Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.32.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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abhajataḥ
—
with those who do not reciprocate
Negation of bhajataḥ — those who do not serve, do not return love. The verb is the same; the prefix flips the case. Love that operates regardless of reciprocity is the higher dharma Kṛṣṇa is praising.
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karuṇāḥ
—
merciful
From √kṛp — to feel compassion, to lament. Karuṇa is the bhāva of mercy that flows toward the suffering or undeserving. In Bhāgavata, Bhagavān's karuṇā is the prime mover of His avatāras — He descends because the suffering jīvas cannot rise.
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pitarau
—
parents
Dual of pitṛ — the father-and-mother pair. Parental love is Gauḍīya theology's central analogy for vātsalya-rasa, the rasa in which Yaśodā and Nanda serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa here cites parents as the human exemplar of unconditional service.
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nirapavādaḥ
—
faultless
Compound: nir- (without) + apavāda (exception, reproach). Dharma-nirapavāda = dharma to which no exception can be raised. Kṛṣṇa names parent-like love as the dharma with no loophole. The gopīs, He implies, are practicing exactly this dharma toward Him.
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su - madhyamāḥ
—
O slender-waisted ones
Compound vocative: su- (well-) + madhyamāḥ (middle, waist). A tender pet-name in Sanskrit love-poetry. The dialogue's gravity (dharma-doctrine) is wrapped in mādhurya address: even while teaching dharma, He speaks like a lover.
Krsna here answers the second question. "Those who respect those who do not give respect, who respect without expectations, are divided into two types: those without family relationship and those with family relationship, such as merciful persons and father and mother. The merciful persons are the pure devotees. Among these we see unconditional mercy arising in persons like Prahlada. Both these types do not expect response. And the happiness and distress of the persons who do not respect them, becomes the happiness and distress of the pure devotee and the mother and father. Even after death they do not give up their respect. Among these the pure devotees are the best, and the mother and father are second class. In both cases , dharma, being without desire for results, is permanent (nirapavadah). Their prema (suahrdah) is also permanent. O beautiful women (sumadhyama)!" Sumadhyama can also be interpreted as follows. "This splendid (su) riddle you have placed in the middle (madhyama) of the other two. Because for the first and last questions I give examples of degraded persons, the questions themselves are not respectable." Or it can mean, "This middle answer actually is directed towards you gopis. You are the personification of the middle question’s answer."
This is well known (vai). Parents are used as an example to show that they respond to both those who do not show them affection and those who do. This is faultless dharma and faultless friendship. The word ca indicates that nirapavādaḥ should modify both words. O thin-waisted gopīs! All such good qualities exist in you. You are the testimony that such people exist. This shows his cleverness so that they will worship him. Or, having rejected dharma and friendship based on motivated reciprocation, he shows real dharma and friendship based on pure reciprocation. He shows their spotless nature by citing the example of compassion in parents who respect even their children who do not respond properly. Friendship is clearly manifested in those with compassion. Dharma is manifested generally by parents following rules of household life and protecting the children.
Some do not reciprocate, out of misery or because they are infants. This is well known (vai). Parents are used as an example to show causeless, natural compassion. The Lord says: sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ sutarāṁ mat-kṛtātmanām darśanān no bhaved bandhaḥ puṁso ’kṣṇoḥ savitur yathā When one is face to face with the sun, there is no longer darkness for one’s eyes. Similarly, when one is face to face with a merciful devotee, who is fully peaceful and surrendered to the Supreme Lord, one will no longer be subject to material bondage. SB 10.10.41 Commenting on this verse Śrīdhara Svāmī says, “The devotees are most merciful (sādhūnām) and they do not take offense seriously (sama-cittānām). Because they are constantly devoted to me (mat-kṛtātmanām), the other two qualities naturally follow.” There are two types: merciful persons and parents. Or both are given as examples. Ca should be added after pitarau. Their dharma is perfect (nirapavādaḥ) since they do not expect response and they help out of great compassion. Their friendship is perfect since it is based on natural affection. Parents cannot have dharma if they do not protect their children. One should examine the dharma of mother and father. They and the merciful have dharma. O beautiful women! That dharma is beauty. Or that dharma shines in you. This is his skill to have them worship him.
Parents love the infant who returns nothing; the karuṇa-soul loves the indifferent. This is the higher category, Kṛṣṇa says — dharma-nirapavāda, dharma without exception. The image is precise: a mother's milk does not check whether the child has earned it. This is the form of love Kṛṣṇa names as truer than barter.
In SB 10.9, mother Yaśodā ties Kṛṣṇa to the mortar with all the love a mother can muster — even though her toddler had just smashed her butter pot and clearly does not 'reciprocate' her labor in any market-rational way.
This verse's karuṇāḥ pitarau yathā ('like merciful parents') is Yaśodā in shorthand. Vraja vātsalya is the case-study of love that does not need reciprocity to exist. Kṛṣṇa is teaching the gopīs from inside His own mother's mood.
My note
Source: vedabase.io