SB 10.59.42 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अथो मुहूर्त एकस्मिन् नानागारेषु ता: स्‍त्रिय: । यथोपयेमे भगवान् तावद् रूपधरोऽव्यय: ॥ ४२ ॥

Verse text

atho muhūrta ekasmin nānāgāreṣu tāḥ striyaḥ yathopayeme bhagavān tāvad-rūpa-dharo ’vyayaḥ

Synonyms

atha u — and then ; muhūrte — at the auspicious time ; ekasmin — same ; nānā — various ; agāreṣu — in residences ; tāḥ — those ; striyaḥ — women ; yathā — properly ; upayeme — married ; bhagavān — the Supreme Lord ; tāvat — that many ; rūpa — forms ; dharaḥ — assuming ; avyayaḥ — the imperishable one .

Translation

Then the imperishable Supreme Personality, assuming a separate form for each bride, duly married all the princesses simultaneously, each in her own palace.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Then the imperishable Supreme Personality, assuming a separate form for each bride, duly married all the princesses simultaneously, each in her own palace. KB 10.59.42 After defeating Indra, Kṛṣṇa arranged to marry the 16,100 girls brought from the custody of Bhaumāsura. By expanding Himself into 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in different palaces at the same auspicious moment. He thus established the truth that Kṛṣṇa and no one else is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible for Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful, omnipresent and imperishable, and so there is nothing wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more than 16,000 queens of Kṛṣṇa were filled with suitable gardens, furniture and other paraphernalia, to which there is no parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The queens of Kṛṣṇa were all expansions of the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmījī. Kṛṣṇa lived with them in different palaces, and He treated them exactly the same way an ordinary man treats his wife.

Purport

As Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains, here the word yathā indicates that each marriage was duly performed. This means that the entire company of the Lord’s relatives, including His mother Devakī, appeared in each and every palace and attended each and every wedding. Since all these weddings took place simultaneously, this event was surely a manifestation of the Lord’s inconceivable potency. When Lord Kṛṣṇa does things, He does them in style. So it is not astonishing that the Lord simultaneously appeared in 16,100 wedding ceremonies taking place in 16,100 royal palaces, accompanied in each palace by all His relatives. Indeed, this is the way one would expect the Supreme Personality of Godhead to do things. After all, He is not an ordinary human being. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī further explains that on this particular occasion the Lord manifested His original form in each of His palaces. In other words, to take part in the wedding vows, He manifested identical forms ( prakāśa ) in all the palaces.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Returning to Devaka, he married all of the women at the same moment (ekasmin muhurte), which was chosen by specialists because it would bring the most auspicious results. He expanded himself into as many forms as there were brides. Though he had one body, it appeared in separate and he controlled all of them. But one should not explain the phrase tavad rupa dhara as simply a multiplication of bodies (kaya vyuha), for Narada says later, "How astonishing that Krsna with one form, simultaneously married sixteen thousand women in different places." Not only that, but his associates such as his father and mother and friends, also arrived in all the houses at the same time. Krsna, by his inconceivable energy, manifested many forms of each of his associates as well. Krsna was complete in each house (avayaya), not partially there as an amsa. Bhagavatamrta says: the prakasa form is not different at all from the original.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

He married them simultaneously in different places at an auspicious moment like sun rise. He took as many forms as there were brides. This one form appeared in many places. It was not a different form. It will later be said: citraṁ bataitad ekena vapuṣā yugapat pṛthak gṛheṣu dvy-aṣṭa-sāhasraṁ striya eka udāvahat It is quite amazing that in a single body Lord Kṛṣṇa simultaneously married sixteen thousand women, each in a separate palace. SB 10.69.2 Because of his inconceivable energy he had an inexhaustible form (avyayaḥ).

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Atha indicates auspiciousness or all. Simultaneously he married them because they were women. Because of the nature of women, they would envy each other, being rivals. As many as there were women, he manifested as many forms to marry them: sixteen thousand one hundred forms. All these forms were real and eternal. Or as if having many forms, the one Kṛṣṇa married them all simultaneously because he was full of all powers (bhagavān) and therefore inexhaustible (avyayaḥ).