From the Bhagavata Purana, Book 10, Chapter 10
The tenth chapter of the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana completes the Damodara episode begun in chapter nine. There, Krishna allowed himself to be tied to a grinding mortar out of compassion for his exhausted mother. Here, still bound, he drags the mortar between two great Arjuna trees and topples them — freeing two gods who had been cursed to stand as trees until they met the Lord.
The two gods are Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, sons of Kubera, the god of wealth. Drunk on wine and pride, they had been sporting naked in the Ganges with young women when the sage Narada passed by. The women covered themselves in shame; the two did not. Narada cursed them to become trees — not as punishment, but as medicine. His long discourse on the blindness of wealth and the clarity of poverty is the theological heart of the chapter.
The image at the center is the bound liberator. The child who cannot free himself from a rope frees two gods from a curse. The mortar catches sideways between the trunks; the child pulls; the ancient trees crash to the ground; and from their wreckage, two radiant beings emerge, bow, and sing. The infinite, still tied to a kitchen implement, laughs.
This is a Good Works Translation from the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavata Purana as published by GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages), with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. The chapter follows directly from the Binding of Krishna (chapter 9) and completes the Damodara cycle.
The king said:
Tell me, blessed one — what was the cause of their curse? What was the act so worthy of blame? And what moved the divine sage to anger?
Shuka spoke:
The two sons of the Lord of Wealth had become followers of Rudra. Drunk with pride, they wandered in the beautiful gardens near Kailasa, on the banks of the Mandakini, wild with intoxication.
They had drunk the honey-wine Varuni. Their eyes rolled. Young women sang around them as they roamed through the flowering groves.
They entered the Ganges among the lotus forests and played with the young women — like two bull elephants among cow elephants.
By chance, the divine sage Narada — the blessed one — came that way, O son of Kuru. Seeing the two gods drunk, he understood at once.
The divine women saw him. Ashamed, naked, fearing his curse, they quickly wrapped themselves in their garments. But the two Guhyakas did not cover themselves.
Seeing them drunk on wine, blinded by the pride of wealth — these sons of gods — Narada, for their benefit, pronounced this curse:
Narada spoke:
There is no intoxication like the loss of reason that comes from the quality of passion — from the pride of wealth, of noble birth — wherever women, gambling, and drink are found.
Where animals are killed by the merciless, by those who have not conquered themselves, who think this body undying, unaging, imperishable —
This body, though called divine, in the end becomes worms, excrement, and ash. One who harms other beings for its sake — what does he know of where it leads? From this comes hell.
Whose is this body? The one who feeds it? The one who begot it? The mother? The mother's father? The one with more power? The one who buys it? Fire, which claims it at the end? Or even a dog?
This body — shared by so many claimants, born from the unmanifest, dissolving back into the unmanifest — who that is wise would claim it as his own and kill other creatures for its sake? Only the wicked.
For one blinded by the pride of wealth, poverty is the supreme eye-salve. The poor person sees all beings as equal to himself — through empathy born of shared suffering.
Just as one who has been pierced by a thorn does not wish that pain upon any other creature — having reached equality through the marks of suffering — one who has never been pierced does not feel the same.
The poor person, free from the posture of "I," released from every intoxication in this world — whatever hardship he meets by fate, that itself is his supreme austerity.
The body of the poor one, always thin from hunger, always wanting food — his senses dry up, and even the desire to harm ceases.
The holy ones — those who see all things equally — keep company only with the poor. Through their company, the thirst diminishes. From that, one is swiftly purified.
The holy ones are equal-minded. They seek the feet of Mukunda. What use to them are the wealthy, puffed with pride — the unholy ones who take shelter in what is unreal?
Therefore I will remove the darkness of pride from these two — drunk on the honey-wine Varuni, blinded by the pride of wealth, enslaved to women, who have not conquered themselves.
Since these two, though sons of a world-guardian, have plunged into such darkness that in their terrible intoxication they do not even know they are naked — they deserve to become trees. Yet even as trees, by my grace, they will retain their memory. And by my further grace, after a hundred divine autumns have passed, having come into the presence of Vasudeva, they will again reach the world of the gods — and they will have gained devotion.
Shuka spoke:
Having spoken thus, the divine sage departed for the ashram of Narayana. And Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva stood as twin Arjuna trees.
