SB 10.1.21 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

गिरं समाधौ गगने समीरितांनिशम्य वेधास्त्रिदशानुवाच ह गां पौरुषीं मे श‍ृणुतामरा: पुन-र्विधीयतामाशु तथैव मा चिरम् ॥ २१ ॥

Verse text

giraṁ samādhau gagane samīritāṁ niśamya vedhās tridaśān uvāca ha gāṁ pauruṣīṁ me śṛṇutāmarāḥ punar vidhīyatām āśu tathaiva mā ciram

Synonyms

giram — a vibration of words ; samādhau — in trance ; gagane — in the sky ; samīritām — vibrated ; niśamya — hearing ; vedhāḥ — Lord Brahmā ; tridaśān — unto the demigods ; uvāca — said ; ha — oh ; gām — the order ; pauruṣīm — received from the Supreme Person ; me — from me ; śṛṇuta — just hear ; amarāḥ — O demigods ; punaḥ — again ; vidhīyatām — execute ; āśu — immediately ; tathā eva — just so ; mā — do not ; ciram — delay .

Translation

While in trance, Lord Brahmā heard the words of Lord Viṣṇu vibrating in the sky. Thus he told the demigods: O demigods, hear from me the order of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supreme Person, and execute it attentively without delay.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

While in trance, Lord Brahmā heard the words of Lord Viṣṇu vibrating in the sky. Thus he told the demigods: O demigods, hear from me the order of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supreme Person, and execute it attentively without delay. KB 10.1.21 Then Lord Brahmā personally sat in meditation, and there was a message-transmission from Lord Viṣṇu to Brahmā. Brahmā then broadcast the message to the demigods. That is the system of receiving Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is received first by Brahmā from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through the medium of the heart. As stated in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye: [SB 1.1.1] the transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was transmitted to Lord Brahmā through the heart. Here also, in the same way, only Brahmā could understand the message transmitted by Lord Viṣṇu, and he broadcast it to the demigods for their immediate action.

Purport

It appears that the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be heard in trance by competent persons. Modern science gives us telephones, by which one can hear sound vibrations from a distant place. Similarly, although other persons cannot hear the words of Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Brahmā is able to hear the Lord’s words within himself. This is confirmed in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1) : tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavi is Lord Brahmā. In the beginning of the creation, Lord Brahmā received the instructions of Vedic knowledge from Lord Viṣṇu through the medium of the heart ( hṛdā ). The same principle is confirmed herewith. While Brahmā was in trance, he was able to hear the words of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and he carried the Lord’s message to the demigods. Similarly, in the beginning, Brahmā first received the Vedic knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the core of the heart. In both instances the same process was used in transmitting the message to Lord Brahmā. In other words, although Lord Viṣṇu was invisible even to Lord Brahmā, Lord Brahmā could hear Lord Viṣṇu’s words through the heart. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is invisible even to Lord Brahmā, yet He descends to this earth and becomes visible to people in general. This is certainly an act of His causeless mercy, but fools and nondevotees think that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary historical person. Because they think that the Lord is an ordinary person like them, they are described as mūḍha ( avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ ). The causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is neglected by such demoniac persons, who cannot understand the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā and who therefore misinterpret them.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Brahma did not directly see or meet Visnu. In a state of meditation he heard a voice in the sky. From this one can understand that to see Visnu directly is difficult even for Brahma. Thus when the origin ofVisnu, Lord Krsna, can be seen directly by all men when he appears on the earth, it is a display of extraordinary mercy, that is not available at any other time. Paurusim gam means the purusa’s or Ksirodakasayi Visnu’s words.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

On the bank of the Milk Ocean, while in samādhi he heard a message spoken by the Lord, without seeing any person, which came from the sky. This indicates that even the form of Viṣṇu was difficult to see. This shows that people who saw the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, Svayam Bhagavān, the source of this Viṣṇu in Vṛndāvana later, had special good fortune. The word ha means “clearly” or “in joy.” Pauruṣīm means “by the puruṣa.” Brahmā understood who was speaking: sṛjāmi tan-niyukto ’haṁ haro harati tad-vaśaḥ | viśvaṁ puruṣa-rūpeṇa paripāti tri-śakti-dhṛk || I create under his order, and Śiva destroys under his order. Holding his three energies, he protects the universe as the Paramātmā. SB 2.6.32 “Hear the words that the puruṣa known as Viṣṇu spoke.” He said this to give the others faith in those words. Hear now (āśu) without commotion. O devatās (amarāḥ)! This means “You will become immortal by following the instructions.”