10.52 · Rukmiṇī's Message to Lord Kṛṣṇa

• anugrahītaḥ — shown mercy
  Past participle of anu-√grah. Gauḍīyas hold that Kṛṣṇa's anugraha is the active cause of bhakti — Mucukunda's awakening is not his austerity ripening but the Lord's grace descending. The word marks the verse as a benediction, not an achievement.
• ikṣvāku-nandanaḥ — the beloved descendant of Ikṣvāku
  Compound naming Mucukunda's solar dynasty — the same lineage as Rāmacandra. Sūta keeps the dynastic frame visible to remind us that even the ancient kings of dharma are crowned only by direct darśana of Kṛṣṇa.
• parikramya — circumambulating
  From pari-√kram. Parikrama is the bodily syllable of devotion — the limbs writing a circle around the worshiped center. Mucukunda performs it before parting, the standard Vaiṣṇava etiquette before any departure from the Lord's presence.
• guhā-mukhāt — from the mouth of the cave
  Compound: guhā (cave) + mukhāt (from the mouth). The cave was Kṛṣṇa's chosen stage for the Kālayavana līlā; its mouth now becomes a birth-canal — Mucukunda is reborn out of the dark womb of long sleep into a Kṛṣṇa-conscious life.

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Mucukunda's circumambulation is a single drop tracing the perimeter of an ocean — the finite king bowing around the infinite Lord whose mercy has just burned away his enemy. The cave-mouth is the threshold between the long sleep of saṁsāra and the dawn of conscious surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

• kṣullakān — tiny
  From the root indicating smallness and meanness. In Bhāgavata usage, dwarfed stature is shorthand for compressed lifespan, shrunken memory and diminished dharma — Kali's signature. The seer's diagnostic is anatomical because the inner deficit is visible on the body.
• kali-yugam — the Age of Kali
  Compound: kali (quarrel, the fourth age) + yugam (epoch). Gauḍīyas hold that Kali is the worst age for ritual but the best for nāma-saṅkīrtana — Caitanya Mahāprabhu descended precisely to exploit this loophole.
• diśam-uttarām — the northern direction
  Uttara is the direction of the polestar Dhruva and of Badarikāśrama. Mucukunda turns toward the established axis of devotional tapas — the same north Dhruva fixed and Nara-Nārāyaṇa inhabit.

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Mucukunda steps out of one yuga and finds himself in another — like a sailor surfacing from a long dive to a shore that has shrunk in his absence. The reduced stature of beings is Kali's calling card; the only ladder out of such an age is the holy name and steady tapas pointed toward Kṛṣṇa.

• niḥsaṅgaḥ — detached from material association
  Niḥ (away from) + saṅga (clinging). Gauḍīyas distinguish dry niḥsaṅga (mere withdrawal) from yukta-vairāgya — detachment used in Kṛṣṇa's service. Mucukunda's renunciation is the second kind because his mind is already absorbed in the Lord.
• samādhāya manaḥ kṛṣṇe — fixing his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa
  Phrase joining sam-ā-√dhā (place fully) with the locative kṛṣṇe. The Bhāgavatam's whole pedagogy is in this clause — samādhi is not the emptying of mind but its full placement on the Personal Lord.
• mukta-saṁśayaḥ — free of doubts
  Compound: mukta (released) + saṁśaya (doubt). For Gauḍīyas, saṁśaya is dispelled not by argument but by Kṛṣṇa's personal darśana — Mucukunda's doubtlessness is post-darśana, not pre-darśana.
• gandhamādanam — the mountain known as Gandhamādana
  A peak in the Himalayan range near Badarikāśrama whose name means 'maddening with fragrance.' Traditional geography of bhakti — Mucukunda heads toward the same northern axis where the Pāṇḍavas later went and where Nara-Nārāyaṇa eternally tapasya.

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Mucukunda's mind is fixed on Kṛṣṇa the way a compass needle locks on north — every doubt and association melts off as friction once that single orientation is set. Tapas is not the magnet; the Lord is the magnet, and tapas only files away the rust that kept the needle stuck.

• badarī-āśramam — the hermitage Badarikāśrama
  Compound naming the holy place where Nara-Nārāyaṇa eternally perform austerity. Badarī refers to the jujube fruit on which the ṛṣis subsisted. The site is one of the few earthly addresses of an active avatāra of Viṣṇu in tapas-mode.
• nara-nārāyaṇa-ālayam — the residence of Nara-Nārāyaṇa
  Compound. Nara-Nārāyaṇa is one of Viṣṇu's puruṣa-avatāras — Nara represents the perfected jīva, Nārāyaṇa the Lord. Their pairing makes Badarī a doctrinal map of acintya-bhedābheda set in stone.
• dvandva-sahaḥ — tolerating dualities
  Compound: dvandva (pair of opposites) + sahaḥ (tolerating). Echoes Gītā 2.14's titikṣasva — the same equanimity Kṛṣṇa prescribed to Arjuna is now operative in Mucukunda after the Lord's mercy.
• harim — Lord Hari
  Hari is the Lord who removes (√hṛ) — both the sins of His devotees and their bodily distress. Mucukunda's object of worship is named not as 'the absolute' but as the Personal Hari, the same Kṛṣṇa whose glance just liberated him.

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Badarikāśrama is the original mountain temple — Nara-Nārāyaṇa themselves are doing tapas there for the welfare of all jīvas, and Mucukunda simply joins the standing offering. He does not invent worship; he steps into a worship already in progress, the way a small flame joins a larger one and adds its own brightness.

• bhagavān — the Lord
  From root √bhaj. Per Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47, Bhagavān possesses all six opulences in full — wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, renunciation. The title flags that even this mundane-looking treasure-recovery is a Bhagavān-līlā, not a war chief's raid.
• yavana-veṣṭitām — surrounded by the Yavanas
  Compound: yavana (the barbarian invader, here Kālayavana's remnant army) + veṣṭitām (surrounded). The siege image emphasizes that Mathurā is suffocated; Kṛṣṇa's return is decompressive, restoring breath to the city.
• mleccha-balam — the army of barbarians
  Compound. Mleccha denotes those outside Vedic dharma. The Bhāgavatam uses the term descriptively, not racially — the army's defining feature is its lawless conduct, and Kṛṣṇa removes it as a surgeon removes infection.
• dvārakām — to Dvārakā
  Dvārakā literally means 'the city of many gates' — Kṛṣṇa's island-fortress capital. Gauḍīyas hold Dvārakā as the seat of aiśvarya-līlā (majestic pastimes), contrasted with Vraja as the seat of mādhurya. Wealth flowing toward Dvārakā fits the rasa.

