Chapter 18

Verse 9 (SB 3.18.9)

SB 3.18.9 • मूल श्लोक

परानुषक्तं तपनीयोपकल्पं महागदं काञ्चनचित्रदंशम् । मर्माण्यभीक्ष्णं प्रतुदन्तं दुरुक्तै: प्रचण्डमन्यु: प्रहसंस्तं बभाषे ॥ ९ ॥

Transliteration

parānuṣaktaṁ tapanīyopakalpaṁ mahā-gadaṁ kāñcana-citra-daṁśam marmāṇy abhīkṣṇaṁ pratudantaṁ duruktaiḥ pracaṇḍa-manyuḥ prahasaṁs taṁ babhāṣe

Synonyms (Word-for-Word)

parā — from behind; anuṣaktam — who followed very closely; tapanīya-upakalpam — who had a considerable amount of gold ornaments; mahā-gadam — with a great mace; kāñcana — golden; citra — beautiful; daṁśam — armor; marmāṇi — the core of the heart; abhīkṣṇam — constantly; pratudantam — piercing; duruktaiḥ — by abusive words; pracaṇḍa — terrible; manyuḥ — anger; prahasan — laughing; tam — to him; babhāṣe — He said.

Translation

“The demon, who had a wealth of ornaments, bangles and beautiful golden armor on his body, chased the Lord from behind with a great mace. The Lord tolerated his piercing ill words, but in order to reply to him, He expressed His terrible anger.”

Bhaktivedanta Purport

By Śrīla Prabhupāda

The Lord could have chastised the demon immediately while the demon was deriding the Lord with ill words, but the Lord tolerated him to please the demigods and to show that they should not be afraid of demons while discharging their duties. Therefore His toleration was displayed mainly to drive away the fears of the demigods, who should know that the Lord is always present to protect them. The demon’s derision of the Lord was just like the barking of dogs; the Lord did not care about it, since He was doing His own work in delivering the earth from the midst of the water. Materialistic demons always possess large amounts of gold in various shapes, and they think that a large amount of gold, physical strength and popularity can save them from the wrath of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.