10.64 · The Deliverance of King Nṛga

• yadu - kumārakāḥ — the boys of the Yadu dynasty
  Compound: yadu (the dynasty Kṛṣṇa enters) + kumārakāḥ (young boys). Śrīdhara Svāmī notes the chapter is aimed precisely at proud kings — and Jīva Gosvāmī adds it lands first on Kṛṣṇa's own family, who had grown proud of their opulences. Birth in His dynasty is not a guarantee against aparādha.
• upavanam — to a small forest
  Upa- (near) + vana (forest). Not the deep tapovana of Vraja; a pleasure-grove adjacent to Dvārakā. The setting marks this as a leisure pastime among householders — exactly where pride and entitlement enter.
• vihartum — to play, to enjoy
  Infinitive of vi-√hṛ. Vihāra is the very same root used for Kṛṣṇa's līlā, but in the boys it has slipped toward bhoga. Gauḍīyas read this slippage carefully: when 'play' loses its connection to Kṛṣṇa, it becomes the prelude to a fall.
• sāmba - pradyumna - cāru - bhānu - gada - ādayaḥ — Sāmba, Pradyumna, Cāru, Bhānu, Gada and others
  Pradyumna is Kṛṣṇa's own son (and an aṁśa of Sanat-kumāra); Sāmba is the son whose later pride would precipitate the Yadu dynasty's destruction. The poet lists them by name so that the warning that follows is unmistakably addressed to them.

• Bhanu Sw SB 10-64-01-24 - Without Bhakti doing pious activity alone does not guarantee happiness - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English

A king's own sons walk into the garden as if it were theirs by right — and Kṛṣṇa lets them, because the lesson He is about to give will land hardest on those who carry His name. The Yadu youths stroll into the upavana the way the proud stroll through any borrowed kingdom; the well they will stumble upon is the question Bhagavān has placed there for them.

• krīḍitvā — after playing
  Gerund of √krīḍ. The verb of play, again pointing toward līlā; but separated from Kṛṣṇa-smaraṇa, play exhausts the body and ends in pipāsā.
• pipāsitāḥ — thirsty
  From √pā (to drink). In Upaniṣadic and Bhāgavata register, tṛṣṇā is the emblem of saṁsāra itself — the unquenchable thirst that drives the jīva from birth to birth. The boys feel its bodily form.
• nirudake kūpe — in a waterless well
  Nir- (without) + udaka (water) + kūpa (well). The Bhāgavatam loves the kūpa image — Prahlāda's andha-kūpa of family life (SB 7.9.43), Gajendra's reservoir. A well that promised water but had none is the precise shape of Nṛga's heavenly enjoyment after it ran out.
• sattvam adbhutam — an amazing creature
  Sattva (a being) + adbhuta (wonderful). The boys see a wonder; they do not yet know it is a king. Gauḍīyas note: the lesson begins as a curiosity and only later reveals itself as warning.

• Dina Bandhu Pr SB 10-64-02 - 2024-09-22 ISKCON Vrindavan
  His Grace Dina Bandhu Prabhu· 2024-09-22· English

The throat thirsts, the eye searches, and what the eye finally finds in the dry well is not water but a question. So Bhagavān: He lets us run after our enjoyments until the cup is empty, and then places at the bottom of the empty cup a creature who used to be a king.

• kṛkalāsam — a lizard
  A reptile that lives in dry places, can change colour, and clings to walls. Gauḍīya commentators read the form as fit punishment for a king who 'clung' to brāhmaṇa-property he should not have touched.
• giri - nibham — resembling a hill
  Giri (mountain) + nibha (resembling). The size of the form preserves the size of the piety beneath it. Nṛga's past charity has not vanished — it has been stuck inside an inappropriate body.
• vismita - mānasāḥ — whose minds were astonished
  Vismita (amazed) + mānasa (mind). The Yadu boys' first response is wonder, not judgement. Gauḍīyas commend this: before instruction, the heart must first be opened by adbhuta-rasa.
• kṛpayā anvitāḥ — filled with compassion
  Kṛpā (mercy) + anvita (endowed with). The boys' compassion is genuine but limited — they can pity, not deliver. Only Kṛṣṇa's hand will lift him; this verse is the contrast that makes verse 5 shine.

A hill-sized lizard trapped in a dry well is the exact silhouette of a great soul brought low by a small offence — the bulk of his past piety still visible, but the form mocking it. Compassion alone cannot lift him; he must wait for the hand of the Lord.

• carma - jaiḥ — made of leather
  Carma (hide) + ja (born of). The hardest, toughest thongs the kṣatriya household uses for binding animals — and they are still not enough. The poet is showing the exhaustion of human method.
• tāntavaiḥ — made of spun thread
  From tantu (thread). The other extreme — fine woven ropes braided strong. Neither extreme works. Gauḍīyas read this as the kṛpaṇa's failure: every kind of self-effort proves insufficient before a fall caused by aparādha.
• na aśaknuran samuddhartum — they were not able to lift him out
  Sam-ud-√hṛ (to lift up completely). Same root cluster that names the act of deliverance (uddhāra) throughout the Bhāgavatam — Gajendra-uddhāra, jīva-uddhāra. The Yadus cannot perform it; only Bhagavān can.
• kṛṣṇāya ācakhyuḥ — they reported to Kṛṣṇa
  The first right step. Gauḍīya śaraṇāgati begins exactly here — exhaust your own ropes, then go to Kṛṣṇa. Rūpa Gosvāmī lists this surrender (ātma-nikṣepa) among the six limbs of śaraṇāgati.

Leather and woven rope are the best instruments the kṣatriya hands of Dvārakā can offer, and they fail. Bhakti's first humility begins here: the moment one's own ropes prove useless and one runs to Kṛṣṇa, the rescue has already begun.

