SB 10.89.48

SB 10.89.48

Devanagari

तत्राश्वा: शैब्यसुग्रीवमेघपुष्पबलाहका: । तमसि भ्रष्टगतयो बभूवुर्भरतर्षभ ॥ ४८ ॥ तान् द‍ृष्ट्वा भगवान् कृष्णो महायोगेश्वरेश्वर: । सहस्रादित्यसङ्काशं स्वचक्रं प्राहिणोत् पुर: ॥ ४९ ॥

Verse text

tatrāśvāḥ śaibya-sugrīva- meghapuṣpa-balāhakāḥ tamasi bhraṣṭa-gatayo babhūvur bharatarṣabha tān dṛṣṭvā bhagavān kṛṣṇo mahā-yogeśvareśvaraḥ sahasrāditya-saṅkāśaṁ sva-cakraṁ prāhiṇot puraḥ

Synonyms

tatra at that place ; aśvāḥ the horses ; śaibya sugrīva — meghapuṣpa — balāhakāḥ — named Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka ; tamasi in the darkness ; bhraṣṭa having lost ; gatayaḥ their way ; babhūvuḥ became ; bharata ṛṣabha — O best of the Bhāratas ; tān them ; dṛṣṭvā seeing ; bhagavān the Personality of Godhead ; kṛṣṇaḥ Kṛṣṇa ; mahā supreme ; yoga īśvara — of masters of yoga ; īśvaraḥ the master ; sahasra a thousand ; āditya suns ; saṅkāśam comparable to ; sva His personal ; cakram disc weapon ; prāhiṇot sent ; puraḥ in front .

Translation

In that darkness the chariot’s horses — Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka — lost their way. Seeing them in this condition, O best of the Bhāratas, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme master of all masters of yoga, sent His Sudarśana disc before the chariot. That disc shone like thousands of suns.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In that darkness the chariot's horses—Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka—lost their way. Seeing them in this condition, O best of the Bhāratas, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme master of all masters of yoga, sent His Sudarśana disc before the chariot. That disc shone like thousands of suns. KB 10.89.48-49 When Kṛṣṇa approached the covering layer of this universe, the four horses which were drawing His chariot—Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka—all hesitated to enter the darkness. This hesitation is also a part of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa because the horses of Kṛṣṇa are not ordinary; it is not possible for ordinary horses to go all over the universe and then enter into its outer covering layers. As Kṛṣṇa is transcendental, His chariot and His horses and everything about Him are also transcendental, beyond the qualities of this material world. We should always remember that Kṛṣṇa was playing the part of an ordinary human being, and His horses also, by the will of Kṛṣṇa, played the parts of ordinary horses in hesitating to enter the darkness. Kṛṣṇa is known as Yogeśvara, as stated in the last portion of the Bhagavad-gītā. Yogeśvaro hariḥ: all mystic powers are under His control. In our experience we can see many human beings who have yogic mystic power and who sometimes perform very wonderful acts, but Kṛṣṇa is understood to be the master of all mystic power. Therefore, when He saw that His horses were hesitant to proceed into the darkness, He immediately released His disc, known as the Sudarśana cakra, which illuminated the sky a thousand times brighter than sunlight. The darkness of the covering of the universe is also a creation of Kṛṣṇa’s, and the Sudarśana cakra is Kṛṣṇa’s constant companion. Thus He penetrated the darkness by keeping the Sudarśana cakra before Him.

Purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives the following insight into this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa’s horses had descended from Vaikuṇṭha to participate in His earthly pastimes. Since the Lord Himself was pretending to be a finite human being, His steeds now acted confused to enhance the drama of the situation for all who would one day hear this pastime.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Śukadeva calls out in amazement to Parīkṣit, “O best of Bharata’s lineage!” The Lord had arranged the horses to act in this way (bhagavān). Seeing this, he sent his cakra weapon in front, not his effulgence. This illuminated the path.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

These horses were famous for being able to go anywhere. They even crossed the place of liberation full of light, described later. Their progress was stopped by the great darkness. Śukadeva calls out in astonishment O, best of the Bharatas! Or though the horeses were made of eternity, knowledge and bliss, beyond prakṛti, they stumbled on encountering the darkness as a special pastime of the Lord for his devotee. You understand this, being the best of a great dynasty. Seeing the horses in that condition, the Lord who is directly Nārāyaṇa, who attracts all hearts by revealing his unlimited powers, the lord of lords who have special powers (mahāyoga), threw his exrtraordinary (sva) cakra which shone like a thousand suns or sent it off on his order (prāhinot).