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Kṛṣṇa returns to Mathurā the way a homeowner returns to a house ringed by stray dogs — He does not negotiate; He clears the porch, takes what belongs to His people, and brings it home to Dvārakā. The wealth removed is not greed; it is the dharmic recovery of what the Yavanas seized from sages and citizens.

• acyuta-coditaiḥ — engaged by the infallible Lord
  Compound: acyuta (the infallible one, Kṛṣṇa) + coditaiḥ (engaged, impelled). Even the oxen and porters are 'engaged by Kṛṣṇa' — the verse subtly classifies them as servants of the Lord, not mere laborers. A Gauḍīya note on yukta-vairāgya in action.
• jarāsandhaḥ — Jarāsandha
  Literally 'joined by Jarā' — the demoness Jarā fused his two halves at birth. King of Magadha and Kaṁsa's father-in-law, he is Kṛṣṇa's recurring antagonist throughout this Mathurā-Dvārakā arc, the very face of asurika persistence.
• trayaḥ-viṁśati-anīka-paḥ — the leader of twenty-three armies
  Compound: trayaḥ (three) + viṁśati (twenty) + anīka (army) + paḥ (lord). The numerical specificity stresses overwhelming odds — Kṛṣṇa's coming retreat is a chosen pastime, not a forced rout.

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Jarāsandha arrives like a storm front at the end of a harvest — twenty-three armies darkening the horizon just as the oxen begin their slow walk home. Kṛṣṇa's pastimes always include such weather; the storm is part of the play, not an interruption of it.

• mādhavau — the two Mādhavas (Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma)
  Dual form. Mādhava — descendant of Madhu, also 'the Lord of Lakṣmī' (mā = śrī, dhava = husband). Used in the dual because Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa share the title as the two prakāśa of the same Bhagavān-tattva.
• manuṣya-ceṣṭām — humanlike behavior
  Compound: manuṣya (human) + ceṣṭā (gesture, behavior). Technical term for Kṛṣṇa's deliberate imitation of mortal conduct. Gauḍīyas treat it as the door through which devotional rasa enters — without it His pastimes would be too remote to relish.
• āpannau — assuming
  Past participle dual of ā-√pad. Connotes 'having taken on' a costume or role. The grammar itself signals that the fleeing is donned, not undergone.
• dudruvatuḥ — ran away
  Perfect dual of √dru (to run). The very verb the Bhāgavatam will use for the gopīs running to Kṛṣṇa in the rāsa līlā — only here the direction is reversed for the sake of the līlā. The vocabulary of motion is the same; only the heart-direction differs.

The two Mādhavas turn and run the way a king might pretend to lose at chess to draw out his opponent's queen — manuṣya-ceṣṭā, the play of imitating mortal behavior, is the costume Bhagavān wears so that the lesson lands in human terms. The flight is the script of His own play.

• abhītau — actually unafraid
  Dual: 'the two who are fearless.' The verse pins the doctrine in a single word — Bhagavān is abhaya by His own nature (cf. Taittirīya 2.4 'abhayaṁ pratiṣṭhāṁ'). The visible 'fear' is donned over an unfearable substrate.
• bhīta-vat — as if frightened
  Compound: bhīta (frightened) + vat (like, as if). The suffix -vat is the verse's hinge — it is the marker of līlā. Whoever ignores this -vat misreads Kṛṣṇa as actually afraid.
• padma-palāśābhyām — (with feet) like lotus petals
  Compound: padma (lotus) + palāśa (petal/leaf). The lotus-feet image is the very organ of refuge for devotees (cf. śaraṇaṁ tava pādayoḥ). Here they walk in apparent retreat — to Gauḍīya eyes, the feet themselves are the destination the devotee runs toward.
• vihāya vittam — abandoning the riches
  Phrase: vi-√hā (to abandon) + vitta (wealth). Kṛṣṇa's willingness to drop the recovered Yavana wealth shows that the recovery itself was a teaching, not an acquisition — He owns everything already and demonstrates dispassion in action.

The lotus-petal feet that crush serpents and pace the rāsa-maṇḍala now walk many yojanas in mock-fear, leaving the riches behind like a king dropping his treasure to play hide-and-seek with his own son. The abandonment is not loss; it is the Lord's signal that He came for the devotee, not for the gold.

• māgadhaḥ — Jarāsandha (the king of Magadha)
  Patronymic-by-territory. The Bhāgavatam often calls Jarāsandha simply 'māgadha' to flag him as the geopolitical face of asurika kingship — the eastern empire that will keep absorbing kings until Bhīma finally tears him apart.
• prahasan — laughing loudly
  Present participle of pra-√has. In Bhāgavata grammar, asurika laughter (Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa, Kaṁsa, here Jarāsandha) is almost always the prelude to comeuppance — it marks the gap between the laugher's estimate and reality.
• īśayoḥ — of the two Lords
  Genitive dual of īśa. Sūta deliberately names them 'the two Lords' in the same breath as their pursuer's laughter — the verse's irony is loaded into this single dual-form noun.
• apramāṇa-vit — unaware of the scope
  Compound: a (not) + pramāṇa (measure) + vit (knower). The asurika defect named precisely — Jarāsandha cannot scale Bhagavān. The Gītā (9.11) names the same failure: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ.

Jarāsandha laughs the way a man laughs at the king's son in a borrowed cloak — apramāṇa-vit, unable to measure what stands before him. His laughter is the asura's signature: it is loudest just before the māyā lifts and the scale of Bhagavān becomes unmistakable.

• saṁśrāntau — exhausted
  Dual past participle of sam-√śram. Apparent exhaustion is part of manuṣya-ceṣṭā; Sūta's verb is grammatically dual to emphasize that even Balarāma joins the performance — the līlā is two-handed.
• pravarṣaṇa-ākhyam — known as Pravarṣaṇa
  Compound: pra-√vṛṣ (to rain heavily) + ākhya (named). The mountain's name literally means 'much-raining.' That Kṛṣṇa picks this peak for the upcoming fire-leap pastime sets up Indra's element (rain) against Jarāsandha's element (fire) as a quiet doctrinal counterpoint.
• varṣati — he rains
  Third-person present of √vṛṣ (to rain) — the very verb that names the mountain Pravarṣaṇa. Indra, called bhagavān as a courtesy of office, makes the rain fall here ceaselessly. Gauḍīyas read such usage in the Bhāgavatam as preserving the hierarchy: even devatās are 'lords' within their domain, but Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān without qualification.

Pravarṣaṇa is Indra's rain-fountain mountain — the very peak where heaven's water never stops falling — and on top of it the two Lords pretend to be tired. The mountain that drinks Indra's clouds becomes a footstool for the One whom Indra worships; the apparent exhaustion is the comedy that conceals the ownership.

• nilīnau — hiding
  Dual past participle of ni-√lī (to lie down, to hide). Same verb-root used in Vraja-līlā when Kṛṣṇa hides during cora-līlā (butter-stealing). Sūta keeps the lexical fingerprint of līlā even in this aiśvarya-narrative.
• na adhigamya padam — not finding Their location
  Phrase. Padam means 'foot, position, place.' Gauḍīya commentators note the wordplay — the asura cannot find the 'pada' that great souls take exclusive shelter of (cf. mahat-padam, the abode of the great).
• dadāha girim — he set the mountain ablaze
  Phrase. Burning a sacred mountain to flush out hidden enemies is the act that completes Jarāsandha's adharma-portrait — he is willing to violate the earth itself to seize Kṛṣṇa. The asurika logic that the end justifies the desecration.
• samantāt — on all sides
  Indeclinable from sam-anta (with all ends). The encirclement seems total, but the very next verse opens a vertical exit Jarāsandha did not budget for. A reminder that asurika strategy always plans the horizontal and forgets the upward.

Jarāsandha sets the mountain ablaze the way a child kicks the chessboard when he cannot find the king — pure asurika frustration. The fire he kindles will not touch Kṛṣṇa; it will only clear the stage for the leap that proves the king was never on the board to begin with.

• utpatya — jumping (up)
  Absolutive of ut-√pat (to fly upward). The verb encodes the verticality Jarāsandha failed to anticipate — the asura's siege is horizontal, the Lord's exit is upward. A small grammatical icon of transcendence.
• daśa-eka-yojanāt — from eleven yojanas (height)
  Compound: daśa (ten) + eka (one) + yojana (a unit, slightly over eight miles). Sūta gives the precise measurement to underline the physical impossibility — and therefore the līlā-character — of the leap.
• dahyamāna-taṭāt — from the burning slopes
  Compound: dahyamāna (being burnt) + taṭa (slope, side). Present passive participle marks the slopes as still actively burning at the moment of the leap. The two Lords depart through the very element meant to kill Them — a Vaiṣṇava emblem of agni-vihārī.
• nipetatuḥ adhaḥ bhuvi — They fell down to the ground
  Phrase: ni-√pat in perfect dual + adhaḥ (downward) + bhuvi (locative of bhū, earth). The verb 'fell' is technically descriptive but bhakti-rasa reads it as 'descended' — the same root used for avatāras alighting on earth.

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From the top of an eleven-yojana fire, the two Lords leap — the way Hanumān leapt the ocean — and land on the ground untouched. To the watching world it looks like escape; to the devotee it looks like the kind of impossible vertical that only Bhagavān and His instruments can perform.

• alakṣyamāṇau — unseen (by the enemy)
  Dual present passive participle of √lakṣ (to perceive). The grammar is exact — They are not absent, only un-perceived. A Gauḍīya gloss: Bhagavān is always present; what changes is the seeing apparatus of the seer.
• yadu-uttamau — the two most excellent Yadus
  Compound dual: yadu (the dynasty) + uttama (best). Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are named by Their family, not Their tattva — Sūta keeps the human-scale frame even when describing a leap from eleven yojanas. The verse's tone is dynastic homecoming.
• sva-puram — to Their own city
  Compound: sva (own) + pura (city). Dvārakā is named here as 'Their own' — the Lord's eternal capital. Gauḍīyas hold that Dvārakā exists in the spiritual world as Kṛṣṇa's permanent aiśvarya-dhāma, mirrored on earth during this avatāra.
• samudra-parikhām — having the ocean as a protective moat
  Compound: samudra (ocean) + parikhā (moat). The verse's architectural image — a city moated by the sea itself — flags Dvārakā as constructed by Viśvakarmā at Kṛṣṇa's word, beyond what any asurika engineering can breach.

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Alakṣyamāṇau — unseen by the enemy — is the same condition the devotee enjoys when serving Kṛṣṇa under the radar of māyā. Dvārakā ringed by the ocean is the model: the city of the Lord is moated by an element no asura can swim, and Kṛṣṇa enters it the way prema enters a guarded heart.

• mṛṣā-manvānaḥ — falsely thinking
  Compound: mṛṣā (falsely) + manvānaḥ (present participle of √man, to think). The grammar pairs a false adverb with a thinking verb — a precise diagnosis of asurika cognition: not absence of thought, but thought-without-truth.
• bala-keśavau — Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa
  Dual compound naming the two together. Bala (the strong one) + Keśava (Kṛṣṇa, the slayer of the demon Keśī, also 'He of beautiful hair'). The pairing is Bhāgavata-standard; Gauḍīyas treat Balarāma as Kṛṣṇa's first expansion (prathama-vilāsa).
• ākṛṣya — pulling back (his army)
  Absolutive of ā-√kṛṣ (to draw). The same root as Kṛṣṇa's own name (the all-attracting one). Sūta's word-choice quietly notes the irony — the very verb of the Lord's nature is used for the asura's tactical withdrawal.

Jarāsandha walks home certain he has burned the two Lords to ash — the asura's most reliable self-deception, mistaking smoke for victory. The same misreading runs through Kaṁsa, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa: each one declares the Lord defeated at the very moment the Lord is regrouping for the next move.

• ānarta-adhipatiḥ — the overlord of Ānarta
  Compound naming Raivata as ruler of the Ānarta region — the same region in which Dvārakā would later be built. The geography of the Lord's līlā keeps recurring: Raivata's land becomes Kṛṣṇa's capital.
• raivatīm — (daughter) named Raivatī
  Patronymic feminine of Raivata. Raivatī becomes Balarāma's eternal consort. Gauḍīyas hold that all of Bhagavān's spouses are nitya-siddhā śaktis taking dynastic births to play the bride-role.
• brahmaṇā-coditaḥ — ordered by Lord Brahmā
  Phrase. Brahmā here functions as Kṛṣṇa's chief administrator — even great marriages are routed through the demigod whose office is creation. The line preserves the cosmic chain of command without diluting the Lord's supremacy.

