SB 1.8.22 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 22
- Namah pankajanabhaya namah pankajamaline
- Namah pankajanetraya namaste pankajanghraye.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Namah—all respeciful obeisances, Pankajanabhaya—unto the Lord who has a specific depression in the centre of the abdomen resembling a lotus flower, Pankajamaline—one who is always decorated with garland of lotus flower, Pankajanetraya—one whose glance is as cooling as the lotus flower, Namaste—respectful obeisances unto you, Pankajanghraye—oh unto you whose palm of the feet is engraved with a lotus flower. The Lord is called therefore to possess lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
My respectful obeisances are unto You the Lord who has a specific depression in the centre of the abdomen like the lotus flower, who is always decorated with garlands of lotus flower, whose glance is as cooling as that of the lotus flower and whose palm of feet is engraved with marks of lotus flower.
PURPORT
Here are some of the specific symbolical marks in the spiritual body of the Personality of Godhead just distinguished from the body of all others. They are all special features of the body of the Lord. The Lord may appear before us as one of us but He is always distinct by his specifie bodily features. Srimati Kunti claims herself as unfit for seeing the Lord on account of her becoming a woman. This is claimed by her because the woman as a class, the Sudras or the labourer class of men and the dwijabandhus or the wretched descendants of the higher three classes all are unfit by intelligence to understand transcendental subject matter concerning the spiritual name, fame, attributes, forms, etc of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Such persons, although they are unfit to enter into spiritual affairs of the Lord, can see Him as Archa Vigraha Who descends on the material world just to distribute favors to the fallen souls including the above mentioned woman, sudras and the dwijabandhus. Because such fallen souls cannot see anything beyond matter, the Lord condescends to enter into each and everyone of the innumerable universes as the Garbhodaksayee Vishnu who grows a lotus stem from the lotus like depression in the centre of His transcendental abdomen and thus the first living being in the universe is born by the name Brahma. Therefore, the Lord is known as the Pankajanavi. So the Pankajanava Lord accepts the Archa Vigraha (His transcendental Form) in different elements namely a form within the mind, a form made of wood, a form made of earth, a form made of metal, a form made of jewel, a form made of painting, a form drawn on sand and all such forms of the Lord are always decorated with garlands of lotus flower a soothing atmosphere in the temple of worship to attract the burning attention of the non-devotees always engaged in material wranglings. The meditators worship a form within the mind. Therefore, the Lord is mercifull even for the woman class, Sudra class and Dwijabandhu class of men provided they agree to visit the temple of worship in different form made for them. Such temple visitors are not idolators as it is alleged by some men with poor fund of knowledge. All the great Acharyas established such temples of worship in all places just to favor the less intelligent class of members of the society and one should not pose himself unnecessarily to have transcended the stage of temple worship while one is actually in the grades of the Sudras and the woman class or less than them. One should begin to see the Lord from His Lotus feet gradually rising to thighs, belt, chest and the face. One should not try to look on the face of the Lord without being accustomed in the matter of seeing the lotus feet of the Lord. Srimati Kunti on account of her becoming the aunt of the Lord does not begin to see the Lord from the Lotus feet because the Lord may feel ashamed for this and thus Kunti Devi just to save a painful situation for the Lord she began to see the Lord just above His lotus feet i.e. from the belt of the Lord gradually rising to the face and then the round comes down to the lotus feet. In the round everything there is in order.