SB 4.17.6

SB 4.17.6

Devanagari

यच्चान्यदपि कृष्णस्य भवान् भगवत: प्रभो: श्रव: सुश्रवस: पुण्यं पूर्वदेहकथाश्रयम् ॥ ६ ॥ भक्ताय मेऽनुरक्ताय तव चाधोक्षजस्य च वक्तुमर्हसि योऽदुह्यद्वैन्यरूपेण गामिमाम् ॥ ७ ॥

Verse text

yac cānyad api kṛṣṇasya bhavān bhagavataḥ prabhoḥ śravaḥ suśravasaḥ puṇyaṁ pūrva-deha-kathāśrayam bhaktāya me ’nuraktāya tava cādhokṣajasya ca vaktum arhasi yo ’duhyad vainya-rūpeṇa gām imām

Synonyms

yat which ; ca and ; anyat other ; api certainly ; kṛṣṇasya of Kṛṣṇa ; bhavān your good self ; bhagavataḥ of the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; prabhoḥ powerful ; śravaḥ glorious activities ; su śravasaḥ — who is very pleasing to hear about ; puṇyam pious ; pūrva deha — of His previous incarnation ; kathā āśrayam — connected with the narration ; bhaktāya unto the devotee ; me to me ; anuraktāya very much attentive ; tava of you ; ca and ; adhokṣajasya of the Lord, who is known as Adhokṣaja ; ca also ; vaktum arhasi please narrate ; yaḥ one who ; aduhyat milked ; vainya rūpeṇa — in the form of the son of King Vena ; gām cow, earth ; imām this .

Translation

Pṛthu Mahārāja was a powerful incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s potencies; consequently any narration concerning his activities is surely very pleasing to hear, and it produces all good fortune. As far as I am concerned, I am always your devotee as well as a devotee of the Lord, who is known as Adhokṣaja. Please therefore narrate all the stories of King Pṛthu, who, in the form of the son of King Vena, milked the cow-shaped earth.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

You should speak to me, attached to hearing, devoted to you and the Lord and you, concerning the person who milked the earth in the form of Pṛthu, and also other pure, famous topics related to the previous birth of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Aduhyat should be adhok.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa is also known as avatārī, which means “one from whom all the incarnations emanate.” In Bhagavad-gītā (10.8) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everyone’s appearance. As far as this material world is concerned, Lord Brahmā, Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Śiva are all emanations from Kṛṣṇa. These three incarnations of Kṛṣṇa are called guṇa-avatāras. The material world is governed by three material modes of nature, and Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva respectively take charge of the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Mahārāja Pṛthu is also an incarnation of those qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa by which one rules over conditioned souls. In this verse the word adhokṣaja, meaning “beyond the perception of the material senses,” is very significant. No one can perceive the Supreme Personality of Godhead by mental speculation; therefore a person with a poor fund of knowledge cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Since one can form only an impersonal idea on the strength of one’s material senses, the Lord is known as Adhokṣaja.