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  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

Balarāma's marriage to Raivatī is a hinge mentioned in passing — the way a builder names a beam already in place before describing the next room. Brahmā's order placed Raivatī beside Balarāma across yugas; the Bhāgavatam simply acknowledges the joint and moves on to the next pastime.

• vaidarbhīm — Rukmiṇī (the princess of Vidarbha)
  Patronymic-by-territory. Rukmiṇī is repeatedly named as Vaidarbhī to anchor her in her father Bhīṣmaka's land. Gauḍīyas hold Rukmiṇī as the foremost Dvārakā-queen and as Lakṣmī's direct expansion.
• śriyaḥ-mātrām — the plenary portion of the goddess of fortune
  Compound: śrī (the goddess of fortune) + mātrā (a fractional/plenary measure). The phrase pins Rukmiṇī's identity — she is not merely a princess but Śrī herself in plenary expansion. The marriage is therefore Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa-līlā on earth.
• svayam-vare — by her own choice
  Compound: svayam (oneself) + vara (choice, bridegroom). Sūta's diction emphasizes that Rukmiṇī chose Kṛṣṇa — the abduction is at her invitation, not against her will. A doctrinal hinge for the chapter's whole arc.
• tārkṣya-putraḥ sudhām iva — as the son of Tārkṣya (took) the nectar
  Simile-compound. Tārkṣya-putra is Garuḍa; sudhā is the nectar of immortality. Equating Kṛṣṇa's bride-rescue with Garuḍa's nectar-rescue elevates Rukmiṇī to the rank of amṛta and Kṛṣṇa to the rank of His own carrier.

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Garuḍa once flew to heaven and seized the nectar from the very gods who guarded it; now Kṛṣṇa rides Garuḍa's logic into Vidarbha and seizes Rukmiṇī from the kings who guarded her. The image fuses two dāring expeditions — bird and Lord — into a single rasa-line: śrī is taken back to her own.

• rukmiṇīm — Śrīmatī Rukmiṇī-devī
  The eternal consort of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā-līlā, expansion of Mahā-Lakṣmī. Gauḍīyas worship her as the model of the Vaidarbhī-bhāva — bold prema combined with feminine modesty. Her very name comes from rukma (gold), suggesting her splendor.
• rākṣasena vidhānena — by the Rākṣasa-style method
  Phrase: rākṣasa (the demoniac style, i.e. forcible carrying-off after defeating opponents) + vidhāna (procedure). One of the eight classical forms of marriage in Manu — and a kṣatriya-sanctioned form when the bride consents. The chapter will show that Rukmiṇī wholeheartedly consents.
• rucira-ānanām — whose face is charming
  Compound: rucira (charming, shining) + ānana (face). Even Parīkṣit's question carries the rasa-signature — he cannot describe her without naming her beauty. The whole chapter is colored by darśana-tinged speech.
• śrutam — (so I have) heard
  Past participle of √śru. The Bhāgavata's whole epistemology is encoded here — knowledge of Bhagavān passes by śravaṇa from authorized teachers. Parīkṣit's 'I have heard' is the same posture every devotee adopts before guru and śāstra.

• Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-52-18
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• SDAP SB 10-52-18 - 2012-12-14 Phoenix
  His Grace Sankarshan Prabhu· 2012-12-14· English
• Bhanu Sw SB 10-52-18-24 - Except Bhakti the statements of glorification%27s in scriptures are not absolute - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English
• BKG SB 10-52-18 - Types of Marriages - 2024-06-11 New Goloka
  His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami· 2024-06-11· English
• Ramai Sw SB 10-52-18 - The Swan like Devotees - 2007-04-22
  His Holiness Ramai Swami· 2007-04-22· English

Parīkṣit asks his teacher the way a child asks his grandfather about a famous family wedding — 'I have heard about this; tell me how it really happened.' Śrutam — 'so I have heard' — is the doorway through which the next thirty verses of prema-katha will pour.

• amita-tejasaḥ — of immeasurable potency
  Compound: amita (unlimited) + tejas (radiance, prowess). A standard epithet but loaded — even when 'imitating human behavior,' Kṛṣṇa's tejas is amita. The phrase reminds the hearer that the upcoming bride-recovery is the work of an unlimited Lord, not a clever prince.
• kanyām-upāharat — He took away the bride
  Phrase: kanyā (maiden) + upa-√hṛ (to carry off). The same verb root used for sacrificial offerings — Sūta's diction makes the bride-rescue resonate with yajña vocabulary. The rescue is itself an offering, made by Kṛṣṇa to Himself.
• māgadha-śālva-ādīn — Jarāsandha, Śālva, and other (kings)
  Compound listing the principal adversaries. Both Jarāsandha and Śālva return as recurring antagonists across Canto 10 — the dynastic-coalition of asurika kings that the Lord systematically dismantles.

• Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-52-19
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Vishwarup Pr SB 10-52-19 - Rukmini%27s Message to Lord Krishna - 2014-10-31 ISKCON Chowpatty
  His Grace Vishwarup Prabhu (RNS)· 2014-10-31· English

Parīkṣit wants to know not the result but the method — how the bride was actually carried away. Like a student asking not 'who won?' but 'show me the play-by-play,' he is asking for līlā at full fidelity, the kind of telling that lets prema enter through the ear.

• kṛṣṇa-kathāḥ — topics of Kṛṣṇa
  Compound: kṛṣṇa (the Lord) + kathā (narrative). The technical term for the entire genre Gauḍīyas regard as the highest medicine for the Kali-age jīva. Hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā is the first of the nine limbs of bhakti (śravaṇa).
• mādhvīḥ — sweet (like honey-wine)
  Feminine plural of mādhvī (a honey-wine, sweet drink). The Bhāgavatam likens Kṛṣṇa-kathā to mādhvī — intoxicating, but with the inverse effect of liquor: it sobers the heart while exhilarating it.
• mala-apahāḥ — removing (the world's) contamination
  Compound: mala (impurity) + apa-√han (to strike away). Hearing has a directly cleansing function in Gauḍīya theology — anartha-nivṛtti happens through śravaṇa, not through additional effort.
• nitya-nūtanāḥ — always novel
  Compound: nitya (eternal) + nūtana (new). The signature property of Kṛṣṇa-kathā and of Kṛṣṇa Himself. Gauḍīyas identify this with the apūrva-tā of līlā — the same pastimes are inexhaustibly fresh on each hearing, because Kṛṣṇa Himself is nitya-nūtana.

• Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-52-20
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

Kṛṣṇa-kathā is mādhvī — like new wine, sweet and ever-fresh — and the world's contamination (mala) is scrubbed off the listener by the very listening. The seasoned hearer never says 'I have heard this' the way a man tired of food says it; the topic itself renews on each tasting.

• śrī-bādarāyaṇiḥ — Śrī Bādarāyaṇi (Śukadeva)
  Patronymic. Śukadeva is the son of Bādarāyaṇa (Vyāsadeva). The honorific is invoked at the entrance of major narrative arcs to remind the hearer of the speaker's parampara-authority — this is no folk-story; it descends from Vyāsa.
• vidarbha-adhipatiḥ — the ruler of Vidarbha
  Compound. Vidarbha is the Berar region; its kings are recurring figures across the epics (Damayantī's father Bhīma was also a Vidarbha-king). The dynastic placement matters — Rukmiṇī is born into Vedic kṣatriya pedigree of the highest rank.
• kanyā-ekā — one (sole) daughter
  The numerical 'one' is pointed — Rukmiṇī has no sisters. Gauḍīya readers note that the Bhāgavatam often gives a single bride the central frame so that her bhāva can be displayed without competition; cf. Sītā, Yaśodā as Kṛṣṇa's sole mother in Vraja.
• vara-ānanā — whose face is exceptionally beautiful
  Compound: vara (excellent) + ānanā (faced). The same vocabulary that will saturate Rukmiṇī's later letter — her face is the chapter's recurring metonym for her whole prema.

• Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-52-21
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

Bhīṣmaka's household is a stage set before the play begins — five sons, one daughter, a great kingdom — and the audience is told their names before the prema-drama opens. The Bhāgavatam introduces Rukmiṇī through the standard dynastic camera, then pulls in close enough to read her thoughts.

• rukmī — Rukmī (the eldest brother)
  Eldest of Bhīṣmaka's sons. The chapter will introduce him in v. 25 as kṛṣṇa-dviṭ — hateful of Kṛṣṇa. He is the asurika element inside the otherwise dharmic Vidarbha household, and his hostility sets up the rescue.
• agra-jaḥ — the first-born
  Compound: agra (front, foremost) + ja (born). Rukmī's primogeniture explains his authority to override the other brothers' wishes; the household's eldest son blocking the marriage is the doctrinal hinge that justifies the Rākṣasa-style rescue.
• rukmiṇī — Rukmiṇī
  Feminine of rukma (gold). The Bhāgavatam will use her name 38 times in the next two chapters; Gauḍīyas hold her name itself as a meditation-vehicle, since invoking 'Rukmiṇī' invokes the eternal consort of Dvārakādhīśa.
• satī — of saintly character
  Sūta marks Rukmiṇī with the epithet of chaste-pure womanhood at her first appearance. In Bhāgavata vocabulary, satī is the wife who is internally fixed on her husband even before any external marriage — Rukmiṇī is already Kṛṣṇa's by heart-orientation.

• BKG SB 10-52-22 - Awakening attachment for Krishna - 2024-06-14 New Goloka
  His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami· 2024-06-14· English

Five Rukma-sons frame one Rukmiṇī — the dynasty named for rukma (gold) — and only one of those golden lights, Rukmiṇī, will turn toward Kṛṣṇa. The other four brothers will scatter; Rukmī will turn hostile. The narrative is preparing us to see that being born into the right family is not the same as choosing the right Lord.

• upaśrutya — hearing
  Absolutive of upa-√śru (to hear, to overhear). The prefix upa- intensifies proximity — she hears closely, attentively. Sūta's verb places śravaṇa at the very root of her prema.
• mukundasya — of Mukunda (Kṛṣṇa)
  Genitive of Mukunda — 'the giver of liberation' (mukti-da). Rukmiṇī's first naming of her Lord is by His liberator-aspect, foreshadowing the rescue: she will be 'liberated' from Śiśupāla by the One whose name itself means rescuer.
• rūpa-vīrya-guṇa-śriyaḥ — beauty, prowess, qualities and opulences
  Compound listing four objects of Bhagavān's glorification. These are four of the six aiśvaryas; the wandering visitors sing Kṛṣṇa's bhagavattā in full. Rukmiṇī chooses Him not from any one aspect but from the full disclosure of His Personhood.
• sadṛśam patim — a suitable husband
  Phrase: sadṛśa (matching, equal) + pati (husband). Gauḍīyas read sadṛśa here strictly — she thinks Him 'equal to herself' because she is Lakṣmī's expansion and only Bhagavān is her metaphysical match. The verse is doctrinal as well as romantic.

• Sarvabhauma Pr Hindi SB 10-52-23 - ISKCON Pune
  His Grace Sarvabhauma Prabhu· Hindi

Rukmiṇī hears about Kṛṣṇa and the hearing alone is the marriage proposal — śravaṇa becomes saṅkalpa. Like Bharata hearing Rāma's name in Kaikeyī's tent and instantly aligning his whole life around Him, she hears Mukunda once and arranges her existence around the hearing.

• buddhi-lakṣaṇa-audārya-rūpa-śīla-guṇa-āśrayām — (her, who is) the repository of intelligence, auspicious marks, magnanimity, beauty, character and (other) qualities
  Long bahuvrīhi compound. Sūta lists six qualities at once — a deliberate echo of the ṣaḍ-aiśvarya of Bhagavān (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47). She is to Bhagavān what He is to Himself: a six-fold mirror in feminine form.
• sadṛśīm bhāryām — a suitable wife
  Phrase. Sadṛśa now spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself — the recognition is mutual. Gauḍīyas treasure this verbal symmetry between v. 23 (Rukmiṇī's 'sadṛśam patim') and v. 24 (Kṛṣṇa's 'sadṛśīm bhāryām'). The eternal pair name each other in the same word.
• samudvoḍhum — to marry (lit. to carry away in marriage)
  Infinitive of sam-ud-√vah (to carry up and away). The verb already hints at the Rākṣasa-rescue style of the wedding — the carrying-away is built into the lexeme.
• manaḥ dadhe — He made up His mind
  Phrase: manaḥ (mind) + dadhe (placed). Bhagavān's saṅkalpa is the world's law. Once 'He placed His mind upon it,' Rukmī's later veto, Śiśupāla's claim, and Jarāsandha's army are all just obstacles for the līlā to play through.

