136 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 3

tad aham vardhamdnena
tapo-yoga-samadhina

kalatmanos ca nityatvat
sadhayisye tathatmanah

srstud—creating; cara—moving; acaram—and not moving; idam—
this; tapah—of austerity; yoga—and mystic power; samddhinaé—by
practicing the trance; adhydste—is situated in; sarva-dhisnyebhyah—
than all the planets, including the heavenly planets; paramesthi—Lord
Brahma; nija-dsanam—his own throne; tat—therefore; aham—I;
vardhamanena—by dint of increasing; tapah—austerity; yoga—mystic
powers; samadhinad—and trance; kala—of time; atmanoh—and of the
soul; ca—and; nityatvat—from the eternality; sddhayisye—shall
achieve; tatha—so much; dtmanah—for my personal self.

TRANSLATION

‘The supreme person within this universe, Lord Brahma, has
gotten his exalted post by dint of severe austerities, mystic power
and trance. Consequently, after creating the universe, he has be-
come the most worshipable demigod within it. Since I am eternal
and time is eternal, I shall endeavor for such austerity, mystic
power and trance for many, many births, and thus I shall occupy
the same post occupied by Lord Brahma.

PURPORT

Hiranyakasipu’s determination was to occupy the post of Lord
Brahma, but this was impossible because Brahma has a long duration of
life. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (8.17), sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmano viduh: one thousand yugas equals one day of
Brahma. The duration of Brahma’s life is extremely great, and conse-
quently it was impossible for Hiranyakasipu to occupy that post. None-
theless, his decision was that since the self (atmaé) and time are both
eternal, if he could not occupy that post in one lifetime he would con-
tinue to execute austerities life after life so that sometime he would be
able to do so.