• aravinda - akṣaḥ — lotus-eyed
  Aravinda (lotus) + akṣa (eye). The standard Bhāgavata epithet for Kṛṣṇa at moments of rescue — His glance precedes His hand. Gauḍīyas read His eye as the first instrument of deliverance; the touch comes second.
• viśva - bhāvanaḥ — maintainer of the universe
  Viśva (the all) + bhāvana (one who maintains, brings into being). Lifting a lizard out of a well, He is simultaneously the one holding all worlds in being. The asymmetry of effort and magnitude is the whole point.
• vāmena — with the left (hand)
  Instrumental of vāma (left). The same left hand that lifted Govardhana (SB 10.25). For Kṛṣṇa, deliverance is so light a matter He performs it with the secondary hand — the poet's signal that this is līlā, not exertion.
• līlayā — easily, playfully
  Instrumental of līlā. The technical Gauḍīya term: Kṛṣṇa's every act is play, including rescue. Effortlessness is not indifference — it is the precise mode of His sovereignty.

The same hand that holds the Sudarśana, that lifted Govardhana for seven days, that pulled the calves out of Aghāsura's belly — now lifts a lizard with the left hand, easily, as if it were nothing. For Bhagavān every uddhāra is līlā; for the rescued, every uddhāra is the whole world.

• uttamaḥ - śloka — the glorious Lord, He whose fame is sung in the best verses
  Uttama (highest) + śloka (verse, praise). One of the Bhāgavatam's signature names for Kṛṣṇa, used here precisely because the deliverance about to be related is itself worthy of śloka. The name does the work the verse describes.
• kara - abhimṛṣṭaḥ — touched by the hand
  Kara (hand) + abhimṛṣṭa (well-touched, caressed). Sparśa with Kṛṣṇa's hand is purificatory in the Bhāgavatam — Pūtanā touched His foot, Aghāsura His entry, this lizard His palm. Gauḍīyas hold sparśa as a recognised mode of deliverance.
• santapta - cāmīkara - caru - varṇaḥ — complexion the colour of molten gold
  Santapta (molten) + cāmīkara (gold) + cāru (beautiful) + varṇa (colour). The form that emerges is svargī-grade. Gauḍīya commentators note the poet's restraint: he describes the demigod beautifully but withholds Kṛṣṇa's own description until the contrast lands.
• svargī — a resident of heaven
  From svarga. The lizard-form belonged to a former svargī. The chapter's whole engine: even residence in svarga is not safe from a brāhmaṇa-aparādha. The fall from heaven follows; only Kṛṣṇa's touch reverses it.

A lizard touched by Kṛṣṇa's hand becomes a golden demigod in an instant — proof that the form fixed by karma is not the soul's address but its costume, and one touch of Bhagavān can change the costume back. The body is loaned; the touch is real.

• vidvān api — although fully aware
  Vidvān (knower) + api (although). The Bhāgavata pattern of antaryāmin-līlā: Kṛṣṇa, the inner witness, plays the role of inquirer for the benefit of His audience. Gauḍīyas call this vyāpaka-līlā — the Lord teaches by withholding His omniscience.
• janeṣu vikhyāpayitum — to make it known among the people
  Jana (people) + vi-khyāpayitum (to publicly proclaim). The whole point of the līlā: not Nṛga's rehabilitation alone, but the public sūtra about brāhmaṇa-aparādha that the dialogue is designed to deliver.
• mukundaḥ — Lord Kṛṣṇa, the giver of liberation
  Mukti (liberation) + da (giver). The name is chosen with care: He who gives mukti is the very one staging this lesson, so that even those listening may be delivered.
• mahā - bhāga — O greatly fortunate one
  Mahā (great) + bhāga (fortune, share). Kṛṣṇa addresses the freshly lifted soul with honour — Gauḍīya etiquette: even a soul just out of a lizard-body, once touched by the Lord, is to be addressed as bhāgavān-prāṇī.

• Akuti Mataji SB 10-64-07-16 - 2015-04-22 ISKCON Alachua
  Her Grace Akuti Mataji· 2015-04-22· English
• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-07 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

A father already knows his child's mischief but asks the question aloud — not for information, but so the household will hear the confession together. Kṛṣṇa knows Nṛga; the question is staged for the Yadus and for us.

• katamena karmaṇā — by what action
  Katama (which one of many) + karman. Karma is the Bhāgavata's standard idiom for whatever produced this body. Kṛṣṇa narrows the question to action because the lesson He intends to draw is about a specific act.
• atat - arhaḥ — undeserving of this
  A- (not) + tat (this) + arha (deserving). Kṛṣṇa's diagnosis is already in His question: this fall does not match the soul's piety. The mismatch is precisely what aparādha produces — disproportionate disgrace from a small wrong against the right person.
• su - bhadra — O good soul
  Su (good) + bhadra (auspicious). The poet keeps Kṛṣṇa addressing Nṛga as bhadra throughout — pre-emptive vindication. The fall was real; the soul was never lost.
• yat manyase naḥ kṣamam — if you think it appropriate
  Kṣama here means 'fit, suitable.' Kṛṣṇa frames the request as conditional, leaving Nṛga the dignity of refusal. Gauḍīya pedagogy: even when teaching, never humiliate the student.

Kṛṣṇa frames the question as a tactful father might: not 'what wrong did you do?' but 'what action brought you here?' — protecting the speaker's dignity even while drawing out a confession that the whole assembly needs to hear.

• ananta - mūrtinā — by Him whose forms are unlimited
  Ananta (limitless) + mūrti (form). Śukadeva quietly inserts the doctrinal point: the Kṛṣṇa standing before Nṛga is the same Lord who pervades all forms. Nṛga is not just speaking to a Yadu prince; he is speaking to viśva-bhāvana.
• mādhavam — to Lord Mādhava
  Mā (Lakṣmī) + dhava (husband); also of the Madhu line. The Gauḍīyas favour the second sense in Vraja-contexts (Mādhava as 'sweet Lord'), but here Śukadeva is reminding us this is the husband of Lakṣmī to whom the king bows — the source of all royal opulence.
• kirīṭena arka - varcasa — with his helmet bright as the sun
  Kirīṭa (crown) + arka (sun) + varcas (brilliance). The sun-bright crown bowing low is the visible image of svarga-aiśvarya placing itself beneath Kṛṣṇa's feet — the gesture the whole chapter recommends.
• praṇipatya — bowing down
  Pra-ni-√pat (to fall down before). One of the three gestures Bhagavad-gītā 4.34 prescribes for approaching a guru (praṇipāta-paripraśna-sevā). Nṛga performs the first one before answering.

