• prastobhitaḥ — emboldened with flattery
  Past participle of pra-√stubh (to encourage, to puff up). The verse diagnoses the mechanism precisely: Pauṇḍraka did not arrive at his madness alone — he was talked into it. The Gauḍīya counter is sat-saṅga, association that names truly.
• bālaiḥ — by childish men
  Plural of bāla (child). Not 'children' in age but in discrimination. Caitanya-caritāmṛta consistently uses bāla for those who cannot tell tattva from its imitation — the very class of person who is dangerous as a counselor.
• acyutam — the infallible Lord
  From a- (not) + cyuta (fallen). One of Kṛṣṇa's most charged names — the Lord who never slips from His position. The cosmic joke of the verse: a slow-witted king imagining himself acyuta is the very picture of cyuti (slipping).
• avatīrṇaḥ — descended
  From ava-√tṝ (to cross down). The technical word for divine descent. Pauṇḍraka claims an avatāra status to which his birth, conduct, and bewilderment all give the lie. The word's mere presence in his mouth is sacrilege.
• jagat-patiḥ — master of the universe
  Compound: jagat (the moving world) + pati (lord, husband). Bhagavān is jagat-pati because the worlds are His energy; the title cannot transfer. Pauṇḍraka grasps the syllables and misses the substance.

A child set on a wooden throne by other children, draped in a paper crown, believes the game until a real king walks in. Flatterers had set Pauṇḍraka on such a throne; he forgot that the paper crown does not bind the head of Bhagavān.