Devanagari
मन्ये त्वां देवदेवानां त्रयाणां पुरुषर्षभम् ।
यद् बाधसे गुहाध्वान्तं प्रदीप: प्रभया यथा ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
manye tvāṁ deva-devānāṁ
trayāṇāṁ puruṣarṣabham
yad bādhase guhā-dhvāntaṁ
pradīpaḥ prabhayā yathā
Synonyms
manye
—
I consider
;
tvām
—
You
;
deva
—
devānām — of the chief of the demigods
;
trayāṇām
—
three (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva)
;
puruṣa
—
of the personalities
;
ṛṣabham
—
the greatest
;
yat
—
because
;
bādhase
—
You drive away
;
guha
—
of the cave
;
dhvāntam
—
the darkness
;
pradīpaḥ
—
a lamp
;
prabhayā
—
with its light
;
yathā
—
as .
Translation
I think You are the Supreme Personality among the three chief gods, since You drive away the darkness of this cave as a lamp dispels darkness with its light.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I think You are the Supreme Personality among the three chief gods, since You drive away the darkness of this cave as a lamp dispels darkness with its light.
KB 10.51.29
He must be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who has many Viṣṇu forms. Mucukunda therefore took Him to be Puruṣottama, Lord Viṣṇu. He could see also that the dense darkness within the mountain cave had been dissipated by the Lord’s presence; therefore He could not be other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mucukunda knew very well that wherever the Lord is personally present by His transcendental name, qualities, form and so on, there cannot be any darkness of ignorance. He is like a lamp placed in the darkness; He immediately illuminates a dark place.
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that with His effulgence Lord Kṛṣṇa dispelled not only the darkness of the mountain cave but also the darkness in Mucukunda’s heart. In Sanskrit the heart is sometimes metaphorically referred to as
guha,
“cavern,” a deep and secret place.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
You illuminate the darkness of the cave with your lamp like effulgence, and you illuminate my mind covered in ignorance with jewel like knowledge.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
In this verse he concludes that the person must be superior to all those previously mentioned. Among the three you are in the category of Viṣṇu, but are the best of those forms (puruṣarṣabham) since you dispel darkness within and without the cave and the suffering within and without my heart (guhā), just as a lamp dispels darkness and suffering by its light. The example is used since light driving away darkness is experience by everyone. The example does not compare the Lord’s effulgence to that of a lamp.