Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.85.46
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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śādhi
—
please instruct, command
Imperative of √śās ('to rule, instruct'). The same root as śāstra. Bali asks Bhagavān to be his śāstra in person. The Gauḍīya principle: the order of the Lord/guru is higher than abstract scriptural commands.
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niṣpāpān
—
free from sin
Compound: nir + pāpa. Bali asks not for material favors but for purification. The result of executing Bhagavān's order is automatic niṣpāpatā — sinlessness is a side-effect of obedience.
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śraddhayā
—
with faith
Instrumental of śraddhā. The single ingredient that makes obedience real. BG 4.39: śraddhā-vāl labhate jñānam. Without śraddhā, even perfect ritual is empty; with śraddhā, the order itself becomes mokṣa-dāyi.
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codanāyāḥ vimucyate
—
becomes free from (the binding force of) Vedic injunction
Ablative + passive: codanā (Vedic command) + vi + √muc. The remarkable claim: faithful service to Bhagavān's order releases one from the obligatory force of ritual injunctions. The Gauḍīya doctrine that bhakti is sva-tantra — independent of karma-kāṇḍa.
The ācāryas explain Bali’s thoughts as follows. Reflecting on the possibility that his request for immediate deliverance may have been too bold, Bali Mahārāja considers that first he will need to become sufficiently purified. In any case, he thinks, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma must have come to him for some specific purpose; if he can receive the Lords’ order and carry it out, that will be his best opportunity for purification. Indeed, as Bali states, a devotee acting under the Personality of Godhead’s instruction need no longer follow the sacrificial injunctions and prohibitions of the Vedas.
"Now please inform me of the purpose of your appearing like this before me. Please give your order, O lord of those who are controlled, O master!" "But what qualification do you have to follow my instruction?" "Make me sinless: though I am incapable of doing so myself, by hearing that order I will become purified. Give that order which will free me from all the injunctions and prohibitions of scripture (codana), so that I am not merely a slave to the rules."
If you do not give this mercy plentifully to me, devoid of good fortune, then please tell me your purpose in coming. By this I can become successful. Please instruct me a little. The Lord is qualified for this. Under you exist Brahmā and other leaders (īśa) who need to be instructed (īśitavya)! You should not think that we are suitable for your instructions. Make us free of obstacles to bhakti (niṣpāpān). If you consent to instruct us, with the destruction of obstacles, our qualification will be accomplished. He gives proof. A person who faithfully follows the ordinary, traditional injunctions of the Vedas, what to speak of your direct instructions, is freed from sin.
- What instruction from God have I been receiving but not yet obeying?
- Where am I asking for clarity I already have?
A soldier asks the general: 'Just tell me what to do — no more guessing.' Bali offers the simplest and hardest of all prayers: command me. He surrenders the very capacity to choose. With that, even Vedic rites are subsumed in śraddhā.
My note
Source: vedabase.io