Devanagari
तथेति मीलिताक्षेषु भगवानग्निमुल्बणम् ।
पीत्वा मुखेन तान्कृच्छ्राद् योगाधीशो व्यमोचयत् ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
tatheti mīlitākṣeṣu
bhagavān agnim ulbaṇam
pītvā mukhena tān kṛcchrād
yogādhīśo vyamocayat
Synonyms
tathā
—
all right
;
iti
—
thus speaking
;
mīlita
—
closing
;
akṣeṣu
—
their eyes
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Lord
;
agnim
—
the fire
;
ulbaṇam
—
terrible
;
pītvā
—
drinking
;
mukhena
—
with His mouth
;
tān
—
them
;
kṛcchrāt
—
from the danger
;
yoga
—
adhīśaḥ — the supreme controller of all mystic power
;
vyamocayat
—
delivered .
Translation
“All right,” the boys replied, and immediately closed their eyes. Then the Supreme Lord, the master of all mystic power, opened His mouth and swallowed the terrible fire, saving His friends from danger.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"All right," the boys replied, and immediately closed their eyes. Then the Supreme Lord, the master of all mystic power, opened His mouth and swallowed the terrible fire, saving His friends from danger.
KB 10.19.12
Then Kṛṣṇa, the supreme mystic, the powerful Personality of Godhead, immediately swallowed up all the flames of the fire. The cows and boys were thus saved from imminent danger.
Purport
The cowherd boys were suffering from extreme fatigue, hunger and thirst, and were about to be consumed by a horrible forest fire. All this is indicated here by the word
kṛcchrāt.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Friends! Krsna knows everything about the powers of jewels and mantras to take away the effects of poison and fire. But the methods are not effective in everyone’s presence. Therefore, if you close your eyes he will be alone. That is why he is telling us to close our eyes." The boys then agree.
Bhagavan here indicates that Krsna was full of all great powers. Thought the fire was fierce he could swallow it.
There is one story. Krsna was thirsty. The fire, unable to do anything against the will of Krsna, and being afraid, turned into very cool fragrant drink. It became a small drop on Krsna’s tender hand, and then as yogadisa, he drank it. Some say that yogamaya appeared at this time and she herself took it from his hand and drank it, but this interpretation gives sorrow to the real devotee.
Yoga means yoga maya and adisa means the master. Krsna is the master of yoga maya. Therefore Krsna drank the fire in his mouth.
Another meaning of mukha is method. Krsna drank the fire by some method. What method? As he is yogadhisa, he used yoga, his aisvarya sakti. By that means he drank the fire. Krsna delivered the boys from all difficulties (krscchra)-- from fatigue and thirst from entering the dense forest. He did this by immediately bringing them to the base of the bhandira tree.
"O friends! You can open your eyes now. I have prevented the fire."
The boys could understand they and the cows had been saved when they opened their eyes and were astonished.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Having said (iti) “Yes we agree (tathā)” they closed their eyes. “How could he swallow such a fire with his mouth?” He is the master of inconceivable powers (yogādhiśaḥ)--by his power the fire became like dope of a sweet beverage. He freed the boys from danger in a special way (vi -amocayat), since he brought them to Bhāṇḍīra.