Devanagari
घ्राणेन पृथ्व्या: पदवीं विजिघ्रन्
क्रोडापदेश: स्वयमध्वराङ्ग: ।
करालदंष्ट्रोऽप्यकरालदृग्भ्या-
मुद्वीक्ष्य विप्रान् गृणतोऽविशत्कम् ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
ghrāṇena pṛthvyāḥ padavīṁ vijighran
kroḍāpadeśaḥ svayam adhvarāṅgaḥ
karāla-daṁṣṭro ’py akarāla-dṛgbhyām
udvīkṣya viprān gṛṇato ’viśat kam
Synonyms
ghrāṇena
—
by smelling
;
pṛthvyāḥ
—
of the earth
;
padavīm
—
situation
;
vijighran
—
searching after the earth
;
kroḍa
—
apadeśaḥ — assuming the body of a hog
;
svayam
—
personally
;
adhvara
—
transcendental
;
aṅgaḥ
—
body
;
karāla
—
fearful
;
daṁṣṭraḥ
—
teeth (tusks)
;
api
—
in spite of
;
akarāla
—
not fearful
;
dṛgbhyām
—
by His glance
;
udvīkṣya
—
glancing over
;
viprān
—
all the brāhmaṇa devotees
;
gṛṇataḥ
—
who were engaged in prayers
;
aviśat
—
entered
;
kam
—
the water .
Translation
He was personally the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu and was therefore transcendental, yet because He had the body of a hog, He searched after the earth by smell. His tusks were fearful, and He glanced over the devotee-brāhmaṇas engaged in offering prayers. Thus He entered the water.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Smelling out the earth with his nose, the Lord who is the Vedas personified, in the form of a boar with sharp tusks, glanced around with gentle eyes at the sages praising him, and entered the water.
This verse describes his actions. Being the Vedas (adhvarāṅgaḥ), he played, imitating boar (kroḍāpadeśaḥ). Using the ornament of apahnuti, the verse confirms that the Lord was really a boar. Apahnuti is defined as words which deny the obvious to establish something else. An example is “That woman is like a golden creeper with fruits imitating breasts.” Kam means water.
Purport
We should always remember that although the body of a hog is material, the hog form of the Lord was not materially contaminated. It is not possible for an earthly hog to assume a gigantic form spreading throughout the sky, beginning from the Satyaloka. His body is always transcendental in all circumstances; therefore, the assumption of the form of a boar is only His pastime. His body is all
Vedas,
or transcendental. But since He had assumed the form of a boar, He began to search out the earth by smelling, just like a hog. The Lord can perfectly play the part of any living entity. The gigantic feature of the boar was certainly very fearful for all nondevotees, but to the pure devotees of the Lord He was not at all fearful; on the contrary, He was so pleasingly glancing upon His devotees that all of them felt transcendental happiness.