SB 5.18.39

SB 5.18.39

Devanagari

प्रमथ्य दैत्यं प्रतिवारणं मृधे यो मां रसाया जगदादिसूकर: । कृत्वाग्रदंष्ट्रे निरगादुदन्वत: क्रीडन्निवेभ: प्रणतास्मि तं विभुमिति ॥ ३९ ॥

Verse text

pramathya daityaṁ prativāraṇaṁ mṛdhe yo māṁ rasāyā jagad-ādi-sūkaraḥ kṛtvāgra-daṁṣṭre niragād udanvataḥ krīḍann ivebhaḥ praṇatāsmi taṁ vibhum iti

Synonyms

pramathya after killing ; daityam the demon ; prativāraṇam most formidable opponent ; mṛdhe in the fight ; yaḥ He who ; mām me (the earth) ; rasāyāḥ fallen to the bottom of the universe ; jagat in this material world ; ādi sūkaraḥ — the original form of a boar ; kṛtvā keeping it ; agra daṁṣṭre — on the end of the tusk ; niragāt came out of the water ; udanvataḥ from the Garbhodaka Ocean ; krīḍan playing ; iva like ; ibhaḥ elephant ; praṇatā asmi I bow down ; tam to Him ; vibhum the Supreme Lord ; iti thus .

Translation

My Lord, as the original boar within this universe, You fought and killed the great demon Hiraṇyakṣa. Then You lifted me [the earth] from the Garbhodaka Ocean on the end of Your tusk, exactly as a sporting elephant plucks a lotus flower from the water. I bow down before You.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

As the boar who is the cause of this universe, after killing the great demon Hiraṇyakṣa, you placed me, the earth, on the end of your tusks, and came out of the Garbhodaka Ocean, exactly as a sporting elephant plays with a lotus flower. I bow down before you. Narrating the pastime of the boar, the earth shows the Lord’s great mercy to her. Prativāraṇam means a worthy opponent, like an elephant. The Lord was also like an elephant (ibhaḥ) playing. Rasāyāḥ here does not mean Rasātala but the Garbhodaka Ocean. Jagad-ādi-śukaraḥ means the boar who is the cause of the universe. Udanvati means in the ocean of pralaya. Thus ends the commentary on the Eighteenth Chapter of the Fifth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas. Chapter Nineteen Description of Bhārata-varṣa 5.19: A Description of the Island of Jambūdvīpa 19. A Description of the Island of Jambūdvīpa 5.19 Summary This chapter describes the glories of Bhārata-varṣa, and it also describes how Lord Rāmacandra is being worshiped in the tract of land known as Kimpuruṣa-varṣa. The inhabitants of Kimpuruṣa-varṣa are fortunate because they worship Lord Rāmacandra with His faithful servant Hanumān. Lord Rāmacandra exemplifies an incarnation of Godhead who descends for the mission of paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]—protecting the devotees and destroying the miscreants. Lord Rāmacandra exhibits the actual purpose of an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the devotees take the opportunity to offer loving transcendental service to Him. One should surrender fully to the Lord, forgetting one's so-called material happiness, opulence and education, which are not at all useful for pleasing the Lord. The Lord is pleased only by the process of surrender unto Him. When Devarṣi Nārada descended to instruct Sārvaṇi Manu, he described the opulence of Bhārata-varṣa, India. Sārvaṇi Manu and the inhabitants of Bhārata-varṣa engage in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the origin of creation, maintenance and annihilation and who is always worshiped by self-realized souls. In the planet known as Bhārata-varṣa there are many rivers and mountains, as there are in other tracts of land, yet Bhārata-varṣa has special significance because in this tract of land there exists the Vedic principle of varṇāśrama-dharma, which divides society into four varṇas and four āśramas. Furthermore, Nārada Muni's opinion is that even if there is some temporary disturbance in the execution of the varṇāśrama-dharma principles, they can be revived at any moment. The effect of adhering to the institution of varṇāśrama is gradual elevation to the spiritual platform and liberation from material bondage. By following the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma, one gets the opportunity to associate with devotees. Such association gradually awakens one's dormant propensity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and frees one from all the basic principles of sinful life. One then gets the opportunity to offer unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Vāsudeva. Because of this opportunity, the inhabitants of Bhārata-varṣa are praised even in the heavenly planets. Even in the topmost planet of this universe, Brahmaloka, the position of Bhārata-varṣa is discussed with great relish. All the conditioned living entities are evolving within the universe in different planets and different species of life. Thus one may be elevated to Brahmaloka, but then one must again descend to earth, as confirmed in Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā (ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16]). If those who live in Bhārata-varṣa rigidly follow the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma and develop their dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they need not return to this material world after death. Any place where one cannot hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead from realized souls, even if it be Brahmaloka, is not very congenial to the living entity. If one who has taken birth in the land of Bhārata-varṣa as a human being does not take advantage of the opportunity for spiritual elevation, his position is certainly the most miserable. In the land known as Bhāratavarṣa, even if one is a sarva-kāma-bhakta, a devotee seeking the fulfillment of some material desire, he is freed from all material desires by his association with devotees, and ultimately he becomes a pure devotee and returns home, back to Godhead, without difficulty. At the end of this chapter, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes to Mahārāja Parīkṣit the eight sub-islands within the island of Jambūdvīpa.

Purport

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fifth Canto, Eighteenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa.”