Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.70.41
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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rājasūyena
—
by the Rājasūya sacrifice
Rājasūya — the imperial coronation yajña, performed only by a king claiming supreme sovereignty over all other kings. Yudhiṣṭhira undertakes it 'for unrivaled sovereignty,' but the Gauḍīyas read: the real sovereign at the rite will be Kṛṣṇa, not the host.
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makha-indreṇa
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with the greatest of fire sacrifices
Makha-indra — chief of yajñas. The Rājasūya is the king of sacrifices, just as Kṛṣṇa is the king of sacrifices' lords. The compound is doubled: the supreme yajña offered to the supreme yajña-receiver.
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pārameṣṭhya-kāmaḥ
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desiring supreme sovereignty
Pārameṣṭhya — the supreme position. The phrase is doctrinally interesting: Yudhiṣṭhira desires the supreme position not for himself but to install Bhagavān at its centre. Bhakti uses imperial desire as a vessel for offering.
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anumodatām
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please sanction, please approve
Anu + mud — to approve, to take joy along with. Yudhiṣṭhira does not ask Bhagavān only to attend but to anumodaya — to take joy. The yajña is meaningless unless Bhagavān joins in its joy.
King Yudhiṣṭhira is described here as pārameṣṭhya-kāma, or “desiring pārameṣṭhya. ” The word pārameṣṭhya means “unrivaled supremacy” and also indicates “the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who stands at the very height of all existence.” Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda translates Nārada’s message as follows: “You have inquired about Your cousins the Pāṇḍavas in the role of their well-wisher, and therefore I shall let You know about their intentions. Now please hear me. First of all, may I inform You that King Yudhiṣṭhira has all material opulences that are possible to achieve in the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka. He has no material opulence for which to aspire, and yet he wants to perform the Rājasūya sacrifice only to get Your association and to please You.… He wants to worship You in order to achieve Your causeless mercy, and I beg to request You to fulfill his desires.” Since the word pārameṣṭhya may also indicate the position of Lord Brahmā, the term pārameṣṭhya-kāma is taken here by Śrīla Prabhupāda to indicate not only that King Yudhiṣṭhira desired Lord Kṛṣṇa’s association and mercy but also that King Yudhiṣṭhira himself possessed pārameṣṭhya, all the opulences of Lord Brahmā.
Desiring the wealth befitting you, Yudhiṣṭhira desires to serve you, who always come to his house, by the rājasūya sacrifice, the best of all sacrifices, which brings under control all kings and devatās. All that wealth is nothing for him, without you. kiṁ te kāmāḥ sura-spārhā mukunda-manaso dvijāḥ | adhijahrur mudaṁ rājṣaḥ kṣudhitasya yathetare || Did these things give joy to the King, whose mind was only fixed on Mukunda without deviation and nothing else? SB 1.12.6 āsīnaḥ kāṣcane sākṣād āsane maghavān iva pārameṣṭhya-śrīyā juṣṭaḥ stūyamānaś ca vandibhiḥ Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma, was sitting just like Indra on a golden throne in the assembly hall built by Maya Dānava. Displaying the majesty of Brahma himself, King Yudhiṣṭhira was being praised by the court poets. SB 10.75.35
The ṛajasūya is called the king of sacrifices because it makes one the king of the world. He will worship you alone by this sacrifice because, as a son of Pāṇḍu, he is your exclusive devotee. “I belong to the devotee. What is the use of a sacrifice?” He desires sovereignty. By that he can easily spread bhakti to you everywhere. Or he desires prema-bhakti (pārameṣṭhya). Or he desires Vaikuṇṭha, nearness to you. “But he will attain that anyway.” He is lord of the people (nṛpatiḥ): he desires to go there with all the people.
Desiring the wealth befitting you, Yudhiṣṭhira desires to serve you, who always come to his house, by the rājasūya sacrifice, the best of all sacrifices, which brings under control all kings and devatās. All that wealth is nothing for him, without you. kiṁ te kāmāḥ sura-spārhā mukunda-manaso dvijāḥ | adhijahrur mudaṁ rājṣaḥ kṣudhitasya yathetare || Did these things give joy to the King, whose mind was only fixed on Mukunda without deviation and nothing else? SB 1.12.6 āsīnaḥ kāṣcane sākṣād āsane maghavān iva pārameṣṭhya-śrīyā juṣṭaḥ stūyamānaś ca vandibhiḥ Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma, was sitting just like Indra on a golden throne in the assembly hall built by Maya Dānava. Displaying the majesty of Brahma himself, King Yudhiṣṭhira was being praised by the court poets. SB 10.75.35
Yudhiṣṭhira's Rājasūya is like an entire kingdom lighting one lamp at the centre of a temple — every other lamp will draw its flame from that one. The yajña asks Bhagavān to be its presiding fire, and Bhagavān's mere assent ignites the whole.
In Mahābhārata Sabhā-parva (chapters 33-42), Yudhiṣṭhira's Rājasūya is described in full — the conquests of the four directions by the brothers, the assembly of all kings, the agra-pūjā in which Bhīṣma chose Kṛṣṇa for first worship, and Śiśupāla's death.
SB 10.74-75 will narrate the same events from Bhagavān's perspective. This verse, 41, is the seed: Nārada formally announces the Rājasūya, and the next four chapters of SB Canto 10 will unfold from this announcement.
My note
Source: vedabase.io