• KKS SB 10-64-09 - Krishna%27s Pastimes in Vrindavan - 2007-09-05 ISKCON Melbourne
  His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami· 2007-09-05· English

The crown that once dazzled in the lists of charitable kings now bows of its own weight before the Lord. Helmet to feet — the same geometry the Bhāgavatam asks of every king when he meets Bhagavān: head all the way down, regardless of how bright it once shone.

• nṛgaḥ nāma — named Nṛga
  Nṛga of the Ikṣvāku line, mentioned in the Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana-parva) and in Manu-smṛti as one of the most charitable kings. The Bhāgavata names him precisely because his fame for dāna makes the moral sharper: even this dāna-vīra fell.
• ikṣvāku - tanayaḥ — a son of Ikṣvāku
  Ikṣvāku (son of Manu, founder of the solar dynasty) + tanaya (son, descendant). The Ikṣvāku line is Rāma's line — sūrya-vaṁśa. The poet is reminding us this is not a peripheral king; this is from the same dynasty as Bhagavān Rāmacandra.
• dāniṣu ākhyāyamāneṣu — when men of charity are being enumerated
  Dānin (giver) + ākhyāyamāna (being recited). There is a traditional Vedic / Purāṇic genre of dāna-stuti listings. Nṛga assumes Kṛṣṇa might have encountered his name in such a list — a touching detail of how kings imagined their own fame.
• te karṇam aspṛśam — I touched Your ear
  Idiom: 'reached Your ear.' Sparśa-idiom of fame — to come to a great person's hearing. Gauḍīyas note the irony: the king's name once touched Kṛṣṇa's ear, but he himself had not yet touched His feet.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-10 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Vaisesika Pr SB 10-64-10 - Discussion on Bhakti in Shant Ras - 2009-01-14
  His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu· 2009-01-14· English

A man whose name once filled every roll-call of charitable kings now begins his account with a deferential 'perhaps You have heard of me' — the precise note Gauḍīya etiquette asks of any devotee whose past is impressive. Begin low; let the Lord raise you, or not.

• sarva - bhūta - ātma - sākṣiṇaḥ — the witness in the intelligence of all beings
  Sarva (all) + bhūta (being) + ātma (here in the sense of antaryāmin, inner self) + sākṣin (witness). The Paramātmā doctrine in compact form. Nṛga confesses that there is nothing in him not already seen.
• kālena avyāhata - dṛśaḥ — whose vision is unobstructed by time
  Kāla (time) + a-vyāhata (unimpeded) + dṛś (vision). Past, present, future are equally visible to Kṛṣṇa. The phrase rules out any 'forgotten' deed — including the one the king is about to disclose.
• tava ājñayā — by Your order
  Ājñā is the Gauḍīya keyword for the guru's / Lord's command. Nṛga speaks not because he must explain but because Kṛṣṇa has asked. Bhakti operates on ājñā, not on initiative.
• vakṣye — I will speak
  Future of √vac. The willing self-disclosure of a fallen devotee before Kṛṣṇa — the same posture Ajāmila, Prahlāda, and Dhruva each take at the moment of meeting. Speech is the medium of śaraṇāgati.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-11 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

A child told to recite a story his father already knows still recites it — because the telling is the prāyaścitta, not the information. Nṛga acknowledges Kṛṣṇa's omniscience and then narrates anyway, because confession is for the speaker, not the listener.

• sikatāḥ bhūmeḥ — grains of sand of the earth
  Classical hyperbole image (cf. Bṛhad-āraṇyaka, Rāmāyaṇa) for what cannot be counted. The Bhāgavatam uses it to set up the contrast: count this high, then lose it all through a single error.
• divi tārakāḥ — stars in the sky
  The second incalculable. Stars also figure in BG 10.21 (Kṛṣṇa as the moon among them); here they measure Nṛga's gifted cows. Wealth on a cosmic scale is being placed on one pan of the scale.
• varṣa - dhārāḥ — drops of a rainfall
  Varṣa (rain) + dhārā (stream, drop). The third Bhāgavata-favoured measure of the uncountable. Three figures for one fact: Nṛga's dāna was vast beyond reckoning.
• adadam sma gāḥ — I gave cows
  Imperfect of √dā. Go-dāna is, in the dharma-śāstras, the topmost form of charity. Nṛga's signature act and his eventual undoing share the same word-field — the gift becomes the offence when its object is wrong.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-12 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

Sand on the beach, stars in the sky, drops in a monsoon — the Bhāgavata's three classic figures for what cannot be counted. Nṛga's cows match all three. And yet a single cow given away by mistake undid the lot of them. The arithmetic of aparādha is not the arithmetic of piety.

• payaḥ - vinīḥ — milk-laden
  Payas (milk) + the suffix denoting possession. Go-dāna is meaningless if the cow is dry — the gift must serve the recipient's actual life. Gauḍīyas extend this principle to all dāna: the gift must fit the recipient's real need.
• nyāya - arjitāḥ — earned by fair means
  Nyāya (justice, propriety) + arjita (earned). The dharma-śāstra requires that what is given in charity be acquired honestly. Nṛga emphasises this — making the failure in verse 16 all the sharper: an honest cowman who, despite his care, gave away one cow he did not own.
• kapilāḥ — brown / tawny
  The kapilā cow is held especially auspicious in Vedic ritual; even today gauḍīya pūjā prefers her milk for abhiṣeka. Nṛga's gifts were of the best variety.
• sa - vatsāḥ — with their calves
  Sa (with) + vatsa (calf). A cow given without her calf is dāna-doṣa — the gift must not break the cow's bond with her young. Nṛga observed every detail of correct dāna. The point is precisely how easily aparādha slipped past every observance.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-13 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• KKS SB 10-64-13 - 2007-09-07 ISKCON Melbourne
  His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami· 2007-09-07· English

A gift is read by Bhagavān not in the giving but in the texture of it — young cows, milk-laden, gentle-tempered, honestly earned, golden-horned, silver-hooved. Every adjective is a moral check. And yet, with all these checks in place, one cow that did not belong to the giver was enough to undo it.

