SB 5.8.1 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीशुक उवाच एकदा तु महानद्यां कृताभिषेकनैयमिकावश्यको ब्रह्माक्षरमभिगृणानो मुहूर्तत्रयमुदकान्त उपविवेश ॥ १ ॥

Verse text

śrī-śuka uvāca ekadā tu mahā-nadyāṁ kṛtābhiṣeka-naiyamikāvaśyako brahmākṣaram abhigṛṇāno muhūrta-trayam udakānta upaviveśa.

Synonyms

śrī — śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said ; ekadā — once upon a time ; tu — but ; mahā — nadyām — in the great river known as Gaṇḍakī ; kṛta — abhiṣeka — naiyamika — avaśyakaḥ — having taken a bath after finishing the daily external duties such as passing stool and urine and brushing the teeth ; brahma — akṣaram — the praṇava-mantra ( om ) ; abhigṛṇānaḥ — chanting ; muhūrta — trayam — for three minutes ; udaka — ante — on the bank of the river ; upaviveśa — he sat down .

Translation

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, one day, after finishing his morning duties — evacuating, urinating and bathing — Mahārāja Bharata sat down on the bank of the river Gaṇḍakī for a few minutes and began chanting his mantra, beginning with oṁkāra.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

One day, having performed his daily rites, bodily needs and taken bath, he was sitting on the bank of the river chanting Kṛṣṇa mantras for three muhūrtas. The Eighth Chapter describes how Bharata raised a fawn, and meditating on it, attained the body of a deer in his next life. Kṛṣṇa, an ocean of cleverness, protected this deer who was previously Bharata to show that compassion, if it is an obstacle to bhakti, must be given up. The Lord shows his affection for his devotee by protecting Bharata in the form of a deer, so that he would fall in the ocean of remorse in order to drown in the ocean of prema. He had performed his daily rites, necessities like passing urine and bathing. Abhiseka is placed first in the dvandva compound because of having less syllables and being similar to words like aja in usage. Brahmāksaram means the syllables of a Kṛṣṇa mantra. Abhigṛṇāhaṇ means uttering.