Verse 1.5.16-17

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.5.16-17:

कालनेमिर् हिरण्याक्षो हिरण्यकशिपुस् तथा ।
रावणः कुम्भकर्णश् च तथान्ये घातिताः स्वयम् ॥ १६ ॥
मुक्तिं न नीता भक्तिर् न दत्ता कस्मैचिद् उत्तमा ।
प्रह्रादाय परं दत्ता श्री-नृसिंहावतारतः ॥ १७ ॥

kālanemir hiraṇyākṣo hiraṇyakaśipus tathā |
rāvaṇaḥ kumbhakarṇaś ca tathānye ghātitāḥ svayam || 16 ||
muktiṃ na nītā bhaktir na dattā kasmaicid uttamā |
prahrādāya paraṃ dattā śrī-nṛsiṃhāvatārataḥ || 17 ||

Despite personally killing such demons as Kālanemi, Hiraṇyāksa, Hiraṇyakaśipu and the rākṣasas Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa, Śrī Bhagavān did not grant them liberation. Therefore, what more can be said about the matter than He did not bestow that topmost devotional service on everyone. Still, in the avatāra of Śrī Nṛsiṃha alone He granted to Śrī Prahlāda a bhakti mixed with jñāna.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Bhagavān does not grant liberation (mukti) so easily. To explain this Śrī Nārada speaks these verses beginning with kāla and so forth. The Lord in the form of Śrī Vaikuṇṭheśvara killed Kālanemi in the battle between the demigods and the demons. He killed Hiraṇyākṣa in the form of Śrī Varāha. He killed other various demons such as Hiraṇyakaśipu in the form of Śrī Nṛsiṃhadeva. However, He did not grant liberation despite having killed such atheistic rākṣasas as Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa.

Therefore, what more can be said about the matter than He did not bestow the topmost bhakti on everyone. However, in the Śrī Kṛṣṇa avatāra he offered that same mukti. Therefore, to indicate His topmost glories this is mentioned. What to speak of granting that supremely pure prema-bhakti, when did He not freely bestow liberation in previous times? However, in the avatāra of Śrī Nrsiṃha alone He granted a calculative, majestic devotion to Śrī Prahlāda (jñāna-miśrābhakti). Śrī Prahlāda’s devotion is not śuddha-bhakti. Śrī Prahlāda himself has mentioned this previously.