Devanagari
तत: सभायामुपविष्टमुत्तमे
नृपासने सम्भृततेजसं विभुम् ।
अलक्षितद्वैरथमत्यमर्षणं
प्रचण्डवक्त्रं न बभाज कश्चन ॥ ३४ ॥
Verse text
tataḥ sabhāyām upaviṣṭam uttame
nṛpāsane sambhṛta-tejasaṁ vibhum
alakṣita-dvairatham atyamarṣaṇaṁ
pracaṇḍa-vaktraṁ na babhāja kaścana
Synonyms
tataḥ
—
thereafter
;
sabhāyām
—
in the assembly house
;
upaviṣṭam
—
seated
;
uttame
—
on the best
;
nṛpa
—
āsane — throne (upon which King Hiraṇyakaśipu used to sit)
;
sambhṛta
—
tejasam — in full effulgence
;
vibhum
—
the Supreme Lord
;
alakṣita
—
dvairatham — whose challenger or enemy was not seen
;
ati
—
very much
;
amarṣaṇam
—
fearsome (due to His anger)
;
pracaṇḍa
—
terrible
;
vaktram
—
face
;
na
—
not
;
babhāja
—
worshiped
;
kaścana
—
anyone .
Translation
Manifesting a full effulgence and a fearsome countenance, Lord Nṛsiṁha, being very angry and finding no contestant to face His power and opulence, then sat down in the assembly hall on the excellent throne of the king. Because of fear and obedience, no one could come forward to serve the Lord directly.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
No one could serve the unchallenged, fully shining Lord with terrifying, angry face, seated on the king’s throne in the hall.
A king is defined as one whose power is accepted by the person whom he conquers. Thus he sat on the king’s throne, as if showing who should be king. Or, though his servant gate keeper had been cursed, the Lord did not see him except as his servant. Thus the Lord, who did not accept the offering of a seat purified by mantras or other gifts offered by the sages, accepted a throne already used and not offered to him, because it belonged to his devotee, even though the devotee had been cursed and took on the nature of a demon. By this the Lord showed to all persons the great fortune of his devotee. The Lord showed full light (saṁbhṛta-tejasam). He had no opponents (alakṣita-dvairatham). No devotee served the Lord with fan or other items out of fear.
Purport
When the Lord sat on the throne of Hiraṇyakaśipu, there was no one to protest; no enemy came forward on behalf of Hiraṇyakaśipu to fight with the Lord. This means that His supremacy was immediately accepted by the demons. Another point is that although Hiraṇyakaśipu treated the Lord as his bitterest enemy, he was the Lord’s faithful servant in Vaikuṇṭha, and therefore the Lord had no hesitation in sitting on the throne that Hiraṇyakaśipu had so laboriously created. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that sometimes, with great care and attention, great saintly persons and
ṛṣis
offer the Lord valuable seats dedicated with Vedic
mantras
and
tantras,
but still the Lord does not sit upon those thrones. Hiraṇyakaśipu, however, had formerly been Jaya, the doorkeeper at the Vaikuṇṭha gate, and although he had fallen because of the curse of the
brāhmaṇas
and had gotten the nature of a demon, and although he had never offered anything to the Lord as Hiraṇyakaśipu, the Lord is so affectionate to His devotee and servant that He nonetheless took pleasure in sitting on the throne that Hiraṇyakaśipu had created. In this regard it is to be understood that a devotee is fortunate in any condition of his life.