• sīdat - kuṭumbebhyaḥ — whose families were in distress
  Sīdat (suffering) + kuṭumba (family). Pātra-pariikṣā: dāna's value depends on giving to one who genuinely needs. Nṛga's brāhmaṇas were young, dependent-laden, and ascetic — every box ticked.
• ṛta - vratebhyaḥ — dedicated to truth
  Ṛta (cosmic truth, order) + vrata (vow). The recipients were not merely educated; they were bound by truth-vows. The poet is establishing that Nṛga's failure cannot be blamed on bad pātras.
• dvija - pum - gavebhyaḥ — most exceptional among brāhmaṇas
  Dvija (twice-born) + puṅgava (bull, in the sense of 'chief'). The bull-image for an exceptional male is Vedic; Kṛṣṇa Himself is called nara-puṅgava. The recipients were the best of brāhmaṇas — making the upcoming failure structural, not careless.
• iṣṭam ca yajñaiḥ caritam ca pūrtam — performed sacrifices and pious welfare acts
  Iṣṭa (Vedic sacrifice, śrauta) + pūrta (public works — wells, temples, almshouses, the dharma-śāstric category beside iṣṭa). Together iṣṭā-pūrta names the full repertoire of Vedic piety. Nṛga had it all.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-14 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

An ornamented brāhmaṇa receives ornamented cows from an ornamented king — the surface of dharma is intact in every detail. And it still failed. Gauḍīyas read this verse as a warning against ritual perfectionism: the form may be flawless and the heart still unsafe.

• kasyacit dvija - mukhyasya — of a certain first-class brāhmaṇa
  Dvija (brāhmaṇa) + mukhya (chief, foremost). The cow belonged to a brāhmaṇa of the first rank. The chapter's whole moral hinges on this detail: brāhmaṇa-property is uniquely sacrosanct.
• bhraṣṭā — lost / wandered away
  Past participle of √bhraṁś (to fall, slip). The same root family used later for Nṛga's own falling. The cow's stray begins a chain reaction in which two parties fall — the cow into a herd, the king into a well.
• go - dhane — in the cattle-wealth
  Go (cow) + dhana (wealth). For a kṣatriya, the cow-herd is dhana itself. Among the lakhs of Nṛga's own legitimate wealth, one wrong cow was indistinguishable — exactly how aparādha hides.
• aviduṣā — by one who was unaware
  A- (not) + viduṣ (knowing). The key word of the chapter: even unknowing transfer of brāhmaṇa-property carries consequence. Gauḍīyas read this as warning against the modern assumption that 'intent' alone determines moral weight.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-16 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Revati Raman Pr SB 10-64-16 - 2013-05-14 ISKCON Tirupati
  His Grace Revati Raman Prabhu· 2013-05-14· Telugu

A single grain of forbidden food slipped into a perfect feast — and the feast becomes poison. One cow that was not his entered his herd, and the king, unknowing, gifted her away. Gauḍīyas warn: a single misappropriated item, even invisible to the giver, contaminates the entire offering.

• tat - svāmī — her master
  Svāmī is the dharma-śāstric term for the lawful owner. The first brāhmaṇa's claim is by adhikāra — title from before the gift. His 'mine' has prior force.
• parigrāhī — the one who accepted
  Pari-√grah (to accept fully). The technical term for the recipient of a dāna. His 'mine' is by sampradāna — title from the king's transfer. Two valid grammatical claims sit on the same cow.
• nṛgaḥ me dattavān — Nṛga gave her to me
  Crucial phrase: the second brāhmaṇa's title is grounded specifically in Nṛga's act. If the act was invalid (because Nṛga did not own her), the title fails. This is the exact pivot on which the king's fall hinges.
• mama iti — thus saying 'mine'
  The poet uses mama-iti twice in symmetrical positions, framing the cow between two competing 'mines.' Gauḍīyas read this as a microcosm of saṁsāra: every dispute reduces to two voices both saying mama.

• Dravida Pr SB 10-64-17-25 - 2015-04-23 ISKCON Alachua
  His Grace Dravida Prabhu· 2015-04-23· English
• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-17 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• VedavyasaPSW SB 10-64-17 - Vaishnava is higher than Brahmana - 2007-09-08 ISKCON Melbourne
  His Holiness Vedavyasa Priya Swami· 2007-09-08· English

Two brāhmaṇas standing over a single cow — one saying 'mine by birth,' the other 'mine by gift' — is the precise miniature of every dharma-conflict: two valid claims, both rooted in śāstra, with no neat way to satisfy both. Bhagavān lets the king feel the impossibility.

• sva - artha - sādhakau — each fulfilling his own purpose
  Sva (own) + artha (interest) + sādhaka (one accomplishing). The poet does not blame either brāhmaṇa — both are doing what their station demands. The conflict is structural, not moral. Gauḍīyas read the phrase as descriptive, not pejorative.
• dātā — giver
  From √dā. The second brāhmaṇa's claim names Nṛga the giver. To accept the title is to accept ownership of the original transfer — and therefore ownership of the offence if the transfer was wrong.
• apahartā — taker / stealer
  Apa-√hṛ (to take away). The first brāhmaṇa names Nṛga the thief. The chapter's later verses (35, 43) will use this same root. The accusation is harsh but, in śāstra-grammar, technically accurate — what is taken from a brāhmaṇa, even unknowingly, is apahāra.
• bhramaḥ — consternation, confusion
  From √bhram (to wander, to whirl). The king's mental state is named with the very word for saṁsāra's spinning. Dharma-confusion at this scale becomes ontological dizziness — Arjuna's bhrama in BG 1, in miniature.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-18 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• PSarasvati Sw SB 10-64-18-25 - 2024-09-26 ISKCON Vrindavan
  His Holiness Prabodhananda Sarasvati Swami· 2024-09-26· English

A king who has settled a thousand disputes finds the one he cannot settle right at his own door — and discovers that dharma is not a panel of cases to be judged from above, but a stream that can sweep the judge himself off his feet.

