Devanagari
तत्र गान्धर्वमाकर्ण्य दिव्यमार्गमनोहरम् ।
विसिस्म्यू राजपुत्रास्ते मृदङ्गपणवाद्यनु ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
tatra gāndharvam ākarṇya
divya-mārga-manoharam
visismyū rāja-putrās te
mṛdaṅga-paṇavādy anu
Synonyms
tatra
—
there
;
gāndharvam
—
musical sounds
;
ākarṇya
—
hearing
;
divya
—
heavenly
;
mārga
—
symmetrical
;
manaḥ
—
haram — beautiful
;
visismyuḥ
—
they became amazed
;
rāja
—
putrāḥ — all the sons of King Barhiṣat
;
te
—
all of them
;
mṛdaṅga
—
drums
;
paṇava
—
kettledrums
;
ādi
—
all together
;
anu
—
always .
Translation
The sons of the King became very much amazed when they heard vibrations from various drums and kettledrums along with other orderly musical sounds pleasing to the ear.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Hearing the sound of drums followed by attractive, celestial songs in classical style, the sons of King Prācīnabarhiṣat became astonished.
They heard songs (gāndharvam) of elevated style (mārga), after (anu) the sound of drums. An alternative version is mṛdaṅga-panavādyavat: they heard songs with drums. Or avat can mean “protecting.” Thus the songs were protected by the drums. They did not overpower the songs by their sound.
Purport
In addition to the various flowers and living entities about the lake, there were also many musical vibrations. The void of the impersonalists, which has no variegatedness, is not at all pleasing compared with such a scene. Actually one has to attain the perfection of
sac-cid-ānanda
— eternity, bliss and knowledge. Because the impersonalists deny these varieties of creation, they cannot actually enjoy transcendental bliss. The place where the Pracetās arrived was the abode of Lord Śiva. Impersonalists are generally worshipers of Lord Śiva, but Lord Śiva is never without variety in his abode. Thus wherever one goes, whether to the planet of Lord Śiva, Lord Viṣṇu or Lord Brahmā, there is variety to be enjoyed by persons full in knowledge and bliss.