sÄká¹£Ät Å›rīḥ preá¹£itÄ devair
dṛṣá¹vÄ taá¹ mahad adbhutam
adṛṣá¹ÄÅ›ruta-pÅ«rvatvÄt
sÄ nopeyÄya Å›aá¹…kitÄ
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); dṛṣá¹vÄ - after seeing; tam - Him (Lord Ná¹›siá¹hadeva); mahat - very big; adbhutam - wonderful; adṛṣá¹a - never seen; aÅ›ruta - never heard of; pÅ«rvatvÄt - due to being previously; sÄ - the goddess of fortune, Laká¹£mÄ«; na - not; upeyÄya - went before the Lord; Å›aá¹…kitÄ - being very much afraid.
The Lord has unlimited forms and bodily features (advaitam acyutam anÄdim ananta-rÅ«pam). These are all situated in Vaikuṇá¹ha, 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:
adṛṣá¹ÄÅ›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.