Devanagari
श्रीयुधिष्ठिर उवाच
क्रतुराजेन गोविन्द राजसूयेन पावनी: ।
यक्ष्ये विभूतीर्भवतस्तत् सम्पादय न: प्रभो ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
śrī-yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
kratu-rājena govinda
rājasūyena pāvanīḥ
yakṣye vibhūtīr bhavatas
tat sampādaya naḥ prabho
Synonyms
śrī
—
yudhiṣṭhiraḥ uvāca — Śrī Yudhiṣṭhira said
;
kratu
—
of major fire sacrifices
;
rājena
—
with the king
;
govinda
—
O Kṛṣṇa
;
rājasūyena
—
named Rājasūya
;
pāvanīḥ
—
purifying
;
yakṣye
—
I wish to worship
;
vibhūtīḥ
—
the opulent expansions
;
bhavataḥ
—
of Yourself
;
tat
—
that
;
sampādaya
—
please allow to happen
;
naḥ
—
for us
;
prabho
—
O master .
Translation
Śrī Yudhiṣṭhira said: O Govinda, I desire to worship Your auspicious, opulent expansions by the Rājasūya sacrifice, the king of Vedic ceremonies. Please make our endeavor a success, my Lord.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śrī Yudhiṣṭhira said: O Govinda, I desire to worship Your auspicious, opulent expansions by the Rājasūya sacrifice, the king of Vedic ceremonies. Please make our endeavor a success, my Lord.
KB 10.72.3
“My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, the sacrifice known as the Rājasūya-yajṣa is to be performed by the emperor, and it is considered the king of all sacrifices. By performing this sacrifice, I wish to satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered representatives within this material world, and I wish that You will kindly help me in this great venture so that it may be successfully executed. As far as the Pāṇḍavas are concerned, we have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully satisfied to be Your devotees. As You say in the Bhagavad-gītā, ‘Persons bewildered by material desires worship the demigods.’ But my purpose is different. I want to perform this Rājasūya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show that they have no power independent of You—that they are all Your servants and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge consider Your Lordship an ordinary human being. Sometimes they try to find fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore I wish to perform this Rājasūya-yajṣa. I wish to invite all the demigods, beginning from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and other exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great assembly of demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that everyone is Your servant.
Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that the word
vibhūtīḥ
refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s expansions (
aṁśān
), and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura further explains that here the word
vibhūtīḥ
refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s opulent expansions within this world, such as the demigods and other empowered beings. Thus Śrīla Prabhupāda treats this verse as follows in
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead:
“My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, the sacrifice known as the Rājasūya-
yajṣa
is to be performed by the emperor, and it is considered to be the king of all sacrifices. By performing this sacrifice, I wish to satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered representatives within this material world, and I wish that You will kindly help me in this great adventure so that it may be successfully executed. As far as the Pāṇḍavas are concerned, we have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully satisfied by being Your devotees. As you say in the
Bhagavad-gītā,
‘Persons who are bewildered by material desires worship the demigods,’ but our purpose is different. I want to perform this Rājasūya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show them that they have no power independent of You. They are all Your servants and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge consider Your Lordship an ordinary human being. Sometimes they try to find fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore I wish to perform the Rājasūya-
yajṣa.
I wish to invite all the demigods, beginning from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and other exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great assembly of the demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that everyone is Your servant.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"I wish by this king of sacrifices to worship the devatas (vibhutis), who are a display of your power, who are purified by looking at you (pavanih)." By his statement the Lord’s superiority to others shines like fire. "Seeing you they have become successful. Please allow us to perform this sacrifice."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The rājasūya is called the king of sacrifices since it is difficult to perform. In worshipping devatās during the sacrifice, Yudhiṣṭhira understood that they were the Lord’s vibhūtis. This indicates the full devotion of Yudhiṣṭhira to Kṛṣṇa. Though Nārada had indicated that Yudhiṣṭhira desired the sacrifice to get wealth for worshiping Kṛṣṇa, with humility Yudhiṣṭhira indicated another reason for the sacrifice. The sacrifice will destroy obstacles to bhakti. Being dissatisfied he said, “Govinda, this desire is proper for us devotees since you have appeared on earth to reveal your unlimited glories.”
The singular verb is used though Yudhiṣṭhira was not the principal person in the sacrifice. It depended on many persons such as his brothers and sages. But by your śakti this can be accomplished. O capable one (prabho), endowed with all powers! I will accomplish this sacrifice because of you. Or you are our master (prabho) and we are surrendered to you. Therefore this sacrifice is suitable.