SB 10.16.34 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अनुग्रहोऽयं भवत: कृतो हि नो दण्डोऽसतां ते खलु कल्मषापह: । यद् दन्दशूकत्वममुष्य देहिन: क्रोधोऽपि तेऽनुग्रह एव सम्मत: ॥ ३४ ॥

Verse text

anugraho ’yaṁ bhavataḥ kṛto hi no daṇḍo ’satāṁ te khalu kalmaṣāpahaḥ yad dandaśūkatvam amuṣya dehinaḥ krodho ’pi te ’nugraha eva sammataḥ

Synonyms

anugrahaḥ — mercy ; ayam — this ; bhavataḥ — by You ; kṛtaḥ — done ; hi — indeed ; naḥ — to us ; daṇḍaḥ — punishment ; asatām — of the evil ; te — by You ; khalu — indeed ; kalmaṣa — apahaḥ — the dispelling of their contamination ; yat — because ; dandaśūkatvam — the condition of appearing as a serpent ; amuṣya — of this Kāliya ; dehinaḥ — the conditioned soul ; krodhaḥ — anger ; api — even ; te — Your ; anugrahaḥ — as mercy ; eva — actually ; sammataḥ — is accepted .

Translation

What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy. KB 10.16.34 “We consider that Your punishment is Your great mercy upon us because when You punish someone it is to be understood that the reactions of his sinful activities are eradicated. It is already clear that this creature appearing in the body of a serpent must have been overburdened with all kinds of sin; otherwise, how could he have the body of a serpent? Your dancing on his hoods has reduced all the sinful results of actions caused by his having this body of a serpent. It is therefore very auspicious that You have become angry and have punished him in this way.

Purport

Śrīla Madhvācārya points out in this connection that when a pious person suffers in this world, he realizes, “The punishment the Supreme Lord is meting out to me is actually His causeless mercy.” Envious persons, however, even after being punished by the Lord for their purification, continue to envy Him and be resentful, and this attitude is the reason for their continued failure to understand the Absolute Truth.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"Thus your punishment is actually mercy to us. This punishment relieves us of numerous old sins. Because of this sin (yat), our husband attained the body of a snake and in that body displayed anger and other bad qualities."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Certainly (hi) this punishment that we see is your mercy to us, since your punishment destroys the sins of the sinful. Because of his sins, this person, receiving bodies because of karma (dehinaḥ), has become a snake. Since he will attain liberation by complete absorption in you (with anger), he will give up his snake body. This is your mercy. Thus, even if he shows anger, that is also your mercy. Or, though the sins of the sinful are destroyed, you do not punish them, since you permitted (sammataḥ) him to receive a snake body for the purpose of giving him mercy. Though anger is his nature, it was become a cause of your mercy, arranged by you. He has participated in your pastimes by wrapping you in his coils and by not bowing his heads, so you could dance on them in joy.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Expressed in the masculine, the wives indicate that they are with Kāliya. You are merciful to us because (hi) punishment of the wicked certainly (khalu) destroys their sin. Dehinaḥ means “of one who has accepted a body.” Even (eva) his anger is mercy, not punishment. This is acknowledged completely, by us and the wise (sammataḥ). Or you show mercy to us because punishment of the wicked uproots their bad desires completely. That is directly experienced by us. Taking away the offensive snake body of Kāliya who identified with his body (dehinaḥ) is seen. By surrender and appearance of intelligence, even anger, the cause of punishment, is mercy. Or taking way the sins is not punishment performed by you. Because (yad) he received a snake body, his anger, which is the nature of a snake, is a cause of mercy, approved by you. You remained in his coils and you danced in joy on his hoods raised in anger.