SB 7.9.37
Devanāgarī
तस्मै भवान्हयशिरस्तनुवं हि बिभ्रद् वेदद्रुहावतिबलौ मधुकैटभाख्यौ । हत्वानयच्छ्रुतिगणांश्च रजस्तमश्च सत्त्वं तव प्रियतमां तनुमामनन्ति ॥ ३७ ॥
Text
tasmai bhavān haya-śiras tanuvaṁ hi bibhrad veda-druhāv atibalau madhu-kaiṭabhākhyau hatvānayac chruti-gaṇāṁś ca rajas tamaś ca sattvaṁ tava priyatamāṁ tanum āmananti
Synonyms
tasmai—unto Lord Brahmā;bhavān—Your Lordship;haya-śiraḥ—having the head and neck of a horse;tanuvam—the incarnation;hi—indeed;bibhrat—accepting;veda-druhau—two demons who were against the Vedic principles;ati-balau—extremely powerful;madhu-kaiṭabha-ākhyau—known as Madhu and Kaiṭabha;hatvā—killing;anayat—delivered;śruti-gaṇān—all the differentVedas(Sāma, Yajur, ṚgandAtharva);ca—and;rajaḥtamaḥca—by representing the modes of passion and ignorance;sattvam—pure transcendental goodness;tava—Your;priya-tamām—most dear;tanum—form (as Hayagrīva);āmananti—they honor.
Translation
My dear Lord, when You appeared as Hayagrīva, with the head of a horse, You killed two demons known as Madhu and Kaiṭabha, who were full of the modes of passion and ignorance. Then You delivered the Vedic knowledge to Lord Brahmā. For this reason, all the great saints accept Your forms as transcendental, untinged by material qualities.
Purport
In summary, whenever the Lord incarnates, He appears in His original transcendental form. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.7) :
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself.” It is simply foolish to think of the Lord as being originally impersonal but accepting a material body when He appears as a personal incarnation. Whenever the Lord appears, He appears in His original transcendental form, which is spiritual and blissful. But unintelligent men, such as the Māyāvādīs, cannot understand the transcendental form of the Lord, and therefore the Lord chastises them by saying, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: “Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form.” Whenever the Lord appears, whether as a fish, a tortoise, a hog or any other form, one should understand that He maintains His transcendental position and that His only business, as stated here, is hatvā — to kill the demons. The Lord appears in order to protect the devotees and kill the demons ( paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām ). Since the demons are always ready to oppose Vedic civilization, they are sure to be killed by the transcendental form of the Lord.
