Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.24.16

vedāham ādyaḿ puruṣam

avatīrṇaḿ sva-māyayā

bhūtānāḿ śevadhiḿ dehaḿ

bibhrāṇaḿ kapilaḿ mune

SYNONYMS

veda — know; aham — I; ādyam — the original; puruṣam — enjoyer; avatīrṇam — incarnated; sva-māyayā — by His own internal energy; bhūtānām — of all the living entities; śevadhim — the bestower of all desired, who is just like a vast treasure; deham — the body; bibhrāṇam — assuming; kapilam — Kapila Muni; mune — O sage Kardama.

TRANSLATION

O Kardama, I know that the original Supreme Personality of Godhead has now appeared as an incarnation by His internal energy. He is the bestower of all desired by the living entities, and He has now assumed the body of Kapila Muni.

PURPORT

In this verse we find the words puruṣam avatīrṇaḿ sva-māyayā. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is everlastingly, eternally the form of puruṣa, the predominator or enjoyer, and when He appears He never accepts anything of this material energy. The spiritual world is a manifestation of His personal, internal potency, whereas the material world is a manifestation of His material, or differentiated, energy. The word sva-māyayā, "by His own internal potency," indicates that whenever the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends, He comes in His own energy. He may assume the body of a human being, but that body is not material. In Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is clearly stated that only fools and rascals, mūḍhas, consider the body of Kṛṣṇa to be the body of a common human being. The word śevadhim means that He is the original bestower of all the necessities of life upon the living entities. In the Vedas also it is stated that He is the chief living entity and that He bestows all the desired necessities of other living entities. Because He is the bestower of the necessities of all others, He is called God. The Supreme is also a living entity; He is not impersonal. As we are individual, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also individual — but He is the supreme individual. That is the difference between God and the ordinary living entities.

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