पाञà¥à¤šà¤œà¤¨à¥à¤¯à¤‚ हृषीकेशो देवदतà¥à¤¤à¤‚ धनञà¥à¤œà¤¯à¤ƒ ।
पौणà¥à¤¡à¥à¤°à¤‚ दधà¥à¤®à¥Œ महाशङà¥à¤–ं भीमकरà¥à¤®à¤¾ वृकोदरः ॥१५॥

pÄñcajanyaá¹ hṛṣīkeÅ›o
devadattaṠdhanañjayaḥ
pauṇá¸raá¹ dadhmau mahÄ-Å›aá¹…khaá¹
bhÄ«ma-karmÄ vá¹›kodaraḥ

1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LBG(1)

 pÄñcajanyam - the conchshell named PÄñcajanya; hṛṣīka-Ä«Å›aḥ - HṛṣīkeÅ›a (Kṛṣṇa, the Lord who directs the senses of the devotees); devadattam - the conchshell named Devadatta; dhanam-jayaḥ - Dhanañjaya (Arjuna, the winner of wealth); pauṇá¸ram - the conch named Pauṇá¸ra; dadhmau - blew; mahÄ-Å›aá¹…kham - the terrific conchshell; bhÄ«ma-karmÄ - one who performs herculean tasks; vá¹›ka-udaraḥ - the voracious eater (BhÄ«ma).


Text

Lord Kṛṣṇa blew His conchshell, called PÄñcajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and BhÄ«ma, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his terriï¬c conchshell, called Pauṇá¸ra.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as HṛṣīkeÅ›a in this verse because He is the owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and therefore the senses of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to describe all living entities as senseless, or impersonal. The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on the Battleï¬eld of Kuruká¹£etra the Lord directly controls the transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of HṛṣīkeÅ›a. The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is MadhusÅ«dana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is VÄsudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is DevakÄ«-nandana because He accepted DevakÄ« as His mother; His name is YaÅ›odÄ-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to YaÅ›odÄ at Vá¹›ndÄvana; His name is PÄrtha-sÄrathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is HṛṣīkeÅ›a because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battleï¬eld of Kuruká¹£etra.

Arjuna is referred to as Dhanañjaya in this verse because he helped his elder brother in fetching wealth when it was required by the king to make expenditures for different sacriï¬ces. Similarly, BhÄ«ma is known as Vá¹›kodara because he could eat as voraciously as he could perform herculean tasks, such as killing the demon Hiá¸imba. So the particular types of conchshell blown by the different personalities on the side of the PÄṇá¸avas, beginning with the Lord’s, were all very encouraging to the ï¬ghting soldiers. On the other side there were no such credits, nor the presence of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme director, nor that of the goddess of fortune. So they were predestined to lose the battle – and that was the message announced by the sounds of the conchshells.