most diplomatic syllable in the whole Mahābhārata: respect to the elder, refusal to ask the question whose answer might unmake the war they have just paid for in blood.
Before the war, when Duryodhana and Arjuna both came to Dvārakā for support, it was Kṛṣṇa who divided Himself — His army to one side, His unarmed self to the other. Balarāma made the harder choice: He declared He would side with neither, and walked out of the assembly.
For the duration of the war He kept that vow by going on tīrtha-yātrā — the entire content of this chapter. The Pāṇḍavas' silence in verse 24 is the silence of men who remember that vow. Balarāma did not come to validate their victory; they do not know what He has come for, so they bow and wait.
My note
Source: vedabase.io