Devanagari
इन्द्रादयो बाहव आहुरुस्रा:
कर्णौ दिश:श्रोत्रममुष्य शब्द: ।
नासत्यदस्रौ परमस्य नासे
घ्राणोऽस्य गन्धो मुखमग्निरिद्ध: ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
indrādayo bāhava āhur usrāḥ
karṇau diśaḥ śrotram amuṣya śabdaḥ
nāsatya-dasrau paramasya nāse
ghrāṇo ’sya gandho mukham agnir iddhaḥ
Synonyms
indra
—
ādayaḥ — demigods headed by the heavenly king, Indra
;
bāhavaḥ
—
arms
;
āhuḥ
—
are called
;
usrāḥ
—
the demigods
;
karṇau
—
the ears
;
diśaḥ
—
the four directions
;
śrotram
—
the sense of hearing
;
amuṣya
—
of the Lord
;
śabdaḥ
—
sound
;
nāsatya
—
dasrau — the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras
;
paramasya
—
of the Supreme
;
nāse
—
nostrils
;
ghrāṇaḥ
—
the sense of smell
;
asya
—
of Him
;
gandhaḥ
—
fragrance
;
mukham
—
the mouth
;
agniḥ
—
fire
;
iddhaḥ
—
blazing .
Translation
His arms are the demigods headed by Indra, the ten directional sides are His ears, and physical sound is His sense of hearing. His nostrils are the two Aśvinī-kumāras, and material fragrance is His sense of smell. His mouth is the blazing fire.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The devatās such as Indra are his arms. The devatās of the directions and the organ for hearing arise from his ears. Sound arises from his organ of hearing. The Aśvinis and the organ for smelling arise from his nostrils. Fragrance arises from his organ of smelling. Flaming fire is his mouth.
Purport
The description of the gigantic form of the Personality of Godhead made in the Eleventh Chapter of the
Bhagavad-gītā
is further explained here in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The description in the
Bhagavad-gītā
(11.30)
runs as follows: “O Viṣṇu, I see You devouring all people in Your blazing mouths and covering all the universe by Your immeasurable rays. Scorching the worlds, You are manifest.” In that way,
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
is the postgraduate study for the student of the
Bhagavad-gītā.
Both of them are the science of Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, and so they are interdependent.
The conception of the
virāṭ-puruṣa,
or the gigantic form of the Supreme Lord, is said to include all the dominating demigods as well as the dominated living beings. Even the minutest part of a living being is controlled by the empowered agency of the Lord. Since the demigods are included in the gigantic form of the Lord, worship of the Lord, whether in His gigantic material conception or in His eternal transcendental form as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, also appeases the demigods and all the other parts and parcels, as much as watering the root of a tree distributes energy to all of the tree’s other parts. Consequently, for a materialist also, worship of the universal gigantic form of the Lord leads one to the right path. One need not risk being misled by approaching many demigods for fulfillment of different desires. The real entity is the Lord Himself, and all others are imaginary, for everything is included in Him only.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Usrā means devatās. The devatās such as Indra are said to be his arms. The directions (diśaḥ) which are the presiding deities of our hearing are location of the hearing organ (karṇau) of the universal form. Sound, the sense object of our hearing, is his (amuṣya) organ of hearing (śrotram). Other senses, sense objects and devatās should be understood in the same way.
Though the divisions of the body of the Lord in the heart (vyasti-virāṭ) and the universal form (samasti-virāṭ are the same, this samaṣṭi-viṛāt is worshipped by the yogīs who engage in worshipping Hiraṇyagarbha, the totality of the jīvas, [Note: Hiraṇyagarbha is a subtle universal form and Virāṭ is a gross universal form. ] as the Supreme Lord. The meaning here is that from the sense organs of that Supreme Lord (such as his ear) arise the objects of the senses such as sound in the universal form (rather than the literal statement that the ear is the sound). Similarly, it should be understood that from the location of the senses of the Lord arise the sense organs (such as the ear) and the devatās of the senses (such as direction devatās). [Note: For material perception the sense organ, the sense devatā and the sense object or tan-mātra are necessary. In this meditation, all these arise from the body of the Supreme Lord. A distinction is made by Viśvanātha between the sense organ and the place of the sense organ in the Lord because the real material sense organ such as the ear is subtle in nature and travels with the jīva birth after birth. This is distinct from the gross organ which perishes at death. From the location of a specific organ on the Lord, the sense organ and sense devatā of the universal form arise. From the sense organ of the Lord, the sense object of the universal form, and the element associated with it arise. The creation of the sense organ is not mentioned but should be understood when the creation of the sense devatā is mentioned.] This is identity (sense object equals the Lord’s sense organ) is caused by considering the effect and cause to be non-different. In this way, one meditates on the universal form with the direction devatās, sound, and ear (all material ingredients of material perception) as the Supreme Lord. This is how the mental image of the place of hearing in the Lord, organ of hearing, dik-devatā and sound should be understood. Nāsatya-dasrau means the Aśvini-kumāras. Nāse means in the nostrils. Iddhaḥ means shining.