FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.8.47

श्रीवत्साङ्कं घनश्यामं पुरुषं वनमालिनम् । शङ्खचक्रगदापद्मैरभिव्यक्तचतुर्भुजम् ॥ ४७ ॥
śrīvatsāṅkaṁ ghana-śyāmaṁ
[shreevatsaankam ghana-shyaamam]
puruṣaṁ vana-mālinam
[purusham vana-maalinam]
śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-padmair
[shankha-chakra-gadaa-padmair]
abhivyakta-caturbhujam
[abhivyakta-chaturbhujam]
Word-for-word
śrīvatsa-aṅkam — the mark of Śrīvatsa on the chest of the Lord ghana-śyāmam — deeply bluish puruṣam — the Supreme Person vana-mālinam — with a garland of flowers śaṅkha — conchshell cakra — wheel gadā — club padmaiḥ — lotus flower abhivyakta — manifested catuḥ-bhujam — four-handed.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
śrīvatsāṅkaṁ ghana-śyāmaṁ
śrīvatsa-aṅkam
the mark of Śrīvatsa on the chest of the Lord
ghana-śyāmam
deeply bluish
puruṣaṁ vana-mālinam
puruṣam
the Supreme Person
vana-mālinam
with a garland of flowers
śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-padmair
śaṅkha
conchshell
cakra
wheel
gadā
club
padmaiḥ
lotus flower
abhivyakta-caturbhujam
abhivyakta
manifested
catuḥ-bhujam
four-handed.
The Lord is further described as having the mark of Śrīvatsa, or the sitting place of the goddess of fortune, and His bodily hue is deep bluish. The Lord is a person, He wears a garland of flowers, and He is eternally manifest with four hands, which hold [beginning from the lower left hand] a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower.
Purport

Here in this verse the word puruṣam is very significant. The Lord is never female. He is always male ( puruṣa ). Therefore the impersonalist who imagines the Lord’s form as that of a woman is mistaken. The Lord appears in female form if necessary, but His perpetual form is puruṣa because He is originally male. The feminine feature of the Lord is displayed by goddesses of fortune — Lakṣmī, Rādhārāṇī, Sītā, etc. All these goddesses of fortune are servitors of the Lord; they are not the Supreme, as falsely imagined by the impersonalist. Lord Kṛṣṇa in His Nārāyaṇa feature is always four handed. On the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, when Arjuna wanted to see His universal form, He showed this feature of four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Some devotees are of the opinion that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, but the Bhāgavata school says that Nārāyaṇa is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
He is ornamented with the Śrīvatsa, has a dark complexion, and wears a garland. He shows four arms with conch, cakra, club and lotus.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
He bears the Śrīvatsa, is deep-blue, with four hands holding conch, disc, club and lotus. The Lord is always a Person — male, formed, definite — not a mood or an abstraction.
Reflection Questions
  • Where has my spirituality become a mood when it should be a relationship with a Person?
  • Which symbol — conch, disc, club, lotus — most speaks to my current need, and what is it telling me?
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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