Devanagari
केचिदाहुरजं जातं पुण्यश्लोकस्य कीर्तये ।
यदो: प्रियस्यान्ववाये मलयस्येव चन्दनम् ॥ ३२ ॥
Verse text
kecid āhur ajaṁ jātaṁ
puṇya-ślokasya kīrtaye
yadoḥ priyasyānvavāye
malayasyeva candanam
Synonyms
kecit
—
someone
;
āhuḥ
—
says
;
ajam
—
the unborn
;
jātam
—
being born
;
puṇya
—
ślokasya — of the great pious king
;
kīrtaye
—
for glorifying
;
yadoḥ
—
of King Yadu
;
priyasya
—
of the dear
;
anvavāye
—
in the family of
;
malayasya
—
Malaya hills
;
iva
—
as
;
candanam
—
sandalwood .
Translation
Some say that the Unborn is born for the glorification of pious kings, and others say that He is born to please King Yadu, one of Your dearest devotees. You appear in his family as sandalwood appears in the Malaya hills.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Some say that you, though unborn, have taken birth in the Yadu family to give fame to Yudhiṣṭhira, just as sandalwood, originating in the Malaya Hills gives fame to those hills.
Purport
Because the Lord’s appearance in this material world is bewildering, there are different opinions about the birth of the Unborn. In the
Bhagavad-gītā
the Lord says that He takes His birth in the material world, although He is the Lord of all creations and He is unborn. So there cannot be any denial of the birth of the Unborn because He Himself establishes the truth. But still there are different opinions as to why He takes His birth. That is also declared in the
Bhagavad-gītā.
He appears by His own internal potency to reestablish the principles of religion and to protect the pious and to annihilate the impious. That is the mission of the appearance of the Unborn. Still, it is said that the Lord is there to glorify the pious King Yudhiṣṭhira. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa certainly wanted to establish the kingdom of the Pāṇḍavas for the good of all in the world. When there is a pious king ruling over the world, the people are happy. When the ruler is impious, the people are unhappy. In the Age of Kali in most cases the rulers are impious, and therefore the citizens are also continuously unhappy. But in the case of democracy, the impious citizens themselves elect their representative to rule over them, and therefore they cannot blame anyone for their unhappiness. Mahārāja Nala was also celebrated as a great pious king, but he had no connection with Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is meant here to be glorified by Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Lord had already glorified King Yadu, having taken birth in his family. Although He is known as Yādava, Yaduvīra, Yadunandana, etc., He is always independent of such obligation. He is just like the sandalwood that grows in the Malaya hills. Trees can grow anywhere and everywhere, yet because the sandalwood trees grow mostly in the area of the Malaya hills, the name sandalwood and the Malaya hills are interrelated. Therefore, the conclusion is that the Lord is ever unborn like the sun, and yet He appears as the sun rises on the eastern horizon. As the sun is never the sun of the eastern horizon, so the Lord is no one’s son, but He is the father of everything that be.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
If you were not to appear in this world how would we be able to relish your enchanting pastimes? There are many opinions about the cause of your appearance. Puṇya-śloka here refers to Yudhiṣṭhira, since he was famous by that name at that time. puṇya-śloko nalo rājā puṇya-śloko yudhiṣṭhiraḥ: puṇya-ṣloka means King Nala, a famous person or Yudhiṣṭhira. You appeared in the Yadu dynasty to glorify dear Yudhiṣṭhira. Or the sentence can mean “You appeared in that dynasty to glorify the famous Yadu.”