साक्षात् श्रीः प्रेषिता देवैर्दृष्ट्वा तं महदद्भुतम् ।
अदृष्टाश्रुतपूर्वत्वात् सा नोपेयाय शङ्किता ॥२॥

sÄká¹£Ät Å›rīḥ preá¹£itÄ devair
dṛṣṭvÄ taá¹ mahad adbhutam
adṛṣṭÄÅ›ruta-pÅ«rvatvÄt
sÄ nopeyÄya Å›aá¹…kitÄ

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

 sÄká¹£Ät - directly; Å›rīḥ - the goddess of fortune; preá¹£itÄ - being requested to go forward before the Lord; devaiḥ - by all the demigods (headed by Lord BrahmÄ and Lord Åšiva); dṛṣṭvÄ - after seeing; tam - Him (Lord Ná¹›siá¹hadeva); mahat - very big; adbhutam - wonderful; adṛṣṭa - never seen; aÅ›ruta - never heard of; pÅ«rvatvÄt - due to being previously;  - the goddess of fortune, Laká¹£mÄ«; na - not; upeyÄya - went before the Lord; Å›aá¹…kitÄ - being very much afraid.


Text

The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmījī, was requested to go before the Lord by all the demigods present, who because of fear could not do so. But even she had never seen such a wonderful and extraordinary form of the Lord, and thus she could not approach Him.

Purport

The Lord has unlimited forms and bodily features (advaitam acyutam anÄdim ananta-rÅ«pam). These are all situated in Vaikuṇṭha, yet Laká¹£mÄ«devÄ«, the goddess of fortune, being inspired by lÄ«lÄ-Å›akti, could not appreciate this unprecedented form of the Lord. In this regard, ÅšrÄ«la MadhvÄcÄrya recites the following verses from the BrahmÄṇá¸a PurÄṇa:

adṛṣṭÄÅ›ruta-pÅ«rvatvÄd
 anyaiḥ sÄdhÄraṇair janaiḥ
ná¹›siá¹haá¹ Å›aá¹…kiteva Å›rÄ«r
 loka-mohÄyano yayau
prahrÄde caiva vÄtsalya-
 darÅ›anÄya harer api
jñÄtvÄ manas tathÄ brahmÄ
 prahrÄdaá¹ preá¹£ayat tadÄ
ekatraikasya vÄtsalyaá¹
 viÅ›eá¹£Äd darÅ›ayed dhariḥ
avarasyÄpi mohÄya
 krameṇaivÄpi vatsalaḥ

In other words, for the common men the form of the Lord as Ná¹›siá¹hadeva is certainly unseen and wonderful, but for a devotee like PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja such a fearsome form of the Lord is not at all extraordinary. By the grace of the Lord, a devotee can very easily understand how the Lord can appear in any form He likes. Therefore the devotee is never afraid of such a form. Because of special favor bestowed upon PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja, he remained silent and unafraid, even though all the demigods, including even Laká¹£mÄ«devÄ«, were afraid of Lord Ná¹›siá¹hadeva. NÄrÄyaṇa-parÄḥ sarve na kutaÅ›cana bibhyati (BhÄg. 6.17.28). Not only is a pure devotee of NÄrÄyaṇa like PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja unafraid of any dangerous condition of material life, but also if the Lord appears in order to mitigate the fear of a devotee, the devotee maintains his status of fearlessness in all circumstances.