Kṛṣṇāya Vāsudevāya

प्रणतक्लेशनाशाय. To the one who ends the distress of those who bow. It does not say of those who are strong, or of those who have earned it. It says of those who bow, and bowing is the one thing sadness already knows how to do.

In the Bhāgavata it is said by kings Jarāsandha had held prisoner, on the day Kṛṣṇa let them out. These are not the words of men who never fell. They are what men say when a captivity is over and they are still standing in its doorway, and they do not begin with what was done to them. They bow.

Sadness is not asked to lift here. The body has already bowed in the āsana before it, down to the whole length of itself on the ground. The words bow after it: नमो नमः, and again.

Pain and the heavy mind are given it for the same reason. Distress, क्लेश, is the word the verse uses, and it does not ask which kind.

The complications it serves: Pain · The heavy mind

Where it comes from: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.73.16. Said by the kings Kṛṣṇa has just released from Jarāsandha's prison; their speech runs from 10.73.8 to 10.73.16, and this is its last verse.

Padaccheda, checked against the word for word synonyms of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.73.16 at vedabase.io (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust).
कृष्णाय वासुदेवाय
हरये परम-आत्मने
प्रणत-क्लेश-नाशाय
गोविन्दाय नमः नमः

वाचिक: Said out loud, at the length of one out-breath. The syllables light as you say them. उपांशु: The lips move, the breath carries it, nobody across the room can hear it. The light goes through each line in its colour, as it does aloud. मानस: Nothing is said. The words grow faint, the light still goes through them, and their sense stays, with the breath and the beads. अन्तर्यात्रा: One mālā that goes inwards by itself. The first third aloud, the second in a whisper, the last in the mind. The voice leaves the room without you deciding when.