SB 10.1.20

SB 10.1.20

Devanagari

तत्र गत्वा जगन्नाथं देवदेवं वृषाकपिम् पुरुषं पुरुषसूक्तेन उपतस्थे समाहित: ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

tatra gatvā jagannāthaṁ deva-devaṁ vṛṣākapim puruṣaṁ puruṣa-sūktena upatasthe samāhitaḥ

Synonyms

tatra there (on the shore of the Ocean of Milk) ; gatvā after going ; jagannātham unto the master of the entire universe, the Supreme Being ; deva devam — the Supreme God of all gods ; vṛṣākapim the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, who provides for everyone and diminishes everyone’s suffering ; puruṣam the Supreme Person ; puruṣa sūktena — with the Vedic mantra known as Puruṣa-sūkta ; upatasthe worshiped ; samāhitaḥ with full attention .

Translation

After reaching the shore of the Ocean of Milk, the demigods worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, the master of the whole universe, the supreme God of all gods, who provides for everyone and diminishes everyone’s suffering. With great attention, they worshiped Lord Viṣṇu, who lies on the Ocean of Milk, by reciting the Vedic mantras known as the Puruṣa-sūkta.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

After reaching the shore of the ocean of milk, the demigods worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, the master of the whole universe, the supreme God of all gods, who provides for everyone and diminishes everyone's suffering. With great attention, they worshiped Lord Viṣṇu, who lies on the ocean of milk, by reciting the Vedic mantras known as the Puruṣa-sūkta. KB 10.1.20 Arriving on the shore of the milk ocean, Lord Brahmā began to pacify Lord Viṣṇu, who had formerly saved the earthly planet by assuming the transcendental form of a boar. In the Vedic mantras, there is a particular type of prayer called Puruṣa-sūkta. Generally, the demigods offer their obeisances unto Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by chanting the Puruṣa-sūkta. It is understood herein that the predominating deity of every planet can see the supreme lord of this universe, Brahmā, whenever there is some disturbance on his planet. And Brahmā can approach the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, not by seeing Him directly but by standing on the shore of the ocean of milk. There is a planet within this universe called Śvetadvīpa, and on that planet there is an ocean of milk. It is understood from various Vedic literatures that just as there is the ocean of salt water on this planet, there are various kinds of oceans on other planets. Somewhere there is an ocean of milk, somewhere there is an ocean of oil, and somewhere there are oceans of liquor and of many other types of liquids. The Puruṣa-sūkta is the standard prayer which the demigods recite to appease the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Because He is lying on the ocean of milk, He is called Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He is the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through whom all the incarnations within this universe appear. After all the demigods offered the Puruṣa-sūkta prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they apparently heard no response.

Purport

The demigods, such as Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, King Indra, Candra and Sūrya, are all subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Aside from the demigods, even in human society there are many influential personalities supervising various businesses or establishments. Lord Viṣṇu, however, is the God of gods ( parameśvara ). He is parama-puruṣa, the Supreme Being, Paramātmā. As confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1) , īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ: “Kṛṣṇa, known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body.” No one is equal to or greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore He is described here by many words: jagannātha, deva-deva, vṛṣākapi and puruṣa. The supremacy of Lord Viṣṇu is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (10.12) in this statement by Arjuna: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum “You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty.” Kṛṣṇa is ādi-puruṣa, the original Personality of Godhead ( govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ). Viṣṇu is a plenary expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and all the viṣṇu-tattvas are parameśvara, deva-deva.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

After hearing from earth personified (tad upadhary), Brahma went to the milk ocean. The word atha is excessive usage if it means "then." It can be explained as follows: Brahma thought: My job is creation. Visnu’s job is maintenance. For this job of maintenance we should go to Him. He is resting on the milk ocean. We should go there and request his help. After considering in this way (atha), he left for the milk ocean. There were two tasks here: protection of the earth and destruction of the demons. Thinking that he could engage Indra in protecting the earth and Siva in destroying the demons, Brahma went to the milk ocean with the devas and Siva. Why should Brahma go to Visnu? The reason is given. Visnu is jagannatha, Lord of the universe. He is devadeva, the worshipable deity of all the devatas. It announces their position under the authority of Visnu inprotecting the earth. Visnu is Vrsakapi, he who showers all desires and he who removes all suffering.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

With devotion, they praised the Lord by the Puruṣa-sūkta, indicating the Mahā-puruṣa, creator of mahat-tattva. With great attention they praised the Lord with those verses to indicate his greatness and to reveal that he was proven by the Vedas. The Lord is described as the master of the universe, as the worshipable lord of all devatās: he is praised by the devatās so that he will protect the universe. He showers (vṛṣati) all desires and destroys (ākampayati) all suffering: therefore he is called Vṛṣākapi. This indicates that the devatās had a desire.