Devanagari
योऽस्योत्प्रेक्षक आदिमध्यनिधने योऽव्यक्तजीवेश्वरो
य: सृष्ट्वेदमनुप्रविश्य ऋषिणा चक्रे पुर: शास्ति ता: ।
यं सम्पद्य जहात्यजामनुशयी सुप्त: कुलायं यथा
तं कैवल्यनिरस्तयोनिमभयं ध्यायेदजस्रं हरिम् ॥ ५० ॥
Verse text
yo ’syotprekṣaka ādi-madhya-nidhane yo ’vyakta-jīveśvaro
yaḥ sṛṣṭvedam anupraviśya ṛṣiṇā cakre puraḥ śāsti tāḥ
yaṁ sampadya jahāty ajām anuśayī suptaḥ kulāyaṁ yathā
taṁ kaivalya-nirasta-yonim abhayaṁ dhyāyed ajasraṁ harim
Synonyms
yaḥ
—
who
;
asya
—
this (universe)
;
utprekṣakaḥ
—
the one who watches over
;
ādi
—
in its beginning
;
madhya
—
middle
;
nidhane
—
and end
;
yaḥ
—
who
;
avyakta
—
of the unmanifested (material nature)
;
jīva
—
and of the living entities
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Lord
;
yaḥ
—
who
;
sṛṣṭvā
—
having sent forth
;
idam
—
this (universe)
;
anupraviśya
—
entering
;
ṛṣiṇā
—
along with the jīva soul
;
cakre
—
produced
;
puraḥ
—
bodies
;
śāsti
—
regulates
;
tāḥ
—
them
;
yam
—
to whom
;
sampadya
—
by surrendering
;
jahāti
—
gives up
;
ajām
—
the unborn (material nature)
;
anuśayī
—
embracing her
;
suptaḥ
—
a sleeping person
;
kulāyam
—
his body
;
yathā
—
as
;
tam
—
upon Him
;
kaivalya
—
by His purely spiritual status
;
nirasta
—
kept away
;
yonim
—
material birth
;
abhayam
—
for fearlessness
;
dhyāyet
—
one should meditate
;
ajasram
—
incessantly
;
harim
—
the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa .
Translation
He is the Lord who eternally watches over this universe, who exists before, during and after its manifestation. He is the master of both the unmanifest material energy and the spirit soul. After sending forth the creation He enters within it, accompanying each living entity. There He creates the material bodies and then remains as their regulator. By surrendering to Him one can escape the embrace of illusion, just as a dreaming person forgets his own body. One who wants liberation from fear should constantly meditate upon Him, Lord Hari, who is always on the platform of perfection and thus never subject to material birth.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He is the Lord who eternally watches over this universe, who exists before, during and after its manifestation. He is the master of both the unmanifest material energy and the spirit soul. After sending forth the creation He enters within it, accompanying each living entity. There He creates the material bodies and then remains as their regulator. By surrendering to Him one can escape the embrace of illusion, just as a dreaming person forgets his own body. One who wants liberation from fear should constantly meditate upon Him, Lord Hari, who is always on the platform of perfection and thus never subject to material birth.
KB 10.87.50
The Vedic literature is divided into two parts: the śrutis and the smṛtis. The śrutis are the four Vedas—Ṛg, Sāma, Atharva and Yajur—and the Upaniṣads, and the smṛtis are the Purāṇas and the Itihāsas like the Mahābhārata, which includes the Bhagavad-gītā. The conclusion of all these is that one should know Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the Parama-puruṣa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose superintendence material nature works. For creation, maintenance and annihilation, the Supreme Lord incarnates into three—Lord Brahmā, Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Śiva—after manifesting the material cosmos. All of these take charge of the three modes of material nature, but the ultimate direction is in the hand of Lord Viṣṇu. The complete activities of material nature under the three modes are conducted under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa [Bg. 9.10]) and in the Vedas (sa aikṣata).
The atheistic Sāṅkhyaite philosophers will of course offer their arguments that the material cosmic manifestation is due to prakṛti and puruṣa—material nature and the living entity, or the material cause and the effective cause. But Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. He is the cause of both the material and the effective causes. Prakṛti and puruṣa are not the ultimate cause. Superficially it appears that a child is born due to the combination of the father and mother, but the ultimate cause of both the father and the mother is Kṛṣṇa. He is therefore the original cause, or the cause of all causes, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā.
