Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.23.3
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
deva-yajanam
—
the sacrificial arena
Compound: deva (demigod) + yajanam (worship). The very name confesses the limit — worship aimed at devas, not at Bhagavān. Gītā 7.23 (devān deva-yajo yānti) is the doctrinal twin: such worshipers reach the devas only.
-
brahma-vādinaḥ
—
followers of the Vedic injunctions
Compound: brahma (Veda) + vādinaḥ (speakers). They speak the Veda — yet Bhāgavatam will show they cannot recognize the Veda's speaker standing in front of them. Knowledge of śabda without knowledge of the śabda-vāc is the chapter's diagnosis.
-
āṅgirasam
—
Āṅgirasa (sacrifice)
From the sage Aṅgirā — a satra-yajña of long duration. The Lord knows the technical name; He sends the boys at the precise procedural moment when food can be lawfully shared (see verse 8).
-
svarga-kāmyayā
—
with the motive of promotion to heaven
Compound: svarga (heaven) + kāmyayā (out of desire). The exact word Gītā 2.43 condemns as 'kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parāḥ.' Bhakti is niṣkāma; this yajña is sakāma — and that is why it cannot see Kṛṣṇa.
To show the brahmanas that he does not give mercy to those who do not have bhakti even though they are endowed with austerity, knowledge and religious principles, and that he gives mercy to those have bhakti, their wives, even though they lack knowledge and austerity, Krsna sent the boys to the brahmanas.
Go to the sacrificial arena (deva-yajanam). They are chanting the Vedas, but do not know the meaning of the Vedas. They are performing a sacrifice for elevation to Svarga.
Go to the sacrificial arena (deva-yajanam). They are chanting the Vedas, but do not know the meaning of the Vedas. Or they do not know how to chant the Vedas (abrahma-vādinaḥ), nor do they know the meaning. Thus they are performing a sacrifice for elevation to Svarga. Hi indicates certainty. In the next verse he puts himself in a lower position and glorifies Balarāma. Though he had all good qualities like humility, his statement indicates lack of respect for them, as they desired Svarga.
Sending boys with empty bowls into a hall of fire-worshippers seeking heaven, Kṛṣṇa is staging a contrast: ritual without bhakti is a ladder built to a finite roof; bhakti is the open sky. The Āṅgirasa-yajña reaches for svarga; the brāhmaṇīs in the next room will reach Him.
Five-year-old Dhruva went to the forest seeking a kingdom higher than his stepmother's lap. When the Lord appeared, all the heavens were already in his grasp — and he wept, realizing he had asked for broken glass while standing before a jeweler.
The Āṅgirasa-yajñikas in this verse make the same error in the opposite direction: they perform elaborate yajña aimed at svarga, while the Lord of all yajñas is walking by their gate hungry.
My note
Source: vedabase.io