Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.9.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
nyūnam
—
short
Synonym of ūnam from verse 15. The Bhāgavatam piles the word — nyūnam, nyūnam — to drum the lesson. Gauḍīyas note: this is not the deficiency of one rope; it is the structure of all human reaching toward Bhagavān.
-
sandadhe
—
she joined
The verb of effort, repeated from verse 15. Repetition is the chapter's poetics: she keeps joining, keeps trying. Gauḍīya doctrine never discourages effort — only its conceit.
-
dvi-aṅgulam
—
two fingers
The signature gap. Gauḍīya tradition has whole verses on the two fingers — one finger for the devotee's labor, one for the Lord's grace; or as Viśvanātha reads, the two fingers of jñāna and karma that bhakti always exceeds.
-
bandhanam
—
for binding
From √bandh — the action-noun: 'a binding.' The chapter cycles through three roots — bandh (bind), dā (give/rope as dāman), and √math (churn). All three converge in 'Dāmodara'.
-
yat yat ādatta
—
whatever she took up
yat yat (whatever, whatever) — the doubled relative giving a sense of relentless trying. Gauḍīya reading: bhakti's posture is iterative; the devotee tries and tries, and the gap remains the gap, until mercy closes it.
Bandhanam means the cord by which he was to be bound. Whatever cord she made was two fingers short.
That also was too short (referring to the previous verse.) Or because the rope was short she joined other rope. When she obtained more rope (bandhanam) it was also two fingers too short.
- Padaseva Pr SB 10-09-16 Oriya
- Pariksit Pr SB 10-09-16-17 - Krishna is bound up only by Devotion - 2020-10-12 Philadelphia
- SDAP SB 10-09-16-17 Lithuanian Translation - 2016-09-11 Kaunas Lithuania
- Sarvabhauma Pr SB 10-09-16-17 - 2021-07-03 ISKCON Vrindavan
- Bhakti Vikas Sw SB 10-09-16-17 - 1999-12-08 Baroda
- Notice today where you keep adding more 'rope' — more effort, more strategy, more willpower — to a sādhana that keeps coming up two fingers short, and pause to ask Kṛṣṇa for His mercy instead.
- Refuse to treat bhakti as a measurable quota; offer your japa, study, or service today with the explicit acknowledgment that your effort alone will never be enough.
- Speak honestly to a senior devotee or in your evening prayer about one area where your endeavors keep failing, and ask for the 'missing two fingers' — the grace that completes the work.
A king commands a tailor to sew a coat that will fit the sky — every additional bolt of cloth still leaves the same two fingers of star uncovered. Bhakti's secret is that this is not failure; the gap is the sign. If the rope ever reached, the One inside it would not be Kṛṣṇa.
In SB 10.14.4, Brahmā confesses that even reciting His names for the lifespan of a Brahmā cannot exhaust His glories — every effort to enumerate the Lord falls short. Gauḍīya commentators on SB 10.9.16 pair these texts: whether enumerating glories or joining ropes, the result is the same shortfall.
The shortfall is not the failure of the devotee; it is the truth about the Lord. The two-finger gap is permanent — and welcome.
My note
Source: vedabase.io