Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.12.7

mātur garbha-gato vīrah

sa tadā bhrigu-nandana

dadarśa purusham kañcid

dahyamāno 'stra-tejasā

SYNONYMS

mātuh — mother; garbha — womb; gatah — being situated there; vīrah — the great fighter; sah — child Parīkshit; tadā — at that time; bhrigu-nandana — O son of Bhrigu; dadarśa — could see; purusham — the Supreme Lord; kañcit — as someone else; dahyamānah — suffering from being burned; astra — the brahmāstra; tejasā — temperature.

TRANSLATION

O son of Bhrigu [Śaunaka], when the child Parīkshit, the great fighter, was in the womb of his mother, Uttarā, and was suffering from the burning heat of the brahmāstra [thrown by Aśvatthāmā], he could observe the Supreme Lord coming to him.

PURPORT

Death generally involves remaining in trance for seven months. A living being, according to his own action, is allowed to enter into the womb of a mother by the vehicle of a father's semina, and thus he develops his desired body. This is the law of birth in specific bodies according to one's past actions. When he is awake from trance, he feels the inconvenience of being confined within the womb, and thus he wants to come out of it and sometimes fortunately prays to the Lord for such liberation. Mahārāja Parīkshit, while in the womb of his mother, was struck by the brahmāstra released by Aśvatthāmā, and he was feeling the burning heat. But because he was a devotee of the Lord, the Lord at once appeared Himself within the womb by His all-powerful energy, and the child could see that someone else had come to save him. Even in that helpless condition, the child Parīkshit endured the unbearable temperature due to his being a great fighter by nature. And for this reason the word vīrah has been used.

<<< >>>

Copyright ©r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness