Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.12.33

pīnāhi-bhogotthitam adbhutam mahaj

jyotih sva-dhāmnā jvalayad diśo daśa

pratīkshya khe 'vasthitam īśa-nirgamam

viveśa tasmin mishatām divaukasām

SYNONYMS

pīna — very great; ahi-bhoga-utthitam — issuing from the serpent's body, which was meant for material enjoyment; adbhutam — very wonderful; mahat — great; jyotih — effulgence; sva-dhāmnā — by his own illumination; jvalayat — making glaring; diśah daśa — all the ten directions; pratīkshya — waiting; khe — in the sky; avasthitam — individually staying; īśa-nirgamam — until the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, came out; viveśa — entered; tasmin — in the body of Krishna; mishatām — while observing; divaukasām — all the demigods.

TRANSLATION

From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out, illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Krishna came out from the corpse's mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this effulgence entered into Krishna's body.

PURPORT

Apparently the serpent named Aghāsura, because of having received association with Krishna, attained mukti by entering Krishna's body. Entering the body of Krishna is called sāyujya-mukti, but later verses prove that Aghāsura, like Dantavakra and others, received sārūpya-mukti. This has been broadly described by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura with references from the Vaishnava-toshanī of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Aghāsura attained sārūpya-mukti, being promoted to the Vaikuntha planets to live with the same four-armed bodily features as Vishnu. The explanation of how this is so may be summarized as follows.

The effulgence came out from the python's body and became purified, attaining spiritual śuddha-sattva, freedom from material contamination, because Krishna had stayed within the serpent's body, even after the serpent's death. One may doubt that such a demon, full of mischievous activities, could attain the liberation of sārūpya or sāyujya, and one may be astonished about this. But Krishna is so kind that in order to drive away such doubts, He had the effulgence, the individual life of the python, wait for some time in its individuality, in the presence of all the demigods.

Krishna is the full effulgence, and every living being is part and parcel of that effulgence. As proved here, the effulgence in every living being is individual. For some time, the effulgence remained outside the demon's body, individually, and did not mix with the whole effulgence, the brahmajyoti. The Brahman effulgence is not visible to material eyes, but to prove that every living being is individual, Krishna had this individual effulgence stay outside the demon's body for some time, for everyone to see. Then Krishna proved that anyone killed by Him attains liberation, whether sāyujya, sārūpya, sāmīpya or whatever.

But the liberation of those who are on the transcendental platform of love and affection is vimukti, special liberation. Thus the serpent first entered the body of Krishna personally and mixed with the Brahman effulgence. This merging is called sāyujya-mukti. But from later verses we find that Aghāsura attained sārūpya-mukti. Text 38 explains that Aghāsura attained a body exactly like that of Vishnu, and the verse after that also clearly states that he attained a completely spiritual body like that of Nārāyana. Therefore in two or three places the Bhāgavatam has confirmed that Aghāsura attained sārūpya-mukti. One may then argue, How is it that he mixed with the Brahman effulgence? The answer is that as Jaya and Vijaya, after three births, again attained sārūpya-mukti and association with the Lord, Aghāsura received a similar liberation.

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