To make the words of the sage come true — the sage who was the foremost of the Lord's devotees — Hari slowly made his way to where the twin Arjuna trees stood.
He thought: The divine sage is most dear to me. What he declared regarding these two sons of the Lord of Wealth — I shall bring it to pass. Everything that great soul has spoken, I shall fulfill.
And so Krishna passed between the two Arjuna trees. The mortar, dragged sideways, caught between the trunks.
The child pulled the mortar with great force — Damodara, the rope still tied around his belly — and the two trees were torn from the earth. Their trunks shook violently, their branches and leaves trembling, and they crashed to the ground with a tremendous sound.
From those fallen trees emerged two beings radiant with supreme beauty, lighting up all the directions — like fire born between two kindling sticks. They approached Krishna, bowed their heads to the ground before the Lord of all worlds, and with folded hands, spoke:
Krishna. Krishna. Great yogi. You are the original person, the supreme. This universe, both the manifest and the unmanifest — the knowers of Brahman know it to be your form.
You alone are the lord of all beings — of body, of breath, of self, of senses. You are time itself. You are the imperishable Lord Vishnu. You are the great Prakriti — the subtle one, made of passion, goodness, and darkness. You are the person, the witness, the knower of all changes in every field.
You cannot be grasped by the modifications and qualities of material nature. Who in this world can know you — you who are self-established, and yet veiled by the very qualities you created?
To you — Lord Vasudeva, the creator, whose greatness is hidden by the radiance of your own qualities — to that Brahman, we bow.
Your incarnations are known in bodies, though you are bodiless — through deeds of incomparable, surpassing power, unattached to those who dwell in bodies. You, Lord of all worlds, have descended now with a portion of your portion, for the welfare and prosperity of all. You are the master of all blessings.
Homage to the supremely auspicious one. Homage to the supremely blessed. To Vasudeva, the peaceful one, lord of the Yadus — homage.
Grant us leave, O great one. We are your servants and your followers. We gained the sight of you only by the grace of the sage.
May our speech be given to recounting your qualities. May our ears be given to hearing your stories. May our hands be given to your service. May our minds rest in the memory of your feet. May our heads bow to the world that is your dwelling place. And may our eyes be given to seeing the holy ones — who are your living forms.
Shuka spoke:
Thus praised by the two, the Lord — master of Gokula, still bound by rope to the mortar — laughed. And he spoke to the two Guhyakas:
The Lord said:
I knew all this already. The sage whose nature is compassion arranged it. The curse he spoke against you two — blinded as you were by the pride of wealth — that was not punishment. That was his grace.
The sight of the holy ones — those who are equal-minded, and even more, those whose hearts are fixed on me — cannot become a cause of bondage for anyone, just as sunlight cannot bind the eyes.
Go then, Nalakūvara. Go to your home. Both of you have me as your highest goal. The devotion born in you toward me — that itself is the supreme state you wished for. That itself is freedom from rebirth.
Shuka spoke:
Thus spoken to, the two circumambulated him, bowed again and again, took leave of him — the child still bound to the mortar — and departed toward the north.
Colophon
The tenth chapter of the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana completes the Damodara cycle. In chapter nine, the infinite allowed itself to be bound by a mother's rope. In chapter ten, the bound child frees two gods from a curse that had imprisoned them as trees for a hundred divine autumns. The theological architecture is precise: the one who submits to love in chapter nine liberates through that same submission in chapter ten. The mortar that was the instrument of his mother's discipline becomes the instrument of divine grace.
Narada's discourse on poverty and wealth (verses 8-18) is among the sharpest social teachings in the Bhagavata Purana. The poor person, he argues, is closer to liberation than the rich — not because poverty is virtuous in itself, but because it strips away the intoxications that prevent empathy. The one who has been pierced by a thorn does not wish that pain on others. The one who has never been pierced cannot imagine it. This is the Bhagavata's answer to the theodicy of suffering: hardship is not punishment but purification, the supreme austerity given by fate.
The hymn of the freed gods (verses 29-38) is a compact Vaishnava theology — Krishna as time, as Prakriti, as the witness in all fields, as the bodiless one who takes body for the world's sake. Their final prayer (verse 38) is a consecration of the senses: speech for his praise, ears for his stories, hands for his service, mind for his feet, eyes for seeing his saints. It is the Bhagavata's vision of the whole person turned toward the divine.
