SB 1.15.25 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

जलौकसां जले यद्वन्महान्तोऽदन्त्यणीयस: । दुर्बलान्बलिनो राजन्महान्तो बलिनो मिथ: ॥ २५ ॥ एवं बलिष्ठैर्यदुभिर्महद्भ‍िरितरान् विभु: । यदून्यदुभिरन्योन्यं भूभारान् सञ्जहार ह ॥ २६ ॥

Verse text

jalaukasāṁ jale yadvan mahānto ’danty aṇīyasaḥ durbalān balino rājan mahānto balino mithaḥ evaṁ baliṣṭhair yadubhir mahadbhir itarān vibhuḥ yadūn yadubhir anyonyaṁ bhū-bhārān saṣjahāra ha

Synonyms

jalaukasām — of the aquatics ; jale — in the water ; yadvat — as it is ; mahāntaḥ — the larger one ; adanti — swallows ; aṇīyasaḥ — smaller ones ; durbalān — the weak ; balinaḥ — the stronger ; rājan — O King ; mahāntaḥ — the strongest ; balinaḥ — less strong ; mithaḥ — in a duel ; evam — thus ; baliṣṭhaiḥ — by the strongest ; yadubhiḥ — by the descendants of Yadu ; mahadbhiḥ — one who has greater strength ; itarān — the common ones ; vibhuḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; yadūn — all the Yadus ; yadubhiḥ — by the Yadus ; anyonyam — among one another ; bhū — bhārān — the burden of the world ; saṣjahāra — has unloaded ; ha — in the past .

Translation

O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Among the aquatics, the big eat the small and weak and those of equal strength or size can eat each other.

Purport

In the material world the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest are laws because in the material world there is disparity between conditioned souls due to everyone’s desire to lord it over the material resources. This very mentality of lording it over the material nature is the root cause of conditioned life. And to give facility to such imitation lords, the illusory energy of the Lord has created a disparity between conditioned living beings by creating the stronger and the weaker in every species of life. The mentality of lording it over the material nature and the creation has naturally created a disparity and therefore the law of struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no such disparity, nor is there such a struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no struggle for existence because everyone there exists eternally. There is no disparity because everyone wants to render service to the Supreme Lord, and no one wants to imitate the Lord in becoming the beneficiary. The Lord, being creator of everything, including the living beings, factually is the proprietor and enjoyer of everything that be, but in the material world, by the spell of māyā, or illusion, this eternal relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is forgotten, and so the living being is conditioned under the law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Among the fish (jalaukasām) the big eat the small, and the strong can eat an equally strong fish.