Devanagari
अज: सृजति भूतानि भूतात्मा यदनुग्रहात् ।
ददृशे येन तद्रूपं नाभिपद्मसमुद्भव: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
ajaḥ sṛjati bhūtāni
bhūtātmā yad-anugrahāt
dadṛśe yena tad-rūpaṁ
nābhi-padma-samudbhavaḥ
Synonyms
ajaḥ
—
one who is born without a material source
;
sṛjati
—
creates
;
bhūtāni
—
all those materially born
;
bhūta
—
ātmā — having a body of matter
;
yat
—
whose
;
anugrahāt
—
by the mercy of
;
dadṛśe
—
could see
;
yena
—
by whom
;
tat
—
rūpam — His form of body
;
nābhi
—
navel
;
padma
—
lotus flower
;
samudbhavaḥ
—
being born of .
Translation
Brahmā, who was not born of a material source but of the lotus flower coming out of the navel abdomen of the Lord, is the creator of all those who are materially born. Of course, by the grace of the Lord, Brahmā was able to see the form of the Lord.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By the mercy of the Lord, Brahmā, the controller of the bodies within this universe, arising from the lotus in the Lord’s navel, created those bodies and saw that form.
Purport
The first living creature, Brahmā, is called
ajaḥ
because he did not take his birth from the womb of a mother materially born. He was directly born from the bodily expansion of the lotus flower of the Lord. Thus it is not readily understandable whether the body of the Lord and that of Brahmā are of the same quality or different. This must also be clearly understood. One thing is, however, certain: Brahmā was completely dependent on the mercy of the Lord because after his birth he could create living beings by the Lord’s grace only, and he could see the form of the Lord. Whether the form seen by Brahmā is of the same quality as that of Brahmā is a bewildering question, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit wanted to get clear answers from Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Certainly you should explain the difference. Brahmā (ajaḥ) is the controller of the individual bodies (bhūtāmā) since he represents the totality of bodies. Since he has come from the lotus in the navel of the Lord, by the Lord’s mercy alone he creates. And the Lord is not without form, because Brahmā saw that form. Though Brahmā is unborn, he appeared from the lotus in the Lord’s navel. Is the form of the Lord similar to that of the material body of Brahmā, or is it different? That you should explain.