sa vai bhagavatÄ tena
yuyudhe svÄmÄ«nÄtmanaḥ
puruá¹£am prÄká¹›taá¹ matvÄ
kupito nÄnubhÄva-vit

 saḥ - he; vai - indeed; bhagavatÄ - with the Lord; tena - with Him; yuyudhe - fought; svÄmÄ«nÄ - master; Ätmanaḥ - his own; puruá¹£am - a person; prÄká¹›tam - mundane; matvÄ - thinking Him; kupitaḥ - angry; na - not; anubhÄva - of His position; vit - aware.


Text

Unaware of His true position and thinking Him an ordinary man, JÄmbavÄn angrily began fighting with the Supreme Lord, his master.

Purport

The words puruá¹£aá¹ prÄká¹›taá¹ matvÄ, “thinking Him a mundane person,†are very significant. So-called Vedic scholars, including most Western ones, enjoy translating the word puruá¹£am as “man†even when the word refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus their unauthorized translations of Vedic literature are tainted by their materialistic conceptions of the Godhead. However, here it is clearly stated that it was because JÄmbavÄn misunderstood the Lord’s position that he considered Him prÄká¹›ta-puruá¹£a, “a mundane person.†In other words, the Lord is actually puruá¹£ottama, “the ultimate transcendental person.â€