Devanagari
नारायण नमस्तेऽस्तु शङ्खचक्रगदाधर ।
दामोदरारविन्दाक्ष गोविन्द यदुनन्दन ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
nārāyaṇa namas te ’stu
śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-dhara
dāmodarāravindākṣa
govinda yadu-nandana
Synonyms
nārāyaṇa
—
O Lord Nārāyaṇa
;
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
te
—
unto
;
astu
—
may there be
;
śaṅkha
—
of the conchshell
;
cakra
—
disc
;
gadā
—
and club
;
dhara
—
O holder
;
dāmodara
—
O Lord Dāmodara
;
aravinda
—
akṣa — O lotus-eyed one
;
govinda
—
O Lord Govinda
;
yadu
—
nandana — O darling son of the Yadus .
Translation
[The residents of Dvārakā said:] Obeisances unto You, O Nārāyaṇa, O holder of the conch, disc and club, O lotus-eyed Dāmodara, O Govinda, O cherished descendant of Yadu!
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
[The residents of Dvārakā said:] Obeisances unto You, O Nārāyaṇa, O holder of the conch, disc and club, O lotus-eyed Dāmodara, O Govinda, O cherished descendant of Yadu!
KB 10.56.6
One of the important residents of Dvārakā spoke thus: “My dear Lord Nārāyaṇa, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Your plenary portion as Nārāyaṇa, or Viṣṇu, You have four hands with different symbols—the conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower. You are actually the owner of everything, but in spite of Your being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, You descended in Vṛndāvana to act as the child of Yaśodāmātā, who sometimes used to tie You up with her ropes, and You are celebrated, therefore, by the name Dāmodara.”
That Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, as accepted by the citizens of Dvārakā, was later confirmed by the great Māyāvādī philosophical leader Śaṅkarācārya. By accepting the Lord as impersonal, he did not reject the Lord’s personal form. Everything which has form in this material world is subject to creation, maintenance and annihilation, but because the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, does not have a material form subject to these limitations, Śaṅkarācārya, to convince the less intelligent men who take Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary human being, said that God is impersonal. This impersonality means that He is not a person of this material condition. He is a transcendental personality without a material body.
The citizens of Dvārakā addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa not only as Dāmodara but also as Govinda, which indicates that Kṛṣṇa is very affectionate to the cows and calves; and just to refer to their intimate connection with Kṛṣṇa, they addressed Him as Yadunandana because He was born the son of Vasudeva in the Yadu dynasty. The citizens of Dvārakā concluded by addressing Kṛṣṇa as the supreme master of the whole universe. They addressed Kṛṣṇa in many different ways, proud of being citizens of Dvārakā who could see Kṛṣṇa daily.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
They caught the attention of the Lord, who was absorbed in a dice game, by chanting his names.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
In two verses, the people praise Kṛṣṇa in a general way by describing his pastimes displaying his inherent powers. O most powerful form because you give shelter to all jīvas (nārāyaṇa)! Because you have that nature you hold your conch, cakra and club to teach the wicked by your pastimes.
With three phrases they praise him by describing his beautiful pastimes in Gokula, where he is controlled by prema. Controlled by your devotee you agreed to be bound around the waist (dāmodara)! You are most beautiful with lotus eyes! You are fond of herding the cows (govinda)!
O revealer of great pastimes! Those were generally private pastimes, but now you are full of mercy. How can we describe this? O giver of joy to the Yadus (yadu-nandana)! You are directly present in the assembly for us to see.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
O shelter of all jīvas (nārāyaṇa)! Holder of weapons to kill the demons! O Dāmodara, who accepted rope around the waist, controlled by your devotee! Having described his qualities, his form is described. O lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, most beautiful! Though rarely attained, now by great mercy you are easy to attain. O Govinda, you have appeared on earth (go). You give joy to the Yadus. You always sit in their assembly. Or you are most rare, as king of Gokula (govinda). No one else resides there. But now you are available as the joy of the Yadus in Dvārakā.