• dharma - kṛcchra - gatena — by one in difficulty regarding dharma
  Dharma (duty) + kṛcchra (difficulty, narrow pass) + gata (gone). The technical term for a true dharma-saṅkaṭa, where standard rules give no clean answer. Nṛga is in the genuine condition the Mahābhārata calls āpad-dharma.
• gavām lakṣam prakṛṣṭānām — a lakh of the best cows
  Gava (cow) + lakṣa (one hundred thousand) + prakṛṣṭa (foremost). Nṛga offers ratio 100,000:1. The poet's number-play makes the point exact: brāhmaṇa-property is not a commodity to be exchanged at any ratio.
• kiṅkarasya avijānataḥ — of your servant who was unaware
  Kiṅkara (servant) + a-vijānataḥ (not knowing). The king reduces himself to the brāhmaṇas' servant and pleads ignorance simultaneously — śaraṇāgati and a-jñāna together. Gauḍīyas note: even surrender does not automatically clear aparādha; the offended one must consent.
• niraye aśucau — into the unclean hell
  Niraya (hell) + aśuci (impure). Nṛga foresees what kind of consequence awaits. The Bhāgavatam names specific hells; Kṛṣṇa will later name Kumbhīpāka (v. 37–38) for those who steal brāhmaṇa-property. The king's fear is precise, not vague.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-19 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

A king offering a hundred thousand cows for the return of one — the precise arithmetic by which the world tries to ransom a vaiṣṇava-aparādha and discovers no quantity will buy it back. Aparādha cannot be paid down with bulk piety; it can only be cleared by the offended one's mercy.

• na aham pratīcche — I do not want (anything in exchange)
  Prati-√iṣ (to desire in return). The original owner refuses any substitute; only the specific cow he owned would satisfy him. Brāhmaṇa-property is not fungible — that is the lesson the verb is teaching.
• apākramat — went away
  Apa-ā-√kram (to step away). Both brāhmaṇas exit the negotiation. The poet uses two different verbs for the two exits (apākramat / yayau) — the symmetry is deliberate. There will be no settlement at any price.
• ayutam icchāmi — I want ten thousand (more)
  Ayuta (ten thousand) + icchāmi (I want). Spoken with the preceding 'na' / 'na anyat' (not even...) — the second brāhmaṇa refuses any inflation of the ransom. Together the two refusals prove that the offence is structural — it lives in what the cow is, not in how much can be paid for her.
• aparaḥ yayau — the other left
  Yayau, perfect of √yā (to go). The second brāhmaṇa's leave is final. With both gone, the case is closed in this world and opens in Yamarāja's. The next verse will carry Nṛga south.

Two brāhmaṇas refuse a kingdom's worth of cows because neither wants what is wrong — and in their refusal seal the king's fate. Sometimes the most pious response of the offended is to walk away, not because they are cruel but because they will not participate in a wrong settlement.

• etasmin antare — at this juncture
  Etasmin (in this) + antara (interval). The poet marks a hinge moment. The earthly dharma-court has dissolved; the next court is Yama's. The interval is the death itself, passed over in a half-line.
• yāmaiḥ dūtaiḥ — by the messengers of Yama
  Yāma (of Yama) + dūta (messenger). The same dūtas who appeared to Ajāmila. Bhāgavata cosmology is precise: there are formal officers of post-mortem judgement; they do not appear for petty cases.
• deva - deva jagat - pate — O Lord of lords, O master of the universe
  Nṛga, mid-narrative, breaks into vocatives. The pattern is bhakti's: the more dreadful the memory, the higher the form of address he reaches for. Gauḍīyas read these interruptions as the soul re-orienting itself toward shelter as it remembers fear.
• yamena pṛṣṭaḥ — questioned by Yamarāja
  Yama himself, not a subordinate, conducted the interview. The case warranted the chief judge's attention — the poet's quiet signal that brāhmaṇa-aparādha is at the top of Yama's docket.

• VedavyasaPSW SB 10-64-22 - Living entity is the cause of enjoyment and suffering - 2007 Melbourne
  His Holiness Vedavyasa Priya Swami· English

The Yama-dūtas come not for the wicked but for the man whose accounts have one unsettled line. Nṛga's ledger was vast and his sins were few — but the one line of brāhmaṇa-aparādha pulled him before the judge of the dead, opulence and crown notwithstanding.

• aśubham bhuṅkṣe — do you wish to experience the impious
  A-śubha (not auspicious) + bhuj (to enjoy / suffer). The Bhāgavata's standard verb for karma-consumption: both pleasure and pain are 'eaten' until exhausted. Yama's offer respects the king's right to choose the order.
• śubham — the pious (reactions)
  The positive counterpart. Nṛga's heap of dāna had its own ripening waiting in svarga. Yama tells him both ledgers are full — the question is only the order of reading.
• antam — the end
  From anta. Yama himself, who can see lifetimes, declares he sees 'no end' (na antam ... paśye) of Nṛga's charitable credit. The verse establishes how disproportionate the punishment will look — a single misappropriated cow against an endless heaven. That disproportion is the whole point about aparādha.
• lokasya bhāsvataḥ — of the shining world
  Loka (world) + bhāsvant (shining, radiant). Svarga, the bright heaven. Yama acknowledges that Nṛga's place is genuinely there — yet a single offence will pull him out of it. Brāhmaṇa-aparādha is the unique offence that can override even legitimate svarga-credit.

