Devanagari
अहं हि पृष्टोऽर्यमणो भवद्भि-
राचक्ष आत्मावगमोऽत्र यावान् ।
नभ: पतन्त्यात्मसमं पतत्त्रिण-
स्तथा समं विष्णुगतिं विपश्चित: ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
ahaṁ hi pṛṣṭo ’ryamaṇo bhavadbhir
ācakṣa ātmāvagamo ’tra yāvān
nabhaḥ patanty ātma-samaṁ patattriṇas
tathā samaṁ viṣṇu-gatiṁ vipaścitaḥ
Synonyms
aham
—
my humble self
;
hi
—
certainly
;
pṛṣṭaḥ
—
asked by you
;
aryamaṇaḥ
—
as powerful as the sun
;
bhavadbhiḥ
—
by you
;
ācakṣe
—
may describe
;
ātma
—
avagamaḥ — as far as my knowledge is concerned
;
atra
—
herein
;
yāvān
—
so far
;
nabhaḥ
—
sky
;
patanti
—
fly
;
ātma
—
samam — as far as it can
;
patattriṇaḥ
—
the birds
;
tathā
—
thus
;
samam
—
similarly
;
viṣṇu
—
gatim — knowledge of Viṣṇu
;
vipaścitaḥ
—
even though learned .
Translation
O ṛṣis, who are as powerfully pure as the sun, I shall try to describe to you the transcendental pastimes of Viṣṇu as far as my knowledge is concerned. As the birds fly in the sky as far as their capacity allows, so do the learned devotees describe the Lord as far as their realization allows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
You are like many suns! I will speak the knowledge requested by you according to what I have understood. Just as birds fly high in the sky only according to their ability, so the wise understand the pastimes of the Lord only according to their limited ability.
Purport
The Supreme Absolute Truth is unlimited. No living being can know about the unlimited by his limited capacity. The Lord is impersonal, personal and localized. By His impersonal feature He is all-pervading Brahman, by His localized feature He is present in everyone’s heart as the Supreme Soul, and by His ultimate personal feature He is the object of transcendental loving service by His fortunate associates the pure devotees. The pastimes of the Lord in different features can only be estimated partly by the great learned devotees. So Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī has rightly taken this position in describing the pastimes of the Lord as far as he has realized. Factually only the Lord Himself can describe Himself, and His learned devotee also can describe Him as far as the Lord gives him the power of description.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Rejoicing at his good fortune, Sūta begins to speak about Parīkṣit again. You are like suns (aryamaṇah)! I will speak knowledge according to how much I have understood. Just as birds fly in the sky according to their ability and not to the topmost height of the sky, even those who are wise can know the Lord’s pastimes (gatim) according to their intelligence (samam).