Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.34.12-13
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sudarśanaḥ
—
Sudarśana (one of beautiful appearance)
Su (beautiful) + darśana (appearance). The very name that became his trap — beauty became pride. Gauḍīyas note the irony: he is finally beautiful only after the python-curse runs its course and Kṛṣṇa's foot restores him.
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rūpa-darpitaḥ
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puffed up because of his beauty
Rūpa (form, beauty) + darpita (made proud, from √dṛp). The classical Bhāgavata diagnosis: every fall begins with darpa, pride in some self-possessed asset. Bhakti is incompatible with darpa — it can only flow downhill, into the humble.
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āṅgirasaḥ
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of the disciplic line of Aṅgirā Muni
The sages mocked are not random foresters but holders of Vedic paramparā. Gauḍīyas underline: offending paramparā-vaiṣṇavas/ṛṣis is the surest route to a snake-body. Vaiṣṇava-aparādha and ṛṣi-aparādha are the most expensive sins.
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svena pāpmanā
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by his own sinful action
Sva (one's own) + pāpman (sin, evil — instrumental pāpmanā). Sudarśana does not blame the sages; he diagnoses himself. The verse models the first ethical step of return: ownership. Mercy comes most easily to those who name their own pāpa.
I was a well known (sruta) vidyadhara named Sudarsana. I used to move around here and there for amusement (disah acaran) in my airplane. As a result of my sin (svena papmana) I received birth as a snake by the rsis who I had laughed at (pralabdhaih taih).
By the touch of the Lord he also developed bhakti. That is indicated by his words. He is still called a snake (sarpa uvāca) because his present body was simply a transformation of the snake body. With humility he says, “I was known as a (kaścit) Vidyādhara named Sudarśana.” I was endowed with a wealth of beauty in my form. I would wander about in my airplane for fun. I mocked some sages of Aṅgirasā’s line who had deformed bodies because of austerities, because of my sins. Or, I attained the snake body because of my sins. Thus the sages were not at fault.
I was some Vidyādhara. This shows his humility and also indicates he was the best Vidyādhara. His name Sudarśana (pleasant to see) indicates he had a beautiful form. With a wealth of beauty and glory I would travel about. Or I was endowed with beauty because of many features of my form. I would wander here and there for play. The sages in Aṅgirā’s lineage were naturally deformed and because of austerity had become thin. Proud of my beauty, I mocked them by laughing loudly. They did not become angry. They were not at fault. It was his sin.
Sudarśana the Vidyādhara — owner of beauty, fortune, and a flying vimāna — mocked some plain-looking ascetics, and his vimāna-fortune turned into a python's belly. Pride in form is a moth circling its own lamp; sooner or later the wings burn off, and only the fall makes the soul look up.
In Bhāgavatam 10.10, two Yakṣa princes, sons of Kuvera, are cursed by Nārada for showing off their drunken pride before him; they take birth as a pair of arjuna trees in Nanda's courtyard. The curse turns out to be their liberation — Kṛṣṇa, dragging the mortar, uproots both trees and the imprisoned souls return to their svarūpa.
Gauḍīyas read Sudarśana, Nalakūvara, and Maṇigrīva as the same teaching, three times told: privileged demigods, intoxicated by aiśvarya, mock a sage; the curse looks like ruin; the curse is in fact the appointment with Kṛṣṇa's foot or hand. Mercy disguised as misfortune.
My note
Source: vedabase.io