Mace

Expressions researched:
"mace" |"maces"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 11.45, Purport:

Arjuna is always in confidence with Kṛṣṇa because he is a very dear friend, and as a dear friend is gladdened by his friend's opulence, Arjuna is very joyful to see that his friend Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and can show such a wonderful universal form. But at the same time, after seeing that universal form, he is afraid that he has committed so many offenses to Kṛṣṇa out of his unalloyed friendship. Thus his mind is disturbed out of fear, although he had no reason to fear. Arjuna therefore is asking Kṛṣṇa to show His Nārāyaṇa form, because He can assume any form. This universal form is material and temporary, as the material world is temporary. But in the Vaikuṇṭha planets He has His transcendental form with four hands as Nārāyaṇa. There are innumerable planets in the spiritual sky, and in each of them Kṛṣṇa is present by His plenary manifestations of different names. Thus Arjuna desired to see one of the forms manifest in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Of course in each Vaikuṇṭha planet the form of Nārāyaṇa is four-handed, but the four hands hold different arrangements of symbols—the conchshell, mace, lotus and disc. According to the different hands these four things are held in, the Nārāyaṇas are variously named. All of these forms are one with Kṛṣṇa; therefore Arjuna requests to see His four-handed feature.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.15.27, Translation:

After passing through the six entrances of Vaikuṇṭha-purī, the Lord's residence, without feeling astonishment at all the decorations, they saw at the seventh gate two shining beings of the same age, armed with maces and adorned with most valuable jewelry, earrings, diamonds, helmets, garments, etc.

SB 3.17.21, Translation:

Hiraṇyākṣa's temper was difficult to control. He had anklets of gold tinkling about his feet, he was adorned with a gigantic garland, and he rested his huge mace on one of his shoulders.

SB 3.17.26, Translation:

Moving about in the ocean for many, many years, the mighty Hiraṇyākṣa smote the gigantic wind-tossed waves again and again with his iron mace and reached Vibhāvarī, the capital of Varuṇa.

SB 3.18.5, Translation:

The demon continued: When You fall dead with Your skull smashed by the mace hurled by my arms, the demigods and sages who offer You oblations and sacrifice in devotional service will also automatically cease to exist, like trees without roots.

SB 3.18.5, Purport:

The demon Hiraṇyākṣa, upon seeing the Lord face to face, wanted to make a permanent solution by killing the Personality of Godhead with his powerful mace. The example of an uprooted tree mentioned here by the demon is very significant. Devotees accept that God is the root of everything. Their example is that just as the stomach is the source of energy of all the limbs of the body, God is the original source of all energy manifested in the material and spiritual worlds; therefore, as supplying food to the stomach is the process to satisfy all the limbs of the body, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or developing love of Kṛṣṇa, is the sublime method for satisfying the source of all happiness. The demon wants to uproot this source because if the root, God, were to be checked, the activities of the Lord and the devotees would automatically stop. The demon would be very much satisfied by such a situation in society. Demons are always anxious to have a godless society for their sense gratification. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, this verse means that when the demon would be deprived of his mace by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not only the neophyte devotees but also the ancient sagacious devotees of the Lord would be very much satisfied.

SB 3.18.9, Translation:

The demon, who had a wealth of ornaments, bangles and beautiful golden armor on his body, chased the Lord from behind with a great mace. The Lord tolerated his piercing ill words, but in order to reply to him, He expressed His terrible anger.

SB 3.18.11, Translation:

Certainly We have stolen the charge of the inhabitants of Rasātala and have lost all shame. Although bitten by your powerful mace, I shall stay here in the water for some time because, having created enmity with a powerful enemy, I now have no place to go.

SB 3.18.14, Translation:

Hissing indignantly, all his senses shaken by wrath, the demon quickly sprang upon the Lord and dealt Him a blow with his powerful mace.

SB 3.18.15, Translation:

The Lord, however, by moving slightly aside, dodged the violent mace-blow aimed at His breast by the enemy, just as an accomplished yogī would elude death.

