Devanagari
मत्स्याश्वकच्छपनृसिंहवराहहंस-
राजन्यविप्रविबुधेषु कृतावतार: ।
त्वं पासि नस्त्रिभुवनं च यथाधुनेश
भारं भुवो हर यदूत्तम वन्दनं ते ॥ ४० ॥
Verse text
matsyāśva-kacchapa-nṛsiṁha-varāha-haṁsa-
rājanya-vipra-vibudheṣu kṛtāvatāraḥ
tvaṁ pāsi nas tri-bhuvanaṁ ca yathādhuneśa
bhāraṁ bhuvo hara yadūttama vandanaṁ te
Synonyms
matsya
—
the fish incarnation
;
aśva
—
the horse incarnation
;
kacchapa
—
the tortoise incarnation
;
nṛsiṁha
—
the Narasiṁha incarnation
;
varāha
—
the Varāha incarnation
;
haṁsa
—
the swan incarnation
;
rājanya
—
incarnations as Lord Rāmacandra and other kṣatriyas
;
vipra
—
incarnations as brāhmaṇas like Vāmanadeva
;
vibudheṣu
—
among the demigods
;
kṛta
—
avatāraḥ — appeared as incarnations
;
tvam
—
Your Lordship
;
pāsi
—
please save
;
naḥ
—
us
;
tri
—
bhuvanam ca — and the three worlds
;
yathā
—
as well as
;
adhunā
—
now
;
īśa
—
O Supreme Lord
;
bhāram
—
burden
;
bhuvaḥ
—
of the earth
;
hara
—
please diminish
;
yadu
—
uttama — O Lord Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus
;
vandanam te
—
we offer our prayers unto You .
Translation
O supreme controller, Your Lordship previously accepted incarnations as a fish, a horse, a tortoise, Narasiṁhadeva, a boar, a swan, Lord Rāmacandra, Paraśurāma and, among the demigods, Vāmanadeva, to protect the entire world by Your mercy. Now please protect us again by Your mercy by diminishing the disturbances in this world. O Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus, we respectfully offer our obeisances unto You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O supreme controller, Your Lordship previously accepted incarnations as a fish, a horse, a tortoise, Narasiṁhadeva, a boar, a swan, Lord Rāmacandra, Paraśurāma and, among the demigods, Vāmanadeva, to protect the entire world by Your mercy. Now please protect us again by Your mercy by diminishing the disturbances in this world. O Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus, we respectfully offer our obeisances unto You.
KB 10.2.40
“Our dear Lord, You are appearing as the best of the Yadu dynasty, and we are offering our respectful humble obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Before this appearance, You also appeared as the fish incarnation, as the horse incarnation, as the tortoise incarnation, as the half-man, half-lion incarnation, as the boar incarnation, as the swan incarnation, as King Rāmacandra, as Paraśurāma and as many other incarnations. You appeared just to protect the devotees, and we request You in Your present appearance as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself to give us similar protection all over the three worlds and remove all obstacles for the peaceful execution of our lives.
Purport
In every incarnation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has a particular mission to execute, and this was true in His appearance as the son of Devakī in the family of the Yadus. Thus all the demigods offered their prayers to the Lord, bowing down before Him, and requested the Lord to do the needful. We cannot order the Supreme Personality of Godhead to do anything for us. We can simply offer Him our obeisances, as advised in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
), and pray to Him for annihilation of dangers.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Please put aside all of our talks of suffering caused by our unsteady minds. Just as you previously protected us by taking various forms, so now remove the burden of the earth. That is the same as protecting us." Speaking thus they then touched their heads to the earth in respect.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
O Lord! The devatās describe the Lord’s ability to protect. The words “Please protect us” should be understood at the end. O best of the Yadus! You have now personally appeared as Kṛṣṇa, but previously also you gave protection. Please remove the earth’s suffering. You say mayā hatāṁs tvaṁ jahi mā vyathiṣṭhā: destroy those already killed by me and do not be disturbed. (BG 11.34) In that manner, by your birth, everything is accomplished. Therefore saying “Please remove the suffering” becomes an emphatic request. The request should be understood to be made out of great longing to see his pastimes before their eyes.
Or, just as you appear in these forms and protect us now, you will also protect us in the future. With great longing they make the request for the future also. With that in mind, they say “Please remove the suffering of the earth.” Though you killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kālameni and others when you appeared as Narasiṁha and other forms, now they have taken birth again and make the earth suffer. Therefore, now act in such a way that this will not happen again. By this we devotees will gain the greatest benefit, by not seeing these demons. “But giving them all liberation is not suitable.” The devatās respond by offering respects. The deep meaning here is this: by liberating the demons, we will not longer have to see them since they will no longer take birth. Thus we devotees gain the greatest benefit.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
O Lord! The devatās describe the Lord’s ability to protect. The words “Please protect us” should be understood at the end. O best of the Yadus! You have now personally appeared as Kṛṣṇa, but previously also you gave protection. Please remove the earth’s suffering. You say mayā hatāṁs tvaṁ jahi mā vyathiṣṭhā: destroy those who are already killed by me and do not be disturbed. (BG 11.34) In that manner, by your birth, everything is accomplished. Therefore saying “Please remove the suffering” becomes an emphatic request. The request should be understood to be made out of great longing to see his pastimes before their eyes.
Or, just as you appear in these forms and protect us now, you will also protect us in the future. With great longing they make the request for the future also. With that in mind, they say “Please remove the suffering of the earth.” Though you killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kālameni and others when you appeared as Narasiṁha and other forms, now they have taken birth again and make the earth suffer. Therefore, now act in such a way that this will not happen again. By this we devotees will gain the greatest benefit, for we won’t have to see these demons again. “But giving them all liberation is not suitable.” The devatās respond by offering respects. The deep meaning here is this: by liberating the demons, we will no longer have to see them since they will no longer take birth. Thus we devotees will gain the greatest benefit.
Or relieve the burden of the earth, by killing the demons, so that the world can worship you (vandanam te), or so that your great devotees the Yadus (te) can worship you nicely (uttama). By removing the demons permanently, it is appropriate that the Lord gives them liberation, since it completely devoid of prema.