Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.88.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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daśa-āsya
—
the ten-headed (Rāvaṇa)
Contiguous (daśa + āsya). Ten faces, one delusion. The Bhāgavatam names him here without honor — sloka-economy is doctrinal.
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bāṇayoḥ
—
and of Bāṇa
Dual genitive — Rāvaṇa and Bāṇa together as one cautionary pair. Both are explicit ahead-of-time prefigurations of Vṛka.
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stuvatoḥ vandinoḥ iva
—
who sang his glories like minstrels
Contiguous (stuvatoḥ + vandinoḥ + iva). Vandin = paid court-singer. Cutting Gauḍīya distinction: stuti without surrender, praise without prapatti, is hireling-work. Bhakti is not flattery.
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aiśvaryam atulam
—
unequaled power
Contiguous (aiśvaryam + atulam). The gift itself was peerless — the problem was not the size of the gift but the heart of the recipient.
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su-saṅkaṭam
—
great difficulty
Contiguous (su + saṅkaṭam). Saṅkaṭa returns — the third drumbeat of the word in the chapter. Each time Śiva opens his hand to an unqualified asura, a saṅkaṭa follows.
Rāvaṇa worshiped Lord Śiva to gain power and then misused that power to uproot the lord’s residence, sacred Kailāsa-parvata. On Bāṇāsura’s request, Lord Śiva agreed to personally guard Bāṇa’s capital, and later he had to fight for Bāṇa against Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His sons.
Siva fell into difficulty because of the uprooting of Kailasa and his having to protect Banasura’s city.
“If that is so, I am afraid.” Do not worry. Śiva will not be able to do anything to you once you have obtained the benediction from him. He shows this by examples. Bāṇa and Rāvaṇa chanted like bards because they had strong desires. Because of Bāṇa, Śiva fell into great difficulty. He suffered from fighting with the Lord when Bāṇa requested him to fight on his behalf. The example is taken from a previous kalpa (since the incident with Vṛka happened long before Kṛṣṇa’s birth).
Examples are given of Śiva being easily pleased, though this was not requested.
- What 'formula' have I used and gotten results from without the worthiness behind it?
- Where could I worry less about results and more about the soul that asks?
An emperor used to bestow swords on bards who praised him — until the day two of his bards turned the same swords against his ministers. So Rāvaṇa and Bāṇa, having sung Śiva's glories like court-bards, received unparalleled aiśvarya — and immediately used it to terrorize the very devas Śiva had to defend. Praise alone is not bhakti.
In the Rāmāyaṇa, Rāvaṇa offered his own ten heads into the fire to please Śiva and received the boon of near-invincibility against devas and asuras. Then he used it to abduct Sītā and harass the worlds — Śiva had no easy recourse.
Gauḍīyas read Rāvaṇa as the verse's lead exhibit: vandinaḥ-iva — like a paid singer, not a devotee. The Lord's praise without His pleasure is hollow currency.
Bāṇa was a great Śiva-devotee who received the boon of a thousand arms and a guarantee of Śiva's personal protection. When his daughter Ūṣā loved Aniruddha (Kṛṣṇa's grandson), Bāṇa imprisoned the boy — and Kṛṣṇa came. Even Śiva, fighting alongside Bāṇa, could not save him; Kṛṣṇa cut down all but two of his arms (SB 10.62–63).
The chapter's prefigured ending: when Śiva's gift threatens the larger order, Viṣṇu alone resolves the saṅkaṭa.
My note
Source: vedabase.io