• kathyatām — please tell
  Passive imperative from √kath. Kṛṣṇa speaks in the polite passive — 'let it be told' — not the curt active. The form itself shows praśraya: the Lord is asking, not commanding.
• pitaḥ — O father
  Vocative of pitṛ. The address is filial, not philosophical. Whatever doctrine is about to follow will be spoken son-to-father, inside vātsalya — Gauḍīyas note this carefully: even the dismantling of karma-kāṇḍa happens in rasa.
• phalam — the result
  From √phal — fruit, result. The first of Kṛṣṇa's four probing questions. By asking what 'fruit' is sought, He frames the ritual as karma-kāṇḍa from word one; this will become the wedge for His whole argument.
• uddeśaḥ — intended object
  From ud + √diś — that toward which the offering is aimed. Coupled with phalam, the pair surface the karma-kāṇḍa formula: a fruit for me, a target for the offering. Kṛṣṇa is going to show both ends are misaligned.
• makhaḥ — the sacrifice
  A Vedic word for yajña. By using the technical term, Kṛṣṇa concedes the form of what is being done — He is not opposing yajña as such; He will only redirect its object. This same word returns in verse 25 when He proposes a new makha for Govardhana.

• Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-24-03
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Sarvabhauma Pr SB 10-24-03-04 - 2022-09-24 ISKCON Vrindavan
  His Grace Sarvabhauma Prabhu· 2022-09-24· English
• Bhanu Sw SB 10-24-03 - 2006-03-19
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· 2006-03-19· English

A son apprenticed in his father's workshop pauses, gestures at the half-built wheel, and asks, 'Whom is this for, and how will it be finished?' The question gathers the workshop's whole purpose into one breath. Kṛṣṇa, the apprentice-son in Nanda's household, does the same to the indra-yāga — four questions in one verse, designed to make the elders state, out loud, what they are actually doing.