Devanagari
तदेष नाथाप दुरापमन्यै-
स्तमोजनि: क्रोधवशोऽप्यहीश: ।
संसारचक्रे भ्रमत: शरीरिणो
यदिच्छत: स्याद् विभव: समक्ष: ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
tad eṣa nāthāpa durāpam anyais
tamo-janiḥ krodha-vaśo ’py ahīśaḥ
saṁsāra-cakre bhramataḥ śarīriṇo
yad-icchataḥ syād vibhavaḥ samakṣaḥ
Synonyms
tat
—
that
;
eṣaḥ
—
this Kāliya
;
nātha
—
O Lord
;
āpa
—
has achieved
;
durāpam
—
difficult to achieve
;
anyaiḥ
—
by others
;
tamaḥ
—
janiḥ — who was born in the mode of ignorance
;
krodha
—
vaśaḥ — who was under the sway of anger
;
api
—
even
;
ahi
—
īśaḥ — the king of serpents
;
saṁsāra
—
cakre — within the cycle of material existence
;
bhramataḥ
—
wandering
;
śarīriṇaḥ
—
for the embodied living entity
;
yat
—
by which (dust of Your lotus feet)
;
icchataḥ
—
who has material desires
;
syāt
—
manifests
;
vibhavaḥ
—
all opulences
;
samakṣaḥ
—
before his eyes .
Translation
O Lord, although this Kāliya, the king of the serpents, has taken birth in the mode of ignorance and is controlled by anger, he has achieved that which is difficult for others to achieve. Embodied souls, who are full of desires and are thus wandering in the cycle of birth and death, can have all benedictions manifested before their eyes simply by receiving the dust of Your lotus feet.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord, although this Kāliya, the king of the serpents, has taken birth in the mode of ignorance and is controlled by anger, he has achieved that which is difficult for others to achieve. Embodied souls, who are full of desires and are thus wandering in the cycle of birth and death, can have all benedictions manifested before their eyes simply by receiving the dust of Your lotus feet.
KB 10.16.38
“My Lord, although he is born in a species of life which is fostered by the most abominable mode of material nature, accompanied with the quality of anger, this king of the serpents has achieved something very, very rare. Living entities who are wandering within this universe in different species of life can very easily achieve the greatest benediction only by Your mercy.”
It is confirmed in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that the living entities wandering within the universe in various species of life can get the seed of devotional service by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, and thus their path of liberation can be cleared.
Purport
It is very rare for a conditioned soul to free himself from the contamination of illusion and thus become established in perfect consciousness of the Absolute Truth. And yet this benediction was achieved by the serpent Kāliya because the Lord personally danced upon the serpent’s hoods with His lotus feet. Although we conditioned souls may not receive the mercy of having the Lord dance on our head, we can receive the dust of the lotus feet of the Absolute through the Lord’s representative, the bona fide spiritual master, and thus go back home, back to Godhead, forever freed from the misery and ignorance of the mundane universe.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though the dust from your feet gives much more, the highest result, the materialists long to attain those feet in expectation of material enjoyment. Yet those feet, which are hard for even Laksmi and others to attain, have been attained by Kaliya, king of the snakes, who is full of ignorance and showed anger towards you.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Kāliya has achieved what is to be attained in the future, not attained yet, with great troubles by the highest worshippers such as Brahmā. Though Kāliya was a great offender, since he was born in an ignorance species in which he is controlled by anger, and though he was the leader of the snakes, he attained your dust. This does not happen by thousands of sādhanas. It happens only by your mercy. Thus the wives exclaim, “O lord, who requests the miserable to make requests (nātha)!” By thinking of those feet everyone can immediately attain all perfections. Though one identifies with the body, material wealth and spiritual powers or prema are attained. Therefore now this snake whose hoods have accepted your lotus feet should attain special prema (vibhava).
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Kāliya has achieved what is to be attained in the future, not attained yet, with great troubles by the highest worshippers such as Brahmā. Though Kāliya was a great offender, since he was born in an ignorant species in which he was controlled by anger, and though he was the leader of the snakes, he attained your dust. This does not happen by any means. It is only your inconceivable power: O Lord (nātha)! You can do, not do, or change anything.
There is a deeper meaning to the words like “born in ignorance.” The fault of his nature arising from his birth is arranged by you. Therefore what is his offense? You should forgive him. This will be clear later.
By thinking of those feet, even those attached to their bodies can immediately attain all perfections. The living entities wander about, experiencing various sufferings, or doing sin or pious acts, in the complete cycle of birth and death (saṁsāra-cakre) or they wander in birth and death which is like a wheel, turning again and again. Though they have bodies they can develop material powers (vibhavaḥ) or a wealth of prema (vibhavaḥ) because of the supreme, infinite, astonishing power of the dust from your lotus feet.
Or saṁsāra-cakre can mean “in the supremely deceiving (whirling around) state of liberation, the essence (sāra) of the four human goals.” People cannot extricate themselves from the words about adhyātmā propounded by persons desiring liberation. In this way they wander about (bhramataḥ). But by the power of your lotus feet even they can attain the direct (samakṣam) wealth of Vaikuṇṭha (vibhavaḥ). What is to be obtained has been described. So these hoods on which your two feet dance should attain a very special vibhava.