Devanagari
का त्वं चिकीर्षसि च किं मुनिवर्य शैले
मायासि कापि भगवत्परदेवताया: । विज्ये बिभर्षि धनुषी सुहृदात्मनोऽर्थेकिं वा मृगान्मृगयसे विपिने प्रमत्तान् ॥ ७ ॥
Verse text
kā tvaṁ cikīrṣasi ca kiṁ muni-varya śaile
māyāsi kāpi bhagavat-para-devatāyāḥ
vijye bibharṣi dhanuṣī suhṛd-ātmano ’rthe
kiṁ vā mṛgān mṛgayase vipine pramattān
Synonyms
kā
—
who
;
tvam
—
are you
;
cikīrṣasi
—
are you trying to do
;
ca
—
also
;
kim
—
what
;
muni
—
varya — O best of munis
;
śaile
—
on this hill
;
māyā
—
illusory potency
;
asi
—
are you
;
kāpi
—
some
;
bhagavat
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
para
—
devatāyāḥ — of the transcendental Lord
;
vijye
—
without strings
;
bibharṣi
—
you are carrying
;
dhanuṣī
—
two bows
;
suhṛt
—
of a friend
;
ātmanaḥ
—
of yourself
;
arthe
—
for the sake
;
kim vā
—
or
;
mṛgān
—
forest animals
;
mṛgayase
—
are you trying to hunt
;
vipine
—
in this forest
;
pramattān
—
who are materially maddened .
Translation
The Prince mistakenly addressed the Apsarā: O best of saintly persons, who are you? Why are you on this hill, and what do you want to do? Are you one of the illusory potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? You seem to be carrying two bows without strings. What is the reason you carry these bows? Is it for some purpose of your own or for the sake of a friend? Perhaps you carry them to kill the mad animals in this forest.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Who are you! O best of sages! What do you want to do at this mountain? Are you māyā, the energy of the Supreme Lord? You are carrying two bows without bow strings. O friend! What use are they? Are you hunting inattentive animals in the forest?
Asking who she is, he is confused. He indicates that he does not know the difference between a man and a woman since he has been practicing austerities since childhood. O best of sages! Are you staying here like me to perform austerities? But then he thought for a moment, “Why does she bewilder me, if she is a sage like me?” Then he thought that she was māyā of the Supreme Lord (para-devatā bhagavān), who had come in the form of a sage. Seeing her eye brows, he then said, “You are carrying two bows without bow strings. O friend! Why have you done this? What use are they? Are you hunting inattentive animals in the forest? ” The deeper meaning of this is that he himself is like an animal which she is hunting.
Purport
While undergoing severe penances in the forest, Āgnīdhra was captivated by the movements of Pūrvacitti, the girl sent by Lord Brahmā. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
kāmais tais tair hṛta jṣānāḥ:
when one becomes lusty, he loses his intelligence. Therefore Āgnīdhra, having lost his intelligence, could not distinguish whether Pūrvacitti was male or female. He mistook her for a
muni-putra,
the son of a saintly person in the forest, and addressed her as
muni-varya.
Because of her personal beauty, however, he could not believe her to be a boy. He therefore began studying her features. First he saw her two eyebrows, which were so expressive that he wondered whether he or she might be the
māyā
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The words used in this connection are
bhagavat-para-devatāyāḥ.
Devatāḥ,
the demigods, all belong to this material world, whereas Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is always beyond this material world and is therefore known as
para-devatā.
The material world is certainly created by
māyā,
but it is created under the direction of
para-devatā,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram
),
māyā
is not the ultimate authority for the creation of this material world.
Māyā
acts on behalf of Kṛṣṇa.
Pūrvacitti’s eyebrows were so beautiful that Āgnīdhra compared them to bows without strings. He therefore asked her whether they were to be used for her own purposes or for the sake of someone else. Her eyebrows were like bows meant to kill animals in the forest. This material world is like a great forest, and its inhabitants are like forest animals such as deer and tigers meant to be killed. The killers are the eyebrows of beautiful women. Captivated by the beauty of the fair sex, all the men of the world are killed by bows without strings, but cannot see how they are killed by
māyā.
It is a fact, however, that they are being killed (
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
). By dint of his
tapasya,
Āgnīdhra could understand how
māyā
acts under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The word
pramattān
is also significant.
Pramatta
refers to one who cannot control his senses. The entire material world is being exploited by people who are
pramatta,
or
vimūḍha.
Prahlāda Mahārāja therefore said:
śoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyārtha-
māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān
“They are rotting in material activities for transient material pleasure and spoiling their lives toiling all day and night simply for sense gratification, with no attachment for love of Godhead. I am simply lamenting for them and devising various plans to deliver them from the clutches of
māyā.
” (
Bhāg.
7.9.43
)
Karmīs
who act very seriously for sense gratification are always referred to in the
śāstras
by such terms as
pramatta, vimukha
and
vimūḍha.
They are killed by
māyā.
However, one who is
apramatta,
a sane, sober person, a
dhīra,
knows very well that a human being’s primary duty is to render service to the Supreme Person.
Māyā
is always ready to kill those who are
pramatta
with her invisible bows and arrows. Āgnīdhra questioned Pūrvacitti about this.