Devanagari
नमस्तस्मै भगवते कृष्णायाकुण्ठमेधसे ।
स्वयोगमाययाच्छन्नमहिम्ने परमात्मने ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
namas tasmai bhagavate
kṛṣṇāyākuṇṭha-medhase
sva-yogamāyayācchanna-
mahimne paramātmane
Synonyms
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
tasmai
—
to Him
;
bhagavate
—
the Supreme Lord
;
kṛṣṇāya
—
Kṛṣṇa
;
akuṇṭha
—
unrestricted
;
medhase
—
whose wisdom
;
sva
—
His own
;
yoga
—
māyayā — by the internal illusory potency
;
ācchanna
—
covered
;
mahimne
—
whose glories
;
parama
—
ātmane — the Supersoul .
Translation
Let us offer obeisances unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the infinitely intelligent Supersoul, who has disguised His greatness through His mystic Yoga-māyā.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Let us offer obeisances unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the infinitely intelligent Supersoul, who has disguised His greatness through His mystic Yogamāyā.
KB 10.84.22
“Our dear Lord, there is no end to Your unlimited knowledge. Your form is transcendental, eternally existing in full bliss and knowledge. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Soul. Being covered by the spell of Your internal potency, yogamāyā, You are now temporarily concealing Your unlimited potencies, but still we can understand Your exalted position, and therefore all of us offer You our respectful obeisances.
Purport
Apart from any future profit to be obtained from worshiping the Supreme Lord, it is every person’s most essential obligation to bow down to Him as an acknowledgement of one’s dependence and servitude. Lord Kṛṣṇa recommends,
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ
“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (
Bg. 9.34
)
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Therefore you may praise us or offer respects to us to teach the common man, but we will still offer our respects to you, our worshipable lord. Thus they recite this verse.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Out of great devotion, with astonishment at Kṛṣṇa’s greatness, the sages offer respects. The prayer is directly to Kṛṣṇa expressing “We offer respects to you (tubhyam).” However the sages say, “We offer respects to him (tasmai).” Because of appearance of great devotion they indicate that he is beyond everyone’s understanding and vision (tasmai), since he is Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa (bhagavate), superior to all others, with unlimited intelligence (akuṇṭha-medhase). “But if I always have unlimited intelligence, and am superior to all, why are you not always situated in knowledge?” Your greatness is covered by your yoga-māyā. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyāsamāvṛtaḥ: covered by my yogamāyā I am not revealed to all. (BG 7.25) They previously said that they were bewildered by his māyā in verse 16. “How did you get knowledge at this time?” You are Paramātmā: by your merciful inspiration we have developed knowledge of you.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Out of great devotion, thinking themsels most fortunate, the sages offer respects. They do not directly say “We offer respects to you,” out of great devotion. Your greatness is not covered even by your extraordinary yoga-māyā, since you reveal unlimited powers. Or you cover your greatness by your yoga-māyā. Or you cover your greatness, giving mercy (māyā) by which devotees can meet you (yoga). Therefore you are dearest to everyone (paramātmane).