sa vai bhagavatā tena
yuyudhe svāmīnātmanaḥ
puruṣam prākṛtaḿ matvā
kupito nānubhāva-vit
sah -- he; vai -- indeed; bhagavata -- with the Lord; tena -- with Him; yuyudhe -- fought; svamina -- master; atmanah -- his own; purusham -- a person; prakritam -- mundane; matva -- thinking Him; kupitah -- angry; na -- not; anubhava -- of His position; vit -- aware.
Unaware of His true position and thinking Him an ordinary man, Jambavan angrily began fighting with the Supreme Lord, his master.
The words purusham prakritam matva, "thinking Him a mundane person," are very significant. So-called Vedic scholars, including most Western ones, enjoy translating the word purusham as "man" even when the word refers to Lord Krishna, and thus their unauthorized translations of Vedic literature are tainted by their materialistic conceptions of the Godhead. However, here it is clearly stated that it was because Jambavan misunderstood the Lord's position that he considered Him prakrita-purusha, "a mundane person." In other words, the Lord is actually purushottama, "the ultimate transcendental person."
