विसर्पदुत्सर्पदसह्यमप्रति ।
भीताः प्रजा दुद्रुवुरङ्ग सेश्वरा
अरक्ष्यमाणाः शरणं सदाशिवम् ॥१९॥
tad ugra-vegaṠdiśi diśy upary adho
visarpad utsarpad asahyam aprati
bhÄ«tÄḥ prajÄ dudruvur aá¹…ga seÅ›varÄ
araká¹£yamÄṇÄḥ Å›araṇaá¹ sadÄÅ›ivam
tat - that; ugra-vegam - very fierce and potent poison; diÅ›i diÅ›i - in all directions; upari - upward; adhaḥ - downward; visarpat - curling; utsarpat - going upward; asahyam - unbearable; aprati - uncontrollable; bhÄ«tÄḥ - being very much afraid; prajÄḥ - the residents of all the worlds; dudruvuḥ - moved here and there; aá¹…ga - O MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it; sa-Ä«Å›varÄḥ - with the Supreme Lord; araká¹£yamÄṇÄḥ - not being protected; Å›araṇam - shelter; sadÄÅ›ivam - unto the lotus feet of Lord Åšiva.
O King, when that uncontrollable poison was forcefully spreading up and down in all directions, all the demigods, along with the Lord Himself, approached Lord Åšiva [SadÄÅ›iva]. Feeling unsheltered and very much afraid, they sought shelter of him.
One may question that since the Supreme Personality of Godhead was personally present, why did He accompany all the demigods and people in general to take shelter of Lord SadÄÅ›iva instead of intervening Himself. In this connection ÅšrÄ«la MadhvÄcÄrya warns:
rudrasya yaÅ›aso ’rthÄya
svayaṠviṣṇur viṣaṠvibhuḥ
na sañjahre samartho ’pi
vÄyuá¹ coce praÅ›Äntaye
Lord Viṣṇu was competent to rectify the situation, but in order to give credit to Lord Śiva, who later drank all the poison and kept it in his neck, Lord Viṣṇu did not take action.
