Devanagari
तस्मै भवान्हयशिरस्तनुवं हि बिभ्रद्
वेदद्रुहावतिबलौ मधुकैटभाख्यौ ।
हत्वानयच्छ्रुतिगणांश्च रजस्तमश्च
सत्त्वं तव प्रियतमां तनुमामनन्ति ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
tasmai bhavān haya-śiras tanuvaṁ hi bibhrad
veda-druhāv atibalau madhu-kaiṭabhākhyau
hatvānayac chruti-gaṇāṁś ca rajas tamaś ca
sattvaṁ tava priyatamāṁ tanum āmananti
Synonyms
tasmai
—
unto Lord Brahmā
;
bhavān
—
Your Lordship
;
haya
—
śiraḥ — having the head and neck of a horse
;
tanuvam
—
the incarnation
;
hi
—
indeed
;
bibhrat
—
accepting
;
veda
—
druhau — two demons who were against the Vedic principles
;
ati
—
balau — extremely powerful
;
madhu
—
kaiṭabha — ākhyau — known as Madhu and Kaiṭabha
;
hatvā
—
killing
;
anayat
—
delivered
;
śruti
—
gaṇān — all the different Vedas ( Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva )
;
ca
—
and
;
rajaḥ tamaḥ ca
—
by representing the modes of passion and ignorance
;
sattvam
—
pure transcendental goodness
;
tava
—
Your
;
priya
—
tamām — most dear
;
tanum
—
form (as Hayagrīva)
;
āmananti
—
they honor .
Translation
My dear Lord, when You appeared as Hayagrīva, with the head of a horse, You killed two demons known as Madhu and Kaiṭabha, who were full of the modes of passion and ignorance. Then You delivered the Vedic knowledge to Lord Brahmā. For this reason, all the great saints accept Your forms as transcendental, untinged by material qualities.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Assuming the form of Hayagrīva and killing the strong demons Madhu and Kaiṭabha, filled with passion and ignorance, you offered Brahmā the Vedas. The sages praise that dearest form of sattva.
You should appear again and protect your devotee. Taking the form of Hayagrīva, you killed the demons Madhu and Kaiṭabha, filled with rajas and tamas, and offered (anayat) the Vedas to Brahmā. You kill them because you are sattva. Though sattva guṇa is not dear to the Lord since the Lord is indifferent to all guṇas, since it is seen that sattva is not unfavorable to the Lord’s form of śuddha-sattva, it is said here to be dearest to the Lord, though actually it is not dearest to him. To show favor to persons in sattva-guṇa, such regard is given. Therefore to protect the righteous and punish the sinful is only the nature of the guṇas. It does not show the quality of inequality in you.
Purport
The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His transcendental form is always ready to give protection to His devotees. As mentioned herein, the Lord in the form of Hayagrīva killed two demons named Madhu and Kaiṭabha when they attacked Lord Brahmā. Modern demons think that there was no life in the beginning of creation, but from
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
we understand that the first living creature created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead was Lord Brahmā, who is full of Vedic understanding. Unfortunately, those entrusted with distributing Vedic knowledge, such as the devotees engaged in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, may sometimes be attacked by demons, but they must rest assured that demoniac attacks will not be able to harm them, for the Lord is always prepared to give them protection. The
Vedas
provide the knowledge by which we can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead (
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ
). The devotees of the Lord are always ready to spread knowledge by which one may understand the Lord through Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but the demons, being unable to understand the Supreme Lord, are full of ignorance and passion. Thus the Lord, whose form is transcendental, is always ready to kill the demons. By culturing the mode of goodness, one can understand the position of the transcendental Lord and how the Lord is always prepared to remove all obstacles on the path of understanding Him.
In summary, whenever the Lord incarnates, He appears in His original transcendental form. As the Lord says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.7)
:
yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself.” It is simply foolish to think of the Lord as being originally impersonal but accepting a material body when He appears as a personal incarnation. Whenever the Lord appears, He appears in His original transcendental form, which is spiritual and blissful. But unintelligent men, such as the Māyāvādīs, cannot understand the transcendental form of the Lord, and therefore the Lord chastises them by saying,
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam:
“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form.” Whenever the Lord appears, whether as a fish, a tortoise, a hog or any other form, one should understand that He maintains His transcendental position and that His only business, as stated here, is
hatvā
— to kill the demons. The Lord appears in order to protect the devotees and kill the demons (
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
). Since the demons are always ready to oppose Vedic civilization, they are sure to be killed by the transcendental form of the Lord.