Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 18: Lord Balarāma Slays the Demon Pralamba

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.18.26

tam udvahan dharaṇi-dharendra-gauravaḿ

mahāsuro vigata-rayo nijaḿ vapuḥ

sa āsthitaḥ puraṭa-paricchado babhau

taḍid-dyumān uḍupati-vāḍ ivāmbudaḥ

SYNONYMS

tam — Him, Lord Baladeva; udvahan — carrying high; dharaṇi-dhara-indra — like the king of the mountains, Sumeru; gauravam — whose weight; mahā-asuraḥ — the great demon; vigata-rayaḥ — losing his momentum; nijam — his original; vapuḥ — body; saḥhe; āsthitaḥ — becoming situated in; puraṭa — golden; paricchadaḥ — having ornaments; babhauhe shone; taḍit — like lightning; dyu-mān — flashing; uḍu-pati — the moon; vāṭ — carrying; iva — just as; ambu-daḥa cloud.

TRANSLATION

As the great demon carried Balarāma, the Lord became as heavy as massive Mount Sumeru, and Pralamba had to slow down. He then resumed his actual form — an effulgent body that was covered with golden ornaments and that resembled a cloud flashing with lightning and carrying the moon.

PURPORT

Here the demon Pralamba is compared to a cloud, his golden ornaments to lightning within that cloud, and Lord Balarāma to the moon shining through it. Great demons can assume various forms by exerting their mystic power, but when the Lord's spiritual potency curtails their power, they can no longer maintain an artificial form and must again manifest their actual, demoniac body. Lord Balarāma suddenly became as heavy as a great mountain, and although the demon tried to carry Him high on his shoulders, he could not go on.

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