Skip to main content

ŚB 9.10.20

Devanagari

तेऽनीकपा रघुपतेरभिपत्य सर्वे
द्वन्द्वं वरूथमिभपत्तिरथाश्वयोधै: ।
जघ्नुर्द्रुमैर्गिरिगदेषुभिरङ्गदाद्या:
सीताभिमर्षहतमङ्गलरावणेशान् ॥ २० ॥

Text

te ’nīkapā raghupater abhipatya sarve
dvandvaṁ varūtham ibha-patti-rathāśva-yodhaiḥ
jaghnur drumair giri-gadeṣubhir aṅgadādyāḥ
sītābhimarṣa-hata-maṅgala-rāvaṇeśān

Synonyms

te — all of them; anīka-pāḥ — the commanders of the soldiers; raghupateḥ — of Lord Śrī Rāmacandra; abhipatya — chasing the enemy; sarve — all of them; dvandvam — fighting; varūtham — the soldiers of Rāvaṇa; ibha — by elephants; patti — by infantry; ratha — by chariots; aśva — by horses; yodhaiḥ — by such warriors; jaghnuḥ — killed them; drumaiḥ — by throwing big trees; giri — by peaks of mountains; gadā — by clubs; iṣubhiḥ — by arrows; aṅgada-ādyāḥ — all the soldiers of Lord Rāmacandra, headed by Aṅgada and others; sītā — of mother Sītā; abhimarṣa — by the anger; hata — had been condemned; maṅgala — whose auspiciousness; rāvaṇa-īśān — the followers or dependents of Rāvaṇa.

Translation

Aṅgada and the other commanders of the soldiers of Rāmacandra faced the elephants, infantry, horses and chariots of the enemy and hurled against them big trees, mountain peaks, clubs and arrows. Thus the soldiers of Lord Rāmacandra killed Rāvaṇa’s soldiers, who had lost all good fortune because Rāvaṇa had been condemned by the anger of mother Sītā.

Purport

The soldiers Lord Rāmacandra recruited in the jungle were all monkeys and did not have proper equipment with which to fight the soldiers of Rāvaṇa, for Rāvaṇa’s soldiers were equipped with weapons of modern warfare whereas the monkeys could only throw stones, mountain peaks and trees. It was only Lord Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa who shot some arrows. But because the soldiers of Rāvaṇa were condemned by the curse of mother Sītā, the monkeys were able to kill them simply by throwing stones and trees. There are two kinds of strength — daiva and puruṣākāra. Daiva refers to the strength achieved from the Transcendence, and puruṣākāra refers to the strength organized by one’s own intelligence and power. Transcendental power is always superior to the power of the materialist. Depending on the mercy of the Supreme Lord, one must fight one’s enemies even though one may not be equipped with modern weapons. Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructed Arjuna, mām anusmara yudhya ca: “Think of Me and fight.” We should fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.