tam udvahan dharaṇi-dharendra-gauravaá¹
mahÄsuro vigata-rayo nijaá¹ vapuḥ
sa Ästhitaḥ puraá¹a-paricchado babhau
taá¸id-dyumÄn uá¸upati-vÄḠivÄmbudaḥ
tam - Him, Lord Baladeva; udvahan - carrying high; dharaṇi-dhara-indra - like the king of the mountains, Sumeru; gauravam - whose weight; mahÄ-asuraḥ - the great demon; vigata-rayaḥ - losing his momentum; nijam - his original; vapuḥ - body; saḥ - he; Ästhitaḥ - becoming situated in; puraá¹a - golden; paricchadaḥ - having ornaments; babhau - he shone; taá¸it - like lightning; dyu-mÄn - flashing; uá¸u-pati - the moon; vÄá¹ - carrying; iva - just as; ambu-daḥ - a cloud.
As the great demon carried BalarÄma, the Lord became as heavy as massive Mount Sumeru, and Pralamba had to slow down. He then resumed his actual form — an effulgent body that was covered with golden ornaments and that resembled a cloud flashing with lightning and carrying the moon.
Here the demon Pralamba is compared to a cloud, his golden ornaments to lightning within that cloud, and Lord BalarÄma to the moon shining through it. Great demons can assume various forms by exerting their mystic power, but when the Lord’s spiritual potency curtails their power, they can no longer maintain an artificial form and must again manifest their actual, demoniac body. Lord BalarÄma suddenly became as heavy as a great mountain, and although the demon tried to carry Him high on his shoulders, he could not go on.
