SB 10.70.30 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यो वै त्वया द्विनवकृत्व उदात्तचक्र भग्नो मृधे खलु भवन्तमनन्तवीर्यम् । जित्वा नृलोकनिरतं सकृदूढदर्पो युष्मत्प्रजा रुजति नोऽजित तद् विधेहि ॥ ३० ॥

Verse text

yo vai tvayā dvi-nava-kṛtva udātta-cakra bhagno mṛdhe khalu bhavantam ananta-vīryam jitvā nṛ-loka-nirataṁ sakṛd ūḍha-darpo yuṣmat-prajā rujati no ’jita tad vidhehi

Synonyms

yaḥ — who ; vai — indeed ; tvayā — by You ; dvi — twice ; nava — nine ; kṛtvaḥ — times ; udātta — upraised ; cakra — O You whose disc weapon ; bhagnaḥ — crushed ; mṛdhe — in battle ; khalu — surely ; bhavantam — You ; ananta — unlimited ; vīryam — whose power ; jitvā — defeating ; nr — loka — in human affairs ; niratam — absorbed ; sakṛt — only once ; ūḍha — inflated ; darpaḥ — whose pride ; yuṣmat — Your ; prajāḥ — subjects ; rujati — torments ; naḥ — us ; ajita — O unconquerable one ; tat — that ; vidhehi — please rectify .

Translation

O wielder of the disc! Your strength is unlimited, and thus seventeen times You crushed Jarāsandha in battle. But then, absorbed in human affairs, You allowed him to defeat You once. Now he is so filled with pride that he dares to torment us, Your subjects. O unconquerable one, please rectify this situation.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O wielder of the disc! Your strength is unlimited, and thus seventeen times You crushed Jarāsandha in battle. But then, absorbed in human affairs, You allowed him to defeat You once. Now he is so filled with pride that he dares to torment us, Your subjects. O unconquerable one, please rectify this situation. KB 10.70.30 “ ‘Dear Lord, You have already fought with Jarāsandha eighteen times consecutively, out of which You have defeated him seventeen times by surpassing his extraordinarily powerful position. But in Your eighteenth fight You exhibited Your human behavior, and thus it appeared that You were defeated. Dear Lord, we know very well that Jarāsandha cannot defeat You at any time, for Your power, strength, resources and authority are all unlimited. No one can equal You or surpass You. Your apparent defeat by Jarāsandha in the eighteenth engagement was nothing but an exhibition of human behavior. Unfortunately, foolish Jarāsandha could not understand Your tricks, and he has since then become puffed up over his material power and prestige. Specifically, he has arrested and imprisoned us, knowing fully that as Your devotees we are subordinate to Your sovereignty.’ ”

Purport

The word nṛ-loka-niratam indicates that the Lord was absorbed in playing within the world of human beings. Thus, while acting like a human king He allowed Jarāsandha to be victorious in a single battle after the Lord had crushed him seventeen times. The kings here imply that Jarāsandha is especially harassing them because they are souls surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they beg the Lord, “O You who hold the cakra weapon high, please make the proper arrangement.” Śrīla Prabhupāda expresses the kings’ feelings as follows: “My dear Lord, You have already fought with Jarāsandha eighteen times consecutively, out of which You have defeated him seventeen times by surpassing his extraordinary powerful position. But in Your eighteenth fight You exhibited Your human behavior, and thus it appeared that You were defeated. My dear Lord, we know very well that Jarāsandha cannot defeat You at any time, because Your power, strength, resources and authority are all unlimited. No one can equal You or surpass You. The appearance of defeat by Jarāsandha in the eighteenth engagement is nothing but an exhibition of human behavior. Unfortunately, foolish Jarāsandha could not understand Your tricks, and he has since then become puffed up over his material power and prestige. Specifically, he has arrested us and imprisoned us, knowing fully that as Your devotees, we are subordinate to Your sovereignty.”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Your enemy, knowing that we have surrendered to you, now persecutes us even more day by day. That is expressed in this verse. "O you who hold the cakra high, in the eighteen times he fought with you, he was defeated seventeen times. Only once defeating you, who desire to take up the pastimes of fleeing away like an ordinary man, he swelled with pride, and persecuted us, your subjects. Do what is proper in this case (tat)."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Just by holding up your cakra you can defeat him! Absorbed in your human pastimes, you allowed him to defeat you once.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Just by holding up your cakra you can defeat him! It is well known (vai) that even though (khalu) he was defeated by you seventeen times, one time he defeated you, who have unlimited power and play a human role Or he defeated you once, though (khalu) you have unlimited power. Or he defeated you once, though you know that you should protect your citizens (khalu). The plural is used (yuṣmat) to indicate that the citizens belong to Balarāma and others as well as Kṛṣṇa. Or they indicate that all the devotees should protect them, out of extreme misery. O unconquered one, even now you have not been actually defeated by Jarāsandh. He defeated you once, of unlimited power, though you teach humans how to act (nṛloka-niratam) and should never flee from other warriors. Or he defeated you once, since you are absorbed in human behavior. Jarāsandha became very proud. Please do something so that he does not torment us.