Text 29
hiraṇmaye ’pi bhagavān nivasati kūrma-tanuṁ bibhrāṇas tasya tat priyatamāṁ tanum aryamā saha varṣa-puruṣaiḥ pitṛ-gaṇādhipatir upadhāvati mantram imaṁ cānujapati.
hiraṇmaye — in Hiraṇmaya-varṣa; api — indeed; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; nivasati — resides; kūrma-tanum — the body of a tortoise; bibhrāṇaḥ — manifesting; tasya — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; tat — that; priya-tamām — dearmost; tanum — body; aryamā — Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa; saha — with; varṣa-puruṣaiḥ — the people of that tract of land; pitṛ-gaṇa-adhipatiḥ — who is the chief of the pitās; upadhāvati — worships in devotional service; mantram — hymn; imam — this; ca — also; anujapati — chants.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, lives in the form of a tortoise [kūrma-śarīra]. This most dear and beautiful form is always worshiped there in devotional service by Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, along with the other inhabitants of that land. They chant the following hymns.
The word priyatama (dearmost) is very significant in this verse. Each devotee regards a particular form of the Lord as most dear. Because of an atheistic mentality, some people think that the tortoise, boar and fish incarnations of the Lord are not very beautiful. They do not know that any form of the Lord is always the fully opulent Personality of Godhead. Since one of His opulences is infinite beauty, all the Lord’s incarnations are very beautiful and are appreciated as such by devotees. Nondevotees, however, think that Lord Kṛṣṇa’s incarnations are ordinary material creatures, and therefore they distinguish between the beautiful and the not beautiful. A certain form of the Lord is worshiped by a particular devotee because he loves to see that form of the Lord. As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33): advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca. The very beautiful form of the Lord is always youthful. Sincere servants of a particular form of the Lord always see that form as very beautiful, and thus they engage in constant devotional service to Him.