Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.80.5
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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viṣṇu - rātena
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by Viṣṇurāta (Mahārāja Parīkṣit)
Compound: viṣṇu (the Lord) + rāta (given, protected). Parīkṣit was saved in the womb by Viṣṇu — the name encodes his whole identity. Gauḍīyas hear him as one literally maintained by the Lord's hand.
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bādarāyaṇiḥ
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Śukadeva
Patronymic — son of Bādarāyaṇa (Vyāsadeva). The text marks his lineage: this is not a stray sage but Vyāsa's son, the authorized speaker of Vyāsa's text.
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vāsudeve
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in Lord Vāsudeva
Locative of Vāsudeva — Kṛṣṇa as son of Vasudeva, and per SB 1.2.11 the highest object of meditation. Gauḍīyas note that Śukadeva, born a Brahman-realized sage, ends up absorbed in Vāsudeva, not in Brahman — the trajectory the text endorses.
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nimagna
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fully absorbed
Past participle of ni-√majj (to plunge, sink). Stronger than 'meditating' — Śukadeva is submerged. The verse's image of speech rising out of submersion is the Gauḍīya picture of authoritative kṛṣṇa-kathā.
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hṛdayaḥ
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his heart
Not mind (manas) but hṛdaya — the seat. Gauḍīyas distinguish: jñāna sits in buddhi; bhakti sits in hṛdaya. Śukadeva speaks from the latter.
Parīkṣit is here called Viṣṇu-rāta, he who was given life by the Lord, since his prema increased on realizing the Lord’s mercy to him. Śukadeva was questioned by him with great longing (sam—pṛṣṭaḥ). Śukadeva knew the truth about the pastimes of the lord and was the crest jewel of all knowledge (bhagavān). He was the son of Vyāsa who knew the essence of the Vedānta. On being questioned, his heart became completely absorbed in the son of Vasudeva, full of all powers and mercy. He then spoke, remembering the particular mercy of the Lord in the stories.
Parīkṣit was given to the Pāṇḍavas (viṣṇu-rātena) after being protected by the Lord in Uttarā’s womb from the brahmāstra. It was the Lord’s object of great mercy. Śukadeva was questioned by Parīkṣit with humility and propriety (sampṛṣṭaḥ). By the special rasa of the listener, the speaker also develops such rasa. Śukadeva was completely absorbed in the son of Vasudeva, the Lord who showed his greatness to Śrīdāma by giving him mercy (bhagavati). His mind was completely submerged in an ocean of sweetness (nimagna), because he had a wealth of prema for Kṛṣṇa (bhagavati), because he was the son of Vyāsa (bādarayaniḥ), who was the result of great penance at Badarikāśrama. Thus Śukadeva was full of knowledge (bhagavān). He knew the sweet topics corresponding to the arousal of bhāva in the listener. These topics do not depend on a particular time. According to the mood of the questioner and arousal of rasa, the speaker narrates.
- Whose absorbed presence has taught me more than their words?
- What absorption would I want others to receive from me?
Before a flute can sound, the flautist must place his lips. Before Śukadeva can speak of Kṛṣṇa, his heart must sink fully into Kṛṣṇa — and only then does the answer rise. Gauḍīyas read the pause between question and reply as the immersion that makes the words trustworthy.
From birth Śukadeva remained absorbed in Brahman until, hearing a fragment of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, he turned from impersonal liberation toward Bhagavān (SB 1.7.10-11). After that turning, his heart was permanently submerged in Vāsudeva.
This verse catches him in that posture mid-narration — bhagavān bādarāyaṇiḥ, vāsudeve nimagna-hṛdayaḥ. Gauḍīyas cite him as the speaker-archetype: speech about Kṛṣṇa must flow from a heart drowned in Kṛṣṇa, not from intellectual surface.
My note
Source: vedabase.io