Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.81.15
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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aho
—
ah!
An exclamation of wonder. The whole verse 15 onward is one long aho — the spontaneous outflow of vismaya-bhāva. Gauḍīya bhāva-śāstra lists vismaya as a vyabhicārī-bhāva amplifying prema.
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brahmaṇya-devasya
—
of the Lord who is devoted to brāhmaṇas
Compound: brahmaṇya (devoted to brāhmaṇas) + deva (Lord). A formal title. The chapter's structural doctrine — Bhagavān as brahmaṇya-deva — gets explicitly named here as the lesson Sudāmā learned by direct sight (dṛṣṭa).
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daridra-tamaḥ
—
the poorest
Superlative of daridra (poor). Not merely poor — the poorest. The bhakta names his own social rank without softening; the contrast with what follows (Lakṣmī's husband embraces him) is the point.
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lakṣmīm āśliṣṭaḥ
—
embraced by Him who holds Lakṣmī
lakṣmīm (Lakṣmī, accusative — the one being held) + āśliṣṭaḥ (embraced). The same chest that embraces the goddess of fortune embraced the poorest of brāhmaṇas. Gauḍīya: Bhagavān's chest is the meeting-place of aiśvarya (Lakṣmī) and dainya (Sudāmā).
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urasi
—
by Him who carries (her) on His chest
Locative urasi (on the chest) + present participle bibhratā (carrying) of √bhṛ. The chest is the load-bearing image of Vaikuṇṭha — Śrīvatsa mark, Kaustubha jewel, Lakṣmī Herself. Sudāmā has been pressed into all of it.
Sudama expresses his bliss in four verses. I have seen how Krsna is affectionate to the brahmanas, because he, who holds Laksmi on his chest, embraced me.
Eight and a half verses describe Sudāmā’s thoughts and then his transformed house. Aho expresses astonishment. The Lord carries Lakṣmī on his chest in the form of a golden line.
Śrīdhāmā, thinking of the greatness of the Lord while on the path, became blissful with great bhāva. He was not at all suffering. Six verses describe his thoughts. Aho expresses surprise. I have directly experienced (dṛṣṭaḥ) the Lord’s affection for brāhmaṇas. He was extremely poor, not even wearing two pieces of cloth, which was proper dress. It was astonishing that he was embraced the Lord who holds Lakṣmī on his chest. He was not worthy of embrace, yet the Lord embraced him.
- What direct evidence of the Lord's character have I personally witnessed?
- How does that personal evidence steady my faith?
A pauper at a king's gate is embraced by the king's own arms — and as the king turns, the pauper sees that the queen on the king's chest is the goddess of all fortune herself. Sudāmā meditates on Kṛṣṇa's brahmaṇyatā: the chest that holds Lakṣmī held him.
In Gauḍīya hagiography (echoed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta), the poet Bilvamaṅgala (Līlā-śuka) lived as a wandering blind devotee. When Kṛṣṇa repeatedly came to lead him by the hand through forests and rivers, Bilvamaṅgala wept the same wonder Sudāmā utters here: aho — that He who is Lakṣmī's resting place would bother with me. The bhāva called wonder (vismaya) at brahmaṇyatā is a recurring Gauḍīya theme.
My note
Source: vedabase.io