Devanagari
उच्चावचेषु भूतेषु दुर्ज्ञेयमकृतात्मभि: ।
उपासते त्वां भगवन् याथातथ्येन ब्राह्मणा: ॥ २ ॥
Verse text
uccāvaceṣu bhūteṣu
durjṣeyam akṛtātmabhiḥ
upāsate tvāṁ bhagavan
yāthā-tathyena brāhmaṇāḥ
Synonyms
ucca
—
in the superior
;
avaceṣu
—
and the inferior
;
bhūteṣu
—
created objects and entities
;
durjṣeyam
—
hard to understand
;
akṛta
—
ātmabhiḥ — by the impious
;
upāsate
—
they worship
;
tvām
—
You
;
bhagavan
—
my dear Lord
;
yāthā
—
tathyena — in truth
;
brāhmaṇāḥ
—
those dedicated to the Vedic conclusion .
Translation
My dear Lord, although it is difficult for the impious to understand that You are situated in all superior and inferior creations, those brāhmaṇas who are actual knowers of the Vedic conclusion worship You in truth.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord! Although it is difficult for the impious to understand that you are situated in all superior and inferior creations, the knowers of the Vedas worship you in those forms.
The knowers of the Vedas worship you, the cause of all beings as Viṣṇu, who dwell in all low and elevated beings, and who are not understood by persons who do not meditate on you. They worship you in all forms in which you dwell (yāthātathyena).
Purport
The behavior of saintly persons is also to be taken as evidence, and therefore it is here stated that although ignorant, impious persons are bewildered before the Lord’s all-pervading feature, those with purified, clear consciousness worship the Lord as He is. In this chapter Śrī Uddhava inquires about the Lord’s opulences, and here the words
uccāvaceṣu bhūteṣu
(“within superior and inferior creations”) clearly refer to the Lord’s external opulences, those manifested in the material world. The saintly
brāhmaṇas,
or Vaiṣṇavas, worship Lord Kṛṣṇa within all things and yet recognize the variety in the Lord’s creation. For example, in worshiping the Deity, the devotees will select the nicest flowers, fruits and ornaments for decorating the transcendental form of the Lord. Similarly, although the Lord is present in the heart of every conditioned soul, the devotee will give more attention to a conditioned soul interested in the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Although the Lord is everywhere, the devotees make distinctions, for the sake of the Lord’s service, between His presence in superior (
ucca
) and inferior (
avaceṣu
) creations.