This is a Good Works Translation from the Sanskrit text as published by GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages), University of Göttingen, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (Vasu, with Claude), 2026. The gospel register is used throughout. The English is independently derived from the Sanskrit source text in IAST transliteration.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text
Nalakūvara-Maṇigrīva-Mokṣa — Bhagavata Purana 10.10
Sanskrit source text in IAST transliteration from the GRETIL digital edition of the Bhagavata Purana (Bhagavata-Purana 10), Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
śrī-rājovāca
kathyatāṁ bhagavann etat
tayoḥ śāpasya kāraṇam
yat tad vigarhitaṁ karma
yena vā devarṣes tamaḥ
śrī-śuka uvāca
rudrasyānucarau bhūtvā
sudṛptau dhanadātmajau
kailāsopavane ramye
mandākinyāṁ madotkaṭau
vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā
madāghūrṇita-locanau
strī-janair anugāyadbhiś
ceratuḥ puṣpite vane
antaḥ praviśya gaṅgāyām
ambhoja-vana-rājini
cikrīḍatur yuvatibhir
gajāv iva kareṇubhiḥ
yadṛcchayā ca devarṣir
bhagavāṁs tatra kaurava
apaśyan nārado devau
kṣībāṇau samabudhyata
taṁ dṛṣṭvā vrīḍitā devyo
vivastrāḥ śāpa-śaṅkitāḥ
vāsāṁsi paryadhuḥ śīghraṁ
vivastrau naiva guhyakau
tau dṛṣṭvā madirā-mattau
śrī-madāndhau surātmajau
tayor anugrahārthāya
śāpaṁ dāsyann idaṁ jagau
śrī-nārada uvāca
na hy anyo juṣato joṣyān
buddhi-bhraṁśo rajo-guṇaḥ
śrī-madād ābhijātyādir
yatra strī dyūtam āsavaḥ
hanyante paśavo yatra
nirdayair ajitātmabhiḥ
manyamānair imaṁ deham
ajarāmṛtyu naśvaram
deva-saṁjñitam apy ante
kṛmi-viḍ-bhasma-saṁjñitam
bhūta-dhruk tat-kṛte svārthaṁ
kiṁ veda nirayo yataḥ
dehaḥ kim anna-dātuḥ svaṁ
niṣektur mātur eva ca
mātuḥ pitur vā balinaḥ
kretur agneḥ śuno 'pi vā
evaṁ sādhāraṇaṁ deham
avyakta-prabhavāpyayam
ko vidvān ātmasāt kṛtvā
hanti jantūn ṛte 'sataḥ
asataḥ śrī-madāndhasya
dāridryaṁ param añjanam
ātmaupamyena bhūtāni
daridraḥ param īkṣate
yathā kaṇṭaka-viddhāṅgo
jantor necchati tāṁ vyathām
jīva-sāmyaṁ gato liṅgair
na tathāviddha-kaṇṭakaḥ
daridro nirahaṁ-stambho
muktaḥ sarva-madair iha
kṛcchraṁ yadṛcchayāpnoti
tad dhi tasya paraṁ tapaḥ
nityaṁ kṣut-kṣāma-dehasya
daridrasyānna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
indriyāṇy anuśuṣyanti
hiṁsāpi vinivartate
daridrasyaiva yujyante
sādhavaḥ sama-darśinaḥ
sadbhiḥ kṣiṇoti taṁ tarṣaṁ
tata ārād viśuddhyati
sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ
mukunda-caraṇaiṣiṇām
upekṣyaiḥ kiṁ dhana-stambhair
asadbhir asad-āśrayaiḥ
tad ahaṁ mattayor mādhvyā
vāruṇyā śrī-madāndhayoḥ
tamo-madaṁ hariṣyāmi
straiṇayor ajitātmanoḥ
yad imau loka-pālasya
putrau bhūtvā tamaḥ-plutau
na vivāsasam ātmānaṁ
vijānītaḥ sudurmadau
ato 'rhataḥ sthāvaratāṁ
syātāṁ naivaṁ yathā punaḥ
smṛtiḥ syān mat-prasādena
tatrāpi mad-anugrahāt
vāsudevasya sānnidhyaṁ
labdhvā divya-śarac-chate
vṛtte svarlokatāṁ bhūyo
labdha-bhaktī bhaviṣyataḥ
śrī-śuka uvāca
