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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.19.32
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 32
- mayā yathānūktam avādi te hareḥ
- kṛtāvatārasya sumitra ceṣṭitam
- yathā hiraṇyākṣa udāra-vikramo
- mahā-mṛdhe krīḍanavan nirākṛtaḥ
mayāby me — by me; yathāas — as; anūktamtold — told; avādiwas explained — was explained; teto you — to you; hareḥof the Supreme Personality of Godhead — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; kṛtawho assumed the incarnation-avatārasyawho assumed the incarnation — who assumed the incarnation; sumitraO dear Vidura — O dear Vidura; ceṣṭitamthe activities — the activities; yathāas — as; hiraṇyākṣaḥHiraṇyākṣa — Hiraṇyākṣa; udāravery extensive — very extensive; vikramaḥprowess — prowess; mahāin a great fight-mṛdhein a great fight — in a great fight; krīḍanalike a plaything-vatlike a plaything — like a plaything; nirākṛtaḥwas killed — was killed.
Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, I have explained to you the Personality of Godhead's coming down as the first boar incarnation and killing in a great fight a demon of unprecedented prowess as if he were just a plaything. This has been narrated by me as I heard it from my predecessor spiritual master.
Here the sage Maitreya admits that he explained the incident of the killing of Hiraṇyākṣa by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a straight narration; he did not manufacture anything or add interpretation, but explained whatever he had heard from his spiritual master. Thus he accepted as bona fide the system of paramparā, or receiving the transcendental message in disciplic succession. Unless received by this bona fide process of hearing from a spiritual master, the statement of an ācārya or preceptor cannot be valid.
It is also stated here that although the demon Hiraṇyākṣa was unlimited in prowess, he was just like a doll for the Lord. A child breaks so many dolls without real endeavor. Similarly, although a demon may be very powerful and extraordinary in the eyes of an ordinary man in the material world, to the Lord, killing such a demon is no difficulty. He can kill millions of demons as simply as a child plays with dolls and breaks them.