Devanagari
स विश्वजन्मस्थितिसंयमार्थे
कृतावतार: प्रगृहीतशक्ति: ।
चकार कर्माण्यतिपूरुषाणि
यानीश्वर: कीर्तय तानि मह्यम् ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
sa viśva-janma-sthiti-saṁyamārthe
kṛtāvatāraḥ pragṛhīta-śaktiḥ
cakāra karmāṇy atipūruṣāṇi
yānīśvaraḥ kīrtaya tāni mahyam
Synonyms
saḥ
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
viśva
—
universe
;
janma
—
creation
;
sthiti
—
maintenance
;
saṁyama
—
arthe — with a view to perfect control
;
kṛta
—
accepted
;
avatāraḥ
—
incarnation
;
pragṛhīta
—
accomplished with
;
śaktiḥ
—
potency
;
cakāra
—
performed
;
karmāṇi
—
transcendental activities
;
ati
—
pūruṣāṇi — superhuman
;
yāni
—
all those
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Lord
;
kīrtaya
—
please chant
;
tāni
—
all those
;
mahyam
—
unto me .
Translation
Kindly chant all those superhuman transcendental activities of the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead, who accepted incarnations fully equipped with all potency for the full manifestation and maintenance of the cosmic creation.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Showing kindness to me, please describe how the Supreme Lord, endowed with power, having already appeared as the puruṣas for creating, maintaining and destroying the universe, performs superhuman actions,.
After briefly answering my questions in order to satisfy me, then in detail describe about the avatāras of Kṛṣṇa, since things should end in sweetness. [Note: Madhuryena samāpaya iti nyāya. ] Kṛtāvatāraḥ means his appearance as the puruṣas. Mahyam means “to show mercy to me.”
Purport
Vidura was undoubtedly very eager to hear about Lord Kṛṣṇa in particular, but he was overwhelmed because Lord Kṛṣṇa had just passed away from the visible world. He therefore wanted to hear about Him in His
puruṣa
incarnations, which He manifests with full potencies for the creation and maintenance of the cosmic world. The activities of the
puruṣa
incarnations are but an extension of the activities of the Lord. This hint was given by Vidura to Maitreya because Maitreya could not decide which part of the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa should he chanted.