evam uktvā sa devarṣir
gato nārāyaṇāśramam
nalakūvara-maṇigrīvāv
āsatur yamalārjunau
ṛṣer bhāgavata-mukhyasya
satyaṁ kartuṁ vaco hariḥ
jagāma śanakais tatra
yatrāstāṁ yamalārjunau
devarṣir me priyatamo
yad imau dhanadātmajau
tat tathā sādhayiṣyāmi
yad gītaṁ tan mahātmanā
ity antareṇārjunayoḥ
kṛṣṇas tu yamayor yayau
ātma-nirveśa-mātreṇa
tiryag-gatam ulūkhalam
bālena niṣkarṣayatānvag ulūkhalaṁ tad
dāmodareṇa tarasotkalitāṅghri-bandhau
niṣpetatuḥ parama-vikramitātivepa-
skandha-pravāla-viṭapau kṛta-caṇḍa-śabdau
tatra śriyā paramayā kakubhaḥ sphurantau
siddhāv upetya kujayor iva jāta-vedāḥ
kṛṣṇaṁ praṇamya śirasākhila-loka-nāthaṁ
baddhāñjalī virajasāv idam ūcatuḥ sma
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā-yogiṁs
tvam ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ paraḥ
vyaktāvyaktam idaṁ viśvaṁ
rūpaṁ te brāhmaṇā viduḥ
tvam ekaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
dehāsv-ātmendriyeśvaraḥ
tvam eva kālo bhagavān
viṣṇur avyaya īśvaraḥ
tvaṁ mahān prakṛtiḥ sūkṣmā
rajaḥ-sattva-tamomayī
tvam eva puruṣo 'dhyakṣaḥ
sarva-kṣetra-vikāra-vit
gṛhyamāṇais tvam agrāhyo
vikāraiḥ prākṛtair guṇaiḥ
ko nv ihārhati vijñātuṁ
prāk siddhaṁ guṇa-saṁvṛtaḥ
tasmai tubhyaṁ bhagavate
vāsudevāya vedhase
ātma-dyota-guṇaiś channa-
mahimne brahmaṇe namaḥ
yasyāvatārā jñāyante
śarīreṣv aśarīriṇaḥ
tais tair atulyātiśayair
vīryair dehiṣv asaṅgataiḥ
sa bhavān sarva-lokasya
bhavāya vibhavāya ca
avatīrṇo 'ṁśa-bhāgena
sāmprataṁ patir āśiṣām
namaḥ parama-kalyāṇa
namaḥ parama-maṅgala
vāsudevāya śāntāya
yadūnāṁ pataye namaḥ
anujānīhi nau bhūmaṁs
tavānucara-kiṅkarau
darśanaṁ nau bhagavata
ṛṣer āsīd anugrahāt
vāṇī guṇānukathane śravaṇau kathāyāṁ
hastau ca karmasu manas tava pādayor naḥ
smṛtyāṁ śiras tava nivāsa-jagat-praṇāme
dṛṣṭiḥ satāṁ darśane 'stu bhavat-tanūnām
śrī-śuka uvāca
itthaṁ saṅkīrtitas tābhyāṁ
bhagavān gokuleśvaraḥ
dāmnā colūkhale baddhaḥ
prahasann āha guhyakau
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
jñātaṁ mama puraivaitad
ṛṣiṇā karuṇātmanā
yac chrī-madāndhayor vāgbhir
vibhraṁśo 'nugrahaḥ kṛtaḥ
sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ
sutarāṁ mat-kṛtātmanām
darśanān no bhaved bandhaḥ
puṁso 'kṣṇoḥ savitur yathā
tad gacchataṁ mat-paramau
nalakūvara sādanam
sañjāto mayi bhāvo vām
īpsitaḥ paramo 'bhavaḥ
śrī-śuka uvāca
ity uktau tau parikramya
praṇamya ca punaḥ punaḥ
baddholūkhalam āmantrya
jagmatur diśam uttarām
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Bhagavata Purana, Skandha 10, Chapter 10 (Nalakūvara-Maṇigrīva-Mokṣa), in IAST transliteration. Based on the GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) digital edition of the Bhagavata Purana critical text, University of Göttingen, with reference to the vedabase.io IAST edition. Converted to Unicode (UTF-8). GRETIL texts are provided for reference purposes under the terms of use established by the GRETIL project.
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