Both the Supreme Lord and the living entities enter into the material nature. The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, by one of His plenary expansions, manifests as Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Mahā-Viṣṇu, the gigantic Viṣṇu form lying in the Causal Ocean. Then from that gigantic form of Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands and enters into every universe. From Him, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva expand. Viṣṇu as Kṣīrodakaśāyī enters into the hearts of all living entities, as well as into all material elements, including the atom. The Brahma-saṁhitā says, aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham: [Bs. 5.35] “The Lord is within this universe and also within every atom.”
The living entity has a small material body taken in various species and forms, and similarly the whole universe is but the material body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This body is described in the śāstras as virāṭ-rūpa. As the individual living entity maintains his particular body, the Supreme Personality of Godhead maintains the whole cosmic creation, entering within it. As soon as the individual living entity leaves the material body, the body is immediately annihilated, and similarly as soon as Lord Viṣṇu leaves the cosmic manifestation, everything is annihilated. Therefore only when the individual living entity surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead is his liberation from material existence possible. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. Surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and nothing else, is therefore the cause of liberation. How the living entity becomes liberated from the modes of material nature after surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead is illustrated by the example of a sleeping man within a room. When a man is sleeping, everyone sees that he is present within the room, but actually the man himself is not within that body, for while sleeping a man forgets his bodily existence, although others may see that his body is present. Similarly, a liberated person engaged in devotional service to the Lord may be seen by others to be engaged in the household duties of the material world, but since his consciousness is fixed in Kṛṣṇa, he does not live within this world. His engagements are different, exactly as the sleeping man’s engagements are different from his bodily engagements. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that a devotee engaged full time in the transcendental loving service of the Lord has already surpassed the influence of the three modes of material nature. He is already situated on the Brahman platform and is in the transcendental realm, although he appears to be living within the body or within the material world.
In this connection, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that the person whose only desire is to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be situated in any condition in the material world, but he is to be understood as jīvan-mukta; that is to say, he is to be considered liberated while living within the body or the material world. The conclusion, therefore, is that a person fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a liberated person. Such a person actually has nothing to do with his material body or the material world. Those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are called karmīs and jṣānīs, and they hover on the bodily and mental platforms and thus are not liberated. This situation is called kaivalya-nirasta-yoni. But a person situated on the transcendental platform is freed from the repetition of birth and death. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fourth Chapter: “Simply by knowing the transcendental nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, one becomes free from the chains of the repetition of birth and death, and after quitting his present body he goes back home, back to Godhead.” This is the conclusion of all the Vedas. Thus after understanding the prayers offered by the personified Vedas, one should surrender unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Eighty-seventh Chapter of Kṛṣṇa, “Prayers by the Personified Vedas.”
Purport
By glancing upon the dormant universe at the time of sending forth the
jīva
souls into creation, the Supreme Lord provides all their necessities: For those living entities who are fruitive workers, He provides the intelligence and senses needed to achieve success in material work. For those who seek transcendental knowledge, He provides the intelligence by which they can merge into the spiritual effulgence of God, thus attaining liberation. And for the devotees He provides the understanding that leads them to His pure devotional service.
To arrange for these varied facilities, the Lord impels material nature to begin the process of universal evolution. Thus the Lord is the
nimitta-kāraṇam,
or effective cause, of creation. He is also the
upādāna-kāraṇam,
the ingredient cause, inasmuch as everything emanates from Him and He alone is constantly present before, during and after the manifestation of the created cosmos. Lord Nārāyaṇa Himself states this in the
Catuḥ-ślokī Bhāgavatam:
aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat-param
paścād ahaṁ yad etac ca
yo ’vaśiṣyeta so ’smy aham
“It is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.” (
Bhāg.
2.9.33
) Primeval Māyā and the
jīva
soul may deserve the respective titles of
upādāna
and
nimitta
causes of creation in a relative sense, but the Lord, after all, is the origin of both of them.
