Devanagari
वासुदेवकलानन्त: सहस्रवदन: स्वराट्
अग्रतो भविता देवो हरे: प्रियचिकीर्षया ॥ २४ ॥
Verse text
vāsudeva-kalānantaḥ
sahasra-vadanaḥ svarāṭ
agrato bhavitā devo
hareḥ priya-cikīrṣayā
Synonyms
vāsudeva
—
kalā anantaḥ — the plenary expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa known as Anantadeva or Saṅkarṣaṇa Ananta, the all-pervasive incarnation of the Supreme Lord
;
sahasra
—
vadanaḥ — having thousands of hoods
;
svarāṭ
—
fully independent
;
agrataḥ
—
previously
;
bhavitā
—
will appear
;
devaḥ
—
the Lord
;
hareḥ
—
of Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
priya
—
cikīrṣayā — with the desire to act for the pleasure .
Translation
The foremost manifestation of Kṛṣṇa is Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is known as Ananta. He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, this original Saṅkarṣaṇa will appear as Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental pastimes.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The foremost manifestation of Kṛṣṇa is Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is known as Ananta. He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, this original Saṅkarṣaṇa will appear as Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental pastimes.
KB 10.1.24
The demigods were further informed that Ananta, the plenary portion of Lord Kṛṣṇa who is maintaining the universal planets by extending His millions of hoods, would also appear on earth before Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance.
Purport
Śrī Baladeva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. He is equal in supremacy to the Supreme Godhead, yet wherever Kṛṣṇa appears, Śrī Baladeva appears as His brother, sometimes elder and sometimes younger. When Kṛṣṇa appears, all His plenary expansions and other incarnations appear with Him. This is elaborately explained in
Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
This time, Baladeva would appear before Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa’s elder brother.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Svarat usually means independent, he who exists (raj or rat) by himself (sva), but here it means he who exists with his own brother Krsna (sva). Baladeva (deva) who is existing with his own brother (svarat) will appear first (agratah bhavita). Ananta is an amsa or kala of Baladeva. This is supported with verses like: evamsena sahasra vadano’nantah (whose portion is the thousand mouthed ananta) and yasaikamsena vidhrta jagati jagatah pateh ( O mighty armed balarama, Who by one portion supports the universe.) Here Baladeva is described as Ananta who is a portion of Vasudeva.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
His elder brother will appear first. His brother’s qualifications are described. Vāsudeva refers to Kṛṣṇa as part of the caturvyūha in Dvārakā. His kalā or expansion there is Saṅkarśaṇa. He is unlimited (anantaḥ) and has a thousand heads as the expansion Śeṣa in order to praise the qualities of Kṛṣṇa.
āma rāma mahā-bāho na jāne tava vikramam
yasyaikāṁśena vidhṛtā jagatī jagataḥ pate
Rāma, Rāma, O mighty-armed one! I know nothing of your prowess. With a single portion of yourself you hold up the earth, O Lord of the universe. SB 10.65.28
The “single portion of yourself” refers to Śeṣa. Svarāṭ means he who exists (rājate) with Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the highest svarūpa (sva). This means that he does not exist without Kṛṣṇa. He is called deva because he is to be worshipped by all, since he is Svayam Bhagavān’s elder brother. “But he should be the younger brother of Svayam Bhagavān like Lakṣmaṇa, the younger brother of Rāma.” He takes this role of an older brother to please Kṛṣṇa. Being able to destroy the Lord’s pain by being obedient and at the same time an equal, he has a special friendly relationship with Kṛṣṇa as his devotee. In the Bṛhad-sahasra-nāma-stotra, among the names of Balarāma there is pūrva-bhakti-khedācyutāgrajaḥ: he became the elder brother of the Lord because of Lord’s pain in previous pastimes of Rāma. In those previous pastimes he could not relieve Rāma of distress because he was younger. This means that in some kalpas he does not appear in a dependant position. Since Lakṣmaṇa is dependent, he cannot freely remove Rāma’s distress. “Being elder, I desire to give him happiness independently.” Thus Lakṣmaṇa laments in devotion, because he is not able to relieve the Lord’ pain. He desired to give happiness to Hari, out of affection since Hari is most attractive. Thus he appears as the elder brother.