Devanagari
तावत्प्रसन्नो भगवान् पुष्कराक्ष: कृते युगे ।
दर्शयामास तं क्षत्त: शाब्दं ब्रह्म दधद्वपु: ॥ ८ ॥
Verse text
tāvat prasanno bhagavān
puṣkarākṣaḥ kṛte yuge
darśayām āsa taṁ kṣattaḥ
śābdaṁ brahma dadhad vapuḥ
Synonyms
tāvat
—
then
;
prasannaḥ
—
being pleased
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
puṣkara
—
akṣaḥ — lotus-eyed
;
kṛte yuge
—
in the Satya-yuga
;
darśayām āsa
—
showed
;
tam
—
to that Kardama Muni
;
kṣattaḥ
—
O Vidura
;
śābdam
—
which is to be understood only through the Vedas
;
brahma
—
the Absolute Truth
;
dadhat
—
exhibiting
;
vapuḥ
—
His transcendental body .
Translation
Then, in the Satya-yuga, the lotus-eyed Supreme Personality of Godhead, being pleased, showed Himself to that Kardama Muni and displayed His transcendental form, which can be understood only through the Vedas.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Vidura! The lotus eyed Lord, having a body made of the Vedas, pleased with Kardama, showed him his form in Satya-yuga.
Worshipping the Lord until he saw him, Kardama quickly saw the Lord by his mercy. The Lord is known only through scriptures. He had a body made of the Vedas. This is Śrīdhara Svāmī’s explanation. The phrase dadhat vapuḥ can also mean “revealing his form of eternity, knowledge and bliss.” It can also mean “nourished by the scents, garlands and food offered by Kardama.”
Purport
Here two points are very significant. The first is that Kardama Muni attained success by
yoga
practice in the beginning of Satya-yuga, when people used to live for one hundred thousand years. Kardama Muni attained success, and the Lord, being pleased with him, showed him His form, which is not imaginary. Sometimes the impersonalists recommend that one can arbitrarily concentrate one’s mind on some form he imagines or which pleases him. But here it is very clearly said that the form which the Lord showed to Kardama Muni by His divine grace is described in the Vedic literature.
Śābdaṁ brahma:
the forms of the Lord are clearly indicated in the Vedic literature. Kardama Muni did not discover any imaginary form of God, as alleged by rascals; he actually saw the eternal, blissful and transcendental form of the Lord.