Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 4.15.9-10

brahma jagad-gurur devaih

sahasritya suresvaraih

vainyasya dakshine haste

drishtva cihnam gadabhritah

padayor aravindam ca

tam vai mene hareh kalam

yasyapratihatam cakram

amsah sa parameshthinah

SYNONYMS

brahma -- Lord Brahma; jagat-guruh -- the master of the universe; devaih -- by the demigods; saha -- accompanied; asritya -- arriving; sura-isvaraih -- with the chiefs of all the heavenly planets; vainyasya -- of Maharaja Prithu, the son of Vena; dakshine -- right; haste -- on the hand; drishtva -- seeing; cihnam -- mark; gada-bhritah -- of Lord Vishnu, who carries a club; padayoh -- on the two feet; aravindam -- lotus flower; ca -- also; tam -- him; vai -- certainly; mene -- he understood; hareh -- of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; kalam -- part of a plenary expansion; yasya -- whose; apratihatam -- invincible; cakram -- disc; amsah -- partial representation; sah -- he; parameshthinah -- of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahma, the master of the entire universe, arrived there accompanied by all the demigods and their chiefs. Seeing the lines of Lord Vishnu's palm on King Prithu's right hand and impressions of lotus flowers on the soles of his feet, Lord Brahma could understand that King Prithu was a partial representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One whose palm bears the sign of a disc, as well as other such lines, should be considered a partial representation or incarnation of the Supreme Lord.

PURPORT

There is a system by which one can detect an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nowadays it has become a cheap fashion to accept any rascal as an incarnation of God, but from this incident we can see that Lord Brahma personally examined the hands and feet of King Prithu for specific signs. In their prophecies the learned sages and brahmanas accepted Prithu Maharaja as a plenary partial expansion of the Lord. During the presence of Lord Krishna, however, a king declared himself Vasudeva, and Lord Krishna killed him. Before accepting someone as an incarnation of God, one should verify his identity according to the symptoms mentioned in the sastras. Without these symptoms the pretender is subject to be killed by the authorities for pretending to be an incarnation of God.

<<< >>>

Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness