Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
| Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation | Chapter 4: The Process of Creation |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.4.12
namah parasmai purushāya bhūyase
sad-udbhava-sthāna-nirodha-līlayā
grihīta-śakti-tritayāya dehinām
antarbhavāyānupalakshya-vartmane
SYNONYMS
śrī-śukah uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; namah — offering obeisances; parasmai — the Supreme; purushāya — personality of Godhead; bhūyase — unto the complete whole; sad-udbhava — the creation of the material world; sthāna — its maintenance; nirodha — and its winding up; līlayā — by the pastime of; grihīta — having accepted; śakti — power; tritayāya — three modes; dehinām — of all who possess material bodies; antah-bhavāya — unto He who resides within; anupalakshya — inconceivable; vartmane — one who has such ways.
TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead who, for the creation of the material world, accepts the three modes of nature. He is the complete whole residing within the body of everyone, and His ways are inconceivable.
PURPORT
This material world is a manifestation of the three modes goodness, passion and ignorance, and the Supreme Lord, for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world, accepts three predominating forms as Brahmā, Vishnu and Śańkara (Śiva). As Vishnu He enters into every body materially created. As Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu He enters into every universe, and as Kshīrodakaśāyī Vishnu He enters the body of every living being. Lord Śrī Krishna, being the origin of all vishnu-tattvas, is addressed here as parah pumān, or Purushottama, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.18). He is the complete whole. The purushāvatāras are therefore His plenary expansions. Bhakti-yoga is the only process by which one can become competent to know Him. Because the empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalakshya-vartmane, the Lord of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness