SB 10.56.22
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 22
sa vai bhagavatā tena
yuyudhe svāmīnātmanaḥ
puruṣam prākṛtaṁ matvā
kupito nānubhāva-vit
SYNONYMS
saḥ—he; vai—indeed; bhagavatā—with the Lord; tena—with Him; yuyudhe—fought; svāmīnā—master; ātmanaḥ—his own; puruṣam—a person; prākṛtam—mundane; matvā—thinking Him; kupitaḥ—angry; na—not; anubhāva—of His position; vit—aware.
TRANSLATION
Unaware of His true position and thinking Him an ordinary man, Jāmbavān angrily began fighting with the Supreme Lord, his master.
PURPORT
The words puruṣaṁ prākṛtaṁ matvā, "thinking Him a mundane person," are very significant. So-called Vedic scholars, including most Western ones, enjoy translating the word puruṣam as "man" even when the word refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus their unauthorized translations of Vedic literature are tainted by their materialistic conceptions of the Godhead. However, here it is clearly stated that it was because Jāmbavān misunderstood the Lord's position that he considered Him prākṛta-puruṣa, "a mundane person." In other words, the Lord is actually puruṣottama, "the ultimate transcendental person."