• Haladhar Sw SB 10-64-23 Oriya - Seba Suddha manare hele bhagavat prapti sahaja - 2022-06-20
  His Holiness Haladhar Swami· 2022-06-20· Oriya
• VedavyasaPSW SB 10-64-23-26 - 2007-09-10 ISKCON Melbourne
  His Holiness Vedavyasa Priya Swami· 2007-09-10· English

Yamarāja extending a courtesy to a great king — 'which will you take first, the sweet or the bitter?' — is the dignified administrator's last act of respect before the sentence falls. The choice itself is a small mercy; the consequence is fixed.

• aśubham bhuñje — I shall enjoy / suffer the impious (reactions)
  Aśubha (inauspicious) + bhuñje (I experience, from √bhuj). Spoken with the opening pūrvam (first), Nṛga elects to face the debt before the dividend. Gauḍīyas commend the choice as the dharmic king's instinct: settle the karma-debt now, taste piety afterward. Yet the choice does not nullify the fall.
• pata iti — fall, thus
  Single imperative pata from √pat (to fall), followed by iti. The most economical sentence in the chapter. The whole svarga is voided in one syllable — pata.
• adrākṣam ātmānam kṛkalāsam — I saw myself as a lizard
  Adrākṣam (I saw, aorist of √dṛś) + ātman (self) + kṛkalāsa (lizard). The king watches his own form change mid-fall — a striking detail. The ātman persists; the upādhi (body) changes; Gauḍīyas read this as exact-Bhāgavata anthropology.
• patan prabho — while falling, O master
  Patan (present participle of √pat) + prabho. Even narrating his own fall, the king cannot finish the sentence without a vocative for Bhagavān. The reflex of address is bhakti's own grammar.

A wise traveller, given the choice of bitter herb or sweet, takes the bitter first so the journey ends in sweetness. Nṛga's choice is the king's choice in saṁsāra: clear the debt first, even at the cost of the immediate body. Even so, the fall is real — he watches his own descent.

• brahmaṇyasya — of one devoted to the brāhmaṇas
  From brahmaṇya (friendly to / devoted to brāhmaṇas). The very quality Kṛṣṇa is called by in verse 31 (brahmaṇya-deva). Nṛga claims the same epithet for himself — and yet was undone. The doctrine: brahmaṇyatā is the protection, and even brahmaṇyatā can slip.
• vadānyasya — of the generous one
  From vadānya (open-handed). The standard Bhāgavata epithet for charitable devotees; later, Caitanya is called mahā-vadānya (CC Mad 19) for distributing the holy name. Nṛga's vadānyatā preserved his memory of Kṛṣṇa even in the lizard form.
• dāsasya keśava — of Your servant, O Keśava
  Dāsa (servant) + Keśava (slayer of the demon Keśin; also 'beautifully-haired one'). The king claims dāsya from inside the lizard's body. Gauḍīyas note: the servant-relation is preserved through any upādhi.
• bhavat - sandarśana - arthinaḥ — of one hankering for Your audience
  Bhavat (Your) + sandarśana (full vision) + arthin (desirer). His abiding desire to see Kṛṣṇa is what preserved his memory — and ultimately what brought Kṛṣṇa to the well. The Bhāgavatam's law: sustained desire for Bhagavān's darśana eventually summons Him.

• Bhanu Sw SB 10-64-25 - Various types of Bhakti and the preferable Bhakti as per Bhagavatam - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English

The body wears the curse but the heart does not forget. Nṛga's lizard form lasted ages; his memory of being a brāhmaṇya servant of Kṛṣṇa lasted longer. The Gauḍīya promise: kṛṣṇa-smṛti survives every demotion the body suffers.

• para - ātmā — the Supreme Soul
  Para (highest) + ātman (self). The technical name for Kṛṣṇa's expansion within every heart. Nṛga is acknowledging that the Person before him is the same one yogīs seek inside — and that He has stepped outside in a visible body.
• śruti - dṛśā amala - hṛt - vibhāvyaḥ — to be meditated upon in the pure heart with the eye of scripture
  Śruti (Veda) + dṛś (eye) + amala (spotless) + hṛt (heart) + vibhāvya (to be meditated). The yoga-darśana of Paramātmā in compressed form — and Nṛga is contrasting it with what he is seeing right now, plain-eyed.
• adhokṣaja — O Lord beyond the senses
  Adhaḥ (below) + akṣa (sense) + ja (born). Literally 'one for whom the senses go down (i.e. fail).' One of Kṛṣṇa's most paradoxical epithets — He is called 'beyond the senses' precisely at the moment He stands sense-visible. Gauḍīyas relish the contradiction.
• bhava - apavargaḥ — the cessation of material life
  Bhava (becoming, saṁsāra) + apavarga (release). The yogic name for liberation. Nṛga reasons: only one who has reached apavarga should see You — and yet here I am, still entangled. The verse names its own astonishment.

• Bhanu Sw SB 10-64-26 - Impact of mistakes in the path of Karma and Bhakti - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English

Yogīs labour for lifetimes to glimpse Paramātmā within the heart, and here the same Paramātmā stands plainly before a half-recovered king on the outskirts of Dvārakā. Gauḍīyas explain: aiśvarya is what the yogī earns; mādhurya is what Kṛṣṇa gives.

