Canto 8: Withdrawal of the Cosmic CreationsChapter 3: Gajendra's Prayers of Surrender

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.3.10

nama ātma-pradīpāya

sākṣiṇe paramātmane

namo girāḿ vidūrāya

manasaś cetasām api

SYNONYMS

namaḥI offer my respectful obeisances; ātma-pradīpāya — unto He who is self-effulgent or who gives enlightenment to the living entities; sākṣiṇe — who is situated in everyone's heart as a witness; parama-ātmane — unto the Supreme Soul, the Supersoul; namaḥI offer my respectful obeisances; girām — by words; vidūrāya — who is impossible to reach; manasaḥ — by the mind; cetasām — or by consciousness; api — even.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the self-effulgent Supersoul, who is the witness in everyone's heart, who enlightens the individual soul and who cannot be reached by exercises of the mind, words or consciousness.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, cannot be understood by the individual soul through mental, physical or intellectual exercises. It is by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that the individual soul is enlightened. Therefore, the Lord is described here as ātma-pradīpa. The Lord is like the sun, which illuminates everything and cannot be illuminated by anyone. Therefore, if one is serious about understanding the Supreme, one must receive enlightenment from Him, as instructed in Bhagavad-gītā. One cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by one's mental, physical or intellectual powers.

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