Text 22] The Lord Slays the King of the Demons 139
TRANSLATION

While Hiranyakasipu looked all around to find the source of the
sound, that wonderful form of the Lord, which could not be ascer-
tained to be either a man or a lion, emerged from the pillar. In
amazement, Hiranyakasipu wondered, ‘‘What is this creature that
is half man and half lion?”

PURPORT

A demon cannot calculate the unlimited potency of the Supreme Lord.
As stated in the Vedas, parasya saktir vividhaiva srityate svabhaviki
jiana-bala-kriya ca: the different potencies of the Lord are always
working as an automatic exhibition of His knowledge. For a demon it is
certainly wonderful that the form of a lion and the form of a man can be
united, since a demon has no experience of the inconceivable power for
which the Supreme Lord is called ‘‘all-powerful.’’ Demons cannot under-
stand the omnipotence of the Lord. They simply compare the Lord to one
of them (avajananti mam miidhé mdnusim tanum dsritam). Midhas,
rascals, think that Krsna is an ordinary human being who appears for the
benefit of other human beings. Param bhavam ajanantah: fools, rascals
and demons cannot realize the supreme potency of the Lord, but He can
do anything and everything; indeed, He can do whatever He likes. When
Hiranyakasipu received benedictions from Lord Brahma, he thought that
he was safe, since he received the benediction that he would not be killed
either by an animal or by a human being. He never thought that an
animal and human being would be combined so that demons like him
would be puzzled by such a form. This is the meaning of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead’s omnipotence.

TEXTS 19-22
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Haier = aaferdisnat
afareteqs «= - AAT 128i
HATTA AUS TAA
BAA |
