Canto 2: The Cosmic ManifestationChapter 1: The First Step in God Realization

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.29

indrādayo bāhava āhur usrāh

karnau diśah śrotram amushya śabdah

nāsatya-dasrau paramasya nāse

ghrāno 'sya gandho mukham agnir iddhah

SYNONYMS

indra-ādayah — demigods headed by the heavenly king, Indra; bāhavah — arms; āhuhare called; usrāh — the demigods; karnau — the ears; diśah — the four directions; śrotram — the sense of hearing; amushya — of the Lord; śabdah — sound; nāsatya-dasrau — the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras; paramasya — of the Supreme; nāse — nostrils; ghrānah — the sense of smell; asya — of Him; gandhah — fragrance; mukham — the mouth; agnih — fire; iddhah — blazing.

TRANSLATION

His arms are the demigods headed by Indra, the ten directional sides are His ears, and physical sound is His sense of hearing. His nostrils are the two Aśvinī-kumāras, and material fragrance is His sense of smell. His mouth is the blazing fire.

PURPORT

The description of the gigantic form of the Personality of Godhead made in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā is further explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The description in the Bhagavad-gītā (11.30) runs as follows: "O Vishnu, I see You devouring all people in Your blazing mouths and covering all the universe by Your immeasurable rays. Scorching the worlds, You are manifest." In that way, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the postgraduate study for the student of the Bhagavad-gītā. Both of them are the science of Krishna, the Absolute Truth, and so they are interdependent.

The conception of the virāt-purusha, or the gigantic form of the Supreme Lord, is said to include all the dominating demigods as well as the dominated living beings. Even the minutest part of a living being is controlled by the empowered agency of the Lord. Since the demigods are included in the gigantic form of the Lord, worship of the Lord, whether in His gigantic material conception or in His eternal transcendental form as Lord Śrī Krishna, also appeases the demigods and all the other parts and parcels, as much as watering the root of a tree distributes energy to all of the tree's other parts. Consequently, for a materialist also, worship of the universal gigantic form of the Lord leads one to the right path. One need not risk being misled by approaching many demigods for fulfillment of different desires. The real entity is the Lord Himself, and all others are imaginary, for everything is included in Him only.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness