Devanagari
नमस्ते वासुदेवाय नम: सङ्कर्षणाय च ।
प्रद्युम्नायनिरुद्धाय सात्वतां पतये नम: ॥ २१ ॥
Verse text
namas te vāsudevāya
namaḥ saṅkarṣaṇāya ca
pradyumnāyaniruddhāya
sātvatāṁ pataye namaḥ
Synonyms
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
te
—
unto You
;
vāsudevāya
—
Lord Śrī Vāsudeva
;
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
saṅkarṣaṇāya
—
to Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa
;
ca
—
and
;
pradyumnāya
—
to Lord Pradyumna
;
aniruddhāya
—
and to Lord Aniruddha
;
sātvatām
—
of the Yādavas
;
pataye
—
to the chief
;
namaḥ
—
obeisances .
Translation
Obeisances to You, Lord of the Sātvatas, and to Your forms of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Obeisances to You, Lord of the Sātvatas, and to Your forms of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.
KB 10.40.21
“Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who appear as Lord Vāsudeva, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, Lord Pradyumna and Lord Aniruddha.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The meaning is this. Saṅkarṣaṇa refers to Balarāma. He is included in the catur-vyūha starting with Kṛṣṇa called Vāsudeva. After offering respects to Balarāma as a member of the catur-vyūha, I offer respects to them all. He offers respects to Pradyumna and Aniruddha though they had not appeared yet, since they are mentioned in scriptures like Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad and are thus eternal. He thus quotes scripture by mentioning their names. All of these persons are leaders of the Sātvatas. The purpose is to glorify the dynasty. The word namaḥ should be applied to Pradyumna and Aniruddha.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Kṛṣṇa has been described, but Balarāma has not. He is included among the avatāras and thus offered respects in describing the catur-vyūha in this verse. Saṅkarṣaṇa means Balarāma. They are non-different. This is mentioned in Bhāgavatam. Or instead of the caturvyūha, after offering respect to Balarāma, Kṛsṇa’s future son Pradyumna and his grandson Aniruddha are offered respects. I offer respects (namaḥ) to Balarāma (saṅkarṣaṇāya), who is the son of Vasudeva (vāsudevāya), and to Kṛṣṇa’s son (namaḥ) and grandson (namaḥ). The second namaḥ is for Pradyumna and third one for Aniruddha. Or out of devotion for him as the elder brother, namaḥ is repeated for Balarāma.
The goal of the three is described: they are to protectors of the Yadus or the devotees (sātvatām pataye). They appear in those forms to give happiness to the Yadus by their pastimes. Mad-bhaktānāṁ vinodārtaṁ karomi vividhāḥ kriyāḥ: for the pleasure of my devotees I perform various actions. (Padma Purāṇa)