Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 18 Verse 29

Canto 5: The Creative Impetus | Chapter 18: The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.18.29

hiraṇmaye 'pi bhagavān nivasati kūrma-tanuḿ bibhrāṇas tasya tat priyatamāḿ tanum aryamā saha varṣa-puruṣaiḥ pitṛ-gaṇādhipatir upadhāvati mantram imaḿ cānujapati

SYNONYMS

hiraṇmaye — in Hiraṇmaya-varṣa; api — indeed; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; nivasati — resides; kūrma-tanum — the body of a tortoise; bibhrāṇaḥ — manifesting; tasya — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; tat — that; priya-tamām — dearmost; tanum — body; aryamā — Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa; saha — with; varṣa-puruṣaiḥ — the people of that tract of land; pitṛ-gaṇa-adhipatiḥ — who is the chief of the pitās; upadhāvati — worships in devotional service; mantram — hymn; imam — this; ca — also; anujapati — chants.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, lives in the form of a tortoise [kūrma-śarīra]. This most dear and beautiful form is always worshiped there in devotional service by Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, along with the other inhabitants of that land. They chant the following hymns.

PURPORT

The word priyatama (dearmost) is very significant in this verse. Each devotee regards a particular form of the Lord as most dear. Because of an atheistic mentality, some people think that the tortoise, boar and fish incarnations of the Lord are not very beautiful. They do not know that any form of the Lord is always the fully opulent Personality of Godhead. Since one of His opulences is infinite beauty, all the Lord's incarnations are very beautiful and are appreciated as such by devotees. Nondevotees, however, think that Lord Kṛṣṇa's incarnations are ordinary material creatures, and therefore they distinguish between the beautiful and the not beautiful. A certain form of the Lord is worshiped by a particular devotee because he loves to see that form of the Lord. As stated in Brahma-saḿhitā (5.33): advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaḿ purāṇa-puruṣaḿ nava-yauvanaḿ ca. The very beautiful form of the Lord is always youthful. Sincere servants of a particular form of the Lord always see that form as very beautiful, and thus they engage in constant devotional service to Him.

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