Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.79.30
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
kratu-aṅgam
—
the embodiment of all sacrifice
Compound: kratu (sacrifice) + aṅga (limb, member). Balarāma is named as the very limb of yajña — yajña-puruṣa, the personal form of all ritual offering. Gauḍīyas locate this as the Saṅkarṣaṇa-aspect of Viṣṇu functioning as the receiver of every offering.
-
nivṛtta-akhila-vigraham
—
who had renounced all warfare
Compound: nivṛtta (turned away from) + akhila (all) + vigraha (battle, conflict). The verse closes the warrior section of the chapter by naming the new mood: no more clubs, no more demons, only yajña. Bhagavān's līlā moves in seasons.
-
naimiṣam
—
Naimiṣāraṇya
Accusative of Naimiṣa. The very forest where Sūta is even now reciting this Bhāgavatam to Śaunaka and the sages (Canto 1.1). The chapter's frame quietly meets the canto's frame: Balarāma returning to Naimiṣa for sacrifice is a story being told in Naimiṣa, by sages who have, in another sense, kept Him there ever since.
-
ayājayan mudā
—
they joyfully engaged Him in sacrifice
Phrase: ayājayan (caused to perform yajña) + mudā (with joy). The causative verb is the technical term — yājaka-priests cause the patron to perform. Yet the patron here is Bhagavān Himself; the sages cause the Lord to receive offerings through the Lord's own hand. Devotional reciprocity at full pitch.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “[When Lord Balarāma] went to the holy place of pilgrimage at Naimiṣāraṇya,… the sages, saintly persons and brāhmaṇas all stood up to receive Him. They understood that Lord Balarāma, although a kṣatriya, was now retired from the fighting business. The brāhmaṇas and the sages, who were always for peace and tranquillity, were very pleased at this. All of them embraced Balarāma with great affection and induced Him to perform various kinds of sacrifices in that sacred spot of Naimiṣāraṇya. Actually Lord Balarāma had no business performing the sacrifices recommended for ordinary human beings; He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore He Himself is the enjoyer of all such sacrifices. As such, His exemplary action in performing sacrifices was only to give a lesson to the common man to show how one should abide by the injunctions of the Vedas. ”
The sages engaged Balarama, the embodiment of all sacrifices (kratvangam), in performing sacrifices.
Though his pilgrimage was completed, he went to Naimisāranya with a desire to perform sacrifice. He went there with wealth suitable for sacrifice (pra—aptam), in the best manner with the materials and with his associates. He went without delay (tadā). Another version has mudā (in joy). One of his portions was sacrifice (kratv-aṅgam) or he embodied all parts of sacrifice, or by chanting his name all parts of sacrifice were completed. The sages engaged him in sacrifice. At the time he was qualified because he had given up all fighting. Vigraha means fighting according to Viśva.
- What 'next chapter' of quieter work awaits me after a season of struggle?
- Where am I afraid to stop fighting and start offering?
Back at Naimiṣa, the sages — the same sages whose yajña Balvala had defiled at the chapter's opening — now engage Him in performing yajñas. The arena is restored; the protector of the sacrifice is now the central figure within it. Balarāma is kratu-aṅgam, the very limb of all yajñas: every sacrifice's beating heart is the Lord it is offered to.
In the Bhāgavatam yajña is never an end in itself — its true purpose is to bring the heart to Bhagavān (yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ, SB 11.5.32). The sages at Naimiṣa, by engaging Balarāma in performing all varieties of kratu, are not adding ritual on top of His presence; they are framing His presence as the only true offering.
Gauḍīyas read kratubhiḥ sarvaiḥ — 'with all varieties of sacrifice' — as a quiet prelude to the Kali-yuga form of yajña that Mahāprabhu will inaugurate: saṅkīrtana, the sacrifice in which the chanted name is itself the oblation.
My note
Source: vedabase.io