Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.37
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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prapañcam niṣprapañcaḥ api
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imitating the material world though You are non-material
Phrase: prapañca (material expansion) + niṣ-prapañca (free of expansion). The pradoṣa-stotra's signature: Kṛṣṇa is structurally niṣprapañca, yet performs prapañca-like activities. Acintya-bhedābheda in verb form.
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viḍambayasi
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You imitate
Second person of vi-√ḍamb. The technical term for the avatāra's apparent participation in the material register. Kṛṣṇa does not actually need food, sleep, family — He viḍambayati these activities for the devotee's ānanda.
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prapanna-janatā-ānanda-sandoham
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the mass of bliss for the surrendered devotees
Compound: prapanna (surrendered) + janatā (community) + ānanda (bliss) + sandoha (mass, abundance). The avatāra's prayojana is sandoha — not a measured bliss but a mass. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu treats this as Kṛṣṇa-līlā's official telos.
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prathitum
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to expand
Infinitive of pra-√thā. To spread out. The purpose-clause of avatāra: to spread devotee-bliss. The Gauḍīya understanding: bhakti is not extracted by the devotee; it is produced by Bhagavān's līlā and shared.
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prabho
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O master
Vocative of prabhu. Brahmā keeps addressing Bhagavān as 'master' even while describing Him doing apparently un-masterly things (eating, hiding, weeping). Aiśvarya never leaves the picture; it is precisely the master who consents to viḍambana.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that just as a lamp does not seem to shine as brightly in sunlight as it does in the shade, or as a diamond does not seem as brilliant on a silver platter as it does on a plate of blue glass, the Lord’s pastimes as Govinda do not seem as amazing in the transcendental abode of Vaikuṇṭha as they do within the material realm of Māyā. Lord Kṛṣṇa comes to the earth and acts toward His pure devotees exactly like a devoted son, boyfriend, husband, father, friend and so on, and within the darkness of material existence these brilliant, liberated pastimes give unlimited ecstasy to the surrendered devotees of the Lord. In his Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes Lord Brahmā as follows: “I can also understand that Your appearance as a small cowherd boy, a child of the cowherd men, is not at all a material activity. You are so much obliged by their affection that You are here to enthuse them with more loving service by Your transcendental presence.”
Some think that the purna brahma becoming a son in Vraja is not real, not absolute and that those devotees are in illusion. In reply to this Brahma recites this verse. "Though you are always beyond the material influence, you always are situated within the material world, and take up forms and relationships similar to material forms and relationships of sons, but your form and relationships are not false like those of material fathers and sons. Those forms and relationships, being transcendental, are real and eternal. Though your pastimes are eternal and beyond material influence, they appear similar to material activities. Why do you need to imitate material activities? --In order to increase even further the bliss that the devotees have tasted from some of your pastimes. As a lamp appears bright in the darkness, but is insignificant in the sunlight, or a diamond does not glitter on a white background but appears brilliant against a dark background, the pastimes do not appear so astonishing in Vaikuntha as they do when performed in the material world. Though Vraja is spiritual, just as Krsna appears like a mortal person, so Vraja also appears like part of the material world. In this place the pastimes appear most wonderful."
What is the purpose of your pastimes? They are to spread intense bliss to the surrendered people—those in Vraja and myself, by sweet pastimes rather than pastimes displaying power. nandaḥ kim akarod brahman śreya evaṁ mahodayam yaśodā ca mahā-bhāgā papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ What pious acts did Nanda perform to cause such affection and what pious acts did most fortunate Yaśodā perform so that the Lord drank from her breast? SB 10.8.46 pitarau nānvavindetāṁ kṛṣṇodārārbhakehitam gāyanty adyāpi kavayo yal loka-śamalāpaham Great devotees sing of the activities of Kṛṣṇa in his childhood which Vasudeva and Devakī could not experience and which even today destroy the sins of all people. SB 10.8.47 yena yenāvatāreṇa bhagavān harir īśvaraḥ karoti karṇa-ramyāṇi mano-jṣāni ca naḥ prabho yac-chṛṇvato ’paity aratir vitṛṣṇā sattvaṁ ca śuddhyaty acireṇa puṁsaḥ bhaktir harau tat-puruṣe ca sakhyaṁ tad eva hāraṁ vada manyase cet O Lord! Hearing about the Lord, full of all qualities, destroyer, of suffering, attractor of the senses, who through his appearance causes pleasure to the ears and great attraction to the mind, destroys all disinterest in the topics and all thirst for material enjoyment, and produces prema for the attractive Lord and friendship with the devotees. Please speak of the Lord’s pastimes if you think I am qualified. SB 10.7.1-2 The pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the people of Vraja are eternal. This is indicated in the verse 32 where the friendship of the Lord is unspecified in time and followed by the words “greatest bliss,” “complete” and “eternal.” Verse 33 again indicates that the pastimes are eternal. In giving up Vaikuṇṭha and praying for a birth to attain the foot dust of the people of Vraja and describing the Lord who is the life of the people of Vraja, sought by the Vedas, again the eternal nature of the pastimes is seen. Not able to repay his debts, the Lord then appears in the world as a son over unlimited kalpas of time. Though there are many people filled with attachment and illusion, this is no obstacle to the pastimes. Brahmā takes as his personal goal in life attainment of the form of Kṛṣṇa a cowherd described in verse 1, related to the people of Vraja and to the devotees outside. Brahmā fears that some people with material vision think that the pastimes are material. What can be said? This verse answers. Though you are untouched by matter in your pastimes and constantly engage in pastimes with your devotees, and appear in the material world with your devotees, you imitate the material world by being born like a human but show the great glory by that act. “What is the purpose of doing that?” It gives joy to the devotees. Both the people of this world who are not eternal and the surrendered devotees who are eternal derive bliss by seeing and hearing about the eternal pastimes which manifest on earth. An ocean of bliss spreads because of the pastimes which appear on earth.
Though you are beyond the material world, you imitate the world—by being a son etc. Why? You do this in order to give bliss to your devotees by hearing about your pastimes related to Vraja. Or do you really perform pastimes as a son with the devotees? You who cause others to exit the material world (nisprapaṣcaḥ) become fixed (vilambayasi) in spreading bliss by pastimes with the peopḷe of Vraja (praptanna-janatā).
- Tamohara Pr SB 10-14-37 - 2013-01-18 ISKCON Alachua
- Bhakti Vikas Sw SB 10-14-37 - Janmastami Lecture
- Bhanu Sw SB 10-14-37 - Krsna%27s activities are not material - ISKCON Chennai
- BKG SB 10-14-37 - Purports of the Acaryas - 2020-01-28 New Goloka
- JAS SB 10-14-37 - Sri Krishna Janmastami - 2013-08-28 Los Angeles
- MNS SB 10-14-37 - Prema Madhurya
- PrahladAnS SB 10-14-37 - Attached to the Drama - 2011-04-04 London
- Romapada Sw SB 10-14-37 - Prayers of Lord Brahma - Palatine IL
A great actor consents to play a child's part in a play put on by his children, and weeps, eats, sleeps in role — not because he must, but because their joy expands when he plays at being one of them. Kṛṣṇa, who has no material existence, mimics material life — eats with cowherds, hides from His mother, waits for the gopīs — to multiply His devotees' ānanda.
My note
Source: vedabase.io