Devanagari
त्रस्तोऽस्म्यहं कृपणवत्सल दु:सहोग्र-
संसारचक्रकदनाद् ग्रसतां प्रणीत: ।
बद्ध: स्वकर्मभिरुशत्तम तेऽङ्घ्रिमूलं
प्रीतोऽपवर्गशरणं ह्वयसे कदा नु ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
trasto ’smy ahaṁ kṛpaṇa-vatsala duḥsahogra-
saṁsāra-cakra-kadanād grasatāṁ praṇītaḥ
baddhaḥ sva-karmabhir uśattama te ’ṅghri-mūlaṁ
prīto ’pavarga-śaraṇaṁ hvayase kadā nu
Synonyms
trastaḥ
—
frightened
;
asmi
—
am
;
aham
—
I
;
kṛpaṇa
—
vatsala — O my Lord, who are so kind to the fallen souls (who have no spiritual knowledge)
;
duḥsaha
—
intolerable
;
ugra
—
ferocious
;
saṁsāra
—
cakra — of the cycle of birth and death
;
kadanāt
—
from such a miserable condition
;
grasatām
—
among other conditioned souls, who devour one another
;
praṇītaḥ
—
being thrown
;
baddhaḥ
—
bound
;
sva
—
karmabhiḥ — the course by the reactions of my own activities
;
uśattama
—
O great insurmountable
;
te
—
Your
;
aṅghri
—
mūlam — to the soles of the lotus feet
;
prītaḥ
—
being pleased (with me)
;
apavarga
—
śaraṇam — which are the shelter meant for liberation from this horrible condition of material existence
;
hvayase
—
You will call (me)
;
kadā
—
when
;
nu
—
indeed .
Translation
O most powerful, insurmountable Lord, who are kind to the fallen souls, I have been put into the association of demons as a result of my activities, and therefore I am very much afraid of my condition of life within this material world. When will that moment come when You will call me to the shelter of Your lotus feet, which are the ultimate goal for liberation from conditional life?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord, who are kind to the fallen souls! Excellent Lord! Thrown into the association of devouring demons, bound by my karmas, I am afraid of destruction through the intolerably fierce wheel of saṁsāra. When will you call me to the shelter of your lotus feet, which award liberation?
I am afraid of the bad association which produces aversion to you. I am afraid of the violence of the fierce wheel of saṁsāra, intolerable because it is filled with hatred and criticism of you. Prahlāda here indicates that he is not afraid of ordinary saṁsāra, for he will later say:
naivodvije para duratyaya vaitaraṇyās
tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ
O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thoughts of your glories and activities. SB 7.9.43
This is because I have been thrown among the demons who desire to eat me, since I am your devotee. “Did I throw you there?” No, I am bound by my karmas. Therefore when will you be pleased and call me to massage your lotus feet, which are the shelter giving release from saṁsāra?
Purport
Being in the material world is certainly miserable, but certainly when one is put into the association of
asuras,
or atheistic men, it is intolerably so. One may ask why the living entity is put into the material world. Indeed, sometimes foolish people deride the Lord for having put them here. Actually, everyone is put into conditional life according to his
karma.
Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, representing all the other conditioned souls, admits that he was put into life among the
asuras
because of the results of his
karma.
The Lord is known as
kṛpaṇa-vatsala
because He is extremely kind to the conditioned souls. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
therefore, the Lord appears whenever there are discrepancies in the execution of religious principles (
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata … tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
). The Lord is extremely anxious to deliver the conditioned souls, and therefore He instructs all of us to return home, back to Godhead (
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
). Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja expected that the Lord, by His kindness, would call him again to the shelter of His lotus feet. In other words, everyone should be eager to return home, back to Godhead, taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and thus being fully trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.