Text 40
matsyāśva-kacchapa-nṛsiṁha-varāha-haṁsa-
rājanya-vipra-vibudheṣu kṛtāvatāraḥ
tvaṁ pāsi nas tri-bhuvanaṁ ca yathādhuneśa
bhāraṁ bhuvo hara yadūttama vandanaṁ te
matsya — the fish incarnation; aśva — the horse incarnation; kacchapa — the tortoise incarnation; nṛsiṁha — the Narasiṁha incarnation; varāha — the Varāha incarnation; haṁsa — the swan incarnation; rājanya — incarnations as Lord Rāmacandra and other kṣatriyas; vipra — incarnations as brāhmaṇas like Vāmanadeva; vibudheṣu — among the demigods; kṛta-avatāraḥ — appeared as incarnations; tvam — Your Lordship; pāsi — please save; naḥ — us; tri-bhuvanam ca — and the three worlds; yathā — as well as; adhunā — now; īśa — O Supreme Lord; bhāram — burden; bhuvaḥ — of the earth; hara — please diminish; yadu-uttama — O Lord Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus; vandanam te — we offer our prayers unto You.
O supreme controller, Your Lordship previously accepted incarnations as a fish, a horse, a tortoise, Narasiṁhadeva, a boar, a swan, Lord Rāmacandra, Paraśurāma and, among the demigods, Vāmanadeva, to protect the entire world by Your mercy. Now please protect us again by Your mercy by diminishing the disturbances in this world. O Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus, we respectfully offer our obeisances unto You.
In every incarnation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has a particular mission to execute, and this was true in His appearance as the son of Devakī in the family of the Yadus. Thus all the demigods offered their prayers to the Lord, bowing down before Him, and requested the Lord to do the needful. We cannot order the Supreme Personality of Godhead to do anything for us. We can simply offer Him our obeisances, as advised in Bhagavad-gītā (man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru), and pray to Him for annihilation of dangers.