SB 8.18.12 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यत् तद् वपुर्भाति विभूषणायुधै- रव्यक्तचिद्वय‍क्तमधारयद्धरि: । बभूव तेनैव स वामनो वटु: सम्पश्यतोर्दिव्यगतिर्यथा नट: ॥ १२ ॥

Verse text

yat tad vapur bhāti vibhūṣaṇāyudhair avyakta-cid-vyaktam adhārayad dhariḥ babhūva tenaiva sa vāmano vaṭuḥ sampaśyator divya-gatir yathā naṭaḥ

Synonyms

yat — which ; tat — that ; vapuḥ — transcendental body ; bhāti — manifests ; vibhūṣaṇa — with regular ornaments ; āyudhaiḥ — and with weapons ; avyakta — unmanifested ; cit — vyaktam — spiritually manifested ; adhārayat — assumed ; hariḥ — the Lord ; babhūva — immediately became ; tena — with that ; eva — certainly ; saḥ — He (the Lord) ; vāmanaḥ — dwarf ; vaṭuḥ — a brāhmaṇa brahmacārī ; sampaśyatoḥ — while both His father and mother were seeing ; divya — gatiḥ — whose movements are wonderful ; yathā — as ; naṭaḥ — a theatrical actor .

Translation

The Lord appeared in His original form, with ornaments and weapons in His hands. Although this ever-existing form is not visible in the material world, He nonetheless appeared in this form. Then, in the presence of His father and mother, He assumed the form of Vāmana, a brāhmaṇa-dwarf, a brahmacārī, just like a theatrical actor.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Lord, whose body is eternally endowed with ornaments and weapons and is invisible to the world and who has a spiritual form, became visible. Then, in the presence of his parents, to please them, the Lord, like an actor whose actions are hard to understand, became Vāmana, a brāhmaṇa-dwarf, a brahmacārī. The Lord whose body appears with ornaments and weapons became visible. “Appears” is in the present tense to indicate that his body is eternal. That body, which is also invisible and has a spiritual svarūpa, became visible (adhārayat). He did not accept a form temporarily. He did this to please his parents. He did not do this by any material means. The Lord, like an actor with great powers of yoga, whose actions are hard to understand (divya), produces a body different from his original form, but does it so there is non-difference. In this way the Lord manifested a body which was spiritual.

Purport

The word naṭaḥ is significant. An actor changes dress to play different parts, but is always the same man. Similarly, as described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33, 39), the Lord assumes many thousands and millions of forms ( advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam ). He is always present with innumerable incarnations ( rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu ). Nonetheless, although He appears in various incarnations, they are not different from one another. He is the same person, with the same potency, the same eternity and the same spiritual existence, but He can simultaneously assume various forms. When Vāmanadeva appeared from the womb of His mother, He appeared in the form of Nārāyaṇa, with four hands equipped with the necessary symbolic weapons, and then immediately transformed Himself into a brahmacārī ( vaṭu ). This means that His body is not material. One who thinks that the Supreme Lord assumes a material body is not intelligent. He has to learn more about the Lord’s position. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9) , janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. One has to understand the transcendental appearance of the Lord in His original transcendental body ( sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha ).