SB 10.69.36 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अव्यक्तलिङ्गं प्रकृतिष्वन्त:पुरगृहादिषु । क्व‍‍चिच्चरन्तं योगेशं तत्तद्भ‍ावबुभुत्सया ॥ ३६ ॥

Verse text

avyakta-lingaṁ prakṛtiṣv antaḥ-pura-gṛhādiṣu kvacic carantaṁ yogeśaṁ tat-tad-bhāva-bubhutsayā

Synonyms

avyakta — hidden ; liṅgam — His identity ; prakṛtiṣu — among His ministers ; antaḥ — pura — of the royal precincts ; gṛha — ādiṣu — among the residences, etc. ; kvacit — somewhere ; carantam — moving about ; yoga — īśam — the Lord of mystic power ; tat — tat — of each of them ; bhāva — the mentalities ; bubhutsayā — with the desire to know .

Translation

Somewhere Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of mystic power, was moving about in disguise among the homes of ministers and other citizens in order to understand what each of them was thinking.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Somewhere Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of mystic power, was moving about in disguise among the homes of ministers and other citizens in order to understand what each of them was thinking. KB 10.69.36 In one situation the great sage Nārada saw Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and master of mystic powers, acting as a spy by changing His usual dress in order to understand the motives of different citizens in the city and the palaces.

Purport

Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is all-knowing, while executing His pastimes as a typical monarch He sometimes traveled about incognito to acquire necessary information about His kingdom.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Disguising himself in other clothing he went to the houses of his ministers and his own inner chambers in order to know the minds of the people there. Though Krsna is the knower of everything (yogesam), he acted in this way through the covering of his sarvajnata sakti by his lila sakti immersed in prema.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

He went in disguise amongst his ministers and in his own palaces since he was the master of yoga. Though he was omniscient, he wanted to confirm their loyalty. He wanted to understand the intentions of his ministers and residents of his palaces because sometimes the līlā-śakti would appear (causing him to desire to spy) and sometimes would disappear, with a desire for pastimes. Nārada also went and saw other things but this is not stated because of fear of too many details. Or, Nārada, completely bewildered, gave up looking further.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

He went in disguise amongst his ministers and in his own palaces though he was omniscient (yogeśam), with a desire to understand their intentions. He also went in the assembly and in the yards. Or in the palaces he went as a spy (carantam) with a desire to see the condition of prema of his queens. Though in just one house the Lord performed all the household activities, he wanted to show the variety to Nārada. Thus the activities were different in different houses and Nārada went to different houses. He wandered among the sixteen thousand hundred and eight palaces. Or among all, Rukmiṇī was senior and Satyabhāmā was dearest. Having seen those two houses, later Nārada saw the houses of Jāmbavatī and others. He became blissful and almost fainted on seeing them with great curiosity.