Canto 3: The Status QuoChapter 19: The Killing of the Demon Hiraṇyākṣa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.19.27

kṣitau śayānaḿ tam akuṇṭha-varcasaḿ

karāla-daḿṣṭraḿ paridaṣṭa-dacchadam

ajādayo vīkṣya śaśaḿsur āgatā

aho imaḿ ko nu labheta saḿsthitim

SYNONYMS

kṣitau — on the ground; śayānam — lying; tamHiraṇyākṣa; akuṇṭha — unfaded; varcasam — glow; karāla — fearful; daḿṣṭram — teeth; paridaṣṭa — bitten; dat-chadam — lip; aja-ādayaḥBrahmā and others; vīkṣya — having seen; śaśaḿsuḥ — admiringly said; āgatāḥ — arrived; aho — oh; imam — this; kaḥ — who; nu — indeed; labheta — could meet; saḿsthitim — death.

TRANSLATION

Aja [Brahmā] and others arrived on the spot to see the fearfully tusked demon lying on the ground, biting his lip. The glow of his face was yet unfaded, and Brahmā admiringly said: Oh, who could meet such blessed death?

PURPORT

Although the demon was dead, his bodily luster was unfaded. This is very peculiar because when a man or animal is dead, the body immediately becomes pale, the luster gradually fades, and decomposition takes place. But here, although Hiraṇyākṣa lay dead, his bodily luster was unfaded because the Lord, the Supreme Spirit, was touching his body. One's bodily luster remains fresh only as long as the spirit soul is present. Although the demon's soul had departed his body, the Supreme Spirit touched the body, and therefore his bodily luster did not fade. The individual soul is different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead when he quits his body is certainly very fortunate, and therefore personalities like Brahmā and the other demigods eulogized the death of the demon.

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