33 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! Desiring to give up his body, considering death in the battle preferable to victory, Vṛtrāsura took up his trident and attacked Lord Indra, just as Kaiṭabha had attacked the Lord when the universe was inundated.
Then Vṛtrāsura, the king of the demons, whirling his trident, which had sharp tongues of flame from the fire of devastation, threw it with great force at Indra. He roared, "O sinful one, you have been killed!"
Jihvā means flame. Āvidhya means he whirled it about.
Fearlessly, Indra, seeing the trident, unbearable to behold, rotating in the sky and approaching him like a comet, destroyed it with his thunderbolt made of a hundred bones and also cut off one of Vṛtrāsuras snake-like arms.
Āpatat means coming towards him.
Although one of his arms was severed from his body, Vṛtrāsura angrily approached King Indra who was holding his thunderbolt and struck him on the edge of his cheek with an iron mace. He also struck the elephant that carried Indra. Thus Indra dropped the thunderbolt from his hand.
Hanau means on the edge of his cheek.
The devatās, demons, Cāraṇas and Siddhas, praised Vṛtrāsura's astonishing deed, but seeing Indras danger, they greatly lamented, "Alas! Alas!"
Puruhūta is Indra.
Ashamed, Indra did not retrieve the thunderbolt which had fallen from his hand in the presence of his enemy. Vṛtrāsura spoke again, "O Indra! Take up your thunderbolt and kill your enemy. This is not the time for lamentation."
Persons desiring to fight with weapons but who are not dependent on the Lord, who are devoid of the one eternal, omniscient Lord who is controller of creation, maintenance and destruction, do not have continuous victory against enemies, or even victory against one person.
For those holding weapons, there is never victory at any time against enemies, or even against one enemy (ekatra). Though you are always victorious over the demons you are not victorious over me. This is because people like you are not dependent on the Lord but on someone else (parātmanām). But the Lord is always victorious. You cannot always have victory like Arjuna, who was completely dependent on the Lord.
Time, under whose control all planets and their devatās operate helplessly, like birds caught in a net, is the cause of your victory or defeat.
Time, operating according to good or bad karmas, is the cause of defeat or victory for you, who are dependent on karma. Time, under whose control all persons move, like birds caught in a net (śicā), is the cause.
Not knowing that time is the cause of strength of the senses, mind, body, the life airs, immortality and death, people think that the inert body is the cause of their success.
Not knowing that time is the cause of strength of senses, mind and other factors, people think that the body, which is unconscious, is the cause.
O Indra! Know that just as a wooden doll of a woman or an animal made of grass is under the control of a puppeteer, all beings are under the control of the Lord.
The controller of time is the Supreme Lord, the cause of all causes. Two examples are given. Īśa-tantrāṇi means dependent on the Lord.
Without the mercy for the Lord, the puruṣa (Māhāviṣṇu), prakṛti, mahat-tattva, the false ego, the five material elements, the material senses, the mind, the intelligence and citta cannot create the material manifestation.
Māhāviṣṇu, the creator of mahat-tattva, or his expansions, cannot carry out the creation alone, what to speak of prakṛti and the elements. Vyaktam means mahat-tattva. Ātmā means ahaḍkāra. Without the Lords mercy, they cannot create, maintain and destroy the universe. One should not say Why does the puruṣa also depend on your mercy? Even parabrahman is dependent on his mercy.
madīyaṁ mahimānañca parabrahmeti śabditam.
vetsyasyanugṛhītaṁ me saṁpraśnairvivṛtaṁ hṛdi
By my mercy, you will realize my power known as the impersonal Brahman, which will be disclosed in your heart through questions and answers. SB 8.24.38
In ignorance of the Lord, the jīva thinks that he himself is the Lord, but the Lord creates and destroys all beings by other jīvas.
Well, the Mīmāṁśakas say that the jīva is the cause of creation by his own actions. The jīva thinks he (anīśvaram) is the Lord (ātmānam). But it is seen that the Pitṛs and others are creators, and tigers are destroyers. No, the Lord creates and destroys through these living entities.
The blessings of long life, wealth, fame and power for man arise according to a favorable time. Similarly, the opposites arise according to time, for the unwilling person.
There is no worry that you will be victorious over me, since you have defeated me. Why do you fight me with force? Long life, wealth, fame and power appear according to the time favorable for these things. Now is the time for your victory. You will be victorious. The opposites are death, poverty, infamy, and weakness.
Therefore, one should think equally of infamy and fame, victory and defeat, happiness and distress, death and life.
Samaḥ means thinking of them as equal. Sukha-duḥkhabhyām should be sukha-duḥkhayoḥ.
One who knows that the guṇas of prakṛti, sattva, rajas and tamas are not the qualities of the soul and who knows that the soul is the observer is not bound by saṁsāra.
Victory and defeat are the products of the guṇas alone. The soul is beyond the guṇas. If one can discriminate in this way, then one does not rejoice or lament. Badhyate means one is not bound by saṁsāra.
O enemy! Look at me, defeated, with weapon and arm cut off in battle, still trying to kill you.
I am a good example for you (since I do not rejoice or lament in my pitiable condition.)
Consider this battle a gambling match in which our lives are the stakes, the arrows are the dice, and the animals acting as carriers are the game board. No one can understand who will be defeated and who will be victorious.
This battle is a gambling match. It is impossible for gamblers to give up this game, though they may find faults in it. Life is the stake. The arrows are the dice. The carriers like elephants are the game board.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Hearing the straightforward words of Vṛtrāsura, Indra praised him and again taking up the thunderbolt, without amazement, smiled and spoke to him.
Oh! How can a demon have such devotion, knowledge and detachment? First he was surprised, and had no smile. Then, remembering Prahlāda, Bali and others, he thought, Bhakti millions of times greater than ours is possible in even the demons. Thus he is amazement disappeared. He became joyful and then smiled.
