FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.66.43

య ఏనం శ్రావయేన్మర్త్య ఉత్తమ:శ్లోకవిక్రమమ్ । సమాహితో వా శ‍ృణుయాత్ సర్వపాపై: ప్రముచ్యతే ॥ ౪౩ ॥
ya enaṁ śrāvayen martya
[ya enam shraavayen martya]
uttamaḥ-śloka-vikramam
[uttamah-shloka-vikramam]
samāhito vā śṛṇuyāt
[samaahito vaa shrinuyaat]
sarva-pāpaiḥ pramucyate
[sarva-paapaih pramuchyate]
yaḥ — one who enam — this śrāvayet — causes others to hear martyaḥ — a mortal human uttamaḥ - śloka — of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is praised in the best transcendental verses vikramam — the heroic pastime samāhitaḥ — with concentration vā — or śṛṇuyāt — hears sarva — from all pāpaiḥ — sins pramucyate — becomes released .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
ya enaṁ śrāvayen martya
yaḥ
one who
enam
this
śrāvayet
causes others to hear
martyaḥ
a mortal human
uttamaḥ-śloka-vikramam
uttamaḥ - śloka
of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is praised in the best transcendental verses
vikramam
the heroic pastime
samāhito vā śṛṇuyāt
samāhitaḥ
with concentration
vā
or
śṛṇuyāt
hears
sarva-pāpaiḥ pramucyate
sarva
from all
pāpaiḥ
sins
pramucyate
becomes released .
  • uttamaḥ-śloka — Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is praised in the best transcendental verses
    Compound: uttama (highest) + śloka (verse, praise). Bhāgavata's preferred epithet for Kṛṣṇa as the Person whose praise is itself the highest verse-genre. Gauḍīyas note: the name is doubly apposite at the end of a vikrama-account — the heroic deeds of Uttama-śloka are themselves uttama-ślokas.
  • vikramam — the heroic pastime
    From vi-√kram (to step forth boldly). The same word the Vedas use for Viṣṇu's three steps (tri-vikrama). The chapter's events are vikrama — strides in which the Lord steps across pretension and the fire of malice.
  • samāhitaḥ — with concentration
    Past participle of sam-ā-√dhā (to place together). The technical word for samādhi — undivided attention. Gauḍīyas insist: phala-śruti benefits require samāhita śravaṇa; distracted hearing does not draw the fire of purification. The hearer must offer his whole attention as fuel.
  • śrāvayet — causes others to hear
    Optative causative of √śru (to hear). The act of making others hear — kīrtana, recitation in assembly. Gauḍīyas note: the verse names two activities, śrāvayet (cause to hear) and śṛṇuyāt (hears) — bhakti's reciprocal pair, the listener and the speaker, both purified.
  • pramucyate — becomes released
    Present passive of pra-√muc (to release). Liberation-language. Gauḍīyas read the verse against verse 24's pradhvasta-akhila-bandhanaḥ: there Pauṇḍraka was released by his death; here the listener is released by his hearing. Two roads — one steep, one gentle — to the same Mukunda.
Any mortal who recounts this heroic pastime of Lord Uttamaḥ-śloka’s, or who simply hears it attentively, will become freed from all sins.

Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Sixty-sixth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Pauṇḍraka, the False Vāsudeva.”

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Any mortal who recounts this heroic pastime of Lord Uttamaḥ-śloka's, or who simply hears it attentively, will become freed from all sins.
Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

One who recounts this exploit of the Lord in which he punished the people of Kāśī who were opposed to the Lord, or hears it with attention and faith (samāhitaḥ) will be freed from all sins. Not only the reciter, who speaks for his own and other’s benefit, but also (vā) the listener, who hears for his own benefit, are both freed of all sins.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

