SB 11.4.17 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

हंसस्वरूप्यवददच्युत आत्मयोगं दत्त: कुमार ऋषभो भगवान् पिता न: । विष्णु: शिवाय जगतां कलयावतीर्ण- स्तेनाहृता मधुभिदा श्रुतयोहयास्ये ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

haṁsa-svarūpy avadad acyuta ātma-yogaṁ dattaḥ kumāra ṛṣabho bhagavān pitā naḥ viṣṇuḥ śivāya jagatāṁ kalayāvatīrṇas tenāhṛtā madhu-bhidā śrutayo hayāsye

Synonyms

haṁsa — svarūpī — assuming His eternal form of the swan incarnation ; avadat — He spoke ; acyutaḥ — the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead ; ātma — yogam — self-realization ; dattaḥ — Dattātreya ; kumāraḥ — the Kumāra brothers, headed by Sanaka ; ṛṣabhaḥ — Ṛṣabhadeva ; bhagavān — the Lord ; pitā — father ; naḥ — our ; viṣṇuḥ — Lord Viṣṇu ; śivāya — for the welfare ; jagatām — of all the world ; kalayā — by His secondary personal expansions ; avatīrṇaḥ — descending to this world ; tena — by Him ; āhṛtāḥ — were brought back (from the depths of Pātālaloka) ; madhu — bhidā — by the killer of the demon Madhu ; śrutayaḥ — the original texts of the Vedas ; haya — āsye — in the horse-headed incarnation .

Translation

The infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, has descended into this world by His various partial incarnations such as Lord Haṁsa [the swan], Dattātreya, the four Kumāras and our own father, the mighty Ṛṣabhadeva. By such incarnations, the Lord teaches the science of self-realization for the benefit of the whole universe. In His appearance as Hayagrīva He killed the demon Madhu and thus brought the Vedas back from the hellish planet Pātālaloka.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The infallible Supreme Lord has descended into this world by his various partial incarnations such as Haṁsa, Dattātreya, the four Kumāras and our own father, the mighty Ṛṣabhadeva to teach about ātmā for the benefit of the universe. As Hayagrīva he killed the demon Madhu and thus rescued the Vedas. He has appeared as Haṁsa, Dattātreya, the Kumāras and Ṛṣabha. Viṣṇu, appearing in his portions, spoke ātma-yoga. As Hayagrīva, he killed Madhu and recovered the Vedas.

Purport

It is stated in the Skanda Purāṇa that the Lord of the universe, Hari Himself, once appeared in the form of a young brahmacārī named Kumāra and spoke transcendental knowledge to Sanat-kumāra.