Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.51.28
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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tejasvinām-tejaḥ
—
the potency of the potent
Phrase: tejasvinām (of the powerful) + tejaḥ (the potency). Mucukunda's first guess is the most accurate — Gītā 7.10 and 10.36: Kṛṣṇa is the tejas of the tejasvī. Even the demigod-list that follows is implicitly subordinated to this opening line.
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vibhāvasuḥ
—
the fire-god
Agni's epithet — 'whose treasure is light.' The first demigod-candidate the kṣatriya names. Mucukunda has spent his life among devas; his vocabulary is Vedic-deva-rich. The chapter will move him from deva-knowledge to bhāgavata-knowledge.
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sūryaḥ
—
the sun-god
His own Ikṣvāku-dynasty's progenitor (sūrya-vaṁśa). Mucukunda's guess names his own forefather — a poignant detail. He cannot yet imagine that the Person before him is the source of even sūrya.
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somaḥ
—
the moon-god
Soma is the deva of the night sky and of Vedic ritual offering. Pairing sūrya and soma covers the major luminaries. The verse runs through the obvious bright candidates before Mucukunda finally lands on Viṣṇu in verse 29.
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loka-pālaḥ
—
ruler of a planet
Compound: loka (planet, world) + pālaḥ (protector). The general office Mucukunda once helped fill — protectors of svarga. Even his guesses are colored by his sevā-history.
Svit indicates conjecture. Perhaps he is the condensed personality of all effulgence. But this cannot be, because light is meager compared to his effulgence. Śrīdhara Svāmī says tejas means a form of power or light. Tejas cannot refer to form. Viśva-prakāśa says tejas means strength, light, source of light, heroism, influence or semen. There is a version with tejo-mūrtiḥ or tejo-mūrtaḥ. This is a portion of the element tejas. Therefore he is vibhūti of the Lord, the god of the element tejas. But the form here is greater than the god of fire which is much smaller. Perhaps this form is the sun god. But the sun does not remove suffering and give bliss. Perhaps this form is the moon god. But it is also not the moon god. Because of its power it must be Indra. But though Indra is king of the devatās he does not reside everywhere. Perhaps this form is one of the deities of the directions? The word vā indicates a side glance (doubt).
Are you power? If so that power must have a form. Are you the lord of fire? Fire is called bhagavān because of possessing all powers as the vibhūti of bhagavān. The same should be understood in the other statements. Perhaps you are someone else—Brahmā or Śiva.
- Where do you keep guessing 'demigod' when the truth is the Supreme?
- What if your highest guess about an unexpected helper is still too low?
Mucukunda probes — fire-god? sun-god? Indra? — like a man holding a lantern up to a face he half-recognizes. The verse is the bhakta's hesitation before recognition, a hesitation the rubric of Vaiṣṇava theology will soon resolve.
My note
Source: vedabase.io