Devanagari
आङ्घ्रिमस्तकमापूर्णास्तुलसीनवदामभि: ।
कोमलै: सर्वगात्रेषु भूरिपुण्यवदर्पितै: ॥ ४९ ॥
Verse text
āṅghri-mastakam āpūrṇās
tulasī-nava-dāmabhiḥ
komalaiḥ sarva-gātreṣu
bhūri-puṇyavad-arpitaiḥ
Synonyms
ā
—
aṅghri — mastakam — from the feet up to the top of the head
;
āpūrṇāḥ
—
fully decorated
;
tulasī
—
nava — dāmabhiḥ — with garlands of fresh tulasī leaves
;
komalaiḥ
—
tender, soft
;
sarva
—
gātreṣu — on all the limbs of the body
;
bhūri
—
puṇyavat — arpitaiḥ — which were offered by devotees engaged in the greatest pious activity, worshiping the Supreme Lord by hearing, chanting and so on .
Translation
Every part of Their bodies, from Their feet to the top of Their heads, was fully decorated with fresh, tender garlands of tulasī leaves offered by devotees engaged in worshiping the Lord by the greatest pious activities, namely hearing and chanting.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Every part of Their bodies, from Their feet to the top of Their heads, was fully decorated with fresh, tender garlands of tulasī leaves offered by devotees engaged in worshiping the Lord by the greatest pious activities, namely hearing and chanting.
KB 10.13.49
Brahmā also saw that upon the whole body of each Lord Viṣṇu, from the lotus feet up to the top of the head, fresh tulasī leaves and buds had been thrown.
Purport
The word
bhūri-puṇyavad-arpitaiḥ
is significant in this verse. These forms of Viṣṇu were worshiped by those who had performed pious activities (
sukṛtibhiḥ
) for many births and who were constantly engaged in devotional service (
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
). Bhakti, devotional service, is the engagement of those who have performed highly developed pious activities. The accumulation of pious activities has already been mentioned elsewhere in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(10.12.11), where Śukadeva Gosvāmī says:
itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā
dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa
sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puṣjāḥ
“Those who are engaged in self-realization, appreciating the Brahman effulgence of the Lord, and those engaged in devotional service, accepting the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master, as well as those who are under the clutches of
māyā,
thinking the Lord an ordinary person, cannot understand that certain exalted personalities — after accumulating volumes of pious activities — are now playing with the Lord in friendship as cowherd boys.”
In our Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple in Vṛndāvana, there is a
tamāla
tree that covers an entire corner of the courtyard. Before there was a temple the tree was lying neglected, but now it has developed very luxuriantly, covering the whole corner of the courtyard. This is a sign of
bhūri-puṇya.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
bhuri punya vat arpitaih means "offered by thousands of devotees who worship the Lord with hearing and chanting."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The garlands had been offered by sādhakas to deities using their minds and actions. The forms wore those garlands out of affection and greatly respected them.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
The forms wore garlands offered by persons having great purity. Out of affection they wore them. Or the garlands had been offered with great bhakti. Thus they wore them from head to foot.