Read a Lecture by Srila Prabhupada on this verse

PaaÄJaNYa& ôzqke-Xaae devdta& DaNaÅYa" )
PaaE<@\& dDMaaE MahaXa«& >aqMak-MaaR v*k-aedr" )) 15 ))

SYNONYMS

päïcajanyam—the conchshell named Päïcajanya; håñéka-éçaù—Håñékeça (Kåñëa, the Lord who directs the senses of the devotees); devadattam—the conchshell named Devadatta; dhanam-jayaù—Dhanaïjaya (Arjuna, the winner of wealth); pauëòram—the conch named Pauëòra; dadhmau—blew; mahä-çaìkham—the terrific conchshell; bhéma-karmä—one who performs herculean tasks; våka-udaraù—the voracious eater (Bhéma).

Lord Kåñëa is referred to as Håñékeça in this verse because He is the owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and therefore the senses of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to describe all living entities as senseless, or impersonal. The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra the Lord directly controls the transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of Håñékeça. The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is Madhusüdana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is Väsudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is Devaké-nandana because He accepted Devaké as His mother; His name is Yaçodä-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yaçodä at Våndävana; His name is Pärtha-särathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Håñékeça because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra.

Arjuna is referred to as Dhanaïjaya in this verse because he helped his elder brother in fetching wealth when it was required by the king to make expenditures for different sacrifices. Similarly, Bhéma is known as Våkodara because he could eat as voraciously as he could perform herculean tasks, such as killing the demon Hiòimba. So the particular types of conchshell blown by the different personalities on the side of the Päëòavas, beginning with the Lord’s, were all very encouraging to the fighting soldiers. On the other side there were no such credits, nor the presence of Lord Kåñëa, the supreme director, nor that of the goddess of fortune. So they were predestined to lose the battle—and that was the message announced by the sounds of the conchshells.