Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Mukunda-mālā-stotra 50

kṣīra-sāgara-tarańga-śīkarā-

sāra-tārakita-cāru-mūrtaye

bhogi-bhoga-śayanīya-śāyine

mādhavāya madhu-vidviṣe namaḥ

SYNONYMS

kṣīra — of milk; sāgara — in the ocean; tarańga — from the waves; śīkara — of the spray; āsāra — by the shower; tārakita — bespeckled; cāru — charming; mūrtaye — whose form; bhogi — the serpent's (Lord Ananta Śeṣa's); bhoga — of the body; śayanīya — on the couch; śāyine — who lies; mādhavāya — to Lord Mādhava; madhu-vidviṣe — the antagonist of the demon Madhu; namaḥ — obeisances.

TRANSLATION

Obeisances to Lord Mādhava, enemy of the Madhu demon. His beautiful form, lying on the couch of the serpent Ananta, is speckled by the shower of spray from the milk ocean's waves.

PURPORT

This is a picturesque view of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa who inhabits the spiritual planet Śvetadvīpa. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.8.24) Śrīla Vyāsadeva also describes the beauty of Lord Viṣṇu as He lies in yoga-nidrā:

The luster of the transcendental body of the Lord mocked the beauty of the coral mountain. The coral mountain is very beautifully dressed by the evening sky, but the yellow dress of the Lord mocked its beauty. There is gold in the summit of the mountain, but the Lord's helmet, bedecked with jewels, mocked it. The mountain's waterfalls, herbs, etc., with a panorama of flowers, seem like garlands, but the Lord's gigantic body, and His hands and legs, decorated with jewels, pearls, tulasī leaves, and flower garlands, mocked the scene on the mountain.

King Kulaśekhara describes Lord Viṣṇu as the killer of Madhu. Although in the form of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu the Lord did not kill Madhu, there is no contradiction in addressing the Supreme Lord by any of His pastime names. As Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja points out in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.128-130, 132),

There is no difference between the incarnation and the source of all incarnations. Previously Lord Kṛṣṇa was regarded in the light of different principles by different people. Some said that Kṛṣṇa was directly Lord Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and some called Him Lord Vāmanadeva incarnate. Some called Lord Kṛṣṇa an incarnation of Lord Kṣīrodakaśāyī. All these names are true.... In whatever form one knows the Lord, one speaks of Him in that way. In this there is no falsity, since everything is possible in Kṛṣṇa.

The Kṣīrodakaśāyī form of Lord Viṣṇu is very rarely seen, even by advanced devotees. Sometimes when there is a crisis in universal management, Lord Brahmā goes to Śvetadvīpa to consult with Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Brahmā sits on the bank of the milk ocean and chants the Puruṣa-sūkta prayers. In meditation, he then hears instructions from the Lord.

The shower of spray from the milk ocean speckling the Lord's form mocks the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth. The source of all incarnations is not an impersonal effulgence but the transcendental Lord Himself, the Supreme Person. King Kulaśekhara does not manufacture images but strictly follows the Vedic descriptions of the Lord of Śvetadvīpa.

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