Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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dharma-gup-tanuḥ
—
whose body protects dharma
Compound: dharma + gup (root √gup, to protect) + tanu (body). Gauḍīyas read tanu here as Kṛṣṇa's nara-līlā body — voluntarily assumed for protection of varṇāśrama and the bhakti-mārga that crowns it.
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bhagavān
—
the Supreme Lord
Six opulences in full (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47, cited by Jīva Gosvāmī). The choice of bhagavān rather than kṛṣṇa here signals that the One about to speak speaks with all six aiśvaryas — wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, renunciation.
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yata-vācaḥ
—
whose speech was subdued
yata (controlled, restrained) + vāc (speech). The audience has gone silent before Bhagavān speaks. Gauḍīyas treat this kind of attention as the prerequisite for hari-kathā-śravaṇa — the first limb of nava-vidha-bhakti.
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anuśṛṇvataḥ
—
listening carefully
anu + √śru (to hear). The same root as śravaṇa, the foundational limb of bhakti. Gauḍīyas hold that the quality of one's hearing decides what one becomes — anuśravaṇa is the disciplic ear.
Krsna, sitting in the assembly (sadasah for sadasi), spoke to the sages.
He spoke since he had appeared in the world to protect dharma. Persons even of great stature were silent, since they wanted to hear his words.
He spoke since he was manifesting unlimited qualities such as honoring brāhmaṇas, since he was the protector of dharma (dharma-gup-tanuḥ). Though great, everyone in the assembly was silent, because they were listening. Confused by bhakti when the sages came he did not follow the proper order of worship with lamps. Lamps and incense are offered if there is an offering of food. Since food was not offered, these items are not mentioned. Offeing incense also depends on the fragrance in the room. Thus everything was done properly.
Bhagavān speaking in the assembly is the sun moving through a hall of mirrors — every silenced face becomes a small bright surface. The dharma-protecting body He wears is the same field of warmth that Yaśodā tied up in Vraja: tanu, the deliberately limited form by which the unlimited becomes audible.
Throughout the Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa is repeatedly called dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya — the one who came to re-establish dharma (echoing BG 4.7–8). The phrase dharma-gup-tanuḥ here is the same teaching in different syntax: His body is itself the guarding mechanism for religious principles.
My note
Source: vedabase.io