SB 3.18.15, Purport:

The example is given herein that the perfect yogī can overcome a deathblow although it is offered by the laws of nature. It is useless for a demon to beat the transcendental body of the Lord with a powerful mace, for no one can surpass His prowess. Those who are advanced transcendentalists are freed from the laws of nature, and even a deathblow cannot act on them. Superficially it may be seen that a yogī is attacked by a deathblow, but by the grace of the Lord he can overcome many such attacks for the service of the Lord. As the Lord exists by His own independent prowess, by the grace of the Lord the devotees also exist for His service.

SB 3.18.16, Translation:

The Personality of Godhead now exhibited His anger and rushed to meet the demon, who bit his lip in rage, took up his mace again and began to repeatedly brandish it about.

SB 3.18.17, Translation:

Then with His mace the Lord struck the enemy on the right of his brow, but since the demon was expert in fighting, O gentle Vidura, he protected himself by a maneuver of his own mace.

SB 3.18.18, Translation:

In this way, the demon Haryakṣa and the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, struck each other with their huge maces, each enraged and seeking his own victory.

SB 3.18.19, Translation:

There was keen rivalry between the two combatants; both had sustained injuries on their bodies from the blows of each other's pointed maces, and each grew more and more enraged at the smell of blood on his person. In their eagerness to win, they performed maneuvers of various kinds, and their contest looked like an encounter between two forceful bulls for the sake of a cow.

SB 3.19.2, Translation:

The Lord, who had appeared from the nostril of Brahmā, sprang and aimed His mace at the chin of His enemy, the Hiraṇyākṣa demon, who was stalking fearlessly before Him.

SB 3.19.3, Translation:

Struck by the demon's mace, however, the Lord's mace slipped from His hand and looked splendid as it fell down whirling. This was miraculous, for the mace was blazing wonderfully.

SB 3.19.5, Translation:

As the Lord's mace fell to the ground and a cry of alarm arose from the witnessing crowd of gods and ṛṣis, the Personality of Godhead acknowledged the demon's love of righteousness and therefore invoked His Sudarśana discus.

SB 3.19.8, Translation:

The demon, who had fearful tusks, stared at the Personality of Godhead as though to burn Him. Springing into the air, he aimed his mace at the Lord, exclaiming at the same time, "You are slain!"

SB 3.19.9, Translation:

O saintly Vidura, while His enemy looked on, the Lord in His boar form, the enjoyer of all sacrificial offerings, playfully knocked down the mace with His left foot, even as it came upon Him with the force of a tempest.

SB 3.19.10, Translation:

The Lord then said: "Take up your weapon and try again, eager as you are to conquer Me." Challenged in these words, the demon aimed his mace at the Lord and once more loudly roared.

SB 3.19.11, Translation:

When the Lord saw the mace flying toward Him, He stood firmly where He was and caught it with the same ease as Garuḍa, the king of birds, would seize a serpent.

SB 3.19.12, Translation:

His valor thus frustrated, the great demon felt humiliated and was put out of countenance. He was reluctant to take back the mace when it was offered by the Personality of Godhead.

SB 3.21.10, Translation:

Adorned with a crown and earrings, He held His characteristic conch, disc and mace in three of His hands and a white lily in the fourth. He glanced about in a happy, smiling mood whose sight captivates the hearts of all devotees.

SB 3.28.13, Translation:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has a cheerful, lotuslike countenance with ruddy eyes like the interior of a lotus and a swarthy body like the petals of a blue lotus. He bears a conch, discus and mace in three of His hands.

SB 3.28.13, Purport:

The color of the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is described here as nīlotpala-dala, meaning that it is like that of a lotus flower with petals tinted blue and white. People always ask why Kṛṣṇa is blue. The color of the Lord has not been imagined by an artist. It is described in authoritative scripture. In the Brahma-saṁhitā also, the color of Kṛṣṇa's body is compared to that of a bluish cloud. The color of the Lord is not poetical imagination. There are authoritative descriptions in the Brahma-saṁhitā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā and many of the purāṇas of the Lord's body, His weapons and all other paraphernalia. The Lord's appearance is described here as padma-garbhāruṇekṣaṇam. His eyes resemble the inside of a lotus flower, and in His four hands He holds the four symbols: conchshell, discus, mace and lotus.

