Text 22] Prayers by Queen Kunti 397

namah—all respectful obeisances; pankaja-nabhaya—unto the Lord who
hag a specific depression resembling a lotus flower in the center of His
abdomen: pankaja-maline—one who is always decorated with a garland of
lotus flowers; pankaja-netraya—one whose glance is as cooling as a lotus
flower; namaste—respectful obeisances unto You; pankaja-anghraye—unto
You, the soles of whose feet are engraved with lotus flowers (and who are
therefore said to possess lotus feet).

TRANSLATION

My respectful obeisances are unto You, O Lord, whose abdomen is
marked with a depression like a lotus flower, who is always decorated with
garlands of lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as the lotus and whose
feet are engraved with lotuses.

PURPORT

Here are some of the specific symbolical marks on the spiritual body of
the Personality of Godhead which distinguish His body from the bodies of all
others. They are all special features of the body of the Lord. The Lord
may appear as one of us, but He is always distinct by His specific bodily
features. Srimati Kunti claims herself as unfit to see the Lord because of
her being a woman. This is claimed because women, siidras (the laborer
class) and the dvija-bandhus, or the wretched descendants of the higher
three classes, are unfit by intelligence to understand transcendental subject
matter concerning the spiritual name, fame, attributes, forms, etc., of the
Supreme Absolute Truth. Such persons, although they are unfit to enter
into the spiritual affairs of the Lord, can see Him as the arca-vigraha who
descends on the material world just to distribute favors to the fallen souls,
including the above-mentioned women, sidras_ and dvija-bandhus. Because
such fallen souls cannot see any lagley yond matter, the Lord condescends
to enter into each and every one of the innumerable universes as the
GarbhodakaSsayi Visnu, who grows a lotus stem from the lotus-like depres-
sion in the center of His transcendental abdomen, and thus Brahma, the
first living being in the universe,is born. Therefore, the Lord is known as
the Pankajanabhi. The Pankajanabha Lord accepts the arca-vigraha (His
transcendental form) in different elements, namely a form within the
mind, a form made of wood, a form made of earth, a form made of metal,
a form made of jewel, a form made of painting, a form drawn on sand, etc.
All such forms of the Lord are always decorated with garlands of lotus
