FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.51.29

మన్యే త్వాం దేవదేవానాం త్రయాణాం పురుషర్షభమ్ । యద్ బాధసే గుహాధ్వాన్తం ప్రదీప: ప్రభయా యథా ॥ ౨౯ ॥
manye tvāṁ deva-devānāṁ
[manye tvaam deva-devaanaam]
trayāṇāṁ puruṣarṣabham
[trayaanaam purusharshabham]
yad bādhase guhā-dhvāntaṁ
[yad baadhase guhaa-dhvaantam]
pradīpaḥ prabhayā yathā
[pradeepah prabhayaa yathaa]
manye — I consider tvām — You deva - devānām — of the chief of the demigods trayāṇām — three (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva) puruṣa — of the personalities ṛṣabham — the greatest yat — because bādhase — You drive away guha — of the cave dhvāntam — the darkness pradīpaḥ — a lamp prabhayā — with its light yathā — as .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
manye tvāṁ deva-devānāṁ
manye
I consider
tvām
You
deva - devānām
of the chief of the demigods
trayāṇāṁ puruṣarṣabham
trayāṇām
three (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva)
puruṣa
of the personalities
ṛṣabham
the greatest
yad bādhase guhā-dhvāntaṁ
yat
because
bādhase
You drive away
guha
of the cave
dhvāntam
the darkness
pradīpaḥ prabhayā yathā
pradīpaḥ
a lamp
prabhayā
with its light
yathā
as .
  • deva-devānām — of the chief gods
    Compound: deva + devānām (of the devas). The God-of-gods construction. Vaiṣṇava texts often telescope titles this way to point to Bhagavān as the deva-deva — the term Arjuna will use in Gītā 11.
  • trayāṇām — of the three
    Genitive plural — Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva. The trimurti is named only to be transcended; Mucukunda places this Person above all three, anticipating the chapter's monotheistic resolution.
  • puruṣa-ṛṣabham — the foremost of persons
    Compound: puruṣa (Person) + ṛṣabham (bull, foremost). The same ṛṣabha-epithet given to Bhagavān in verse 22. Personalist language throughout: not 'highest principle' but 'foremost Person.'
  • guha-dhvāntam — the darkness of the cave
    Compound: guha (cave) + dhvāntam (darkness). Mucukunda makes the inner cave a metaphor: this Person, by being present, dispels the cave-darkness like a lamp. Gauḍīyas read this as Bhagavān's first sevā to the bhakta — bringing light into the heart's guha.
  • pradīpaḥ — a lamp
    From pra-√dīp — to blaze. The first homely image Mucukunda uses for Kṛṣṇa. The Bhāgavata permits and encourages such everyday analogies; bhakti's idiom is intimate before it is exalted.
I think You are the Supreme Personality among the three chief gods, since You drive away the darkness of this cave as a lamp dispels darkness with its light.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that with His effulgence Lord Kṛṣṇa dispelled not only the darkness of the mountain cave but also the darkness in Mucukunda’s heart. In Sanskrit the heart is sometimes metaphorically referred to as guha, “cavern,” a deep and secret place.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
I think You are the Supreme Personality among the three chief gods, since You drive away the darkness of this cave as a lamp dispels darkness with its light.
Commentary

You illuminate the darkness of the cave with your lamp like effulgence, and you illuminate my mind covered in ignorance with jewel like knowledge.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

In this verse he concludes that the person must be superior to all those previously mentioned. Among the three you are in the category of Viṣṇu, but are the best of those forms (puruṣarṣabham) since you dispel darkness within and without the cave and the suffering within and without my heart (guhā), just as a lamp dispels darkness and suffering by its light. The example is used since light driving away darkness is experience by everyone. The example does not compare the Lord’s effulgence to that of a lamp.

Concepts
JivaPurusha

A traveler watching a single lamp brighten a whole cave and concluding: this is no torch, this is the sun in here. Mucukunda's grammar moves from candidates to a verdict — among the three principal Persons, this is the Highest.

📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 51