• kṛṣṇam ca kupitam — and Kṛṣṇa angry
  A revealing detail — Kṛṣṇa Himself was angry. Balarāma's earlier work was not only with the wider Yadu council but with His younger brother. The elder pacified the younger; now the elder Himself must act because pacification has been exhausted.
• manda - matayaḥ — dull-headed
  Manda-mati — slow-witted, especially morally. The same word Prabhupāda often uses for the conditioned souls. The Kurus' refusal is not cleverness; it is dullness wearing crown-paint.
• kalaha - abhiratāḥ — addicted to quarrel
  Abhi-rata = 'devoted to.' The Kurus are 'devotees' of quarrel — a dark parody of bhakti. Balarāma the kali-mala-apaha cannot leave the addiction unaddressed.
• avajñāya — disrespecting
  Ava-jñā, 'looking down on.' The same verb Kṛṣṇa uses in Gītā 9.11 — 'fools deride Me' (avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā). The Kuru error is the same error every conditioned soul commits before some form of Bhagavān.

Elder brother to a household of younger siblings, He first calmed the eldest brother's burning anger and the youngest cousin's hot blood. Having travelled this far in peace, He finds the Kurus answering kindness with mockery — like guests who, served with their own cup, throw it back full in the host's face.