तन्निशम्योभयत्रापि भगवता रक्षणाय प्रयुक्तं सुदर्शनं नाम भागवतं दयितमस्त्रं तत्तेजसा दुर्विषहं मुहु: परिवर्तमानमभ्यवस्थितो मुहूर्तमुद्विजमानश्चकितहृदय आरादेव निवर्तते तदुपरागमिति वदन्ति लोका: ॥ ३ ॥
tan nisamyobhayatrapi bhagavata raksanaya prayuktam sudarsanam nama bhagavatam dayitam astram tat tejasa durvisaham muhuh parivartamanam abhyavasthito muhurtam udvijamanas cakita-hrdaya arad eva nivartate tad uparagam iti vadanti lokah.
- tat
- that situation
- nisamya
- hearing
- ubhayatra
- around both the sun and moon
- api
- indeed
- bhagavata
- by the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- raksanaya
- for their protection
- prayuktam
- engaged
- sudarsanam
- the wheel of Krsna
- nama
- named
- bhagavatam
- the most confidential devotee
- dayitam
- the most favorite
- astram
- weapon
- tat
- that
- tejasa
- by its effulgence
- durvisaham
- unbearable heat
- muhuh
- repeatedly
- parivartamanam
- moving around the sun and moon
- abhyavasthitah
- situated
- muhurtam
- for a muhurta (forty-eight minutes)
- udvijamanah
- whose mind was full of anxieties
- cakita
- frightened
- hrdayah
- the core of whose heart
- arat
- to a distant place
- eva
- certainly
- nivartate
- flees
- tat
- that situation
- uparagam
- an eclipse
- iti
- thus
- vadanti
- they say
- lokah
- the people
After hearing from the sun and moon demigods about Rahu’s attack, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, engages His disc, known as the Sudarsana cakra, to protect them. The Sudarsana cakra is the Lord’s most beloved devotee and is favored by the Lord. The intense heat of its effulgence, meant for killing non-Vaisnavas, is unbearable to Rahu, and he therefore flees in fear of it. During the time Rahu disturbs the sun or moon, there occurs what people commonly know as an eclipse.