Until he chooses to accept the mercy of the Personality of Godhead, the
jīva
soul is
anuśayī,
helplessly bound up in the embrace of illusion. When he turns to the Lord’s worship, he becomes
anuśayī
in a different sense: fallen like a rod to pay obeisances at the Lord’s feet. By that surrender the soul easily casts illusion aside. Even though the liberated soul may still seem to be living in a material body, the connection he has with it is only an external appearance; he pays no more regard to it than a sleeping man pays to his body while busily engaged far, far away in his dream-world.
One gives up ignorance by abandoning false identification with one’s material body. Sometimes one can achieve this state only by a severe effort that takes many lifetimes, but in some cases the Lord may show special consideration for one He favors, regardless of how little credit that soul may have earned by regulated practice. In the words of Śrī Bhīṣmadeva,
yam iha nirīkṣya hatā gatāḥ svarūpam:
“Those who simply saw Kṛṣṇa on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained their original forms after being killed.” (
Bhāg.
1.9.39
) That even demons like Agha, Baka and Keśī were liberated by Lord Kṛṣṇa without having performed any spiritual practices is an indication of His unique position as the original Personality of Godhead. Knowing this, we should put aside all fear and doubt and give ourselves fully to the process of devotional service.
As his final words of commentary on this chapter, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī writes:
sarva-śruti-śiro-ratna-
nīrājita-padāmbujam
bhoga-yoga-pradaṁ vande
mādhavam karmi-namrayoḥ
“With their effulgence, the crest jewels among all the
śrutis
offer
āratī
to the lotus feet of Lord Mādhava. I pay homage to Him, who bestows the material enjoyment honored by material workers, and who also grants the divine connection with Him prized by those who bow down to Him with reverence.”
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also takes this opportunity to offer this humble prayer:
he bhaktā dvāry ayaṁ caṣcad-
vāladhī rauti vo manāk
prasādaṁ labhatāṁ yasmād
viśiṣṭaḥ śveva nāthati
“O devotees, this poor creature is standing at your doorway, waving his tail and barking. Please let him have a little
prasādam
so that he may become exceptional among dogs and get the best of masters as his owner.” Here the
ācārya
makes a pun on his own name:
viś
(
iṣṭaḥ
), “exceptional”;
śva
(
iva
), “like a dog”;
nātha
(
ati
), “having a master.” Such is the perfection of Vaiṣṇava humility.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, of the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
entitled “The Prayers of the Personified Vedas.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having collected together the meaning of all the praises of the Vedas, Sukadeva makes us again remember the facts.
He, glancing (utpreksakah) upon this world (asya) and awakening the karmas of the materialistic jivas sleeping next to maya, having created the intelligence, mind, senses and prana, in order for them to attain the fruits of their karma, in order for them to enjoy, in order that the jnanis can attain their goal of merging, as a result of jnana, and in order that the devotee can attain a position as an associate of the Lord in prema as a result of bhakti, thinks of where he can send each jiva in the material realm.
Sukadeva next speaks of existence in the three aspects of time. The Lord exists at the beginning middle and end of this unverse. That means he existed before the universe, during its existence, and will exist after its destruction.
Aham evasam evagre nanyat sad asat param
Pascad aham yad etac ca yo visisthyeta so’smy aham.
Brahma, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.
(SB 2.9.32)
Next Sukadeva speaks of the Lord’s being the cause of all and the controller of all. He is the cause and the controller (isvarah) of this whole material world,composed of maya (avyakta) and the jiva. Because they are his energies and because his energies are not different from their source the saktiman, he is also maya and the jiva. This indicates that he is the material cause of the world and jivas, their efficient cause and their controller.
Next he speaks of the entrance of the Lord in the world and the secondary creation there. He, having created this world, created the bodies (purah) of the devas, men, animals and others through the agency of Brahma (rsina) and controls them by his expansion as the paramatma, who, like a rsi, is not contaminated by the world. (the word rsi therefore has two functions here. )
Then he speaks of the jiva’s escape from the world, by bhakti. The jiva, embraced by ignorance (anusayi), surrenders to this Lord. According to Sridhara Swami, the word anusayi indicates that the jiva lies down paying dandavats again and again (anu sayi) to the Lord. The jiva gives up maya (ajam) who creates all the objects of this world. It could be argued that even the devotee who has surrendered to the Lord still has a material body. Therefore Sukadeva says that the jiva is like a sleeping person who gives up identification with his own body (kualayam). Though that body still exists, he is not aware of it. This means that the devotee, giving up his ignorance, gives up his identification with his material body. It should be understood however that sometimes this giving up of ignorance is a cause of not surrendering to the Lord (as in the case of impersonalists), and that at other times without doing sadhana, the jiva escapes from the world.
