FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.57.16

య: సప్తహాయన: శైలముత్పాట్యైకేన పాణినా । దధార లీలయా బాల ఉచ్ఛిలీన్ధ్రమివార్భక: ॥ ౧౬ ॥
yaḥ sapta-hāyanaḥ śailam
[yah sapta-haayanah shailam]
utpāṭyaikena pāṇinā
[utpaatyaikena paaninaa]
dadhāra līlayā bāla
[dadhaara leelayaa baala]
ucchilīndhram ivārbhakaḥ
[uchchileendhram ivaarbhakah]
yaḥ — who sapta — seven hāyanaḥ — years of age śailam — a mountain utpāṭya — uprooting ekena — with a single pāṇinā — hand dadhāra — held up līlayā — as play bālaḥ — a mere child ucchilīndhram — a mushroom iva — as arbhakaḥ — a boy .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yaḥ sapta-hāyanaḥ śailam
yaḥ
who
sapta
seven
hāyanaḥ
years of age
śailam
a mountain
utpāṭyaikena pāṇinā
utpāṭya
uprooting
ekena
with a single
pāṇinā
hand
dadhāra līlayā bāla
dadhāra
held up
līlayā
as play
bālaḥ
a mere child
ucchilīndhram ivārbhakaḥ
ucchilīndhram
a mushroom
iva
as
arbhakaḥ
a boy .
  • sapta - hāyanaḥ — seven years of age
    Compound: sapta (seven) + hāyana (year). The Bhāgavata's repeated emphasis on the boyhood form: He was a seven-year-old when He lifted Govardhana. Gauḍīyas hold this in the vātsalya-frame — His power and His childhood are simultaneous, not sequential.
  • śailam — a mountain
    Govardhana, the hill of Vraja. Gauḍīyas regard Govardhana not as scenery but as a non-different aspect of Kṛṣṇa Himself (hari-dāsa-varya, per Caitanya tradition); lifting it is Bhagavān lifting His own form.
  • ekena pāṇinā — with a single hand
    Instrumental phrase: eka (one) + pāṇi (hand). The detail that turns the act into a proof. Bhāgavata's hagiography of Bhagavān often hinges on the asymmetry between magnitude and effort.
  • ucchilīndhram — a mushroom
    From ucchilīndhra (a kind of fungus / mushroom). The deliberate domestic simile — the mountain weighs nothing in His hand, as a mushroom does in a village boy's. Gauḍīyas love these similes; they keep the līlā in Vraja's vernacular.
“As a child of seven, Kṛṣṇa uprooted an entire mountain and held it aloft as easily as a young boy picks up a mushroom.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
"As a child of seven, Kṛṣṇa uprooted an entire mountain and held it aloft as easily as a young boy picks up a mushroom.
Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

His activities are described to show his powers. At the age of seven from his birth pastimes he appeared with the form of a small child (bālaḥ). But he lifted the mountain made of rocks rather than dirt and which was thus very heavy. The rocks were in separate pieces, making them difficult to hold up. But from its very base he uprooted it and lifted it. He did this only with his left hand. And he did it without effort (līlayā), just as a child lifts a mushroom.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

What to speak of activities of creation? One cannot understand activities like lifting Govardhana, which has been directly witnessed by all at this time. Or “Let him be the Lord. But from accepting to the Yādava, is this not a contradiction between us and him (being equals)?” No, he always shows his powers. At the age of seven from his birth pastimes he appeared with the form of a small child (bālaḥ). But he lifted the mountain made of rocks rather than dirt and which was thus very heavy. The rocks were in separate pieces, making them difficult to hold up. But from its very base he uprooted the mountain and lifted it. He did this only with his left hand. And he did it without effort (līlayā), just as a child lifts a mushroom.

Related values
Shraddha (Faith / Reverence)Bhakti (Devotion)Tejas (Inner Radiance / Vigour)Dhairya (Composure / Courage)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender to God)
Related verses
Concepts
Jiva

Akrūra reaches for the canonical proof — seven-year-old Kṛṣṇa lifting Govardhana like a mushroom. The verse is one of the Bhāgavatam's favorite citation-snapshots: when Bhagavān's strength is in question, the mountain rises in memory.

Govardhana on Kṛṣṇa's finger

When Indra unleashed seven days of catastrophic rain on Vṛndāvana to punish the village for switching its sacrifice from him to the hill, Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana on the little finger of His left hand and held it as a parasol for the entire population — humans, cows, and calves — for those seven days (SB 10.25).

Gauḍīyas treat this līlā as the pivotal demonstration of Bhagavān's strength yoked to His tenderness: He is strong enough to hold a mountain, gentle enough to do so to shelter Vraja's children. Akrūra cites it in this verse as the conclusive answer to anyone who imagines they can oppose Him.

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