Text 8
sa gām udastāt salilasya gocare
vinyasya tasyām adadhāt sva-sattvam
abhiṣṭuto viśva-sṛjā prasūnair
āpūryamāṇo vibudhaiḥ paśyato ’reḥ
saḥ — the Lord; gām — the earth; udastāt — on the surface; salilasya — of the water; gocare — within His sight; vinyasya — having placed; tasyām — to the earth; adadhāt — He invested; sva — His own; sattvam — existence; abhiṣṭutaḥ — praised; viśva-sṛjā — by Brahmā (the creator of the universe); prasūnaiḥ — by flowers; āpūryamāṇaḥ — becoming satisfied; vibudhaiḥ — by the demigods; paśyataḥ — while looking on; areḥ — the enemy.
The Lord placed the earth within His sight on the surface of the water and transferred to her His own energy in the form of the ability to float on the water. While the enemy stood looking on, Brahmā, the creator of the universe, extolled the Lord, and the other demigods rained flowers on Him.
Those who are demons cannot understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead floated the earth on water, but to devotees of the Lord this is not a very wonderful act. Not only the earth but many, many millions of planets are floating in the air, and this floating power is endowed upon them by the Lord; there is no other possible explanation. The materialists can explain that the planets are floating by the law of gravitation, but the law of gravitation works under the control or direction of the Supreme Lord. That is the version of Bhagavad-gītā, which confirms, by the Lord’s statement, that behind the material laws or nature’s laws and behind the growth, maintenance, production and evolution of all the planetary systems — behind everything — is the Lord’s direction. The Lord’s activities could be appreciated only by the demigods, headed by Brahmā, and therefore when they saw the uncommon prowess of the Lord in keeping the earth on the surface of the water, they showered flowers on Him in appreciation of His transcendental activity.