Devanagari
इत्युक्त: कुमतिर्हृष्ट: स्वगृहं प्राविशन्नृप ।
प्रतीक्षन् गिरिशादेशं स्ववीर्यनशनं कुधी: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
ity uktaḥ kumatir hṛṣṭaḥ
sva-gṛhaṁ prāviśan nṛpa
pratīkṣan giriśādeśaṁ
sva-vīrya-naśanam kudhīḥ
Synonyms
iti
—
thus
;
uktaḥ
—
spoken to
;
ku
—
matiḥ — foolish
;
hṛṣṭaḥ
—
delighted
;
sva
—
his own
;
gṛham
—
home
;
prāviśat
—
entered
;
nṛpa
—
O King (Parīkṣit)
;
pratīkṣan
—
waiting for
;
giriśa
—
of Lord Śiva
;
ādeśam
—
prediction
;
sva
—
vīrya — of his prowess
;
naśanam
—
the destruction
;
ku
—
dhīḥ — unintelligent .
Translation
Thus advised, unintelligent Bāṇāsura was delighted. The fool then went home, O King, to wait for that which Lord Giriśa had predicted: the destruction of his prowess.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Thus advised, unintelligent Bāṇāsura was delighted. The fool then went home, O King, to wait for that which Lord Giriśa had predicted: the destruction of his prowess.
KB 10.62.9
After hearing Lord Śiva’s statement, Bāṇāsura, who was very much puffed up with his power, became elated that he would meet someone able to smash him to pieces. Bāṇāsura then returned home with great pleasure, and he always waited for the day when the suitable fighter would come to cut down his strength. He was such a foolish demon. It appears that foolish, demoniac human beings, when unnecessarily overpowered with material opulences, want to exhibit these opulences, and such foolish people feel satisfaction when these opulences are exhausted. The idea is that they do not know how to expend their energy for right causes, being unaware of the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually, there are two classes of men—one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, the other is non–Kṛṣṇa conscious. The non–Kṛṣṇa conscious men are generally devoted to the demigods, whereas the Kṛṣṇa conscious men are devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa conscious persons utilize everything for the service of the Lord. The non–Kṛṣṇa conscious persons utilize everything for sense gratification, and Bāṇāsura is a perfect example of such a person. For his own satisfaction he was very eager to utilize his extraordinary power to fight. Not finding any combatant, he struck his powerful arms against the mountains, breaking them to pieces. In contrast to this, Arjuna also possessed extraordinary powers for fighting, but he utilized them only for Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
Here Bāṇāsura is described as
ku-dhī
(“having bad intelligence”) and
ku-mati
(“foolish”) because he completely misunderstood the actual situation. This demon was so arrogant that he was convinced no one could defeat him. He was delighted to hear that someone as powerful as Lord Śiva would come to fight with him and satisfy his itching for battle. Even though Śiva had said that this person would break Bāṇa’s flag and destroy his prowess, the demon was too foolish to take this statement seriously and eagerly awaited the fight.
At the present moment materialistic people are delighted by the many unprecedented facilities for sense gratification. Although it is clear that death, both individual and collective, is quickly approaching them, modern sense gratifiers are oblivious to their inevitable destruction. As stated in the
Bhāgavatam
(2.1.4)
,
paśyann api na paśyati:
Even though their imminent destruction is apparent, they are too blind to see it, being intoxicated by sex enjoyment and family attachment. Similarly, Bāṇāsura was intoxicated with his material prowess and could not believe that he was about to be cut down to size.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Banasura, having no intelligence (kumatih), heard Siva say to him "Your pride will be destroyed in battle, fool", he considered with low mind, "It is impossible that my pride can be defeated in battle. But it can be inferred from Siva's words that someone strong will come to relieve me the itching in my arms."
Thus he became joyful. He, being very foolish, then began eagerly to wait for that moment when his flag would break, which, according to the words of Siva, would indicate the destruction of his power.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
When Śiva said this, Bāṇa was joyful because he was foolish, having bad discrimination. He waited for what Śiva had predicted, by which his power would be destroyed, and returned home, since he had bad intentions (kudhiḥ). According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, “He waited for the destruction of his powers” means “He waited for death.” At that time his flag would be broken. Instead of naśanam sometimes nāsanam is seen. Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes this:
tataḥ praṇamya varadaṁ śaṁbhum abhyāgato gṛham /
sabhagnaṁ dhvajam ālokya hṛṣṭo harṣaṁ punar yayau //
Offering his respects to Śiva, giver of boons, Bāṇa entered his house. Waiting for his flag to be broken, he rejoiced and rejoiced.
Hari-vaṁśa describes similarly but also describes a conversation between Bāṇa and his minister Kumbhāṇḍa.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
In spite of what Śiva said (iti), Bāṇa was happy, because he was a fool (kumatiḥ). He waited for Śiva’s prediction, destruction of his power. Or he waited for what Śiva had described. He waited for the fight because he was foolish (kudhīḥ). This is a different word for kumatiḥ. Or kumatiḥ can mean he who made a terrible vow. Kudhīḥ means he had bad intentions. Astonished Śukadeva calls to the king.
Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes this:
tataḥ praṇamya varadaṁ śaṁbhum abhyāgato gṛham
sabhagnaṁ dhvajam ālokya hṛṣṭo harṣaṁ punar yayau
Offering his respects to Śiva, giver of boons, Bāṇa entered his house. Waiting for his flag to be broken, he rejoiced and rejoiced.
Hari-vaṁśa describes this similarly but also describes a conversation between Bāṇa and his minister Kumbhāṇḍa.