Devanagari
तामापतन्तीं ज्वलतीमसिहस्तां पदा भुवम् ।
वेपयन्तीं समुद्वीक्ष्य न चचाल पदान्नृप: ॥ ४७ ॥
Verse text
tām āpatantīṁ jvalatīm
asi-hastāṁ padā bhuvam
vepayantīṁ samudvīkṣya
na cacāla padān nṛpaḥ
Synonyms
tām
—
that (demon)
;
āpatantīm
—
coming forward to attack him
;
jvalatīm
—
blazing like fire
;
asi
—
hastām — with a trident in his hand
;
padā
—
with his footstep
;
bhuvam
—
the surface of the earth
;
vepayantīm
—
causing to tremble
;
samudvīkṣya
—
seeing him perfectly
;
na
—
not
;
cacāla
—
moved
;
padāt
—
from his place
;
nṛpaḥ
—
the King .
Translation
Taking a trident in his hand and making the surface of the earth tremble with his footsteps, that blazing creature came before Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. But the King, upon seeing him, was not at all disturbed and did not move even slightly from his position.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Taking a trident in his hand and making the surface of the earth tremble with his footsteps, that blazing creature came before Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. But the King, upon seeing him, did not move even slightly from his position.
Ambarīṣa thought, “I should not counteract the power of a brāhmaṇa. I should just tolerate it.” Thus he did not move.
Purport
Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati
(
Bhāg.
6.17.28
). A pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa is never afraid of any material danger. There are many examples of devotees such as Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was tortured by his father but was not at all afraid, although he was only a five-year-old boy. Therefore, following the examples of Ambarīṣa Mahārāja and Prahlāda Mahārāja, a devotee should learn how to tolerate all such awkward positions in this world. Devotees are often tortured by nondevotees, yet the pure devotee, depending fully on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is never disturbed by such inimical activities.