Canto 7: The Science of GodChapter 8: Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva Slays the King of the Demons

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.8.34

tataḥ sabhāyām upaviṣṭam uttame

nṛpāsane sambhṛta-tejasaḿ vibhum

alakṣita-dvairatham atyamarṣaṇaḿ

pracaṇḍa-vaktraḿ na babhāja kaścana

SYNONYMS

tataḥ — thereafter; sabhāyāmin the assembly house; upaviṣṭam — seated; uttame — on the best; nṛpa-āsane — throne (upon which King Hiraṇyakaśipu used to sit); sambhṛta-tejasamin full effulgence; vibhum — the Supreme Lord; alakṣita-dvairatham — whose challenger or enemy was not seen; ati — very much; amarṣaṇam — fearsome (due to His anger); pracaṇḍa — terrible; vaktram — face; na — not; babhāja — worshiped; kaścana — anyone.

TRANSLATION

Manifesting a full effulgence and a fearsome countenance, Lord Nṛsiḿha, being very angry and finding no contestant to face His power and opulence, then sat down in the assembly hall on the excellent throne of the king. Because of fear and obedience, no one could come forward to serve the Lord directly.

PURPORT

When the Lord sat on the throne of Hiraṇyakaśipu, there was no one to protest; no enemy came forward on behalf of Hiraṇyakaśipu to fight with the Lord. This means that His supremacy was immediately accepted by the demons. Another point is that although Hiraṇyakaśipu treated the Lord as his bitterest enemy, he was the Lord's faithful servant in Vaikuṇṭha, and therefore the Lord had no hesitation in sitting on the throne that Hiraṇyakaśipu had so laboriously created. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that sometimes, with great care and attention, great saintly persons and ṛṣis offer the Lord valuable seats dedicated with Vedic mantras and tantras, but still the Lord does not sit upon those thrones. Hiraṇyakaśipu, however, had formerly been Jaya, the doorkeeper at the Vaikuṇṭha gate, and although he had fallen because of the curse of the brāhmaṇas and had gotten the nature of a demon, and although he had never offered anything to the Lord as Hiraṇyakaśipu, the Lord is so affectionate to His devotee and servant that He nonetheless took pleasure in sitting on the throne that Hiraṇyakaśipu had created. In this regard it is to be understood that a devotee is fortunate in any condition of his life.

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