निशम्य भीमगदितं द्रौपद्याश्च चतुर्भुजः ।
आलोक्य वदनं सख्युरिदमाह हसन्निव ॥५२॥

niÅ›amya bhÄ«ma-gaditaá¹
draupadyÄÅ› ca catur-bhujaḥ
Älokya vadanaá¹ sakhyur
idam Äha hasann iva

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

 niÅ›amya - just after hearing; bhÄ«ma - BhÄ«ma; gaditam - spoken by; draupadyÄḥ - of DraupadÄ«; ca - and; catuḥ-bhujaḥ - the four-handed (Personality of Godhead); Älokya - having seen; vadanam - the face; sakhyuḥ - of His friend; idam - this; Äha - said; hasan - smiling; iva - as it.


Text

Caturbhuja [the four-armed one], or the Personality of Godhead, after hearing the words of Bhīma, Draupadī and others, saw the face of His dear friend Arjuna, and He began to speak as if smiling.

Purport

Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa had two arms, and why He is designated as four-armed is explained by ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«. Both BhÄ«ma and DraupadÄ« held opposite views about killing AÅ›vatthÄmÄ. BhÄ«ma wanted him to be immediately killed, whereas DraupadÄ« wanted to save him. We can imagine BhÄ«ma ready to kill while DraupadÄ« is obstructing him. And in order to prevent both of them, the Lord discovered another two arms. Originally, the primeval Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa displays only two arms, but in His NÄrÄyaṇa feature He exhibits four. In His NÄrÄyaṇa feature He resides with His devotees in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, while in His original ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa feature He resides in the Kṛṣṇaloka planet far, far above the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky. Therefore, if ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa is called catur-bhujaḥ, there is no contradiction. If need be He can display hundreds of arms, as He exhibited in His viÅ›va-rÅ«pa shown to Arjuna. Therefore, one who can display hundreds and thousands of arms can also manifest four whenever needed.

When Arjuna was perplexed about what to do with AÅ›vatthÄmÄ, Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa, as the very dear friend of Arjuna, voluntarily took up the matter just to make a solution. And He was smiling also.