BHAGAVAD-GITA 1:15

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 1:15

 

pancajanyam hrsikeso

devadattam dhananjayah

paundram dadhmau maha-sankham

bhima-karma vrkodarah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

pancajanyam--the conchshell named Pancajanya; hrsika-isah--Hrsikesa

(Krsna, the Lord who directs the senses of the devotees);

devadattam--the conchshell named Devadatta; dhanam-jayah--Dhananjaya

(Arjuna, the winner of wealth); paundram--the conch named Paundra;

dadhmau--blew; maha-sankham--the terrific conchshell; bhima-karma--one

who performs herculean tasks; vrka-udarah--the voracious eater

(Bhima).

 

TRANSLATION

 

Lord Krsna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his,

the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of

herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Paundra.

 

PURPORT

 

Lord Krsna is referred to as Hrsikesa in this verse because He is the

owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him,

and therefore the senses of the living entities are also part and

parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses

of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to

describe all living entities as sense-less, or impersonal. The Lord,

situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses.

But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in

the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on

the Battlefield of Kuruksetra the Lord directly controls the

transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of

Hrsikesa. The Lord has different names according to His different

activities. For example, His name is Madhusudana because He killed the

demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure

to the cows and to the senses; His name is Vasudeva because He

appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is Devaki-nandana because He

accepted Devaki as His mother; His name is Yasoda-nandana because He

awarded His childhood pastimes to Yasoda at Vrndavana; His name is

Partha-sarathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna.

Similarly, His name is Hrsikesa because He gave direction to Arjuna on

the Battlefield of Kuruksetra.

 

Arjuna is referred to as Dhananjaya in this verse because he helped

his elder brother in fetching wealth when it was required by the king

to make expenditures for different sacrifices. Similarly, Bhima is

known as Vrkodara because he could eat as voraciously as he could

perform herculean tasks, such as killing the demon Hidimba. So the

particular types of conchshell blown by the different personalities on

the side of the Pandavas, beginning with the Lord's, were all very

encouraging to the fighting soldiers. On the other side there were no

such credits, nor the presence of Lord Krsna, the supreme director,

nor that of the goddess of fortune. So they were predestined to lose

the battle--and that was the message announced by the sounds of the

conchshells.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.