स सत्त्वमेनं परितो विपश्यन्
स्तम्भस्य मध्यादनुनिर्जिहानम् ।
नायं मृगो नापि नरो विचित्र
महो किमेतन्नृमृगेन्द्ररूपम् ॥१८॥

sa sattvam enaṠparito vipaśyan
stambhasya madhyÄd anunirjihÄnam
nÄyaá¹ má¹›go nÄpi naro vicitram
aho kim etan nṛ-mṛgendra-rūpam

 saḥ - he (HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu, the King of the Daityas); sattvam - living being; enam - that; paritaḥ - all around; vipaÅ›yan - looking; stambhasya - of the pillar; madhyÄt - from the midst; anunirjihÄnam - having come out; na - not; ayam - this; má¹›gaḥ - animal; na - not; api - indeed; naraḥ - human being; vicitram - very wonderful; aho - alas; kim - what; etat - this; ná¹›-má¹›ga-indra-rÅ«pam - the form of both a man and the king of the beasts, the lion.


Text

While HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu looked all around to find the source of the sound, that wonderful form of the Lord, which could not be ascertained to be either a man or a lion, emerged from the pillar. In amazement, HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu wondered, “What is this creature that is half man and half lion?â€

Purport

A demon cannot calculate the unlimited potency of the Supreme Lord. As stated in the Vedas, parÄsya Å›aktir vividhaiva Å›rÅ«yate svÄbhÄvikÄ« jñÄna-bala-kriyÄ ca: the different potencies of the Lord are always working as an automatic exhibition of His knowledge. For a demon it is certainly wonderful that the form of a lion and the form of a man can be united, since a demon has no experience of the inconceivable power for which the Supreme Lord is called “all-powerful.†Demons cannot understand the omnipotence of the Lord. They simply compare the Lord to one of them (avajÄnanti mÄá¹ mÅ«á¸hÄ mÄnuṣīṠtanum ÄÅ›ritam). MÅ«á¸has, rascals, think that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary human being who appears for the benefit of other human beings. Paraá¹ bhÄvam ajÄnantaḥ: fools, rascals and demons cannot realize the supreme potency of the Lord, but He can do anything and everything; indeed, He can do whatever He likes. When HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu received benedictions from Lord BrahmÄ, he thought that he was safe, since he received the benediction that he would not be killed either by an animal or by a human being. He never thought that an animal and human being would be combined so that demons like him would be puzzled by such a form. This is the meaning of the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s omnipotence.