O demon! You, possessing such discrimination, have achieved perfection. You serve the Lord of the universe, the friend of all beings, with complete concentration.
Bhaktaḥ means you serve.
You have crossed the illusory energy of Lord Viṣṇu, and because of this you have given up the demoniac mentality and have attained the position of an exalted devotee.
It is astonishing that although you are a demon under the influence of rajas, you have fixed your mind firmly on the Supreme Lord Vāsudeva, who is the very form of śuddha-sattva.
Again Indra became astonished. How did you, with the nature of rajas, develop fixed bhakti. Such bhakti should only arise when rajas is destroyed by the great mercy of devotees like Nārada in persons like Prahlāda. Sattvātmani means a form of śuddha-sattva.
A person who has bhakti to the Supreme Lord, Hari, the Lord of the highest auspiciousness, swims in the ocean of nectar. For him what use is Svarga, which is like the water in small ditches?
It is understandable that you are indifferent to the enjoyment of Svarga. Khātodakaiḥ means water in ditches. Svarga is similar to that for you. But for us, without bhakti, it is bliss.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! Vṛtrāsura and Indra, great fighters with great power, speaking with a desire to understand dharma, and then again began fighting.
O respectable one! Vṛtrāsura, who was completely able to subdue his enemy, took his iron club, whirled it around, and then threw it at Indra with his left hand.
Āvidhya means whirling it around. Māriṣa means Respectable one!
With his thunderbolt made of Dadhīcis bones, Indra simultaneously cut to pieces Vṛtrāsura's club and his remaining hand, which resembled an elephants trunk.
Vṛtrāsura, bleeding profusely, his two arms cut off at their roots, looked like a fallen mountain whose wings have been cut to pieces by Indra.
Gotraḥ means mountain.
nabho-gambhīra-vaktreṇa leliholbaṇa-jihvayā daṁṣṭrābhiḥ kāla-kalpābhir grasann iva jagat-trayam atimātra-mahā-kāya ākṣipaṁs tarasā girīn giri-rāṭ pāda-cārīva padbhyāṁ nirjarayan mahīm jagrāsa sa samāsādya vajriṇaṁ saha-vāhanam
Vṛtrāsura, very powerful and courageous, placed his lower jaw on the ground and his upper jaw in the sky. With a mouth deep like the sky, with a fearsome, snake-like tongue, with deadly teeth, he seemed to devour the entire universe. Thus assuming a gigantic body, the great demon Vṛtrāsura, shaking the mountains, crushing the earth with his legs as if he were the Himalayas walking about, came before Indra and swallowed him and Airāvata, his carrier, just as a big python might swallow an elephant.
With a mouth like the sky, with a fearsome tongue like a snake, crushing the earth with his feet, he quickly swallowed Indra.
When the devatās, along with Brahmā, other prajāpatis and great sages saw that Indra had been swallowed by the demon, they became dispirited and cried Ah! What misfortune!
Protected by the Nārāyaṇa-kavaca and by his own mystic power, Indra, although swallowed by Vṛtrāsura, did not die within the demon's belly.
Protected by the Nārāyaṇa-kavaca (mahā-puruṣeṇa) and his power gained through aṣṭāḍga-yoga, he did not die. He remained invisible (māyā) in the form of air by the power of invisibility.
Powerful Indra, killer of Bala, piercing Vṛtrāsura's abdomen with his thunderbolt, emerged from his body and with great force cut off his head, as if cutting the top off a mountain.
Uccakarta means he cut off.
Although the thunderbolt revolved around and cut Vṛtrāsura's neck with great speed, his head fell of only after the time it took the sun, moon and other luminaries to complete a northern and southern journey, at a time suitable for killing him.
Although the thunderbolt moved quickly and cut all around his neck--not just in one place, since it was very tough--the head, after being cut off, fell to the ground only after a year, after the planets moved through the northern and southern courses. Vārtra-hatye means at a time suitable for slaying Vṛtrāsura. Or the suffix ya on hatye may be derived from daṇòādibhyo yaḥ (Pāṇini 5.1.66). It is added to the words with the meaning deserving. Thus the phrase then means deserving to kill Vṛtrāsura, or for the purpose of killing him.
When Vṛtrāsura was killed, the Gandharvas and Siddhas in the heavenly planets beat kettledrums. They praised Indra with mantras about Indras victory and the glorious death of Vṛtrāsura and showered flowers upon him in jubilation.
They praised Indra with mantras for his victory in battle and the glorious death of Vṛtrāsura.
O King Parīkṣit, subduer of enemies! As all the devatās watched his spiritual body become separate from the body of Vṛtrāsura, he achieved the spiritual abode of Saḍkarṣaṇa.
When Vṛtrāsura swallowed Indra and his elephant, he thought There is no one else to kill me. Why do I not give up my body by the power of yoga and quickly go to the side of the Lord? He then entered into samādhi. At that moment Indra tore open the abdomen of Vṛtrāsura who was unconscious, came out, and cut his head off. This should be understood from the comparison of cutting off a mountain peak. His manifested spiritual body (ātmā-jyotiḥ) became separated from his gross body and then attained the Vaikuṇṭha of Saḍkarṣaṇa beyond the material world (ālokam).
Thus ends the commentary on the Twelfth Chapter of the Sixth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
The Twelfth Chapter describes how Indra, discouraged by Vṛtrāsuras prowess, becomes enlightened by him and after praising him, kills him.
Vṛtrāsura prepared for battle again, thinking, Bewildered about what to do, he will not kill me. Therefore, showing him my prowess, he will become determined and angry. He will then quickly kill me. Apsu refers to the water of devastation.