Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.17.16

bhavānī-nāthaih strī-ganārbuda-sahasrair avarudhyamāno bhagavataś catur-mūrter mahā-purushasya turīyām tāmasīm mūrtim prakritim ātmanah sańkarshana-samjñām ātma-samādhi-rūpena sannidhāpyaitad abhigrinan bhava upadhāvati

SYNONYMS

bhavānī-nāthaih — by the company of Bhavānī; strī-gana — of females; arbuda-sahasraih — by ten billion; avarudhyamānah — always being served; bhagavatah catuh-mūrteh — the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is expanded in four; mahā-purushasya — of the Supreme Person; turīyām — the fourth expansion; tāmasīm — related to the mode of ignorance; mūrtim — the form; prakritim — as the source; ātmanah — of himself (Lord Śiva); sańkarshana-samjñām — known as Sańkarshana; ātma-samādhi-rūpena — by meditating upon Him in trance; sannidhāpya — bringing Him near; etat — this; abhigrinan — clearly chanting; bhavah — Lord Śiva; upadhāvati — worships.

TRANSLATION

In Ilāvrita-varsha, Lord Śiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of goddess Durgā, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Sańkarshana. Sańkarshana, the fourth expansion, is certainly transcendental, but because his activities of destruction in the material world are in the mode of ignorance, He is known as tāmasī, the Lord's form in the mode of ignorance. Lord Śiva knows that Sańkarshana is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra.

PURPORT

Sometimes we see a picture of Lord Śiva engaged in meditation. This verse explains that Lord Śiva is always meditating upon Lord Sańkarshana in trance. Lord Śiva is in charge of the destruction of the material world. Lord Brahmā creates the material world, Lord Vishnu maintains it, and Lord Śiva destroys it. Because destruction is in the mode of ignorance, Lord Śiva and his worshipable Deity, Sańkarshana, are technically called tāmasī. Lord Śiva is the incarnation of tamo-guna. Since both Lord Śiva and Sańkarshana are always enlightened and situated in the transcendental position, they have nothing to do with the modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — but because their activities involve them with the mode of ignorance, they are sometimes called tāmasī.

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