Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.54.34
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
paritrāsa-vikampita-aṅgayā
—
whose limbs are trembling with total fear
Triple compound: paritrāsa (utter terror) + vikampita (trembling) + aṅga (limbs). Rūpa Gosvāmī catalogues 'vepathu' (trembling) as one of the eight sāttvika-bhāvas — bodily symptoms of intense rasa. Rukmiṇī's body is in a sāttvika state, even in karuṇa.
-
ruddha-kaṇṭhayā
—
whose throat is choked
Ruddha (blocked) + kaṇṭha (throat). Another sāttvika-bhāva — svara-bheda, voice-broken. The body cannot get the words out; the Lord reads the body instead of the words.
-
visraṁsita-hema-mālayā
—
whose golden necklace is scattered
Visraṁsita (loosened) + hema (gold) + mālā (garland). The decorative ornament comes undone in the moment of true emotion — Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra reads such 'disorder' as the highest order. Cf. mother Yaśodā's mālatī flowers (SB 10.9.3).
-
karuṇaḥ
—
compassionate
From karuṇā. The Bhāgavatam applies karuṇa twice in this chapter — once to Kṛṣṇa (here) and once to Balarāma (v. 36). Both desist from killing Rukmī. Karuṇā is the family-trait of the Lord and His brother.
-
nyavartata
—
He desisted
Imperfect of ni-√vṛt, 'to turn back.' Bhakti's most precious result: the Lord turns His hand back. The same root as 'nivṛtti-dharma' — turning back from the world. Here the Lord turns His own action back toward mercy.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī quotes the “worldly rule” that one’s sister is the personification of mercy: dayāyā bhaginī mūrtiḥ. Even though Rukmī was wicked and was opposed to his sister’s best interest, Rukmiṇī was compassionate toward him, and the Lord shared her compassion.
Krsna was compassionate to Rukmini, who was compassionate to her brother even though he was against her, evil, and would have been the cause of her giving up her life (if forced to marry Sisupala), out of fear of the social laws that the sister should be merciful to the brother.
Merciful to her, he desisted. Or though he was naturally merciful, particularly he showed mercy when she, filled with sorrow, grasped his feet.
She was in a miserable condition because of great fear, lamentation and confusion. This is indicated by the three phrases describing her condition. They are successively intense. He was merciful to her (karuṇaḥ). Or he was by nature merciful, but because she held his feet, he desisted from killing her brother.
Limbs trembling, mouth dry, throat choking, gold necklace scattered — and Kṛṣṇa stops. Like a husband who has been waiting for one signal from his wife to set down the weapon, the Lord watches for the body of His devotee to ask. Bhagavān is karuṇa not in the abstract but in response to a specific posture from a specific bhakta.
When Yaśodā chased the butter-thief, He ran from her — but seeing her exhausted, perspiring, garland slipping, Kṛṣṇa stopped, terrified by the tears that her body made visible (SB 10.9.18). The bāla-Kṛṣṇa who outran Brahmā stopped for Yaśodā's distress.
Rukmiṇī's body here — trembling, choked, necklace scattered — is the conjugal counterpart of that vātsalya scene. Both moments rest on one principle: Bhagavān is conquered by His devotee's distress, never by His devotee's argument.
My note
Source: vedabase.io