Devanagari
यत्पादपङ्कजरज: शिरसा बिभर्ति
श्रीरब्जज: सगिरिश: सहलोकपालै: ।
लीलातनु: स्वकृतसेतुपरीप्सया य:
कालेऽदधत्स भगवान् मम केन तुष्येत् ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
yat-pāda-paṅkaja-rajaḥ śirasā bibharti
śṛīr abya-jaḥ sa-giriśaḥ saha loka-pālaiḥ
līlā-tanuḥ sva-kṛta-setu-parīpsayā yaḥ
kāle ’dadhat sa bhagavān mama kena tuṣyet
Synonyms
yat
—
whose
;
pāda
—
of the feet
;
paṅkaja
—
lotuslike
;
rajaḥ
—
the dust
;
śirasā
—
on her head
;
bibharti
—
holds
;
śṛīḥ
—
the goddess of fortune
;
abja
—
jaḥ — Lord Brahmā, who was born from a lotus flower
;
sa
—
together with
;
giri
—
śaḥ — Lord Śiva, the master of Mount Kailāsa
;
saha
—
together with
;
loka
—
of the planets
;
pālaiḥ
—
the various rulers
;
līlā
—
as His pastime
;
tanuḥ
—
a body
;
sva
—
by Himself
;
kṛta
—
created
;
setu
—
the codes of religion
;
parīpsayā
—
with the desire to protect
;
yaḥ
—
who
;
kāle
—
in course of time
;
adadhat
—
has assumed
;
saḥ
—
He
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
mama
—
with me
;
kena
—
on account of what
;
tuṣyet
—
may be pleased .
Translation
“Goddess Lakṣmī, Lord Brahma, Lord Śiva and the rulers of the various planets place the dust of His lotus feet on their heads, and to protect the codes of religion, which He has created, He assumes pastime incarnations at various times. How may that Supreme Personality of Godhead become pleased with me?”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Goddess Lakṣmī, Lord Brahma, Lord Śiva and the rulers of the various planets place the dust of His lotus feet on their heads, and to protect the codes of religion, which He has created, He assumes pastime incarnations at various times. How may that Supreme Personality of Godhead become pleased with me?"
KB 10.58.37
She began to offer prayers to Kṛṣṇa mentally, thinking, “I do not know how the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be pleased with me. He is the master and Lord of everyone. Even the goddess of fortune, whose place is next to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and many other demigods of different planets always offer their respectful obeisances unto the Lord. The Lord also sometimes descends to this earth in different incarnations to fulfill the desire of His devotees. He is so exalted and great that I do not know how to satisfy Him.” She thought that the Supreme Personality of Godhead could be pleased only out of His own causeless mercy upon the devotee; otherwise, there was no means to please Him. Lord Caitanya, in the same way, prayed in His Śikṣāṣṭaka verses, “My Lord, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other I have fallen into this material existence. If You kindly pick Me up and fix Me as an atom of dust at Your lotus feet, it will be a great favor to Your eternal servant.” The Lord can be pleased only by a humble attitude in the service spirit. The more we render service unto the Lord under the direction of the spiritual master, the more we make advancement on the path approaching the Lord. We cannot demand any grace or mercy from the Lord because of our service rendered to Him. He may accept or not accept our service, but the only means to satisfy the Lord is through the service attitude, and nothing else.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"How can I please that person who appears in the world when there is necessity of protecting the laws of religion made by himself, and who is now present here?"
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
She lists great personalities from the greater to the lesser—Lakṣmī, Brahmā, Śiva and the rulers of planets, in order to show her own insignificance. Śiva is considered less than Brahmā because as Brahmā’s son he acts as his student and Brahmā was the direct utilizer of the eighteen syllable Kṛṣṇa mantra. He has accepted (adadhat, but should be adadhāt) various forms for pastimes, with a desire to protect the dharma he has created. This indicates that Kṛṣṇa is the avatārī, the source of the avatāras. Another version has parīpsayeśa instead of parīpsayā yaḥ. By what cause or what sādhana of a low person like me will Kṛṣṇa (saḥ), famous as Svayam bhagavān, be satisfied? I think there is no method at all.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
“I am satisfied by bhakti.” Brahmā, who arose from the lotus in the Lord’s navel and who is thus his son, holds only one particle of his foot dust on his head. Śiva is considered secondary (sa-giriśaḥ) because Śiva appeared from Brahmā, and holds the dust by Brahmā’s order. Indra and others are also secondary. Śrī, first in the list, is the best. Śrī being closest to the Lord is mentioned first. Brahmā has the Lord’s affection, being his son. Then Śiva has the Lord’s affection. And then the devatās such as Indra have his affection. By his mercy, Indra and others carry the foot dust.
Or Śiva (giriśaḥ), having great powers (sa), is famous as the friend of the Lord. But even he, to attain the rarely attained Lord, holds the dust along with the devatās like Indra. They all worship the Lord. This made clear in Hari-vaṁśa, in describing the theft of the pārijāta tree. Śrī and the others show devotion to the Lord. So who am I?
Even in his avatāra forms it is rare for them to hold his foot dust. In order to protect the laws he has made, he accepts forms having various pastimes (līlā-tanuḥ) at appropriate times. When you become absorbed in your pastimes, they cannot attract your attention. Or among the avatāras manifested by your mercy, someone may satisfy one of them by some bhakti. But it is not possible to satisfy you, the source of the avatāras. But I, trespassing my dharma, am not qualified with bhakti. How, by what method, will the Lord who manifests unlimited powers (bhagavān), be satisfied with me? The potential form of the verb expresses possibility (tuṣyet). He cannot be satisfied.