Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.17.35

apām upasthe mayi nāvy avasthitāḥ

prajā bhavān adya rirakṣiṣuḥ kila

sa vīra-mūrtiḥ samabhūd dharā-dharo

yo māḿ payasy ugra-śaro jighāḿsasi

SYNONYMS

apām — of the water; upasthe — situated on the surface; mayi — in me; nāvi — in a boat; avasthitāḥ — standing; prajāḥ — living entities; bhavān — Yourself; adya — now; rirakṣiṣuḥ — desiring to protect; kila — indeed; saḥ — He; vīra-mūrtiḥ — in the form of a great hero; samabhūt — became; dharā-dharaḥ — the protector of the planet earth; yaḥ — one who; mām — me; payasi — for the sake of milk; ugra-śaraḥ — with sharpened arrows; jighāḿsasi — you desire to kill.

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, in this way You once protected me by rescuing me from the water, and consequently Your name has been famous as Dharādhara — He who holds the planet earth. Yet at the present moment, in the form of a great hero, You are about to kill me with sharpened arrows. I am, however, just like a boat on the water, keeping everything afloat.

PURPORT

The Lord is known as Dharādhara, meaning, "He who keeps the planet earth on His tusks as the boar incarnation." Thus the planet earth in the shape of a cow is accounting the contradictory acts of the Lord. Although He once saved the earth, He now wants to upset the earth, which is like a boat on water. No one can understand the activities of the Lord. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, human beings sometimes think the Lord's activities contradictory.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness