Devanagari
गम्भीरवेगोऽनिमिषं ज्योतिषां चक्रमाहितम् ।
यस्मिन् भ्रमति कौरव्य मेढ्यामिव गवां गण: ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
gambhīra-vego ’nimiṣaṁ
jyotiṣāṁ cakram āhitam
yasmin bhramati kauravya
meḍhyām iva gavāṁ gaṇaḥ
Synonyms
gambhīra
—
vegaḥ — with great force and speed
;
animiṣam
—
unceasingly
;
jyotiṣām
—
of luminaries
;
cakram
—
sphere
;
āhitam
—
connected
;
yasmin
—
around which
;
bhramati
—
encircles
;
kauravya
—
O Vidura
;
meḍhyām
—
a central pole
;
iva
—
as
;
gavām
—
of bulls
;
gaṇaḥ
—
a herd .
Translation
Saint Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, descendant of Kuru, as a herd of bulls circumambulates a central pole on their right side, all the luminaries within the universal sky unceasingly circumambulate the abode of Dhruva Mahārāja with great force and speed.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Vidura! Around him, the zodiac belt with planets and stars circles incessantly, like a herd of bulls going around a central pillar with great speed.
Time is always awake. Thus the planets circle incessantly. “Great speed” modifies the herd of bulls.
Purport
Each and every planet within the universe travels at a very high speed. From a statement in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
it is understood that even the sun travels sixteen thousand miles in a second, and from
Brahma-saṁhitā
we understand from the
śloka
beginning
yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām
that the sun is considered to be the eye of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, and it also has a specific orbit within which it circles. Similarly, all other planets have their specific orbits. But together all of them encircle the polestar, or Dhruvaloka, where Dhruva Mahārāja is situated at the summit of the three worlds. We can only imagine how highly exalted the actual position of a devotee is, and certainly we cannot even conceive how exalted is the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.