Devanagari
एते देवा: कला विष्णो: कालमायांशलिङ्गिन: ।
नानात्वात्स्वक्रियानीशा: प्रोचु: प्राञ्जलयो विभुम् ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
ete devāḥ kalā viṣṇoḥ
kāla-māyāṁśa-liṅginaḥ
nānātvāt sva-kriyānīśāḥ
procuḥ prāṣjalayo vibhum
Synonyms
ete
—
of all these physical elements
;
devāḥ
—
the controlling demigods
;
kalāḥ
—
parts and parcels
;
viṣṇoḥ
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
kāla
—
time
;
māyā
—
external energy
;
aṁśa
—
part and parcel
;
liṅginaḥ
—
so embodied
;
nānātvāt
—
because of various
;
sva
—
kriyā — personal duties
;
anīśāḥ
—
not being able to perform
;
procuḥ
—
uttered
;
prāṣjalayaḥ
—
fascinating
;
vibhum
—
unto the Lord .
Translation
The controlling deities of all the above-mentioned physical elements are empowered expansions of Lord Viṣṇu. They are embodied by eternal time under the external energy, and they are His parts and parcels. Because they were entrusted with different functions of universal duties and were unable to perform them, they offered fascinating prayers to the Lord as follows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The devatās of the various elements, known as portions of Viṣṇu, and possessing power of transformation, emotional states and consciousness, were unable to perform their functions in creating the universe because they were not related with each other. With folded hands they began praising the Lord.
“Mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra and other elements bound by their qualities, throw the jīvas to Svarga or hell and push them into repeated births. These causeless inflictors should be destroyed completely.”
One should not say so. Rather, the elements are causeless assistants and should be worshipped. This verse explains. Jṣāna and niskāma-karma, the practices for liberation, cannot be accomplished without these elements. The practices for prema, such as hearing, chanting, remembering, servitude and friendship, are accomplished by these elements, imbued with the Lord’s mercy. But actions which lead to hell, such as stealing another’s wife or property, or violence to cows and brāhmaṇas, are also accomplished by these elements. They should not be condemned. Gaṅgā water is sweet and purifying for saintly people. Entering into grass and shrubs on its banks, into grains and wheat, into jackfruit, mangos, grapes and sugarcane, it is most nourishing and pleasurable for all men. But when Gaṅgā water enters a poisonous tree, it can directly kill humans. This is not the fault of Gaṅgā water, but depends on the bad quality of the receiver.
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān |
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
I cast those hateful, cruel, and lowest of humans, constantly doing evil, into repeated birth and death in the wombs of demons. BG 16.19
According to the Gītā statement, what is the fault of the devotees appointed by the Lord as devatās of the elements who are situated in these evil persons? They are actually advanced Vaiṣṇavas. This becomes evident in their prayers which follow. These presiding deities of elements such as mahat-tattva are called portions of Viṣṇu since they function for māyā-śakti. They are the forms of time or transformation, the form of māyā or emotions such as deliberation, joy or sorrow, and the form of consciousness (aṁśa-liṅginaḥ). Because of not having relationship with each other (nānātvāt), the elements are unable (anīśāḥ) to create the universe (sva-kriyā). They began praising the Lord. By the inconceivable will of the Lord, they suddenly possessed all senses and bodies to do this. This shows that they are completely dependent on the Lord’s will.
Purport
The conception of various controlling demigods who inhabit the higher planetary systems for the management of universal affairs is not imaginary, as proposed by persons with a poor fund of knowledge. The demigods are expanded parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, and they are embodied by time, external energy and partial consciousness of the Supreme. Human beings, animals, birds, etc., are also parts and parcels of the Lord and have different material bodies, but they are not the controlling deities of material affairs. They are, rather, controlled by such demigods. Such control is not superfluous; it is as necessary as the controlling departments in the affairs of a modern state. The demigods should not be despised by the controlled living beings. They are all great devotees of the Lord entrusted to execute certain functions of universal affairs. One may be angry with Yamarāja for his thankless task of punishing sinful souls, but Yamarāja is one of the authorized devotees of the Lord, and so are all the other demigods. A devotee of the Lord is never controlled by such deputed demigods, who function as assistants of the Lord, but he shows them all respects on account of the responsible positions to which they have been appointed by the Lord. At the same time, a devotee of the Lord does not foolishly mistake them to be the Supreme Lord. Only foolish persons accept the demigods as being on the same level as Viṣṇu; actually they are all appointed as servants of Viṣṇu.
Anyone who places the Lord and the demigods on the same level is called a
pāṣaṇḍī,
or atheist. The demigods are worshiped by persons who are more or less adherents of the processes of
jṣāna, yoga
and
karma,
i.e., the impersonalists, meditators and fruitive workers. The devotees, however, worship only the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. This worship is not for any material benefit, as desired by all the materialists, even up to the salvationists, mystics and fruitive workers. Devotees worship the Supreme Lord to attain unalloyed devotion to the Lord. The Lord, however, is not worshiped by others, who have no program for attaining love of God, which is the essential aim of human life. Persons averse to a loving relationship with God are more or less condemned by their own actions.
The Lord is equal to every living entity, just like the flowing Ganges. The Ganges water is meant for the purification of everyone, yet the trees on the banks of the Ganges have different values. A mango tree on the bank of the Ganges drinks the water, and the
nimba
tree also drinks the same water. But the fruits of both trees are different. One is celestially sweet, and the other is hellishly bitter. The condemned bitterness of the
nimba
is due to its own past work, just as the sweetness of the mango is also due to its own
karma.
The Lord says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(16.19)
:
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān
saṁsāreṣu narādhamān
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
“The envious, the mischievous, the lowest of mankind — these do I ever put back into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.” Demigods like Yamarāja and other controllers are there for the unwanted conditioned souls who always engage in threatening the tranquillity of the kingdom of God. Since all the demigods are confidential devotee-servitors of the Lord, they are never to be condemned.