Text 31] The Lord Slays the King of the Demons 151

nakha-ankura—by the pointed nails; utpdtita—torn out; Art-
saroruham—whose heart, which was like a lotus flower; visryya—leav-
ing aside; tasya—of him; anucardn—the followers (soldiers and
bodyguards); uda@yudhdn—having raised weapons; ahan—He killed;
samastan—all; nakha-sastra-panibhih—with His nails and _ other
weapons in His hands; dordanda-yiithah—having unlimited arms;
anupathan—the attendants of Hiranyakasipu; sahasrasah—by thou-
sands.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who had many, many
arms, first uprooted Hiranyakasipu’s heart and then threw him
aside and turned toward the demon’s soldiers. These soldiers had
come in thousands to fight with Him with raised weapons and were
very faithful followers of Hiranyakasipu, but Lord Nrsimhadeva
killed all of them merely with the ends of His nails.

PURPORT

Since the creation of the material world, there have been two kinds of
men—the devas and the asuras. The devas are always faithful to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas the asuras are always atheists
who defy the supremacy of the Lord. At the present moment, throughout
the entire world, the atheists are extremely numerous. They are trying to
prove that there is no God and that everything takes place due to com-
binations and permutations of material elements. Thus the material
world is becoming more and more godless, and consequently everything
is in a disturbed condition. If this continues, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead will certainly take action, as He did in the case of
Hiranyakasipu. Within a second, Hiranyakasipu and his followers were
destroyed, and similarly if this godless civilization continues, it will be
destroyed in a second, simply by the movement of one finger of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. The demons should therefore be
careful and curtail their godless civilization. They should take advantage
of the Krsna consciousness movement and become faithful to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead; otherwise they are doomed. As
Hiranyakasipu was killed in a second, the godless civilization can be
destroyed at any moment.
