Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.61
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sneha
—
affection
From √snih (to be sticky, oily). Affection is the oil that makes hearts adhere. Gauḍīyas treat sneha as a named stage in the prema-development scale (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu): it follows prema and precedes māna, raised by anubandham.
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pāśaḥ
—
noose
From √paś (to bind). The noose. Used elsewhere of Varuṇa's binding. Gauḍīyas note the doctrine: sneha is a pāśa not because it should be avoided but because it cannot be cut by ordinary means — it can only be redirected to Kṛṣṇa.
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dustyajam
—
difficult to free oneself from
dus + tyaj (to give up). Hard to renounce. Gauḍīyas note that the same word appears at BG 18.5 — yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyam — about acts that should not even be tried to be renounced. The reading is layered: sneha is dustyaja and that is its dignity.
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yoginām
—
for yogīs
Genitive plural of yogin. Paired with śūrāṇām (heroes) — two categories of the spiritually capable, both unable to cut the noose of sneha. Gauḍīyas use this to argue that sneha is above the registers of vīrya and yoga — it is in the register of bhakti, where only surrender works.
Heroic leaders of men try to transcend their petty attachments by force of will, while introspective yogīs pursue knowledge for the same purpose. But the Lord’s illusory energy, Māyā, is much stronger than any conditioned soul. Only by taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Māyā, can one become immune to her influence.
I think these bonds of affection are hard to cut (durbhidam) for warriors by their strength or hard to give up (dustyajam) by yogis by their knowledge. The extra verb (durbhidam) should be added. The meaning is "You two are firmly day and night bound by the ropes of affection to my two sons."
In four verses Vasudeva indicates that they are all dependent on Nanda. He addresses Nanda as a brother. Since we are brothers there is no difference in how we see our children. Since affection is created by the Lord it is difficult to overcome.
O brother! In friendship there is no difference between brothers and friends. Because they are made by the Lord, bonds of affection are hard to give up.
- Whose presence in my life do I see as accidental that may be divinely tied?
- How does seeing my bonds as God's handiwork change how I tend them?
Vasudeva names sneha — affection — as a noose tied by Bhagavān Himself. Heroes and yogīs cannot cut it; only the One who tied it can untie. The verse confesses the binding-cord that even Kṛṣṇa's own father wears, openly, in front of Vraja's foster-father.
When Yaśodā tried to bind the infant Kṛṣṇa, every rope she had was two finger-widths short. The rope of love, the Bhāgavatam suggests, is the rope Bhagavān ties — and only His consent makes the binding work.
Gauḍīyas read Vasudeva's confession here through that scene: the binding is sweet, and yet only the Lord who ties can release. Sneha is yoga-māyā in cord-form.
My note
Source: vedabase.io