FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.9.6

सञ्जातकोप: स्फुरितारुणाधरं सन्दश्य दद्भ‍िर्दधिमन्थभाजनम् । भित्त्वा मृषाश्रुर्द‍ृषदश्मना रहो जघास हैयङ्गवमन्तरं गत: ॥ ६ ॥
sañjāta-kopaḥ sphuritāruṇādharaṁ
[sanjaata-kopah sphuritaarunaadharam]
sandaśya dadbhir dadhi-mantha-bhājanam
[sandashya dadbhir dadhi-mantha-bhaajanam]
bhittvā mṛṣāśrur dṛṣad-aśmanā raho
[bhittvaa mrishaashrur drishad-ashmanaa raho]
jaghāsa haiyaṅgavam antaraṁ gataḥ
[jaghaasa haiyangavam antaram gatah]
sañjāta - kopaḥ — in this way, Kṛṣṇa being very angry sphurita - aruṇa - adharam — swollen reddish lips sandaśya — capturing dadbhiḥ — by His teeth dadhi - mantha - bhājanam — the pot in which yogurt was being churned bhittvā — breaking mṛṣā - aśruḥ — with false tears in the eyes dṛṣat - aśmanā — with a piece of stone rahaḥ — in a solitary place jaghāsa — began to eat haiyaṅgavam — the freshly churned butter antaram — within the room gataḥ — having gone .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sañjāta-kopaḥ sphuritāruṇādharaṁ
sañjāta - kopaḥ
in this way, Kṛṣṇa being very angry
sphurita - aruṇa - adharam
swollen reddish lips
sandaśya dadbhir dadhi-mantha-bhājanam
sandaśya
capturing
dadbhiḥ
by His teeth
dadhi - mantha - bhājanam
the pot in which yogurt was being churned
bhittvā
breaking
bhittvā mṛṣāśrur dṛṣad-aśmanā raho
mṛṣā - aśruḥ
with false tears in the eyes
dṛṣat - aśmanā
with a piece of stone
rahaḥ
in a solitary place
jaghāsa haiyaṅgavam antaraṁ gataḥ
jaghāsa
began to eat
haiyaṅgavam
the freshly churned butter
antaram
within the room
gataḥ
having gone .
  • sañjāta-kopaḥ — Kṛṣṇa being very angry
    Compound: sañjāta (arisen) + kopaḥ (anger). Anger has 'arisen' in Him — note the participle: the anger is staged, not intrinsic. Bhagavān's emotional repertoire is His to deploy for the devotee's rasa.
  • mṛṣā-aśruḥ — with false tears
    mṛṣā (false) + aśru (tear). The Bhāgavatam itself flags the tears as mṛṣā — the poet refuses to let any reader mistake līlā for psychology. Even the tears are art.
  • dadhi-mantha-bhājanam — the pot in which yogurt was being churned
    Compound: dadhi (yogurt) + mantha (churning) + bhājanam (pot). The very vessel Yaśodā filled for Him becomes the vessel He breaks — to provoke her search. Vraja's līlā recycles its own props.
  • haiyaṅgavam — freshly churned butter
    From hyas (yesterday) + go (cow) — milk yielded today from yesterday's milking. Kṛṣṇa's favorite. The chapter is named in the popular tradition Dāmodara-līlā but it could equally be called the haiyaṅgava-līlā — butter is its prop and its prize.
  • rahaḥ — in a solitary place
    Indeclinable: in private, in secret. The Supreme who is everywhere chooses a secret corner — Gauḍīya emblem of the rāsa-līlā logic, where the Lord stages intimacy in seclusion.
Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Kṛṣṇa, with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt with a piece of stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a solitary place.

It is natural that when a child becomes angry he can begin crying with false tears in his eyes. So Kṛṣṇa did this, and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, He broke the pot with a stone, entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Kṛṣṇa, with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt with a piece of stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a solitary place.
Commentary

Though it was useless (mrsasru), he shed tears as this is the nature of a small child. He used a stone (drsad asmana) in order to make a hole in the pot without making any sound. He went into another room and ate butter made from the previous day’s milk (haiyangavam)

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

His display of anger describes the special sweetness of his infant pastimes filled with affection for his mother. His pastime was real since emotions arose within his mind and his actions were performed in private, not displayed for others to see. His tears were useless from a mature view point, but were natural to his infancy. Bhaṭṭi has written a verse “He did not see her face. His senses were useless.” Or, sometimes Kṛṣṇa fakes crying but today the tears were real (amṛṣa) because he was unsatisfied. With a stone, not making any noise, he made a small hole in the pot and then went into the storeroom. He ate butter taken from the first churning of the previous day’s cow milk.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

He was angry because of being left along and because he was not satisfied with drinking her milk. His display of anger describes the special sweetness of his infant pastimes, being filled with affection for his mother or because of his natural reaction at that time. He had false tears to fool his mother, since there was no real cause for them. Or, sometimes Kṛṣṇa fakes crying but today the tears were real (amṛṣa) because he was unsatisfied. With a stone, not making any noise, he made a small hole in the bottom of the pot and then went into the storeroom. He ate butter from the hanging pots. He took a mortar, turned it upside down and climbed on it. He ate because he was hungry or out of anger.

Related values
Seva (Service / Selfless Action)Prema (Divine Love)Samata (Equanimity / Even-mindedness)Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Nishkama Karma (Selfless Action)Hrih (Modesty / Sense of Shame)
Related verses
Even Kṛṣṇa's mock anger and false tears are pastimes drawing us in — the Lord stages līlā so bhaktas can taste His sweetness, not judge His act.
Practical Applications
  • Notice today where you stage 'false tears' to manipulate an outcome — and contrast that ahaṅkāra-driven theatre with Kṛṣṇa's selfless, devotee-attracting līlā.
  • When a child or junior breaks something in petulance, respond with karuṇā for the soul rather than reactive anger at the body's mischief.
  • Refuse to reduce Kṛṣṇa to a naughty boy — meditate on this verse remembering He is the supreme Personality of Godhead playing sweetly to bind the hearts of His devotees.

An actor playing a wounded king sheds tears the audience knows are scripted — yet the audience weeps anyway, drawn into the play. Kṛṣṇa's mock anger and false tears are līlā's craft: He stages the wound so the bhakta's heart will run toward Him. The tears are not real, but the bhāva they evoke is.

Caitanya's staged emotions

In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Mahāprabhu in Purī sometimes performed grief and ecstasy with such intensity that devotees feared He would die. Yet Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya knew His emotions, though theatrically intense, were the deepest reality — bhāva that ordinary mortals could not even glimpse.

Like bāla-Kṛṣṇa's mṛṣā-aśru, Caitanya's external displays bound His devotees more tightly. Gauḍīya tradition reads both as proof that Bhagavān's 'theatre' is more real than the world's facts.

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