Verse 1.1.12

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.1.12:

সহস্র-বদন বন্দোঙ্ প্রভু-বলরাম যাঙ্হার সহস্র-মুখে কৃষ্ণ-যশোধাম ॥ ১২ ॥

सहस्र-वदन वन्दोङ् प्रभु-बलराम याङ्हार सहस्र-मुखे कृष्ण-यशोधाम ॥ १२ ॥

sahasra-vadana vandoṅ prabhu-balarāma yāṅhāra sahasra-mukhe kṛṣṇa-yaśodhāma || 12 ||

sahasra-vadana vandon prabhu-balarama yanhara sahasra-mukhe krsna-yasodhama (12)

English translation:

(12) I offer my respectful obeisances unto the thousand-headed Lord Balarāma. His thousands of mouths are the abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental glories.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.2.13) the Supreme Lord glorifies Balarāma before Yogamāyā as follows: “He will be called Rāma because of His ability to please all the inhabitants of Gokula, and He will be

known as Balabhadra because of His extensive physical strength.”

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.116-117 and 120-122) it is said: “That Lord Viṣṇu is but a part of a part of a plenary portion of Lord Nityānanda, who is the source of all incarnations. That same Lord Viṣṇu, in the form of Lord Śeṣa, holds the planets upon His heads, although He does not know where they are, for He cannot feel their existence upon His heads.

That Ananta Śeṣa is the devotee incarnation of Godhead. He knows nothing but service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. With His thousands of mouths He sings the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but although He always sings in that way, He does not find an end to the qualities of the Lord. The four Kumāras hear Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from His lips, and they in turn repeat it in the transcendental bliss of love of Godhead.”

The word yaśodhāma means “the storehouse of all transcendental qualities and glories.”

It is to be understood that svayam-prakāśa Śrī Nityānanda-Baladeva, who appears in a two-armed humanlike form holding a plow, increases the ecstasy of kṛṣṇa-prema by constantly engaging in the service of Śrī Gaura-Kṛṣṇa in the mood of a devotee. Śrī Ananta Śeṣa, the plenary portion of Lord Baladeva, holds all the universes on His hoods. His matchless service of always glorifying the qualities of Śrī Gaura, His worshipable Lord, is being described here. Śrī Anantadeva constantly recites Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to the great brāhmaṇa sages headed by the four Kumāras. He is the Lord and guru of the author, who is the incarnation of Vyāsadeva for describing the pastimes of Śrī Gaura-Kṛṣṇa. The thousand-headed Lord Anantadeva’s recitation of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which is full of the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is described in Citraketu’s prayers to Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (6.16.40, 43) as follows: “O unconquerable one, when You spoke about bhāgavata-dharma, which is the uncontaminated religious system for achieving the shelter of Your lotus feet, that was Your victory. Persons who have no material desires, like the Kumāras, who are self-satisfied sages, worship You to be liberated from material contamination. In other

words, they accept the process of bhāgavata-dharma to achieve shelter at Your lotus feet. My dear Lord, one’s occupational duty is instructed in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā according to Your point of view, which never deviates from the highest goal of life. Those who follow their occupational duties under Your supervision, being equal to all living entities, moving and nonmoving, and not considering high and low, are called Āryans. Such Āryans worship You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

Another meaning of kṛṣṇa-yaśodhāma is Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which is the treasure house of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental glories.