27 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! After Aditi was thus advised by her husband, Kaśyapa, she performed the payo-vrata without laziness.
manaś caikāgrayā buddhyā bhagavaty akhilātmani vāsudeve samādhāya cacāra ha payo-vratam
Thinking of the Lord with concentrated intelligence, controlling the senses which are like horses with the reins of the mind, along with the intelligence and the driver, she performed the payo-vrata, offering the mind to the Vāsudeva, the soul of all beings, with fixed intelligence.
She controlled the senses, like horses, by her mind, which were the reins. It has already been said mano rasmir buddhi-sūtaḥ: the mind is the reins and intelligence is the driver. (SB 4.29.19) She offered the mind, controlled by concentrated intelligence, to Vāsudeva.
My dear King! The Supreme Lord, the original person, dressed in yellow garments and bearing a conch, disc, club and lotus in his four hands, then appeared before Aditi.
Seeing the Supreme Lord, Aditi, overwhelmed by bliss, stood up and then fell to the ground like a rod to offer the Lord her respectful obeisances.
Aditi stood silently with folded hands, unable to offer prayers to the Lord. Tears filled her eyes, the hairs on her body stood on end, and her body trembled.
O Mahārāja Parīkṣit! Aditi then began offering her prayers to the Supreme Lord in a faltering voice with great love. She appeared as though drinking through her eyes the Supreme Lord, who is the husband of the goddess of fortune, the enjoyer of all sacrificial ceremonies, and the master of the universe.
She looked so intently at the Lord that it seemed she was drinking him with her eyes. She saw the Lord as the husband of Lakṣmī: the Lord could give all wealth to her sons. She saw the Lord as the master of sacrifice, who had appeared because of her vow, which was the essence of all sacrifice. She saw him as the master of the world: by his appearance he would deliver the world.
Aditi said: O master of sacrifice! Personification of sacrifice! O infallible! Place of pilgrimage! O complete fame! Lord whose name is auspicious to hear! Lord who appears to relive the people of suffering! O original Lord! You are the shelter of the wretched. Please bestow good fortune to us.
O master of sacrifice, you have given the result of sacrifice by my performance of this vow. O personification of sacrifice, you were worshipped at the time of my birth (but now the demons have stopped the worship.) O infallible lord, destroy the fall of your devotee Indra. O source of holy places, your lotus feet will produce the holy Gaḍgā. O most famous one, you will be famous for cheating Bali. You will have names such as Trivikrama and Upendra, blissful to the ears. You are the avatāra who will relieve suffering people like me. These names with great meaning spontaneously flowed from Aditis mouth.
I offer respects to you, who are the universe, and its creation, maintenance and destruction, who accept the material guṇas. I offer respects to you, the great one, situated in your devotees, who are eternally filled with complete knowledge and devoid of ignorance.
Having understood your powers, I surrender to you. Sva-sthāya means unto you who are situated in your devotees. You are eternally devoid of ignorance in yourself, because of possessing full knowledge eternally.
O unlimited Lord! From satisfying you are produced long life, desirable body, unequalled wealth, the upper, middle and lower planets, all powers of yoga, artha, dharma, kāma, spiritual knowledge, what to speak of conquering enemies and other benedictions.
You will certainly fulfill my desire. This is expressed through kaimutya-nyāya. Another version has dyo-bhū-rasāḥ not as a compound. Yoga-guṇāḥ means the mystic powers such as aṇima.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! Best of the Bharata dynasty! When the lotus-eyed Lord, the antaryāmī of all living entities, was thus worshiped by Aditi, he replied as follows.
Kṣetra-jñaḥ means antaryāmī.
The Supreme Lord said: O mother of the devatās! I have understood your long-cherished desire for benefiting the devatās, who have lost their wealth and have been driven from their residence by their enemies.
The Lord indicates her bhakti mixed with material desire. I know about your long-held desire for the devatās who have been expelled from their homes.
You desire to be established along with your sons by the wealth regained through victory, after defeating the proud demons in battle.
You desire to be firmly situated (upāsitum) with your sons in the kingdom. Or, you desire to worship me along with your sons, but not with complete dedication.
