SB 3.23.38 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तस्मिन्नलुप्तमहिमा प्रिययानुरक्तो विद्याधरीभिरुपचीर्णवपुर्विमाने । बभ्राज उत्कचकुमुद्गणवानपीच्य- स्ताराभिरावृत इवोडुपतिर्नभ:स्थ: ॥ ३८ ॥

Verse text

tasminn alupta-mahimā priyayānurakto vidyādharībhir upacīrṇa-vapur vimāne babhrāja utkaca-kumud-gaṇavān apīcyas tārābhir āvṛta ivoḍu-patir nabhaḥ-sthaḥ

Synonyms

tasmin — in that ; alupta — not lost ; mahimā — glory ; priyayā — with his beloved consort ; anuraktaḥ — attached ; vidyādharībhiḥ — by the Gandharva girls ; upacīrṇa — waited upon ; vapuḥ — his person ; vimāne — on the airplane ; babhrāja — he shone ; utkaca — open ; kumut — gaṇavān — the moon, which is followed by rows of lilies ; apīcyaḥ — very charming ; tārābhiḥ — by stars ; āvṛtaḥ — surrounded ; iva — as ; uḍu — patiḥ — the moon (the chief of the stars) ; nabhaḥ — sthaḥ — in the sky .

Translation

Though seemingly attached to his beloved consort while served by the Gandharva girls, the sage did not lose his glory, which was mastery over his self. In the aerial mansion, Kardama Muni with his consort shone as charmingly as the moon in the midst of the stars in the sky, which causes rows of lilies to open in ponds at night.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The sage of undiminished glory, whose body was served by the girls and who was attached to his wife, shone in the airplane like the moon in the sky surrounded by charming stars while possessing many blossoming lotuses in the form of their eyes. The sage, his body served (upacīrṇa) by the girls, shone in that airplane. He possessed many blossoming lotuses. Apīvyaḥ means very beautiful. The sage was like the full moon. The airplane was the sky. The women were like the stars. Their eyes were like lotuses.

Purport

The mansion was in the sky, and therefore the comparison to the full moon and stars is very beautifully composed in this verse. Kardama Muni looked like the full moon, and the girls who surrounded his wife, Devahūti, seemed just like the stars. On a full-moon night the stars and the moon together form a beautiful constellation. Similarly, in that aerial mansion in the sky, Kardama Muni with his beautiful wife and the damsels surrounding them appeared like the moon and stars on a full-moon night.