Fourteen Worlds
FOURTEEN WORLDSVedic Cosmology

SB 10.51.12

Devanāgarī

स तावत्तस्य रुष्टस्य द‍ृष्टिपातेन भारत । देहजेनाग्निना दग्धो भस्मसादभवत् क्षणात् ॥ १२ ॥

Text

sa tāvat tasya ruṣṭasya dṛṣṭi-pātena bhārata deha-jenāgninā dagdho bhasma-sād abhavat kṣaṇāt

Synonyms

saḥ—he, Kālayavana;tāvat—that much;tasya—of him, the awakened man;ruṣṭasya—who was angered;dṛṣṭi—of the glance;pātena—by the casting;bhārata—O descendant of Bharata (Parīkṣit Mahārāja);deha-jena—generated in his own body;agninā—by the fire;dagdhaḥ—burned;bhasma-sāt—to ashes;abhavat—he was;kṣaṇāt—in a moment.

Translation

The awakened man was angry and cast his glance at Kālayavana, whose body burst into flames. In a single moment, O King Parīkṣit, Kālayavana was burnt to ashes.

Purport

The man who incinerated Kālayavana with his glance was named Mucukunda. As he will explain to Lord Kṛṣṇa, he had fought for a long time on behalf of the demigods, finally taking as his benediction the right to sleep undisturbed. The Hari-vaṁśa explains that he secured the further benediction of being able to destroy anyone who disturbed his sleep. Ācārya Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura quotes from the Śrī Hari-vaṁśa as follows:

prasuptaṁ bodhayed yo māṁ taṁ daheyam ahaṁ surāḥ cakṣuṣā krodha-dīptena evam āha punaḥ punaḥ

“Again and again Mucukunda said, ‘O demigods, with eyes blazing with anger, may I incinerate anyone who awakens me from sleep.’”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that Mucukunda made this rather morbid request to scare Lord Indra, who, Mucukunda thought, might otherwise wake him repeatedly to request his help in fighting Indra’s cosmic enemies. Indra’s consent to Mucukunda’s request is described in Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa as follows:

proktaś ca devaiḥ saṁsuptaṁ yas tvām utthāpayiṣyati deha-jenāgninā sadyaḥ sa tu bhasmī-kariṣyati

“The demigods declared, ‘Whoever awakens you from sleep will suddenly be burnt to ashes by a fire generated from his own body.’”
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