SB 1.7.52 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 52
Nisamya bheema gaditam droupadyas cha chaturbhujah Alokya badanam sakhyur idam aha hasan niba.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Nisamya—just after hearing, Bheema—of the name, Gaditam—spoken by, Droupadyas—of Droupadi, Cha—and, Chaturbhnjah—the fourhanded (Personality of Godhead), Alokya—having seen, Vadanam—the face, Sakhyur—of his friend, Idam—this, Aha—said, Hasan- smiling, Iba—as if.
TRANSLATION
Chaturbhujah or the Personality of Godhead just after hearing the words spoken by Bheema, Droupadi and others saw the face of His dear friend (Arjuna) and began to speak as if smiling.
PURPORT
Lord Sri Krishna had two hands and why He is designated as four handed is explained by Sridhar Swami that both Bheema and Droupadi held opposite views in the case of killing Aswatthama. Bheema wanted that he should at once be killed while Droupadi wanted to save him. We should imagine as if Bheema is ready to kill while Droupadi is obstructing. And in order to prevent both of them the Lord had to discover another two hands just to stop both Bheema and Droupadi in their respective activities. Originally as Primeval Lord Sri krishna displays only two hands but in His Narayan feature He exhibits four hands. In His Narayan feature He resides with His devotees in the Vaikuntha planets while in His original Sri Krishna feature He resides in the Krishnaloka planet far and far above the Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky. Therefore, if Sri Krishna is called Chaturbhujah there is no contradiction. Because if need be He can display hundreds of hands as He exhibited in His Viswarupa shown to Arjuna. Therefore, one who can display hundreds and thousands of hands, can also manifest four hands also whenever it is needed.
When Arjuna was perplexed in the matter of deciding what to do with Aswatthama, Lord Sri Krishna as very dear friend of Arjuna voluntarily took up the matter and just to make a solution was smiling also. So to deliver His dear friend from the perplexities, He began to say as follows:-