What more can be said? “It was improper to burn all the inhabitants of the great holy place Kāśī.” By hearing about the glories of the Lord, who punishes even those who associate with the wicked, one becomes free of all suffering. A person who hears this story (enam or etat) of the exploits of Uttama-śloka, becomes free of all sin. The person who is subject to death (martyaḥ), not considering his qualified to recite or hear, is freed of all sin, but he should have faith (samāhitaḥ). Other persons would be nāstikas. Or the person whose heart is offered to Kṛṣṇa (samāhitaḥ), or endowed with Lakṣmī (samāhitaḥ), being the object of her affection because of bhakti to the Lord, becomes free of all sins at their root and with effects about to fructify, with qualification for going to Vaikuṇṭha (pra—mucyate). Thus the Lord is described as being endowed with praiseworthy qualities (uttama-śloka). What more can be said? A person who makes others hear, giving benefit to himself and others, is freed from all sins. Thus the hearer is benefited. This gives much more result than individual endeavors for one’s own benefit. That is the meaning of the word vā. Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Sixty-sixth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Pauṇḍraka, the False Vāsudeva." 10.67: Lord Balarāma Slays Dvivida Gorilla verses: Summary, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-10, 11, 12, 13, 14-15, 16, 17, 18, 19-21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Chapter Summary This chapter describes how Lord Baladeva enjoyed the company of the young girls of Vraja on Raivataka Mountain and killed the ape Dvivida there. Narakāsura, a demon whom Lord Kṛṣṇa killed, had a friend named Dvivida, an ape. Dvivida wanted to avenge the death of his friend, so he set fire to the homes of the cowherds, devastated Lord Kṛṣṇa's province of Ānarta and flooded coastal lands by churning the ocean's water with his mighty arms. The rascal then tore down the trees in the āśramas of great sages and even passed stool and urine on their sacrificial fires. He kidnapped men and women and imprisoned them in mountain caves, which he sealed off with boulders. After thus disrupting the entire land and polluting many young women of respectable families, Dvivida came upon Raivataka Mountain, where he found Lord Baladeva enjoying in the company of a bevy of attractive women. Ignoring Lord Baladeva, who was apparently intoxicated from drinking Vāruṇī liquor, Dvivida displayed his anus to the women right in front of the Lord and further insulted them by making crude gestures with his eyebrows and passing stool and urine. Dvivida's outrageous behavior angered Lord Baladeva, and He threw a stone at the ape. But Dvivida managed to dodge it. He then ridiculed Lord Baladeva and tugged at the women's dresses. Seeing this audacity, Lord Baladeva decided to kill Dvivida. Thus He took up His club and His plow weapon. Powerful Dvivida then armed himself by pulling up a śāla tree from the ground, and with this tree he struck the Lord on the head. Lord Baladeva, however, remained unmoved and smashed the tree trunk to pieces. Dvivida uprooted another tree, and yet another and another, until the forest was denuded. But although he struck Baladeva on the head with one tree after another, the Lord simply broke all the trees to pieces. Then the foolish ape started throwing a barrage of stones. Lord Baladeva crushed them all to powder, after which Dvivida charged the Lord and hit Him on the chest with his fists, infuriating Him. Putting aside His club and plow weapons, Lord Balarāma then struck Dvivida's throat and shoulder, at which point the ape vomited blood and fell down dead. Having killed Dvivida, Lord Baladeva set off for Dvārakā as demigods and sages showered flowers from the sky and offered Him praises, prayers and obeisances.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses

A fire kindled once, retold a thousand times, still burns the same fuel — pāpa. The chapter ends with the standard Bhāgavata phala-śruti: even mortal sin is consumable by the heat of attentive hearing. Sudarśana of speech, lit on the listener's tongue, reaches the same target as Sudarśana of steel.

The phala-śruti pattern across Canto 10

Many chapters of Canto 10 close with a phala-śruti — a promise that hearing or reciting this very pastime liberates the listener. SB 10.1.4 (parīkṣid uvāca) frames the whole canto in this way; SB 10.43, 10.50, 10.65, and now 10.66 close their accounts with this formula. Gauḍīyas read the phala-śruti not as mere rhetorical flourish but as a doctrinal claim about the nature of kṛṣṇa-kathā: it is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, and therefore purifying by contact.

Mahāprabhu's whole movement rests on this verse-class: harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam. The Pauṇḍraka-chapter, having shown how Bhagavān deals with a man who appropriates the form, ends by inviting the reader to do what the man did not — to hear, attentively, and so be cleansed without ritual peril.

📝 My note

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