Devanagari
नैतद् विचित्रं मनुजार्भमायिन:
परावराणां परमस्य वेधस: ।
अघोऽपि यत्स्पर्शनधौतपातक:
प्रापात्मसाम्यं त्वसतां सुदुर्लभम् ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
naitad vicitraṁ manujārbha-māyinaḥ
parāvarāṇāṁ paramasya vedhasaḥ
agho ’pi yat-sparśana-dhauta-pātakaḥ
prāpātma-sāmyaṁ tv asatāṁ sudurlabham
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
etat
—
this
;
vicitram
—
is wonderful
;
manuja
—
arbha — māyinaḥ — of Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, being compassionate upon them
;
para
—
avarāṇām — of all causes and effects
;
paramasya vedhasaḥ
—
of the supreme creator
;
aghaḥ api
—
Aghāsura also
;
yat
—
sparśana — simply by the slight association of whom
;
dhauta
—
pātakaḥ — became freed from all contamination of material existence
;
prāpa
—
became elevated
;
ātma
—
sāmyam — to a body exactly resembling that of Nārāyaṇa
;
tu
—
but
;
asatām sudurlabham
—
which is not at all possible to be obtained by contaminated souls (but everything can be possible by the mercy of the Supreme Lord) .
Translation
Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. The causes and effects of the material world, both higher and lower, are all created by the Supreme Lord, the original controller. When Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, He did so by His causeless mercy. Consequently, for Him to exhibit His unlimited opulence was not at all wonderful. Indeed, He showed such great mercy that even Aghāsura, the most sinful miscreant, was elevated to being one of His associates and achieving sārūpya-mukti, which is actually impossible for materially contaminated persons to attain.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. The causes and effects of the material world, both higher and lower, are all created by the Supreme Lord, the original controller. When Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, He did so by His causeless mercy. Consequently, for Him to exhibit His unlimited opulence was not at all wonderful. Indeed, He showed such great mercy that even Aghāsura, the most sinful miscreant, was elevated to being one of His associates and achieving sārūpya-mukti, which is actually impossible for materially contaminated persons to attain.
KB 10.12.38
For Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is far greater than such demigods as Lord Brahmā, it is not at all difficult to award one the opportunity of merging with His eternal body. This He awarded to Aghāsura. Aghāsura was certainly the most sinful living entity, and it is not possible for the sinful to merge into the existence of the Absolute Truth. But in this particular case, because Kṛṣṇa entered into Aghāsura’s body, the demon became fully cleansed of all sinful reactions.
Purport
The word
māyā
is also used in connection with love. Out of
māyā,
love, a father has affection for his child. Therefore the word
māyinaḥ
indicates that Kṛṣṇa, out of love, appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and assumed the form of a human child (
manujārbha
). Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. He is the creator of cause and effect, and He is the supreme controller. Nothing is impossible for Him. Therefore, that He enabled even a living being like Aghāsura to attain the salvation of
sārūpya-mukti
was not at all wonderful for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa took pleasure in entering the mouth of Aghāsura in a sporting spirit along with His associates. Therefore, when Aghāsura, by that sporting association, as maintained in the spiritual world, was purified of all contamination, he attained
sārūpya-mukti
and
vimukti
by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. For Kṛṣṇa this was not at all wonderful.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The human child form of Krsna is his svarupa (manuja mayinah), for maya is well known to mean svarupa in the srutis. He is one who causes by his own free will (vedhasah) and is the supreme form among all the expansions and expansions of expansions (paravaranam). For him it is not remarkable, that Aghasura was purified of all his sins by touching him (or he was purified of his bad odor by touch). This second meaning can be taken because in Putana’s case also her body was freed of bad odor. Because Krsna and his friends used his dead body as a playground it must have been so. He also attained a similar body to Krsna (atma samyam), which was very, very rare for a demon (asatam). Sayujya is rare for the demons, and sarupya is even rarer (su durlabham), as this is reserved for the devotees.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Seeing that some people would be astonished that a greatly sinful person like Agha could get liberation, Śukadeva speaks of the Lord’s power in two verses. Nothing is astonishing for the Lord who is the best among lower and higher creatures, among all aṁśas and aṁśīs since he causes creation (vedhasaḥ). This means that he is the supreme independent being. Because of that, he was most merciful (māyinaḥ) as the son of Nanda (manujārbha). His famous, outstanding characteristic is his mercy in showing informal pastimes without reverence. Therefore this is not astonishing. The word sāmyam is sometimes replaced with sātmyam. Agha had a similar form since without a similar form the soul could not enter into Kṛṣṇa. This was not attainable by sinful people. How could such a great offender to great devotees, the boys of Gokula, get similarity to the Lord? The sinful nature was destroyed by the special power of the touch of the Lord who appears in this world by mercy independently, without considering pure or impure, in order to pay attention to the degraded state of fallen jīvas like Agha. The ātmā was not a demon. The demonic nature is a covering or upādhi. That covering was destroyed. It is not a fault of the Lord to show mercy to his faultless part. Rather it is praiseworthy since the Lord showed the highest mercy in destroying the demonic nature of Agha.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Seeing that some people would be astonished that a greatly sinful person like Agha could get liberation, Śukadeva speaks of the Lord’s power in two verses. The lord is supreme creator (parmasya vedhasaḥ) of lower and higher beings or supreme creator of cause and effect, the supreme creator of all begins in the past and future (parāvarānām). He is the supreme creator because he creates Brahmā and is the cause of all creation. Or he is the best (paramasya) of higher and lower beings because he is their creator. As the supreme lord he is supremely independent. Because of that, he was most merciful (māyinaḥ) as the son of Nanda (manujārbha). Or māyinaḥ can mean he who has wealth or beauty (mā), he who displays his unlimited wealth. Or he is merciful (māyinaḥ) to the cowherd boys (manujārbha). As a cowherd he displays his powers as the Lord. Therefore this pastime is not astonishing.
ātmā-sātmyam means he attained the same form as brahma (ātmā), nirvāṇa. Another version with ātma-sāmyam means he became situated in his svarūpa. That is stated in the Second Canto. Muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavsthitih: liberation means giving up false forms and being situated in one’s svarūpa. (SB .10.6)
He attained what was most rare for demons. “How could this happen for a person who offended the great devotees of Gokula?” He was purified by the touch of the Lord. By the special power of the Lord’s touch his great offense (pātakaḥ) was destroyed.