FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.58.54

తానస్యత: శరవ్రాతాన్ బన్ధుప్రియకృదర్జున: । గాణ్డీవీ కాలయామాస సింహ: క్షుద్రమృగానివ ॥ ౫౪ ॥
tān asyataḥ śara-vrātān
[taan asyatah shara-vraataan]
bandhu-priya-kṛd arjunaḥ
[bandhu-priya-krid arjunah]
gāṇḍīvī kālayām āsa
[gaandeevee kaalayaam aasa]
siṁhaḥ kṣudra-mṛgān iva
[simhah kshudra-mrigaan iva]
tān — them asyataḥ — throwing śara — of arrows vrātān — multitudes bandhu — his friend (Lord Kṛṣṇa) priya — to please kṛt — acting arjunaḥ — Arjuna gaṇḍīvī — the possessor of the bow Gāṇḍīva kālayām āsa — drove them away siṁhaḥ — a lion kṣudra — insignificant mṛgān — animals iva — as .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tān asyataḥ śara-vrātān
tān
them
asyataḥ
throwing
śara
of arrows
vrātān
multitudes
bandhu-priya-kṛd arjunaḥ
bandhu
his friend (Lord Kṛṣṇa)
priya
to please
kṛt
acting
arjunaḥ
Arjuna
gāṇḍīvī kālayām āsa
gaṇḍīvī
the possessor of the bow Gāṇḍīva
kālayām āsa
drove them away
siṁhaḥ kṣudra-mṛgān iva
siṁhaḥ
a lion
kṣudra
insignificant
mṛgān
animals
iva
as .
  • bandhu - priya - kṛt — doing what is dear to his friend
    Compound bandhu (friend) + priya (dear) + kṛt (doer). Arjuna acts for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. Gauḍīya: priya-kṛt is the exact phrase Rūpa Gosvāmī uses to characterise sakhya-bhakti in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
  • gaṇḍīvī — wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow
    Arjuna's bow-epithet. Gauḍīya: Bhagavān's friend is named for his weapon — sakhya is energetic, not passive. The friend's instrument is part of his identity in the friend-bhāva.
  • kṣudra - mṛgān — like a lion driving away insignificant animals
    Simile-phrase: lion vs. small animals. The suitor-kings are reduced to kṣudra-mṛga (insignificant animals). Gauḍīya: those who oppose Bhagavān are doctrinally small, however large in worldly terms.
Arjuna, wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow, was always eager to please his friend Kṛṣṇa, and thus he drove back those opponents, who were shooting torrents of arrows at the Lord. He did this just as a lion drives away insignificant animals.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Arjuna, wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow, was always eager to please his friend Kṛṣṇa, and thus he drove back those opponents, who were shooting torrents of arrows at the Lord. He did this just as a lion drives away insignificant animals.
Commentary

Arjuna drove them away easily (kalayam asa).

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Arjuna drove them away easily. Arjuna was in the procession in order to see the wedding, since he had come to Dvārakā out of great affection for Kṛṣṇa, or because of being secretly summoned.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Arjuna drove them away easily because he had the Gāṇḍīva bow. Why did he do this? He did it to please his friend. Arjuna came there because he heard of the attempts of evil kings to obstruct Kṛṣṇa on the road.

Concepts
Jiva

A lion does not bother to count the deer he scatters — the scattering is the work, the count is for poets afterwards. Arjuna driving back the suitor-kings is sakhya-service in the simplest register: friendship made into shield.

Arjuna's earlier defense of Kṛṣṇa

Arjuna again and again positions himself between Kṛṣṇa and danger — at the Khāṇḍava (verse 25 above), at the road from Kuru-rāṣṭra during the war, even after the war when Aśvatthāmā's brahmāstra threatened Uttarā's womb (SB 1.7).

Gauḍīya reading: sakhya-rasa expresses itself as the friend's repeated bid to protect his friend even when his friend needs no protection. The redundancy is the rasa.

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