Canto 3: The Status QuoChapter 13: The Appearance of Lord Varāha

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.13.30

khuraih kshuraprair darayams tad āpa

utpāra-pāram tri-parū rasāyām

dadarśa gām tatra sushupsur agre

yām jīva-dhānīm svayam abhyadhatta

SYNONYMS

khuraih — by the hooves; kshurapraih — compared to a sharp weapon; darayan — penetrating; tat — that; āpah — water; utpāra-pāram — found the limitation of the unlimited; tri-paruh — the master of all sacrifices; rasāyām — within the water; dadarśa — found; gām — the earth; tatra — there; sushupsuh — lying; agrein the beginning; yām — whom; jīva-dhānīm — the resting place for all living entities; svayam — personally; abhyadhatta — uplifted.

TRANSLATION

Lord Boar penetrated the water with His hooves, which were like sharp arrows, and found the limits of the ocean, although it was unlimited. He saw the earth, the resting place for all living beings, lying as it was in the beginning of creation, and He personally lifted it.

PURPORT

The word rasāyām is sometimes interpreted to mean Rasātala, the lowest planetary system, but that is not applicable in this connection, according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura. The earth is seven times superior to the other planetary systems, namely Tala, Atala, Talātala, Vitala, Rasātala, Pātāla, etc. Therefore the earth cannot be situated in the Rasātala planetary system. It is described in the Vishnu-dharma:

pātāla-mūleśvara-bhoga-samhatau

vinyasya pādau prithivīm ca bibhratah

yasyopamāno na babhūva so 'cyuto

mamāstu māńgalya-vivriddhaye harih

Therefore the Lord found the earth on the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean, where the planets rest during the devastation at the end of Brahmā's day.

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