SB 3.28.28, Purport:

There are two kinds of living entities mentioned here. One is called the arāti. They are averse to understanding the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For them, the Lord appears with His hand clutching the terrible mace, which is always smeared with bloodstains from His killing of demons. Demons are also sons of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, all the different species of living entities are sons of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are, however, two classes of living entities, who act in two different ways. The Supreme Lord keeps on His neck those living entities who are pure, as one protects the jewels and pearls on the bosom and neck of one's body. Those living entities in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness are symbolized by the pearls on His neck. Those who are demons and are inimical towards the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are punished by His mace, which is always smeared with the blood of such fallen living entities. The club of the Lord is very dear to Him because He uses this instrument to smash the bodies of the demons and mix their blood. As mud is kneaded with water and earth, so the earthly bodies of the enemies of the Lord, or the atheists, are smashed by the club of the Lord, which becomes muddied with the blood of such demons.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.24.45-46, Purport:

The four arms of Lord Viṣṇu have different purposes. The hands holding a lotus flower and conchshell are meant for the devotees, whereas the other two hands, holding a disc and mace, or club, are meant for the demons. Actually all of the Lord's arms are auspicious, whether they are holding conchshells and flowers or clubs and discs. The demons killed by Lord Viṣṇu's cakra disc and club are elevated to the spiritual world, just like the devotees who are protected by the hands holding the lotus flower and conchshell. However, the demons who are elevated to the spiritual world are situated in the impersonal Brahman effulgence, whereas the devotees are allowed to enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Those who are devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa are immediately elevated to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.12 Summary:

After Vṛtrāsura finished speaking, he released his trident against King Indra with great anger, but Indra, using his thunderbolt, which was many times more powerful than the trident, broke the trident to pieces and cut off one of Vṛtrāsura's arms. Nevertheless, Vṛtrāsura used his remaining arm to strike Indra with an iron mace, making the thunderbolt fall from Indra's hand. Indra, being very ashamed of this, did not pick up the thunderbolt from the ground, but Vṛtrāsura encouraged King Indra to pick it up and fight. Vṛtrāsura then spoke to King Indra as follows, instructing him very well.

SB 6.12.4, Translation:

Although one of his arms was severed from his body, Vṛtrāsura angrily approached King Indra and struck him on the jaw with an iron mace. He also struck the elephant that carried Indra. Thus Indra dropped the thunderbolt from his hand.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.47-48, Translation:

All those personalities had four arms, holding conchshell, disc, mace and lotus flower in Their hands. They wore helmets on Their heads, earrings on Their ears and garlands of forest flowers around Their necks. On the upper portion of the right side of Their chests was the emblem of the goddess of fortune. Furthermore, They wore armlets on Their arms, the Kaustubha gem around Their necks, which were marked with three lines like a conchshell, and bracelets on Their wrists. With bangles on Their ankles, ornaments on Their feet, and sacred belts around Their waists, They all appeared very beautiful.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.29, Translation:

This Personality of Godhead (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) has two hands and holds a flute, whereas the other (Nārāyaṇa) has four hands, with conch, wheel, mace and lotus.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 6:

There are innumerable four-handed manifestations in different planets and different places, and they are manifested in Dvārakā and Mathurā eternally. From the four principal four-handed forms (Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha) there are manifest the principal twenty-four forms called vaibhava-vilāsa, and they are named differently according to the placement of different symbols (conch, mace, lotus and disc) in their hands. The four principal manifestations of Kṛṣṇa are found in each planet in the spiritual sky, and these planets are called Nārāyaṇaloka or Vaikuṇṭhaloka. In the Vaikuṇṭhaloka He is manifested in the four-handed form of Nārāyaṇa. From each Nārāyaṇa the forms of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are manifested. Thus Nārāyaṇa is the center, and the four forms of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha surround the Nārāyaṇa form. Each of these four forms again expand into three, and these all have different names, beginning with Keśava. These forms are twelve in all, and they are known by different names according to the placement of symbols in their hands.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 7:

These twenty-four forms are known as the vilāsa manifestation of the prābhava (four-handed) form, and they are named differently according to the position of the symbolic representations (mace, disc, lotus flower and conch shell). Out of these twenty-four forms there are vilāsa and vaibhava forms. Names mentioned herein, such as Pradyumna, Trivikrama, Vāmana, Hari and Kṛṣṇa, are also different in features. Then, coming to the prābhava-vilāsa of Kṛṣṇa (including Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha), there are a total of twenty further variations. All of these have Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky and are situated in eight different directions. Although each of them is eternally in the spiritual sky, some of them are nonetheless manifest in the material world also.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 7:

In the Siddhārtha-saṁhitā, there is a description of the twenty-four forms of Viṣṇu, and these forms are named according to the position of the symbolic representations in Their four hands. When one describes the positions of objects in the hands of the Viṣṇu mūrti, one should begin with the lower right hand then move to the upper right hand, upper left hand and, finally, to the lower left hand. In this way, Vāsudeva may be described as being represented by mace, conch shell, disc and lotus flower. Saṅkarṣaṇa is represented by mace, conch shell, lotus flower and disc. Similarly, Pradyumna is represented by disc, conch shell, mace and lotus flower. Aniruddha is represented by disc, mace, conch shell and lotus flower. In the spiritual sky the representations of Nārāyaṇa are twenty in number and are described as follows: Śrī Keśava (flower, conch shell, disc, mace), Nārāyaṇa (conch, flower, mace and disc), Śrī Mādhava (mace, disc, conch and flower), Śrī Govinda (disc, mace, flower and conch), Viṣṇu-mūrti (mace, flower, conch and disc), Madhusūdana (disc, conch, flower and mace), Trivikrama (flower, mace, disc and shell), Śrī Vāmana (conch, disc, mace and flower), Śrīdhara (flower, disc, mace and shell), Hṛṣīkeśa (mace, disc, flower and conch), Padmanābha (shell, flower, disc and mace), Dāmodara (flower, disc, mace and shell), Puruṣottama (disc, flower, shell and mace), Acyuta (mace, flower, disc and shell), Nṛsiṁha (disc, flower, mace and shell), Janārdana (flower, disc, shell and mace), Śrī Hari (shell, disc, flower and mace), Śrī Kṛṣṇa (shell, mace, flower and disc), Adhokṣaja (flower, mace, shell and disc), and Upendra (shell, mace, disc and flower).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 7:

According to the Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra, there are sixteen forms, and these forms are named differently according to the situations of the disc and mace. The conclusion is that the Supreme Original Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. He is called līlā-puruṣottama, and He resides principally in Vṛndāvana as the son of Nanda. It is also learned from the Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra that there are nine forms protecting each of the two Purīs known as the Mathurā Purī and the Dvārakā Purī: Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha protect one, and Nārāyaṇa, Nṛsiṁha, Hayagrīva, Varāha and Brahmā—protect the other. These are different manifestations of the prakāśa and vilāsa forms of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 16:

The mystic who worships the Supersoul within himself is also called ātmārāma. The ātmārāma yogīs are of two kinds: sagarbha and nigarbha, It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.2.8): "Some yogīs meditate within their heart on the localized Viṣṇu, who is four-handed and who holds four symbols: conch, disc, mace and lotus." The yogī who thinks of the four-handed Viṣṇu becomes absorbed in devotional ecstasy and evinces the symptoms of that state. Sometimes he cries, and sometimes he feels separation. In this way he merges in transcendental bliss. The result of all this is that he becomes entrapped like a fish.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 9:

In the Padma Purāṇa there is a statement describing how a Vaiṣṇava should decorate his body with tilaka and beads: "Persons who put tulasī beads on the neck, who mark twelve places of their bodies as Viṣṇu temples with Viṣṇu's symbolic representations (the four items held in the four hands of Lord Viṣṇu—conch, mace, disc and lotus), and who have viṣṇu-tilaka on their foreheads, are to be understood as the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu in this world. Their presence makes the world purified, and anywhere they remain, they make that place as good as Vaikuṇṭha."