• UM SB 10-52-24 - God wanting to see us - 2024-06-18 Hillsborough
  Her Grace Urmila Mataji· 2024-06-18· English
• Revati Raman Pr SB 10-52-24 - 2012-08-23 ISKCON Tirupati
  His Grace Revati Raman Prabhu· 2012-08-23· Telugu

Kṛṣṇa appraises Rukmiṇī the way a master jeweler appraises the gem that has finally been brought to him — intelligence, marks, magnanimity, beauty, character — and recognizes His own. The decision to marry her is not a fresh choice but a recognition of an eternal pair finally meeting on the earthly plane.

• kṛṣṇa-dviṭ — hateful of Kṛṣṇa
  Compound: kṛṣṇa + dviṣ (to hate). The technical Gauḍīya category for an opponent who is not merely unconcerned but actively antagonistic. Such hatred binds the asura even more tightly to Kṛṣṇa than ordinary indifference — by sustained meditation in hate, eventually rendered service in spite of itself.
• bandhūnām-icchatām — even as the family members were desiring
  Phrase. Genitive participle: the rest of Bhīṣmaka's family wants Rukmiṇī to marry Kṛṣṇa. Sūta is careful to show that the obstacle is not the dynastic consensus but one envious individual — this matters when justifying the Rākṣasa-style rescue.
• caidyam-amanyata — decided upon Caidya (Śiśupāla)
  Phrase. Caidya — son of Damaghoṣa, king of Cedi — is one of Kṛṣṇa's chronic adversaries (he will die at the Rājasūya in SB 10.74). His choice as bridegroom is the maximum possible misalignment Rukmī could engineer.
• nivārya — preventing (them)
  Absolutive of ni-√vṛ (to obstruct). The eldest brother actively prevents the family's natural wish — the verb pins the responsibility on him, exonerating Bhīṣmaka and the other brothers from the dharma-violation.

• Bhanu Sw SB 10-52-25-41 - Activities of Krsna are not out of material attachment and Ananya Bhakti of Rukmini - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English

Rukmī blocks the marriage the way a single splinter jams a wheel — one hostile son holds up an entire family's desire. Kṛṣṇa-dviṭ is the technical category: the heart that hates Kṛṣṇa cannot bless what its kin wants to give. The household's natural inclination is right; only the eldest son's envy must be circumvented.

• asita-apāṅgī — (she) whose eye-corners are dark
  Compound: asita (black) + apāṅga (corner of the eye). A standard rasa-poetic epithet for an alluring woman in alaṅkāra-śāstra. Even at the moment of crisis the Bhāgavatam preserves her beauty-frame — her grief does not erase her loveliness.
• vaidarbhī — the princess of Vidarbha
  Patronymic-by-territory. Used repeatedly through the chapter to fix Rukmiṇī by her father's land, lending the entire prema-letter the weight of royal-Vedic identity.
• āptam-dvijam — a reliable brāhmaṇa
  Phrase: āpta (trustworthy) + dvija (twice-born brāhmaṇa). In Vedic ethics āpta is the technical term for a witness whose word is admissible. Rukmiṇī selects her messenger by Vedic standards — and not just any priest, but a confidant of proven reliability.
• prāhiṇot drutam — sent with haste
  Phrase: prā-√hi (to send forth) + drutam (quickly). The pace word matters — there is exactly one day before the marriage. Gauḍīyas note the verse's tempo as the rhythm of prema in urgency: the goddess does not delay.

Rukmiṇī's response is the prema-version of a sailor sighting a leak: she does not panic, she does not protest, she analyzes — and she dispatches the one trustworthy carrier of her message. The brāhmaṇa is the dove with a folded letter; the letter is the heart of a goddess.

• ādyam-puruṣam — the original Supreme Person
  Phrase: ādya (first, original) + puruṣa (person). Sūta uses one of the Bhāgavata's high titles for Kṛṣṇa at the moment the brāhmaṇa first sees Him — the verse classes the meeting as a darśana of the Ādi-puruṣa, not merely an audience with Dvārakā's king.
• pratīhāraiḥ-praveśitaḥ — brought inside by the gatekeepers
  Compound + participle. The dvāra-pālas of Dvārakā are themselves residents of Vaikuṇṭha-rank; their function as gatekeepers is structurally the same as Jaya-Vijaya. The brāhmaṇa is conducted in by qualified servants — Vaiṣṇava etiquette mirrored into the architecture.
• kāñcana-āsane — on a golden throne
  Compound: kāñcana (gold) + āsana (seat). The verse's aiśvarya-register is foregrounded — Kṛṣṇa receives the brāhmaṇa from a throne of gold. Gauḍīyas read this as the doctrinally correct context for Rukmiṇī's letter, which speaks Bhagavān's full majesty as well as His beauty.

The brāhmaṇa walks into Dvārakā and walks straight into the golden throne-room — like a man bringing a folded note to a king, only the king turns out to be the Original Person seated as if waiting for that very note. Gatekeepers, throne, gold — every Vedic mark of majesty is in place precisely so that the messenger can recognize whom he has reached.

• brahmaṇya-devaḥ — the Lord considerate to the brāhmaṇas
  Compound: brahmaṇya (devoted to brāhmaṇas) + deva (Lord). One of Kṛṣṇa's defining epithets in the Bhāgavata (cf. namo brāhmaṇya-devāya). His treatment of this messenger illustrates the title in operation.
• avaruhya — getting down (from the throne)
  Absolutive of ava-√ruh (to descend). The exact gesture of brahmaṇyatā — Bhagavān unseats Himself to honor His brāhmaṇa-guest. Gauḍīya practice still mirrors this: the host stands and gives the higher seat to the visiting Vaiṣṇava.
• arhayām cakre — He performed worship
  Periphrastic perfect of √arh (to worship). The same root that gives arghya — the Vedic offering of water to an honored guest. Kṛṣṇa formally worships the brāhmaṇa with full Vedic protocol, despite being the worshipped of all the devatās.
• yathā ātmānam diva-okasaḥ — just as the residents of heaven worship Himself
  Phrase. The simile is deliberately steep — Kṛṣṇa worships the brāhmaṇa in the same manner that the devas worship Kṛṣṇa. Gauḍīyas mark this as the Lord's modeling of Vaiṣṇava-sevā for all His servants forever after.

Kṛṣṇa descends from His golden throne to seat a Vidarbha brāhmaṇa — the Lord whom devatās worship now standing up to honor a Vedic guest. The descent from the throne is the working physics of brahmaṇya: Bhagavān's favorite ornament is to be the brāhmaṇas' servant.

