SB 3.18.2

SB 3.18.2

Devanagari

ददर्श तत्राभिजितं धराधरं प्रोन्नीयमानावनिमग्रदंष्ट्रया । मुष्णन्तमक्ष्णा स्वरुचोऽरुणश्रिया जहास चाहो वनगोचरो मृग: ॥ २ ॥

Verse text

dadarśa tatrābhijitaṁ dharā-dharaṁ pronnīyamānāvanim agra-daṁṣṭrayā muṣṇantam akṣṇā sva-ruco ’ruṇa-śriyā jahāsa cāho vana-gocaro mṛgaḥ

Synonyms

dadarśa he saw ; tatra there ; abhijitam the victorious ; dharā the earth ; dharam bearing ; pronnīyamāna being raised upward ; avanim the earth ; agra daṁṣṭrayā — by the tip of His tusk ; muṣṇantam who was diminishing ; akṣṇā with His eyes ; sva rucaḥ — Hiraṇyākṣa’s own splendor ; aruṇa reddish ; śriyā radiant ; jahāsa he laughed ; ca and ; aho oh ; vana gocaraḥ — amphibious ; mṛgaḥ beast .

Translation

He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his splendor with His reddish eyes. The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

He saw the Lord, holder of the earth, lifting high the earth on the tips of his tusks, diminishing Hiraṇyākṣa’s splendor with his reddish eyes. Hiraṇyākṣa laughed, “O! You are a beast that lives in the water!” In the previous discussion of Varāha the pastime of the battle was not described in detail. Here it is described. Abhijitam means “he who conquers all around.” Or it can mean he who is the presiding deity of Abhijit constellation. Varāha was lifting up the earth high. He diminished Hiraṇyākṣa’s splendor (svarucaḥ) by his radiance. Vanagocaraḥ means a being living in the water as well as a beast living in the forest. The demon’s abuse is also praise for the Lord. Vanagocaraḥ can mean Nārāyaṇa, who sleeps on the water. This vanagocara is sought (mrgaḥ) by the sages. Or vanagocaraḥ can mean “one who should be seen in an isolated place, not the village.”

Purport

In a previous chapter we have discussed the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Varāha, the boar. While Varāha, with His tusks, engaged in uplifting the submerged earth from the depths of the waters, this great demon Hiraṇyākṣa met Him and challenged Him, calling Him a beast. Demons cannot understand the incarnations of the Lord; they think that His incarnations as a fish or boar or tortoise are big beasts only. They misunderstand the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even in His human form, and they deride His descent. In the Caitanya sampradāya there is sometimes a demoniac misconception about the descent of Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu’s body is spiritual, but demoniac persons consider the body of the Supreme Personality to be material, just like ours. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ: persons who have no intelligence deride the transcendental form of the Lord as material.