Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 20.311

'śiva' — māyā-śakti-sańgī, tamo-gunāveśa

māyātīta, gunātīta 'vishnu' — parameśa

SYNONYMS

śiva — Lord Śiva; māyā-śakti-sańgī — an associate of the external energy; tamah-guna-āveśa — absorbed by the quality of ignorance; māyā-atīta — transcendental to the external energy; guna-atīta — transcendental to the qualities of matter; vishnu — Vishnu; parama-īśa — the Supreme Lord.

TRANSLATION

"Lord Śiva is an associate of the external energy; therefore he is absorbed in the material quality of darkness. Lord Vishnu is transcendental to māyā and the qualities of māyā. Therefore He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

Vishnu is beyond the range of the material manifestation, and He is not within the control of the material energy. He is the supreme independent Personality of Godhead. This is admitted even by Śańkarācārya: nārāyanah paro 'vyaktāt (Gītā-bhāshya). In his constitutional form, Śiva is a mahā-bhāgavata, a supreme devotee of the Lord, but because he accepts māyā's association — especially the quality of ignorance — he is not free from māyā's influence. Such an intimate association is completely absent in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu. Lord Śiva accepts māyā, but in the presence of Lord Vishnu, māyā does not exist. Consequently Lord Śiva has to be considered a product of māyā. When Lord Śiva is free from māyā's influence, he is in the position of a mahā-bhāgavata, a supreme devotee of Lord Vishnu. Vaishnavānām yathā śambhuh.

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