That Lord removes the ignorance of the jiva (nirasta yoni) even in isolation from a cause (without sadhana for liberation).
Yam iha niriksya hata gatah svarupam
(SB 1.9.39)
Killed seeing his form, they became liberated.
From these words of Bhisma, one sees liberation even in the case of no sadhana for liberation as in the case of many such as baka, aghu and kesi. Krsna is indicated by this particular quality.
Certainly giving up all fear of all the various persons producing poisonous philosophies generated by their karma, one should continuously constantly meditate upon Hari, of the qualities described above, Krsna, who steals the mind of the person endowed with prema by his particular sweetness.
The person is described:
He bhakta dvary ayam cancad baladhi rauti vo manak
Prasadam labhatam yasmad visistah sveva nathati
O devotees, this person, of unsteady, dull mind, is offering praises at the door. You should let him have a little mercy since he is expert and quickly does the soliciting.
The word cancal baladhi can also mean "wagging tail," since valadhih means tail according to Amara Kosa. Thus the meaning would be as follows.
O devotees this creature wagging its tail is barking at the door. You should please give him some food, since he appears to be special dog asking for help.
There is imbedded in the last line the authors name, "visvanatha."
This is how visvanatha has given the meaning of the word.
Or the meaning can be: This is the derivation of the meaning of Visvanatha: one who begs in a special way.
Or the meaning can be: This, then is the method of achieving the association of the Lord of the universe.
O the meaning can be: Thus Visvantha has described the verses of the personified Vedas.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The Lord is the supreme witness in all three phases of time. He is the antaryāmī of the Kāraṇa Ocean and by his two śaktis, jīva and māyā, he becomes the material cause (upādāna) of creation with consciousness (mahat-tattva). This is called sarga. He is the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the total universe. Entering into it, he becomes the antaryāmī of the total universe (Garbhodakaśāyī). This is his pastime of entering the universe. He makes the individual bodies by means of Brahmā (ṛṣiṇā). He is thus the creator of visarga. He regulates the bodies as antaryāmī of the individual soul (Kṣīrodakaśāyī).
Having shown the Lord’s svarūpa-śakti as the instigator of the powers of māyā, Śukadeva now shows him as the destroyer of māyā. Becoming absorbed in the Lord, the jīva covered by upādhis (anuśayī) rejects ignorance, a function of māyā (ajām). This shows the Lord’s pastime of liberating jīvas. Having indicated the Lord through the powers of his svarūpa-śakti, represented by secondary characteristics, Śukadeva then directly indicates the Lord in the last line.
One should meditate on the Lord with his famous svarūpa (harim), who throws māyā far away permanently by his pure svarūpa, the shelter of his pure, powerful śaktis (kaivalyena), simply by being absorbed in the Lord. The Lord who has these qualities, is suitable for bhakti with meditation since he has the purest svarūpa, the purest śaktis, and the highest mercy, which is bestowed on the jīvas for their benefit. By rejecting māyā after describing its powers, by establishing the Lord in the forefront with his pure śaktis, by indicating bhakti as the sādhana represented by meditation, by reliance on the teachings of the Veda, this verse has the same meaning as the ancient prayers of the śrutis. One should also see its details. It also has the same meaning as the first verse of the Bhāgavatam.
The following also has the same meaning.
atra sargo visargaś ca sthānaṁ poṣaṇam ūtayaḥ
manvantareśānukathā nirodho muktir āśrayaḥ
In this Purāṇa there are ten topics: creation, secondary creation, protection, mercy of the Lord, material activities, the conduct of the Manus, stories of the Lord, destruction of the universe, liberation and the ultimate shelter. SB 2.10.1
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
One should worship the Lord with prema. He teaches people out of devotion or great mercy, uttering a statement of the meaning of the śrutis’ prayers. The Lord is the observer of the universe (utprekṣaka). This means he is the cause. He is the lord of the jīvas and pradhāna. This means he is the supreme Lord. After creating the universe he enters it. This shows his intrinsic mercy. Surrendering to him the jīva escapes māyā. This shows the lord’s affection for his devotee.
