Devanagari
अजानतां त्वत्पदवीमनात्म-
न्यात्मात्मना भासि वितत्य मायाम् ।
सृष्टाविवाहं जगतो विधान
इव त्वमेषोऽन्त इव त्रिनेत्र: ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
ajānatāṁ tvat-padavīm anātmany
ātmātmanā bhāsi vitatya māyām
sṛṣṭāv ivāhaṁ jagato vidhāna
iva tvam eṣo ’nta iva trinetraḥ
Synonyms
ajānatām
—
to persons who are in ignorance
;
tvat
—
padavīm — of Your transcendental position
;
anātmani
—
in the material energy
;
ātmā
—
Yourself
;
ātmanā
—
by Yourself
;
bhāsi
—
appear
;
vitatya
—
expanding
;
māyām
—
Your inconceivable energy
;
sṛṣṭau
—
in the matter of creation
;
iva
—
as if
;
aham
—
I, Brahmā
;
jagataḥ
—
of the universe
;
vidhāne
—
in the maintenance
;
iva
—
as if
;
tvam eṣaḥ
—
Yourself
;
ante
—
in the annihilation
;
iva
—
as if
;
tri
—
netraḥ — Lord Śiva .
Translation
To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [Brahmā], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viṣṇu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Śiva].
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [Brahmā], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viṣṇu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Śiva].
KB 10.14.19
“Persons who are unaware of Your inconceivable energy cannot understand that You alone expand Yourself as the creator (Brahmā), the maintainer (Viṣṇu) and the annihilator (Śiva). Persons who are not in awareness of things as they are contemplate that I, Brahmā, am the creator, Viṣṇu is the maintainer, and Lord Śiva is the annihilator. Actually, You alone are everything—creator, maintainer and annihilator.
Purport
Although the impersonal Māyāvādī philosophers think that the demigods are illusory, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu are stated here to be expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus real. Indeed, they are the extraordinarily powerful controllers of the universe. The ultimate truth is a supreme and beautiful person, and thus throughout the creation of God we will always find the personal touch.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Not understanding anything about your spiritual universe, the materialists think that you are simply material (mayamaya). According to the persons who think themselves learned, but are ignorant of the path of bhakti (tvat padavim), you (atma) spread yourself in matter (anatmani) by your own will (atmana), and though without form, you take a form in matter (bhasi). For creation you become Brahma (aham), for maintenance (vidhane) you become Visnu (tvam) and for destruction you become Siva (trinetrah). Though you are without form, you take a form in matter as Brahma, Visnu and Siva. Thus the form of Narayana situated in the water of maya and all the avatara forms are all composed of maya. The transitory calves and boys and four handed forms of Visnu are all maya. This is the conception of the ignorant.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
You are the root for all the guṇāvataras and līlāvataras. This is explained in two verses. The subject of the verb bhāsi is tvam which is understood though not stated. You, yourself (ātmā) appear in this world by expanding māyā. For protection you appear as he—Viṣṇu—as if (iva) limited to the duty of protection. The name of Viṣṇu is not mentioned separately like the names of Brahmā and Śiva because Viṣṇu is non-different from Kṛṣṇa. Brahmā himself says:
sṛjāmi tan-niyukto ’haṁ haro harati tad-vaśaḥ |
viśvaṁ puruṣa-rūpeṇa paripāti tri-śakti-dhṛk ||
I create under his order, and Śiva destroys under his order. Holding his three energies, he protects the universe as the Paramātmā. SB 2.6.32
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
For non-devotees who do not know your glories you manifest in another way. For persons ignorant of the truth about your or about bhakti (tvat-padavīm) you (ātmā) appear as the jīva (ātmanā) in the material body (anātmani).
“Do they not know that there is a big difference between the jīva and the Lord, as explained in the śrutis and smrṭis?” You spread māyā. They are bewildered by your māya since they are not devotees. You appear like me, for creating the universe. The manvantarāvatara Viṣṇu is you, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmā accepts Viṣṇu and Kṛṣnā as non-different (eṣa tvam). This statement means that ignorant people think that Brahmā (a jīva) is Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. They are ignorance concerning the goals of creation, maintenance and destruction.
Though there is a great discrepancy for the jīva being the creator, maintainer and destroyer, the sequence of functions and personalities are listed for him because of the jīva’s identification with those posts out of pride.
Or just as for the purpose of creation, spreading māyā, you appear as mahat-tattva and other elements and you accept the positions of Brahmā etc. But in truth you are the real creator, maintainer and destroyer as is pointed out in the first verse of Bhāgavatam, janmādy asya yataḥ.