Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 20.311

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

māyātīta, guṇātīta 'viṣṇu' — parameśa

SYNONYMS

śiva — Lord Śiva; māyā-śakti-sańgī — an associate of the external energy; tamaḥ-guṇa-āveśa — absorbed by the quality of ignorance; māyā-atīta — transcendental to the external energy; guṇa-atīta — transcendental to the qualities of matter; viṣṇu — Viṣṇu; 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 Viṣṇu is transcendental to māyā and the qualities of māyā. Therefore He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

Viṣṇu 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: nārāyaṇaḥ paro 'vyaktāt (Gītā-bhāṣya). 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, Viṣṇu. Lord Śiva accepts māyā, but in the presence of Lord Viṣṇu, 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 Viṣṇu. Vaiṣṇavānāḿ yathā śambhuḥ.

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