Devanagari
त्वामीश्वरं स्वाश्रयमात्ममायया
विनिर्मिताशेषविशेषकल्पनम् ।
क्रीडार्थमद्यात्तमनुष्यविग्रहं
नतोऽस्मि धुर्यं यदुवृष्णिसात्वताम् ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
tvām īśvaraṁ svāśrayam ātma-māyayā
vinirmitāśeṣa-viśeṣa-kalpanam
krīḍārtham adyātta-manuṣya-vigrahaṁ
nato ’smi dhuryaṁ yadu-vṛṣṇi-sātvatām
Synonyms
tvām
—
to You
;
īśvaram
—
the supreme controller
;
sva
—
āśrayam — self-contained
;
ātma
—
Your own
;
māyayā
—
by the creative potency
;
vinirmita
—
constructed
;
aśeṣa
—
unlimited
;
viśeṣa
—
particular
;
kalpanam
—
arrangements
;
krīḍa
—
of playing
;
artham
—
for the sake
;
adya
—
now
;
ātta
—
taken on
;
manuṣya
—
among humans
;
vigraham
—
battle
;
nataḥ
—
bowed down
;
asmi
—
I am
;
dhuryam
—
to the greatest
;
yadu
—
vṛṣṇi — sātvatām — of the Yadu, Vṛṣṇi and Sātvata dynasties .
Translation
I bow down to You, the supreme controller, who are dependent only on Yourself. By Your potency You have constructed the unlimited particular arrangements of this universe. Now you have appeared as the greatest hero among the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis and Sātvatas and have chosen to participate in human warfare.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I bow down to You, the supreme controller, who are dependent only on Yourself. By Your potency You have constructed the unlimited particular arrangements of this universe. Now you have appeared as the greatest hero among the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis and Sātvatas and have chosen to participate in human warfare.
KB 10.37.23
“My dear Lord, You are the supreme controller. You are under Your own internal potency, and it is simply vain to think that You are dependent on any of Your creations.
“You have taken birth in the Yadu dynasty, or the Vṛṣṇi dynasty. Your advent on the surface of the earth in Your original form of eternal blissful knowledge is Your own pastime. You are not dependent on anything but Yourself; therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
There is no one like you. You have the power to control all others (isvara). You are not under the shelter of anyone and all others must take shelter of you. (svasrayam). (He thus describes the power of the Lord as not being dependent on any other person.) You create this variegated universe by your dependent maya. Your only object is play. But today you will accept combat with the human Kamsa, becoming enemy of Kamsa just as you became enemy of Kesi, Kamsa’s very life. I offer respects to you. All this is your play, in order protect the Yadus,Vrsnis and Satvatas."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
“Why do you deny that I do not have guṇas?” Or “Why do you deny guṇas in the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha? It is like denying darkness in the sun (an obvious fact).” The answer is given in this verse. By your śakti you create the world. Nārada denies any impurity in the Lord. And in the material world your pastimes are pure. Just as, before the agitation of prakṛti, your pure pastime of glancing accepts prakṛti, so the birth pastimes of you and your associates, pure because of being related to the Lord, accept the Yadu dynasty, which was different by nature previously and afterwards. Just as you are the best within the dynasties, the Yadus are the best among all the intimate dynasties. Vṛṣṇis, Yadus and Sātvatas are mentioned separately to show the superiority of the Yadus. “What is the purpose of my appearing in the material world?” You have brought (atta) a human form, Brahman with human form, for displaying pastimes for the devotees in the material world. Or, you have accepted a battle (vigraha) which is human-like, for performing your pastimes. Abhyātta is another version with the same meaning. You have done this now (adya), at the time of your avatāra. Or this is a summary of events to take place. The word viśuddha should be understood in both verses. The first part of the verse shows the Lord’s expansion as the puruṣa and the second part shows his original form for pastimes.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
You manifest a human form in all ways (abhi or adya). You are the leader (dhūryam) of the Yadus. The word Yadus also included the Bhojas and others, but the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis and Sātvatas are the most prominent so they alone are mentioned. This is more particular than the other general statements of the Lord’s powers. Ātma-māyayā means “by special śakti which is eternity, knowledge and bliss.” Krīḍārtham (for play) should be added to all the statements in the verse.
Or though you are the form of pure knowledge, you have appeared for playing, to benefit the world by your great mercy. Displaying your unlimited powers, I praise you and offer respects.
Though you are lord of the universe, you are the shelter of the Yadus (svāśrayam). Though you ignore others, you perform pastimes of unlimited variety (vinirmitāśeṣa-viśeṣa-kalpanam). Thus you manifest a human form.
Or I offer respects to you. “How can you, a brāhmaṇa, worthy of my respect, offer respects to me, an inferior?” Your manifestation of power overrides normal behavior. You are the supreme Lord, though you have a human form. Though you are the best of the Yadus, you live in Gokula (svāśrayam). To play you, manifest variegated pastimes.
Or I offer respects without fear (abhi). I am qualified to offer respects since my father respected you with devotion on seeing your powers. In Dvārakā, restricting his powers, the Lord worshipped Nārada.
Or you should forgive my offense. I surrender to you. He then recites this verse. I have done this to benefit the devatās and Yādavas. You know this since you are the Lord. “This means that you have causes suffering for my parents.” You can do everything just by being situated in Gokula (sva-saṁsthayā). Or everything cannot be accomplished by staying in Gokula. You can destroy their suffering by going to Mathurā.
“My parents will suffer on seeing me attacked by the wrestlers when I go.” Without effort, by your desire, everything is achieved (amogha). “How can I forgive you for giving information to Kaṁsa so that he tied up my parents? Could you not avoid my going to Mathurā?” You can forgive because you have unlimited compassion. By your powers you constantly manifest your quality of mercy (sva-tejasā nitya-nivṛtta-māyā-guṇa-pravāham). You are bhagavān, who manifests unlimited qualities like mercy. Thus I surrender to you. The plural is used to include his students.
“Great offenses should be forgiven by the great devotees, rather than by approaching me.” (verse 23 answers) You are full of all powers (īśvaram). Moreover, you are the shelter of your devotees (svāśrayam). Moreover by your powers, you unlimitedly glorify your devotees. For play you manifest a human form and act as the chief of the Yadus. You appeared in the Yadu dynasty to benefit the world by manifesting unlimited qualities of Bhagavān. Therefore you should also benefit me. You should forgive my offense or ask your parents. That is now your burden. Or as the chief of the Yadus, you should forgive. Then all others such as your father will forgive.