• satām-gatiḥ — the goal of saintly devotees
  Phrase: sat (the saintly, the real) + gati (goal, destination). Bhāgavatam-wide epithet for Kṛṣṇa as the final destination of all devotees. Used here precisely when Kṛṣṇa is bending to a devotee's feet — the destination travels to those who travel to Him.
• pāṇinā-abhimṛśan-pādau — (He) massaged his feet with His hand
  Phrase: pāṇi (hand) + abhi-√mṛś (to stroke) + pādau (feet, accusative dual). The Lord's pāṇi touches the brāhmaṇa's pādau — the verse inverts the usual direction of Vedic reverence. Caitanya's washing of devotees' feet is the same gesture in its second incarnation.
• avyagraḥ — without agitation
  Compound: a (not) + vy-agra (with-front-of-attention-scattered). Bhagavān is unhurried — Rukmiṇī's letter contains an urgent deadline, but Kṛṣṇa first attends to the messenger's body and rest. The detail teaches that Kṛṣṇa's calm is not slowness but appropriateness.
• apṛcchata — He inquired
  Imperfect middle of pra-√cha (to ask). Bhagavān inquiring after His own devotee is the verb the next several verses unpack — a whole Vaiṣṇava etiquette of guest-questioning emerges from this single verb.

• UM SB 10-52-29-30 - Science of Relationship - 2024-06-24 Hillsborough
  Her Grace Urmila Mataji· 2024-06-24· English

Kṛṣṇa kneels and massages the tired brāhmaṇa's feet with His own hands — those hands that hold the cakra and the flute, that lifted Govardhana, that will tomorrow steal the bride from a guarded city. The Lord's hands are pāda-saṁvāhaka before they are anything else; service is the resting state of Bhagavān.

• kaccit — whether (please tell)
  Indeclinable interrogative. Standard Sanskrit polite-inquiry particle: 'I hope that…?' The next several verses chain kaccit-questions — Kṛṣṇa's anxious affection for the brāhmaṇa's welfare, voiced in the most courteous register Vedic Sanskrit affords.
• dvija-vara-śreṣṭha — O best of exalted brāhmaṇas
  Compound vocative. The triple-superlative (best-of-best-of-twice-born) is hyperbolic — Bhagavān is over-honoring His guest. The Gauḍīya pattern: never under-honor a brāhmaṇa, always over-honor.
• vṛddha-sammataḥ — sanctioned by senior authorities
  Compound: vṛddha (elder) + sammata (approved). Vedic dharma is validated by the chain of elders — Kṛṣṇa frames His question in the parampara-key, reminding the brāhmaṇa and hearer that legitimate dharma is always lineage-approved.
• santuṣṭa-manasaḥ — whose mind is fully satisfied
  Compound: santuṣṭa (contented) + manas (mind, genitive). Santoṣa is the brāhmaṇa's distinguishing virtue (Yoga-sūtra 2.42; SB 11.10.6). Kṛṣṇa's inquiry already names the criterion by which a brāhmaṇa's whole life is measured.

Kṛṣṇa's first question is the right question — not 'what message do you bring?' but 'are your dharma-duties unobstructed?' He treats the man as a brāhmaṇa first and as a messenger second. The order of His inquiry is the order of His values; the message can wait until the messenger is honored.

• santuṣṭaḥ — satisfied
  Past participle of sam-√tuṣ (to be fully pleased). Santoṣa is the second yama in Patañjali's niyamas and the central brāhmaṇa-virtue across the Bhāgavatam. Gauḍīyas link santoṣa to bhakti-sukha — the bhakta is content because Kṛṣṇa is the wealth he already has.
• ahīyamānaḥ — not falling short
  Present passive participle of a-√hā (to abandon, with negation). The brāhmaṇa does not fall away from dharma — even amid scarcity. Negative grammar marks the discipline: santoṣa is not the same as having; it is the not-abandoning.
• svāt-dharmāt — from his own religious duty
  Phrase: sva (own) + dharma (duty), ablative. The technical phrase used in Gītā 18.45-47 — sva-dharma is what the verse hinges on. Generic spirituality is not in view; specific varṇa-aśrama duty is.
• akhila-kāma-dhuk — (dharma is) the mystic cow milking-out all desires
  Compound: akhila (all) + kāma (desire) + dhuk (one who is milked, from √duh). The kāma-dhuk image is technical Vedic vocabulary — it elevates the brāhmaṇa's santoṣa-based dharma to the rank of celestial cow.

• BKG SB 10-52-31 - Brahmana Dharma - 2024-06-25 New Goloka
  His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami· 2024-06-25· English

For the contented brāhmaṇa, dharma itself becomes a kāma-dhuk — the wish-fulfilling cow. The image is exact: santoṣa is the milking-hand; svadharma is the udder; whatever the brāhmaṇa needs flows of itself, without grasping. Bhagavān is teaching the messenger his own science before letting him deliver the message.

• asantuṣṭaḥ — dissatisfied
  Negation of santuṣṭa. The Bhāgavatam pairs the contrastive forms within a single verse to teach by opposition — even Indra-like exaltation is restlessness if santoṣa is absent.
• sura-īśvaraḥ — the master of the demigods
  Compound: sura (demigods) + īśvara (lord). Indra-rank itself does not cure asantoṣa. Gauḍīyas use this verse to mark the inadequacy of any svargic destination — only Kṛṣṇa-prema cures the underlying restlessness.
• akiñcanaḥ — possessing nothing
  Compound: a (not) + kiñcana (anything). The Bhāgavata-honored category of the 'penniless' devotee — the akiñcana is one for whom Kṛṣṇa Himself is the entire kiñcana. Caitanya signs the Śikṣāṣṭaka in this register: na dhanaṁ na janaṁ.
• sarva-aṅga-vijvaraḥ — all his limbs free of distress
  Compound: sarva (all) + aṅga (limb) + vijvara (free from fever). The contentment is corporeally registered — every limb relaxed. The Bhāgavata's somatic theology: śāntiḥ is felt in the body, not abstract.

The unsatisfied brāhmaṇa scuttling across the planets is like a rich man unable to sleep on a king's bed; the satisfied brāhmaṇa with nothing rests as if on Anantaśayya. Bhāgavata economics: possession is not measured by storage but by sleep.

