Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.83.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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nārada - gītam
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sung by Nārada
Nārada (Nārada Muni) + gītam (sung). Śravaṇa-bhakti's emblem-source: the wandering muni's vīṇā. Gauḍīya tradition holds that all four sampradāyas trace back to Nārada in one way or another — every Hari-kathā being sung today is downstream of his gītam.
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mukunde
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in/on Mukunda
Locative of Mukunda — He who gives mukti. Lakṣmaṇā's heart fixes on the name that promises liberation, but she does not ask for liberation; she asks for Mukunda Himself. Gauḍīya: the name carries the bhāva regardless of its semantic content.
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padma - hastayā
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by her of the lotus-hand (Lakṣmī)
Padma (lotus) + hasta (hand). A title of Mahā-Lakṣmī. The verse invokes Lakṣmī as the precedent: even she, with all the world's suitors, chose Kṛṣṇa after careful weighing. Lakṣmaṇā's own choice is thus aligned with the goddess of fortune's own.
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su - sammṛśya
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having carefully considered
Su (well) + sam (fully) + √mṛś (to weigh, to touch with thought). The verse insists Lakṣmī's choice was deliberate — not impulse. Bhakti is not weakness of judgment; it is the most careful judgment, after which all rival options are vihāya — set aside.
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vṛtaḥ
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chosen
Past participle of √vṛ — to choose. The same root as svayaṁ-vara. Lakṣmī's vara is named here as the precedent for Lakṣmaṇā's own vara: the goddess chose, the king's daughter chose, in unbroken line.
My heart was (asa) attached to Mukunda. He was chosen ( vrtah) by me, holding a lotus in my hand, after I had refused the protectors of the directions as my husband.
Lakṣmaṇā then spoke. She thought that the other queens spoke their stories of their good fortune very briefly because of shyness, though the events were full of the highest bliss. She then thought that perhaps Draupadī’s and her own wedding were most attractive. Being proud of these two weddings, taking advantage after the senior seven queens, she began speaking of her own wedding in detail without restraint. I heard of the birth from Devakī of Kṛṣṇa, full of all powers (acyutasya), and heard of his activities in Gokula, and his form and qualities as well. “Bhadrā became attracted to him because of knowing of his birth, since he was close as a cousin. How did you hear about him?” I heard through Nārada constantly and became constantly attracted to him. The word ha indicates joy. “But it is not proper to be attracted to someone who has many other lovers.” On considering this, she says that he alone was her goal. Lakṣmī, holding the lotus, having many attractive gestures, on considering carefully (su and sam indicate her ability to do so), she rejected Brahmā, Śiva and others completely, without even looking at them, and chose Mukunda at the time of churning the Milk Ocean. I became attracted to him alone, with similar consideration. Or, my heart was attracted to Mukunda. Fixed on him alone after careful consideration, with lotus in hand, giving up all the great kings, I chose him. This is also suggested by taking the second part of the verse as the actions of Lakṣmī. She speaks the pastime in brief in this verse and the gives details in the following verses.
- What repeated hearing has shaped my heart's attraction?
- What new hearing could shape it further?
Lakṣmaṇā heard Nārada sing Kṛṣṇa's birth and deeds over and over — and the cittam followed the sound the way iron follows a magnet. Even Padmahastā Lakṣmī, with every demigod-suitor to choose from, chose Him after careful consideration; Lakṣmaṇā places herself in that lineage. Her route is śravaṇa-vivāha: ears first, heart following, body brought by the father.
Nārada Muni travels the three worlds singing Hari-kathā with his vīṇā. SB 1.5-6 records his own origin story: as the son of a maidservant, he ate the remnants of sages, heard kṛṣṇa-kathā, and his heart was bound forever.
Lakṣmaṇā's verse credits Nārada's gītam — the chanted glorification — with fixing her cittam on Mukunda. Gauḍīya tradition treats this as the standard pattern: bhakti enters through the ear-cup, and once the citta has chosen, the body and family arrangements follow. Nārada's vīṇā has produced many such marriages — Dhruva, Prahlāda, Mṛgāri the hunter — though only Lakṣmaṇā's was a literal wedding.
My note
Source: vedabase.io