Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.9.11
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kṛta-āgasam
—
who was an offender
Compound: kṛta (done) + āgas (transgression). The Bhāgavatam dares to call the sinless Lord an 'offender' — Gauḍīya commentators savor this: in vātsalya-rasa the Lord adopts even the role of the wrongdoer to deepen the bhakta's tenderness.
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prarudantam
—
crying
Present participle of pra + √rud. Kṛṣṇa weeps. The Supreme has put on tears as ornament. Gauḍīyas: it is precisely Bhagavān's freedom — His ability to play the helpless child — that proves His absoluteness.
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añjat-maṣiṇī
—
the ointment-streaked
Compound: añjat (smearing) + maṣiṇī (ink/kohl). The black kohl around Kṛṣṇa's eyes smears across His face. Vraja's poet preserves the exact cosmetic detail because vātsalya-rasa lives in such details, not in abstractions.
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bhaya-vihvala-īkṣaṇam
—
whose eyes were distressed with fear
Compound: bhaya (fear) + vihvala (overwhelmed) + īkṣaṇa (glance). The Lord's eyes — which 'glance' to bestow liberation, per countless purports — now plead with His mother. The same eyes that contain the cosmos plead for clemency from a stick.
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avāgurat
—
mildly chastised
Imperfect of √gur with ava — a verb meaning to threaten, scold. Yet 'mildly' (the gloss): she threatens Him only to bind Him with tenderness. Gauḍīya note: vātsalya's discipline never wounds; it sweetens.
From these dealings between mother Yaśodā and Kṛṣṇa, we can understand the exalted position of a pure devotee in loving service to the Lord. Yogīs, jñānīs, karmīs and Vedāntists cannot even approach Kṛṣṇa; they must remain very, very far away from Him and try to enter His bodily effulgence, although this also they are unable to do. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva always worship the Lord by meditation and by service. Even the most powerful Yamarāja fears Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, as we find in the history of Ajāmila, Yamarāja instructed his followers not even to approach the devotees, what to speak of capturing them. In other words, Yamarāja also fears Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Yet this Kṛṣṇa became so dependent on mother Yaśodā that when she simply showed Kṛṣṇa the stick in her hand, Kṛṣṇa admitted to being an offender and began to cry like an ordinary child. Mother Yaśodā, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Kṛṣṇa, saying, “Now I shall bind You so that You cannot commit any further offensive activities. Nor for the time being can You play with Your playmates.” This shows the position of a pure devotee, in contrast with others, like jñānīs, yogīs and the followers of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, in regarding the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth.
Not only did Yasoda catch Krsna who cannot be obtained by the yogis. She also scolded him---who is constantly praised by even Brahma and Siva. With a stick she instilled fear in him---who instills fear in time and death personified. With that intent the verse is spoken. He was rubbing (kasantam) his eyes (aksini) smeared with black ointment (anjamasini) with the back of his left hand (sva panina). Mother Yasoda was holding his right hand. She frightened him (bhisayanti) by holding a stick. She began scolding him (avagurat). "You have such a restless nature! Friend of the monkeys! Pot breaker! Where are you going to get butter today? Today I will bind you up so that you cannot go and steal and eat butter with your friends. Are you afraid of being beaten with this stick? " Scolding him, she lifted the stick as if to beat him, though she would never do such a thing.
He cried excessively, fearing a beating because of having done wrong (kṛtāgasam). Because of tears the mascara was running from his eyes. Though he desired it, she did not wipe his tears with her hand because of his offense. With his hand, he rubbed his own eyes, to produce more tears or to wipe the tears away. His eyes were slightly agitated with fear. Or, in fear he cried. He looked up at her, while she looked at him. She scolded him in order to make him frightened, so that he would become gentle and avoid such acts. “O agitated boy! Cry baby! Greedy boy! Monkey lover! Thief! From now on, I will not give you butter. I will tie you up in the house so that you cannot go anywhere and play. You will not be able to see any of your friends!” With these words she raised the stick as if to beat him. But she did not beat him. Or he looked up at her with fear in his eyes, expressing his pain. Then she scolded him. Or taking his hand which shook in fear, she scolded him for a short time.
- Padaseva Pr SB 10-09-11 Oriya
- Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB Canto-10 Chapter-09-11 - Mayapur
- Revati Raman Pr SB 10-09-11 - 2009-09-15 ISKCON Tirupati
- JAS SB 10-09-11 - 2020-02-14 Mayapur
- Romapada Sw SB 10-09-11 - Damodar Lila Part-07 - 2020-11-05 Boston
- Romapada Sw SB 10-09-11-14 - Damodar Lila Part-08-Radha Damodar and Kartika Month - 2020-11-06 Boston
- Sridhar Sw SB 10-09-11 - Prabhupada desh 2001-04-13
- Drop the impersonalist posture today: address Kṛṣṇa as a Person in your morning prayer, not as 'the Self' or 'consciousness.'
- When you catch yourself in an offense, refuse to hide it — admit the fault plainly to Kṛṣṇa the way a child admits it to mother.
- Notice one relationship of vātsalya in your life (a parent, an elder, a child) and serve them concretely as a rehearsal for the loving dependence Kṛṣṇa accepts from His devotees.
A small thief caught red-handed bursts into tears, smearing kohl across his cheeks — and the magistrate, instead of judgment, melts into laughter and tenderness. Yaśodā is the magistrate; Kṛṣṇa, who terrifies even Yamarāja, has elected to be the smudged child. The threat in her hand is the safest place in the universe for Him.
In the Ajāmila narrative (SB 6.1–3), Yamarāja himself instructs his Yamadūtas to never approach the devotees of Viṣṇu. Even the lord of death stands at a distance. Yet here, in this verse, that same Kṛṣṇa whom Yamarāja fears is held by the hand by an unlettered cowherd woman, trembling.
Gauḍīya commentary on SB 10.9.11 specifically pairs these two scenes. The Lord whom death itself approaches with folded hands lets a mother grasp His wrist.
My note
Source: vedabase.io