• viprān — to the learned brāhmaṇas
  Accusative plural of vipra (the wise). Distinct from generic brāhmaṇa by emphasis on learning. Kṛṣṇa singles out the learned-and-contented sub-class for repeated bowing — Gauḍīya etiquette toward the dvija-vidvāns made canonical.
• bhūta-suhṛt-tamān — the best well-wishing friends of all living beings
  Compound: bhūta (creatures) + suhṛt (well-wisher) + tama (most). The superlative is loaded — the satisfied brāhmaṇa is suhṛt-tama, the greatest friend of all beings, because his santoṣa removes the cosmic friction of greed.
• nirahaṅkāriṇaḥ — devoid of false ego
  Compound: nir (without) + ahaṅkāra (ego) + -in (possessing). The Gauḍīya criterion of advanced bhakti — true ahaṅkāra-nivṛtti is not loss of personhood but loss of the I-am-the-doer rib that ages the soul.
• namasye śirasā asakṛt — I bow down with My head again and again
  Phrase. Namasye is verbal — 'I bow' — in first-person. Sūta records Kṛṣṇa Himself speaking the namaskāra to His own brāhmaṇa-devotees. Asakṛt (repeatedly) intensifies the act. The Lord's worshipping His devotee is the highest Vaiṣṇava doctrine in one verse.

Kṛṣṇa bows His head to the contented brāhmaṇa — the head before which Brahmā, Śiva and Indra bow now lowers to a Vidarbha priest. The lesson is incised: Bhagavān's reverence for His devotee is more thorough than the devotee's reverence for Bhagavān. The asakṛt — 'again and again' — keeps the gesture from becoming a one-time courtesy.

• kuśalam — well-being
  From √kṛ + suffix; literally 'doing well.' The standard Vedic greeting-inquiry. Kṛṣṇa's question shifts from individual santoṣa (v. 31-33) to civic kuśala — the brāhmaṇa's well-being is also a function of the polity that houses him.
• viṣaye-pālyamānāḥ — being protected in (his) realm
  Phrase: viṣaya (realm, territory) + pālyamāna (present passive participle of √pā, to protect). Kṣatriya-dharma in one phrase — the king's whole occupation is the active protection of his subjects.
• me priyaḥ — dear to Me
  Phrase: me (to Me) + priya (dear). Bhagavān's own affective preference, voiced. Gauḍīyas read me priyaḥ formulas across the Gītā and Bhāgavata as Kṛṣṇa's open accounting of His own pleasures — to be His priya is the bhakta's highest fortune.

• BKG SB 10-52-34 - Ksatriya Dharma-02 - 2024-06-27 New Goloka
  His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami· 2024-06-27· English
• BKG SB 10-52-34 - Ksatriya Dharma-01 - 2024-06-27 New Goloka
  His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami· 2024-06-27· English

Kṛṣṇa asks after the brāhmaṇa's king the way a father asks after his daughter-in-law's family — not detached politeness but real concern, because the dharma of the kingdom is the dharma of His devotee's daily life. A good king is dear to Kṛṣṇa because a good king protects the brāhmaṇas who are dear to Kṛṣṇa.

• yataḥ-tvam-āgataḥ — from where you have come
  Phrase. Standard Vedic guest-inquiry. Even though Kṛṣṇa knows perfectly (cf. v. 24, His own intention to marry Rukmiṇī), He performs the social rite — modeling the Vaiṣṇava etiquette of acknowledging the messenger's journey.
• durgam-nistīrya — having crossed the impassable (sea)
  Phrase: durga (hard-to-cross) + ni-√tṝ (to cross). Dvārakā's island-fortress is so situated that approaching it counts as durga-nistaraṇa. The image of crossing a difficult sea is also the Bhāgavata metaphor for crossing saṁsāra — bhava-sāgara.
• aguhyam cet — if it is not secret
  Phrase: a (not) + guhya (secret) + cet (if). Kṛṣṇa builds the brāhmaṇa an exit — 'if it is not confidential.' Even with Bhagavān, the messenger retains discretion. This courtesy will be transferred in v. 44 when the brāhmaṇa explicitly calls the message guhya.
• kāryam-karavāma — (what) work may We do
  Phrase: kārya (to be done) + karavāma (1st person plural optative of √kṛ). Kṛṣṇa speaks in royal plural and offers His own service to the brāhmaṇa. The omnipotent Lord asks the priest 'what shall We do for you?' — Vaiṣṇava theology in one inquiry.

Kṛṣṇa asks the messenger his errand the way a host asks a long-traveled guest 'what may we do?' — His omniscience already knows; His courtesy still asks. The Lord makes room for the brāhmaṇa to deliver his charge as a free agent, not as a transparent vessel. Even Bhagavān's knowing is hospitable.

• līla-gṛhīta-dehena — by Him who has assumed His bodies as His pastime
  Compound: līlā (pastime) + gṛhīta (taken on) + deha (body). A high doctrinal phrase — Bhagavān's bodies are līlā-deha, not karma-deha. He chooses each form for the play; He is never compelled into embodiment.
• parameṣṭhinā — by the Supreme Personality of Godhead
  Instrumental of parameṣṭhin — 'situated at the supreme station.' Used in śruti for both Brahmā and Viṣṇu; here unambiguously Kṛṣṇa. The brāhmaṇa is being formally identified as having addressed the Supreme directly.
• sampṛṣṭa-sampraśnaḥ — (the brāhmaṇa,) asked these inquiries
  Compound: sam-√pṛch (to ask fully) + sampraśna (full question). The doubled prefix sam- registers the completeness of Kṛṣṇa's questioning — the Lord did not interrogate the messenger but asked him 'fully and properly.'
• sarvam avarṇayat — he related everything
  Phrase: sarvam (everything) + avarṇayat (imperfect of √varṇ, to describe). The full unfolding follows in v. 37-43. The brāhmaṇa now speaks Rukmiṇī's letter verbatim — Gauḍīya tradition reads vv. 37-43 as Rukmiṇī's first-person prema-letter passing through the brāhmaṇa's mouth.

• Tamohara Pr SB 10-52-36-44 - 2014-10-30 ISKCON Alachua
  His Grace Tamohara Prabhu· 2014-10-30· English

The brāhmaṇa unfolds Rukmiṇī's letter as a courier unfolds a queen's writ — the same Lord who asked the question already wrote the answer, but the līlā requires the words to be spoken aloud. The whole prema-letter follows because Bhagavān's pastime needs it to be audible.