Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.9.11

śrī-śuka uvāca

iti te kṣvelitais tasyā

āśvasta-manaso 'surāḥ

jahasur bhāva-gambhīraḿ

daduś cāmṛta-bhājanam

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; iti — thus; te — those demons; kṣvelitaiḥ — by speaking as if jokingly; tasyāḥ — of Mohinī-mūrti; āśvasta — grateful, with faith; manasaḥ — their minds; asurāḥ — all the demons; jahasuḥ — laughed; bhāva-gambhīram — although Mohinī-mūrti was full of gravity; daduḥ — delivered; ca — also; amṛta-bhājanam — the container of nectar.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: After the demons heard the words of Mohinī-mūrti, who had spoken as if jokingly, they were all very confident. They laughed with gravity, and ultimately they delivered the container of nectar into Her hands.

PURPORT

The Personality of Godhead in His form of Mohinī was certainly not joking but talking seriously, with gravity. The demons, however, being captivated by Mohinī-mūrti's bodily features, took Her words as a joke and confidently delivered the container of nectar into Her hands. Thus Mohinī-mūrti resembles Lord Buddha, who appeared sammohāya sura-dviṣām [SB 1.3.24] — to cheat the asuras. The word sura-dviṣām refers to those who are envious of the demigods or devotees. Sometimes an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cheats the atheists. Thus we see here that although Mohinī-mūrti was speaking factually to the asuras, the asuras took Her words to be facetious. Indeed, they were so confident of Mohinī-mūrti's honesty that they immediately delivered the container of nectar into Her hands, as if they would allow Her to do with the nectar whatever She liked, whether She distributed it, threw it away or drank it Herself without giving it to them.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness