Devanagari
अथागतस्मृतिरभयो रिपुं बलो
विहायसार्थमिव हरन्तमात्मन: ।
रुषाहनच्छिरसि दृढेन मुष्टिना
सुराधिपो गिरिमिव वज्ररंहसा ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
athāgata-smṛtir abhayo ripuṁ balo
vihāya sārtham iva harantam ātmanaḥ
ruṣāhanac chirasi dṛḍhena muṣṭinā
surādhipo girim iva vajra-raṁhasā
Synonyms
atha
—
then
;
āgata
—
smṛtiḥ — remembering Himself
;
abhayaḥ
—
without fear
;
ripum
—
His enemy
;
balaḥ
—
Lord Balarāma
;
vihāya
—
leaving aside
;
sārtham
—
the company
;
iva
—
indeed
;
harantam
—
kidnapping
;
ātmanaḥ
—
Himself
;
ruṣā
—
angrily
;
ahanat
—
He struck
;
śirasi
—
upon the head
;
dṛḍhena
—
hard
;
muṣṭinā
—
with His fist
;
sura
—
adhipaḥ — the king of the demigods, Indra
;
girim
—
a mountain
;
iva
—
just as
;
vajra
—
of his thunderbolt weapon
;
raṁhasā
—
with the swiftness .
Translation
Remembering the actual situation, the fearless Balarāma understood that the demon was tṛying to kidnap Him and take Him away from His companions. The Lord then became furious and struck the demon’s head with His hard fist, just as Indra, the king of the demigods, strikes a mountain with his thunderbolt weapon.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Remembering the actual situation, the fearless Balarāma understood that the demon was tṛying to kidnap Him and take Him away from His companions. The Lord then became furious and struck the demon's head with His hard fist, just as Indra, the king of the demigods, strikes a mountain with his thunderbolt weapon.
KB 10.18.28
But with a clear mind He could quickly understand that He was being carried away from His friends by a demon who intended to kill Him. Immediately He struck the head of the demon with His strong fist, just as the King of the heavenly planets strikes a mountain with his thunderbolt.
Purport
Lord Balarāma’s powerful fist came crashing down upon the demon’s head, just as a huge lightning bolt comes crashing into a mountain, cracking its stone surface into pieces. The words
vihāya sārtham iva
may also be divided
vihāyasā artham iva,
meaning that the demon was flying in the sky on the cosmic path,
vihāyas,
with the purpose of carrying off Balarāma, who was his
artham,
or object of pursuit.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Balarama showed fear, Krsna, who wanted to see some fun, injected into Balarama knowledge of his godly powers. He regained his memory. In the Visnu Purana, Krsna says to Balarama to help him recollect his powers, "O soul of all, secret of all secrets, why are you acting like a human now?" He struck the enemy who was taking him away as if stealing some wealth (artham) in the heavens (vihayasa), just as Indra strikes a mountain with his thunderbolt. Balarama was like Indra, the demon was like the mountain and blow of his fist was like a thunderbolt.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Then (atha) he immediately regained his memory when Kṛṣṇa spoke to him:
kim ayaṁ mānuṣo bhāvo vyaktam evāvalaṁbyate
sarvātman sarvaguhyānāṁ guhyaguhyātmanā tvayā
O soul of all beings! Why are you, the most secrets among all secrets, acting like an ordinary human?
Viṣṇu Purāṇa 5.9.23
He remembered the purpose of his appearance as avatāra was to kill the demons. Balarāma hit the demon with his fist, like Indra striking a mountain with his thunderbolt.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Then (atha) he immediately regained his memory when Kṛṣṇa spoke to him:
kim ayaṁ mānuṣo bhāvo vyaktam evāvalaṁbyate
sarvātman sarvaguhyānāṁ guhyaguhyātmanā tvayā
O soul of all beings! Why are you, the most secrets among all secrets, acting like an ordinary human?
Viṣṇu Purāṇa 5.9.23
He remembered that the purpose of his appearance as avatāra was to kill the demons. Or he remembered that Kṛṣṇa had killed Pūtanām, Vatsāsura and others. Even if the demon is a women or a calf, it should be killed. Therefore it is proper that I kill this demon even if he was dressed as a cowherd boy. He remembered these two facts. Then Balarāma understood that Kṛṣṇa made this arrangement to glorify him. He should kill the demon with his hands. But if he understood this, why does it say that he was a little frightened in the last verse? The expression iṣat atrasat can be taken as a question, with the answer “No.” Then the reason is given in this verse. He was actually aware of the situation (āgata-smṛtiḥ) and thus he was fearless. The rest of the meaning is the same.
He struck the demon with his fist, hard and never useless (always successful) just as a thunderbolt strikes a mountain. Indra previously removed wings from mountains with his thunderbolt and made their hard bodies fall from the sky.