Devanagari
न वध्यो भवतामिन्द्रो यद्यज्ञो भगवत्तनु: ।
यं जिघांसथ यज्ञेन यस्येष्टास्तनव: सुरा: ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
na vadhyo bhavatām indro
yad yajṣo bhagavat-tanuḥ
yaṁ jighāṁsatha yajṣena
yasyeṣṭās tanavaḥ surāḥ
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
vadhyaḥ
—
ought to be killed
;
bhavatām
—
by all of you
;
indraḥ
—
the King of heaven
;
yat
—
because
;
yajṣaḥ
—
a name of Indra
;
bhagavat
—
tanuḥ — part of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
yam
—
whom
;
jighāṁsatha
—
you wish to kill
;
yajṣena
—
by performing sacrifice
;
yasya
—
of Indra
;
iṣṭāḥ
—
being worshiped
;
tanavaḥ
—
parts of the body
;
surāḥ
—
the demigods .
Translation
Lord Brahmā addressed them thus: My dear sacrificial performers, you cannot kill Indra, the King of heaven. It is not your duty. You should know that Indra is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Indeed, he is one of the most powerful assistants of the Personality of Godhead. You are trying to satisfy all the demigods by the performance of this yajṣa, but you should know that all these demigods are but parts and parcels of Indra, the King of heaven. How, then, can you kill him in this great sacrifice?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
You should not kill Indra because he is the body of the Lord. You wish to kill Indra by a sacrifice in which the devatās, part of his body, are worshipped.
Indra is the body of the Lord. The brāhmaṇas should not try to kill the form of the Lord. What is the use of being brāhmaṇas then (bhavatām)? You wish to kill him by sacrifice, but how can you kill the personification of sacrifice, Indra, by sacrifice? It is like throwing a small amount of milk in a fire. Moreover, the devatās, who are parts of his body, are worshipped by us in the sacrifice. How can he die? You did not consider this.