• go - vinda — O finder of cows; chief of cows
  Go (cow) + vinda (finder). The name lands with special force here: the king's fall was caused by a misplaced cow, and the deliverer's own name is 'Govinda.' The poet's irony is exact — only the Lord of cows can clear a cow-offence.
• puṇya - śloka — O You who are glorified in pious verses
  Puṇya (sanctifying) + śloka (verse). The name Kuntī uses repeatedly (SB 1.8). Hearing Kṛṣṇa's stories is itself puṇya — Nṛga, about to leave, names Him this so that the listening Yadus may catch what he has caught.
• yatra kva api sataḥ — residing wherever
  Yatra (where) + kva api (anywhere at all) + sat (residing). The radical openness of the request: not 'take me to svarga' but 'wherever I land.' Gauḍīya śaraṇāgati's mature form — indifference to place, fixation on Kṛṣṇa-smṛti.
• tvat - pada - āspadam — the shelter of Your feet
  Tvat (Your) + pada (feet) + āspada (resting place). The Bhāgavatam's preferred locative for the surrendered mind. Pāda-padma-niṣṭhā is the very target of Gauḍīya bhakti; Nṛga, leaving for svarga, asks for it explicitly as the only address that matters.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-27-28 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Bhanu Sw SB 10-64-27-28 - ISKCON Chennai
  His Holiness Bhanu Swami· English
• VedavyasaPSW SB 10-64-27-28 - Krishna is the ultimate object of Devotion - 2007-09-11 ISKCON Melbourne
  His Holiness Vedavyasa Priya Swami· 2007-09-11· English

A list of names, said aloud, is its own kind of net to throw around Bhagavān. Nṛga strings nine of Kṛṣṇa's names together as he prepares to leave — each name another knot in the rope by which he asks his mind to remain tied to those feet wherever the next body lands.

• sarva - bhāvāya — to the source of all beings
  Sarva (all) + bhāva (becoming, being). Kṛṣṇa as the origin (cf. BG 10.8 — ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ). Nṛga's farewell-stuti opens at the doctrinal foundation: Bhagavān is not one being among many but their common source.
• brahmaṇe — to the Supreme Absolute Truth
  Dative of brahman. Gauḍīya reading: Kṛṣṇa Himself is parabrahman; brahman in the impersonal sense is His effulgence. Nṛga names both at once — the dative is personal, the term reaches the impersonalist's range.
• ananta - śaktaye — possessor of unlimited potencies
  Ananta (limitless) + śakti (power). Doctrinal: Bhagavān is svarūpa with infinite śaktis (parā, jīva, māyā). Gauḍīyas root acintya-bhedābheda in exactly this — the Lord is one with His śaktis and yet distinct from them.
• vāsudevāya — to the son of Vasudeva
  Patronymic. The Bhāgavata pairs the cosmic names (sarva-bhāva, brahman, ananta-śakti) with this intimate one — He who is all that, is also the boy of Vasudeva. The personalist accent is the chapter's signature.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-29 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Yadu Sw SB 10-64-29 - 2024-09-29 ISKCON Vrindavan
  His Holiness Yadunanadana Swami· 2024-09-29· English

Obeisances repeated, repeated — not because Kṛṣṇa needs more, but because the heart, having found Him, has nothing else to do with itself. Repeated namaḥ is bhakti's natural meter.

• parikramya — circumambulating
  Pari-√kram (to walk around). The traditional gesture of reverence — keeping the Lord on one's right. Gauḍīya temple etiquette preserves it; Nṛga performs it before he ever performs the touch of feet.
• pādau spṛṣṭvā sva - maulinā — touching His feet with his own crown
  Pādau (feet) + spṛṣṭvā (touching) + svamauli (own crown). The crown — symbol of royal pride — is placed on Kṛṣṇa's feet. Gauḍīyas treat the gesture as the verse's silent thesis: aiśvarya recedes, mādhurya advances.
• anujñātaḥ — given leave
  Anu-√jñā (to give permission). Departure requires Kṛṣṇa's consent — even to ascend to svarga. Bhakti's economy is permission-based; the devotee does not move except by ājñā.
• paśyatām nṛṇām — as the people watched
  Paśyat (looking) + nṛ (man). The Yadu boys and the Dvārakā public all witness the ascent. The poet emphasises the public character — the whole pastime is a teaching staged for an audience.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-30 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Tamohara Pr SB 10-64-30-34 - 2015-04-28 ISKCON Alachua
  His Grace Tamohara Prabhu· 2015-04-28· English

A crown that bowed to His feet in v. 9 now touches them. Circumambulation, sparśa, departure — the Bhāgavatam's choreography of a sanctified leave-taking, performed in full view of an assembly so that the gesture itself becomes the teaching.

• devakī - sutaḥ — the son of Devakī
  The patronymic chosen here is striking: the lesson concerns brāhmaṇa-honour, and the speaker is named through His mother. Gauḍīyas read this as the poet's reminder that even the Supreme accepts a human family-name — and from that intimacy speaks the warning.
• brahmaṇya - devaḥ — the Lord devoted to the brāhmaṇas
  Brahmaṇya (kind to / dedicated to brāhmaṇas) + deva (God). Kṛṣṇa's standing epithet, especially in the prayers of Bhīṣma (SB 1.9.42). The verse is Kṛṣṇa speaking as brahmaṇya-deva about brahmaṇya-aparādha — He is defending those whom He Himself honours.
• dharma - ātmā — the soul of dharma
  Dharma (right order) + ātman (self). Not 'one who follows dharma' but 'one whose very self is dharma.' The Bhāgavata thus identifies the source of dharma with the speaker of this discourse: when Kṛṣṇa speaks of brāhmaṇa-honour, dharma itself is speaking.
• rājanyān anuśikṣayan — in effect instructing the royal class
  Rājanya (kṣatriya) + anu-√śikṣ (to instruct in turn). The verse names the addressees plainly: kings. The Yadu boys are kings; the verse's lesson is for them and through them for all rulers. Śrīdhara Svāmī marks this as the chapter's didactic centre.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-31 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

The Lord turns from the now-vacant sky to the still-watching boys and switches register — from the warmth of a guru's farewell to the precision of a śāstra-lesson. Brahmaṇya-deva: He defends brāhmaṇas not as an outsider but as their own indweller.

