SB 1.9.38 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 38
Sitavisikhahato visirnadamsah Kshataja paripluta atataino me Prasabhamabhisasara madbadhartham Sa bhavatu me bhagawan gatir mukundah.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Sita—sharpen, Visikha—arrows, Hato—wounded by, Visirnadamsah—scattered shield, Kshataja—by wounds, Paripluta—smeared with blood, Atataino—the great aggressor, Me—mine, Prasabham—in angry mood, Abhisasara—began to move on, Madbadhartham—for the purpose of killing me, Sa—He, Bhagawan—the Personality of Godhead, Me—mine, Bhavatu—let Him become, Gatir—destination, Mukundah—one who awards salvation.
TRANSLATION
Let Him Lord Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead who awards salvation to others, become my ultimate destination; because in the battlefield He moved towards me in angry mood as if my great aggressor on account of His being wounded by my sharpen arrows and therefore His shield was scattered and His body being smeared over with blood due to the wounds.
PURPORT
The dealings of Lord Krishna and Bhismadeva in the battle field of Kurukshetra is a piece of interesting humour because the activities of Lord Sri Krishna appeared to be partiality with Arjuna and enmity with Bhismadeva; but factually all these were specially meant for showing special favor to Bhismadeva a great devotee of the Lord. The astounding feature of such dealings is that how a devotee can please the Lord by playing the part of an enemy. The Lord being Absolute He can accept service from His pure devotee even in the garb of an enemy. The Supreme Lord cannot have any enemy neither a so-called enemy can do any harm to Him because He is Ajita or non conquerable. But still He takes pleasure when His pure devotee beats Him like an enemy or rebukes Him in superior position although nobody can be superior than the Lord. These are some of the transcendental reciprocatory dealings of the devotee of the Lord. And those, who have no information of pure devotional service, cannot penetrate into the mystery of all such dealings. Bhismadeva played the part of a valiant warrior and he purposely pierced the body of the Lord so much so that to the common eyes it appeared that the Lord is wounded but factually all these were for bewilderment of the nondevotees because neither the all spiritual body can be wounded nor a devotee can become the enemy of the Lord. Had it been so then Bhismadeva would not have desired to have the very same Lord as the ultimate destination of his progressive life. If Bhismadeva would have been an enemy of the Lord, He could vanish him even without moving from His place. There was no need of coming before Bhismadeva in a scattered state of blood and wounds. But he did so because the warrior devotee wanted to see the transcendental beauty of the Lord decorated with wounds created by a pure devotee. This is the way of exchanging transcendental Rasas or mellowy relation between the Lord and the Servitor. By such dealings both the Lord and the devotee become glorified in their respective positions. The Lord was so angry that Arjuna checked Him when He was moving towards Bhismadeva but inspite of Arjun's checking He proceeded towards Bhismadeva as a lover goes to a lover without caring for all checking hindrances. Apparently the determination was for killing Bhismadeva but factually it was to please him a great devotee of the Lord. The Lord is undoutedly the deliverer of all conditioned souls. The impersonalists desire salvation from Him and He awards them according to their aspiration but here Bhismadeva aspires that his destination of life may be the lord in His Personal feature as all pure devotees aspire.