The Lord eradicates ignorance of the jīvas so that they can experience the happiness of liberation (kaivalya-nirasta-yonim). Or he is the continually manifested cause or shelter of prema bhakti. It is inferred that he gives the spiritual abode. He is all attractive with the highest beauty (harim). In the sequences gradually superior qualities for meditation are mentioned. One should always think of this form or one should always worship this form with prema. In prema one naturally thinks of the Lord at all times (dhyāyet). Or by constant meditation on the Lord one will attain prema.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Prayers of the Personified Vedas."
10.88: Lord Śiva Saved from Vṛkāsura
verses: Summary, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18-19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25-26, 27-28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38-39, 40
Chapter Summary
This chapter describes how it is that the devotees of Viṣṇu obtain liberation, while the devotees of other deities obtain material opulences.
Lord Viṣṇu possesses all opulences, while Lord Śiva lives in poverty. Yet the devotees of Viṣṇu are generally poverty-stricken, while Śiva's attain abundant wealth. When Mahārāja Parīkṣit asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī to explain this puzzling fact, the sage replied as follows: "Lord Śiva manifests as false ego in three varieties, according to the three modes of nature. From this false ego arise the five physical elements and the other transformations of material nature, totaling sixteen. When a devotee of Lord Śiva worships his manifestation in any of these elements, the devotee obtains all sorts of corresponding enjoyable opulences. But because Lord Śrī Hari is transcendental to the modes of material nature, His devotees also become transcendental."
At the end of the performance of his Aśvamedha sacrifices, King Yudhiṣṭhira had asked this same question of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who replied, "When I feel special compassion for someone, I gradually deprive him of his wealth. Then the poverty-stricken man's children, wife and other relations all abandon him. When he again tries to acquire wealth in order to win back his family's favor, I mercifully frustrate him so that he becomes disgusted with fruitive work and befriends My devotees. And at that time I bestow upon him My extraordinary grace; then he can become freed from the bondage of material life and attain to the kingdom of God, Vaikuṇṭha."
Lord Brahmā, Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Śiva can each bestow or withhold favors, but whereas Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are satisfied or angered very quickly, Lord Viṣṇu is not. In this regard the Vedic literature relates the following account: Once the demon Vṛka asked Nārada which god was most quickly pleased, and Nārada answered that Lord Śiva was. Thus Vṛkāsura went to the holy place of Kedāranātha and began worshiping Lord Śiva by offering pieces of his own flesh as oblations into the fire. But Śiva did not appear. So Vṛka decided to commit suicide by cutting off his head. Just at the critical moment, Lord Śiva appeared from the sacrificial fire and stopped him, offering the demon whatever boon he chose. Vṛka said, "May death come to whomever I touch upon the head with my hand." Lord Śiva was obliged to fulfill this request, and at once the wicked Vṛka tried to test the benediction by putting his hand on the lord's head. Terrified, Śiva fled for his life, running as far as heaven and the outer limits of the mortal world. Finally the lord reached the planet of Śvetadvīpa, where Lord Viṣṇu resides. Seeing the desperate Śiva from afar, the Lord disguised Himself as a young student and went before Vṛkāsura. In a sweet voice he addressed the demon: "My dear Vṛka, please rest awhile and tell Us what you intend to do." Vṛka was charmed by the Lord's words and revealed everything that had happened. The Lord said, "Ever since Lord Śiva was cursed by Prajāpati Dakṣa, he has become just like a carnivorous hobgoblin. So you shouldn't trust his word. Better to test his benediction by putting your hand on your own head." Bewildered by these words, the foolish demon touched his own head, which immediately shattered and fell to the ground. Cries of "Victory!" "Obeisances!" and "Well done!" were heard from the sky, and the demigods, sages, celestial forefathers and Gandharvas all congratulated the Supreme Lord by raining down flowers upon Him.