Devanagari
किंस्वित्तेजस्विनां तेजो भगवान् वा विभावसु: ।
सूर्य: सोमो महेन्द्रो वा लोकपालोऽपरोऽपि वा ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
kiṁ svit tejasvināṁ tejo
bhagavān vā vibhāvasuḥ
sūryaḥ somo mahendro vā
loka-pālo paro ’pi vā
Synonyms
kim svit
—
perhaps
;
tejasvinām
—
of all potent beings
;
tejaḥ
—
the original form
;
bhagavān
—
powerful lord
;
vā
—
or else
;
vibhāvasuḥ
—
the god of fire
;
sūryaḥ
—
the sun-god
;
somaḥ
—
the moon-god
;
mahā
—
indraḥ — the King of heaven
;
va
—
or
;
loka
—
of a planet
;
pālaḥ
—
the ruler
;
aparaḥ
—
other
;
api vā
—
else .
Translation
Perhaps You are the potency of all potent beings. Or maybe You are the powerful god of fire, or the sun-god, the moon-god, the King of heaven or the ruling demigod of some other planet.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Perhaps You are the potency of all potent beings. Or maybe You are the powerful god of fire, or the sun-god, the moon-god, the King of heaven or the ruling demigod of some other planet.
KB 10.51.28
“Are You not, therefore, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the most powerful amongst the powerful? Are You not the original source of all illumination and fire? Can I consider You one of the great demigods, like the sun-god, the moon-god or Indra, King of heaven? Or are You the predominating deity of some other planet?”
Mucukunda knew well that every higher planetary system has a predominating deity. He was not ignorant like modern men who think that this planet earth is full of living entities and all others are vacant. The inquiry from Mucukunda about Kṛṣṇa’s being the predominating deity of a planet unknown to him is quite appropriate. Because he was a pure devotee of the Lord, King Mucukunda could immediately understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa, who had appeared before him in such an opulent feature, could not be one of the predominating deities of the material planets.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Svit indicates conjecture. Perhaps he is the condensed personality of all effulgence. But this cannot be, because light is meager compared to his effulgence. Śrīdhara Svāmī says tejas means a form of power or light. Tejas cannot refer to form. Viśva-prakāśa says tejas means strength, light, source of light, heroism, influence or semen. There is a version with tejo-mūrtiḥ or tejo-mūrtaḥ. This is a portion of the element tejas. Therefore he is vibhūti of the Lord, the god of the element tejas. But the form here is greater than the god of fire which is much smaller. Perhaps this form is the sun god. But the sun does not remove suffering and give bliss. Perhaps this form is the moon god. But it is also not the moon god. Because of its power it must be Indra. But though Indra is king of the devatās he does not reside everywhere. Perhaps this form is one of the deities of the directions? The word vā indicates a side glance (doubt).
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Are you power? If so that power must have a form. Are you the lord of fire? Fire is called bhagavān because of possessing all powers as the vibhūti of bhagavān. The same should be understood in the other statements. Perhaps you are someone else—Brahmā or Śiva.