आस्तेऽग्रणी रथिनां साधु साम्बः ।
असूत यं जाम्बवती व्रताढ्या
देवं गुहं योऽम्बिकया धृतोऽग्रे ॥३०॥
kaccid dhareḥ saumya sutaḥ sadṛkṣa
Äste 'graṇī rathinÄá¹ sÄdhu sÄmbaḥ
asÅ«ta yaá¹ jÄmbavatÄ« vratÄá¸hyÄ
devaá¹ guhaá¹ yo 'mbikayÄ dhá¹›to 'gre
kaccit - whether; hareḥ - of the Personality of Godhead; saumya - O grave one; sutaḥ - son; sadá¹›ká¹£aḥ - similar; Äste - fares well; agraṇīḥ - foremost; rathinÄm - of the warriors; sÄdhu - well behaved; sÄmbaḥ - SÄmba; asÅ«ta - gave birth; yam - whom; jÄmbavatÄ« - JÄmbavatÄ«, a queen of Lord Kṛṣṇa's; vratÄá¸hyÄ - enriched by vows; devam - the demigod; guham - of the name KÄrttikeya; yaḥ - whom; ambikayÄ - unto the wife of Åšiva; dhá¹›taḥ - born; agre - in the previous birth.
O gentle one, does SÄmba fare well? He exactly resembles the son of the Personality of Godhead. In a previous birth he was born as KÄrttikeya in the womb of the wife of Lord Åšiva, and now he has been born in the womb of JÄmbavatÄ«, the most enriched wife of Kṛṣṇa.
Lord Åšiva, one of the three qualitative incarnations of the Personality of Godhead, is the plenary expansion of the Lord. KÄrttikeya, born of him, is on the level of Pradyumna, another son of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa descends into the material world, all His plenary portions also appear with Him to exhibit different functions of the Lord. But for the pastimes at Vá¹›ndÄvana, all functions are performed by the Lord’s different plenary expansions. VÄsudeva is a plenary expansion of NÄrÄyaṇa. When the Lord appeared as VÄsudeva before DevakÄ« and Vasudeva, He appeared in His capacity as NÄrÄyaṇa. Similarly, all the demigods of the heavenly kingdom appeared as associates of the Lord in the forms of Pradyumna, SÄmba, Uddhava, etc. It is learned here that KÄmadeva appeared as Pradyumna, KÄrttikeya as SÄmba, and one of the Vasus as Uddhava. All of them served in their different capacities in order to enrich the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa.
