Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.9.2

sākṣāt śrīḥ preṣitā devair

dṛṣṭvā taḿ mahad adbhutam

adṛṣṭāśruta-pūrvatvāt

sā nopeyāya śańkitā

SYNONYMS

sākṣāt — directly; śrīḥ — the goddess of fortune; preṣitā — being requested to go forward before the Lord; devaiḥ — by all the demigods (headed by Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva); dṛṣṭvā — after seeing; tam — Him (Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva); mahat — very big; adbhutam — wonderful; adṛṣṭa — never seen; aśruta — never heard of; pūrvatvāt — due to being previously; sā — the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī; na — not; upeyāya — went before the Lord; śańkitā — being very much afraid.

TRANSLATION

The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmījī, was requested to go before the Lord by all the demigods present, who because of fear could not do so. But even she had never seen such a wonderful and extraordinary form of the Lord, and thus she could not approach Him.

PURPORT

The Lord has unlimited forms and bodily features (advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33]). These are all situated in Vaikuṇṭha, yet Lakṣmīdevī, the goddess of fortune, being inspired by līlā-śakti, could not appreciate this unprecedented form of the Lord. In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya recites the following verses from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa:

adṛṣṭāśruta-pūrvatvād

anyaiḥ sādhāraṇair janaiḥ

nṛsiḿhaḿ śańkiteva śrīr

loka-mohāyano yayau

prahrāde caiva vātsalya-

darśanāya harer api

jñātvā manas tathā brahmā

prahrādaḿ preṣayat tadā

ekatraikasya vātsalyaḿ

viśeṣād darśayed dhariḥ

avarasyāpi mohāya

krameṇaivāpi vatsalaḥ

In other words, for the common men the form of the Lord as Nṛsiḿhadeva is certainly unseen and wonderful, but for a devotee like Prahlāda Mahārāja such a fearsome form of the Lord is not at all extraordinary. By the grace of the Lord, a devotee can very easily understand how the Lord can appear in any form He likes. Therefore the devotee is never afraid of such a form. Because of special favor bestowed upon Prahlāda Mahārāja, he remained silent and unafraid, even though all the demigods, including even Lakṣmīdevī, were afraid of Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (Bhāg. 6.17.28). Not only is a pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa like Prahlāda Mahārāja unafraid of any dangerous condition of material life, but also if the Lord appears to mitigate the fear of a devotee, the devotee maintains his status of fearlessness in all circumstances.

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