sva-nigamam apahÄya mat-pratijñÄm
ṛtam adhikartum avapluto ratha-sthaḥ
dhá¹›ta-ratha-caraṇo 'bhyayÄc calad-gur
harir iva hantum ibhaṠgatottarīyaḥ
sva-nigamam - His own promise not to take a weapon and fight on behalf of the PÄṇá¸avas; apahÄya - giving up; mat-pratijñÄm - my promise; á¹›tam - true; adhikartum - to make more; avaplutaḥ - having jumped down; ratha-sthaḥ - who was on the chariot (Lord Kṛṣṇa); dhá¹›ta - who took up; ratha-caraṇaḥ - the wheel of the chariot; abhyayÄt - ran forward; calat-guḥ - making the entire planet tremble; hariḥ - a lion; iva - like; hantum - to kill; ibham - an elephant; gata-uttarÄ«yaḥ - losing the outer garment.
“ ‘Intending to make my promise true, Lord Kṛṣṇa broke His own promise not to take up a weapon at Kurukṣetra. With His outer garment falling off, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa jumped from His chariot, picked up a wheel and came running at me to kill me. Indeed, He rushed at me like a lion going to kill an elephant, and He caused the whole earth to tremble.’
Lord Kṛṣṇa promised not to fight in the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra or even take up a weapon. But when BhÄ«á¹£ma wanted to keep his own promise to break the promise of the Lord, the Lord immediately got down from the chariot, and to make BhÄ«á¹£ma’s promise true He picked up a chariot wheel and rushed forward to kill him. This is a quotation from ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.9.37).
