Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.14.10

ataḥ kṣamasvācyuta me rajo-bhuvo

hy ajānatas tvat-pṛthag-īśa-māninaḥ

ajāvalepāndha-tamo-'ndha-cakṣuṣa

eṣo 'nukampyo mayi nāthavān iti

SYNONYMS

ataḥ — therefore; kṣamasva — please excuse; acyuta — O infallible Lord; me — me; rajaḥ-bhuvaḥ — who have taken birth in the mode of passion; hi — indeed; ajānataḥ — being ignorant; tvat — from You; pṛthak — separate; īśa — a controller; māninaḥ — presuming myself; aja — the unborn creator; avalepa — the covering; andha-tamaḥ — by such darkness of ignorance; andha — blinded; cakṣuṣaḥ — my eyes; eṣaḥ — this person; anukampyaḥ — should be shown mercy; mayi — Me; nātha-vān — having as his master; iti — thus thinking.

TRANSLATION

Therefore, O infallible Lord, kindly excuse my offenses. I have taken birth in the mode of passion and am therefore simply foolish, presuming myself a controller independent of Your Lordship. My eyes are blinded by the darkness of ignorance, which causes me to think of myself as the unborn creator of the universe. But please consider that I am Your servant and therefore worthy of Your compassion.

PURPORT

In his commentary, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Brahmā wanted to present the following argument to the Lord: "My dear Lord, because I have acted so badly I certainly deserve to be punished. On the other hand, because I am so ignorant You should consider me an innocent fool and be merciful to me. Thus, although I deserve both punishment and forgiveness, I humbly beg You to exercise tolerance in this matter and simply forgive me and show me Your mercy."

The words nāthavān iti indicate that Lord Brahmā wanted to humbly remind Lord Kṛṣṇa that He was, after all, Brahmā's father and master and should therefore forgive the unfortunate transgressions of His humble servant. Every conditioned soul, whether he be Lord Brahmā or an insignificant ant, falsely identifies himself with the material world and in this way forgets his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Brahmā, because of his prestigious position as the cosmic creator, also tends to identify himself as the lord of this world, and thus he sometimes forgets his position as an insignificant servant of the Supreme Lord. Now, by Lord Kṛṣṇa's mercy, this false identification is being rectified and Lord Brahmā is remembering his constitutional position as the eternal servant of God.

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