• durjaram — indigestible
  Dur (hard) + jara (digestion, from √jṛ). The metaphor of consumption is precise — brāhmaṇa-property is food that cannot be metabolised by the consumer. The body it enters becomes diseased.
• brahma - svam — the property of a brāhmaṇa
  Brahma (brāhmaṇa) + sva (one's own). The technical term running through the next several verses. Gauḍīya commentators emphasise: it includes anything a brāhmaṇa owns or has rightful claim to — not only ritual implements but cows, fields, gifts already made.
• agneḥ manāk api tejīyasaḥ — even more potent than fire, even a little
  Agni (fire) + manāk (slightly) + tejīyas (more powerful). Even one slightly more powerful than fire cannot digest a small portion. The grammar refuses any reading by which 'great kings' might be exempt: fire is the limit-case, and even fire fails.
• īśvara - māninām — of those who presume themselves controllers
  Īśvara (controller) + mānin (proud, self-considering). The exact diagnosis: rulers who imagine they are īśvara. Gauḍīyas read the chapter's whole engine as built on this single compound — false īśvara-bhāva is what makes brāhmaṇa-property attractive in the first place.

Agni eats whatever is offered; even Agni finds brāhmaṇa-property hard to digest. The verse uses fire — the strongest digestive in the universe — as its measure, and finds even fire over-matched. What then of a king's belly?

• hālāhalam — the hālāhala poison
  The poison from the churning of the Milk Ocean. By name, the worst poison the Bhāgavatam knows. Kṛṣṇa places brāhmaṇa-property above it — a doctrinal hierarchy with this verse at the apex.
• pratikriyā — counteraction, antidote
  Prati-√kṛ (to counter-do). Hālāhala had its prati-kriyā in Śiva's throat. Brāhmaṇa-property has none — the verse's whole grammar turns on this absence.
• viṣam proktam — is called poison
  Pra-√vac (to declare). The Lord is formally declaring a new technical term: brāhmaṇa-sva is, by śāstric definition, viṣa. Not 'like poison' — viṣa itself.
• na asya pratividhiḥ bhuvi — there is no antidote for it on earth
  Na (not) + asya (its) + pratividhi (remedy) + bhuvi (on earth). The denial is absolute and located precisely — no antidote 'on earth.' Gauḍīya readers note the implicit opening: only Kṛṣṇa's mercy from above (cf. v. 5) can remedy what no earthly remedy can.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-33 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

Hālāhala, the world-burning poison of the Kṣīra-sāgara churning, had at least an antidote — Lord Śiva drank it. Brāhmaṇa-property has none: no Śiva to drink it down. The poison metaphor is exact, not rhetorical.

• hinasti viṣam attāram — poison destroys the one who ingests it
  Hinasti (kills, from √hiṁs) + viṣa + attṛ (eater, from √ad). Poison's scope is limited — the eater alone. Kṛṣṇa establishes the baseline before showing brāhmaṇa-sva's greater scope.
• vahniḥ adbhiḥ praśāmyati — fire is extinguished by water
  Vahni (fire) + ap (water) + pra-√śam (to be pacified). The second baseline: fire has a remedy. Brāhmaṇa-property combines the worst of both — poison's no-antidote and fire's spreading reach.
• kulam sa - mūlam — the family down to the root
  Kula (family, lineage) + sa-mūla (with the root). The phrase 'down to the root' is the Bhāgavata's idiom for total extinction. The next verse will quantify it — three / ten / ten generations.
• brahma - sva - araṇi - pāvakaḥ — the fire produced from the kindling-stick of a brāhmaṇa's property
  Brahma-sva (brāhmaṇa-property) + araṇi (the wooden fire-drill used in Vedic ritual) + pāvaka (fire). The metaphor is Vedic-ritual: as araṇi is rubbed to produce sacrificial fire, so brāhmaṇa-property, mishandled, generates the fire that destroys lineages. The image makes the punishment śāstric, not arbitrary.

• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-34 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya
• Revati Raman Pr SB 10-64-34 - 2013-05-26 ISKCON Tirupati
  His Grace Revati Raman Prabhu· 2013-05-26· Telugu

An ordinary poison kills one body; an ordinary fire is put out with one bucket of water. But brāhmaṇa-property burns dynasties — the kindling is the property itself, and the flame eats backward through generations. The arithmetic is generational, not personal.

• duranujñātam — without proper permission
  Dur (poorly) + anu-√jñā (to authorise). The first category: enjoyed without the brāhmaṇa's consent. The poet recognises an additional dimension of consent — even what was once given may, in certain contexts, require re-consent.
• tri - pūruṣam — three persons / generations
  Tri (three) + pūruṣa (person, generation). The first scale of destruction: three generations (self and two collateral). The Bhāgavata's standard śāstric reckoning for moderate violations.
• prasahya — by force, overpowering
  From pra-√sah (to overpower). Paired in the verse with balāt (by external strength). The second category of theft: outright seizure, especially with state-power backing it. The contemporary application is uncomfortable — kings (and modern states) who appropriate temple-lands fall here.
• daśa pūrvān daśa aparān — ten ancestors and ten descendants
  Daśa (ten) + pūrva (former) + apara (later). The escalated scale for forcible seizure: ten generations before, ten after — twenty in all, plus the thief himself. The reversibility-into-the-past is the verse's most striking claim.

• UM SB 10-64-35 - Our Quota - 2025-08-10 Hillsborough
  Her Grace Urmila Mataji· 2025-08-10· English
• Dravida Pr SB 10-64-35-44 - 2015-04-29 ISKCON Alachua
  His Grace Dravida Prabhu· 2015-04-29· English
• NNP SB 10-64-35 - 2024-10-02 ISKCON Vrindavan
  His Grace Navina Nirada Prabhu· 2024-10-02· English
• Padaseva Pr SB 10-64-35 Oriya - 2022
  His Grace Padaseva Prabhu· Oriya

The accountancy of aparādha runs forward and backward through time. Even past ancestors are charred by a present descendant's theft from a brāhmaṇa. The Bhāgavata's vision of dharma is dynastic and bidirectional — what one generation takes, ten generations on each side pay.