Srimad Bhagavatam 8.24.61

[makarand]

TEXT 61

pralaya-payasi dhātuḥ supta-śakter mukhebhyaḥ

śruti-gaṇam apanītaṁ pratyupādatta hatvā

ditijam akathayad yo brahma satyavratānāṁ

tam aham akhila-hetuṁ jihma-mīnaṁ nato ’smi

SYNONYMS

pralaya-payasi—in the water of inundation; dhātuḥ—from Lord Brahmā; supta-śakteḥ—who was inert because of sleeping; mukhebhyaḥ—from the mouths; śruti-gaṇam—Vedic records; apanītam—stolen; pratyupādatta—gave back to him; hatvā—by killing; ditijam—the great demon; akathayat—explained; yaḥ—one who; brahma—Vedic knowledge; satyavratānām—for the enlightenment of Satyavrata and the great saintly persons; tam—unto Him; aham—I; akhila-hetum—unto the cause of all causes; jihma-mīnam—appearing as and pretending to be a great fish; nataḥ asmi—I offer my respectful obeisances.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who pretended to be a gigantic fish, who restored the Vedic literature to Lord Brahmā when Lord Brahmā awakened from sleep, and who explained the essence of Vedic literature to King Satyavrata and the great saintly persons.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Eighth Canto, Twenty-fourth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Matsya, the Lord’s Fish Incarnation.”

—This commentation has been finished in our New Delhi center today, the first of September, 1976, the day of Rādhāṣṭamī, by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the ācāryas. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa. I am attempting to present Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the English language by the order of my spiritual master, Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, and by his grace the work of translation is gradually progressing, and the European and American devotees who have joined the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are helping me considerably. Thus we have expectations of finishing the great task before my passing away. All glories to Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga.

END OF THE EIGHTH CANTO