Having attained the kingdom, you want to see the aggrieved wives of the demons lamenting for their husbands who will killed in battle by your sons, of whom Indra is the chief.
Āsādya means having attained your kingdom.
You want to see your sons flourishing and enjoying, having regained their reputation and wealth after being situated in Svarga.
O Devī! In my opinion almost all the chiefs of the demons are now unconquerable, for they are being protected by capable, favorable brāhmaṇas. Thus the use of power against them will not at all be a source of happiness at this time.
Anukūleśvara-vipra-gupṭā means protected by capable, favorable brāhmaṇas.
Since I am pleased by your vow, I am thinking of some means. Worship of me according to ones faith should never go in vain because it should give a result.
My worship should not become otherwise because the worship is the highest cause of giving results.
You have praised and worshiped me properly by performing the payo-vrata for the sake of protecting your sons. Situated in Kaśyapa Muni's austerities, becoming your son by my portion, I shall protect your other sons.
Situated in the austerity of Kaśyapa, I will become your son.
O gracious woman! While always thinking of me dwelling within your husband, worship your husband who has been purified by his austerity.
O lady! Even if someone inquires, you should not disclose this fact to anyone. Secret things known only to the devatās become successful.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After speaking in this way, the Lord disappeared. Aditi, having received the rare benediction that the Lord would appear within her, considered herself very successful, and with great devotion she approached her husband.
Kṛta-kṛtyavat means successful.
Kaśyapa, whose knowledge is always true, understood by absorption in samādhi that a portion of the Lord had entered within him.
Avitathekṣaṇaḥ means whose knowledge is not futile.
O King! As the wind gives rise to fire in wood, Kaśyapa Muni, absorbed in the form of the Lord, transferred the potent form of the Lord, held within him for a long time by his austerity, to Aditi.
Vīryam here means the energy of the Lords form. Kaśyapa was concentrating on the form of the Lord (samāhita-manā). Just as wind reveals fire situated invisibly in wood in a visible form by creating friction between two trees, Kaśyapa fixed the form of the Lord which was within his mind in Aditis womb by the contact of their bodies. Just as fire is not a portion of wood or wind, so the body of the Lord is not a portion of Kaśyapa or Aditi. This explanation negates the idea that the Lords body is made of semen and blood.
When Lord Brahmā understood that the eternal Supreme Lord was now within the womb of Aditi, he offered prayers to the Lord by reciting confidential names of the Lord.
Dhiṣṭhitam means situated. Brahma, in the guise of reciting names in praise, actually performed bhakti in the form of nāma-saḍkīrtana to the Lord who is controlled by bhakti.
Brahmā said: O Supreme Lord, all glories to you! Most famous person! Performer of remarkable feats! I offer respects to you, controller of the three guṇas, merciful to the brāhmaṇas. I offer my respectful obeisances unto you again and again.
I offer my respectful obeisances to you, Viṣṇu, who appeared in the womb of Pṛśni,1 within whom reside the Vedas and the three worlds. I offer respects to you who are sacred knowledge, who are situated above the three words, and who have entered the jīvas as antaryāmī.
The Lord has the three worlds in his navel. He is situated above the upper, middle and lower planets, dwelling in Vaikuṇṭha (tri-prṣṭhāya). Śipi means animals or jīvas. The Lord has entered the jīvas as antaryāmī.
You, whom they call the puruṣa of unlimited śakti, are the beginning, the middle and end of the universe. O Lord! In the form of time, you withdraw the universe, just as a deep flowing river takes away grass which falls within it.
Just as the deep current of a river takes away object such as grass which fall in it, so you, as time, take away the universe.
O Lord! You, as the creator, are the only shelter for the devatās, who are now bereft of Svarga, and you are the shelter of all being of all living entities, stationary or moving, and you are the shelter of the Prajāpatis, just as a boat is the only hope for a person drowning in the water.
Sambhaviṣnuḥ means the creator. As the creator, you are the ultimate shelter (parāyaṇam) of the living beings.
Thus ends the commentary on the Seventeen Chapter of the Eighth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
In the Seventeenth Chapter Aditi performs the vow, sees Viṣṇu and praises him. He comforts her by saying that he will appear as her son. Brahmā then praises the Lord in her womb.