Devanagari
यस्मिन्निदं सदसदात्मतया विभाति
माया विवेकविधुति स्रजि वाहिबुद्धि: ।
तं नित्यमुक्तपरिशुद्धविशुद्धतत्त्वं
प्रत्यूढकर्मकलिलप्रकृतिं प्रपद्ये ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
yasminn idaṁ sad-asad-ātmatayā vibhāti
māyā viveka-vidhuti sraji vāhi-buddhiḥ
taṁ nitya-mukta-pariśuddha-viśuddha-tattvaṁ
pratyūḍha-karma-kalila-prakṛtiṁ prapadye
Synonyms
yasmin
—
in which
;
idam
—
this
;
sat
—
asat — the Supreme Lord and His different energies
;
ātmatayā
—
being the root of all cause and effect
;
vibhāti
—
manifests
;
māyā
—
illusion
;
viveka
—
vidhuti — liberated by deliberate consideration
;
sraji
—
on the rope
;
vā
—
or
;
ahi
—
serpent
;
buddhiḥ
—
intelligence
;
tam
—
unto Him
;
nitya
—
eternally
;
mukta
—
liberated
;
pariśuddha
—
uncontaminated
;
viśuddha
—
pure
;
tattvam
—
truth
;
pratyūḍha
—
transcendental
;
karma
—
fruitive activities
;
kalila
—
impurities
;
prakṛtim
—
situated in spiritual energy
;
prapadye
—
surrender .
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself as one with the cause and effect within this body, but one who has transcended the illusory energy by deliberate consideration, which clears the misconception of a snake for a rope, can understand that the Paramātmā is eternally transcendental to the material creation and situated in pure internal energy. Thus the Lord is transcendental to all material contamination. Unto Him only must one surrender.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I surrender to Paramātmā who defeats material energy contaminated by karma, who is ever liberated, completely pure, the highest truth, and within whom māyā manifests this universe as cause and effect, superior and inferior, but which can be dissolved by discrimination. Some claim the world is an illusion, like thinking a garland is a snake, and that this illusion is dissipated by knowledge of oneness.
This verse rejects the idea that the Lord becomes contaminated by being present in the hearts of all living beings. In him, māyā lights up this universe (idam) situated with high and low forms, effect and cause (sad-asat). The cause of the universe is māyā. The universe is destroyed by discernment (viveka-vidhutiḥ).
This discernment gives realization of non-difference. The universe arises from māyā, and being māyā, it is thus the external energy of Paramātmā. The jīva is the taṭastha energy of the Paramātmā. The energies and the possessor of the energies, Paramātmā, are non-different. Thus the universe, jīvas and Paramātmā are non-different (but not illusory). Difference is compared to thinking that a garland is a snake. The word vā indicates that undifferentiated realization which claims that all different is illusion is the opponent’s view—that of the vivartavādīs. The Lord is ever-liberated because he is completely pure, because he is truth (viśuddha-tattvam). He defeats (pratyūḍha) prakṛti contaminated by karma. I surrender to him. Without bhakti to Paramātmā in the form of surrender, liberation is not possible. The secondary role of bhakti, as an aṅga of jṣāna, is shown.
Purport
This verse is specifically stated to defy the Māyāvāda conclusion of oneness without differentiation between the individual soul and the Supersoul. The Māyāvāda conclusion is that the living entity and the Supersoul are one; there is no difference. The Māyāvādīs proclaim that there is no separate existence outside the impersonal Brahman and that the feeling of separation is
māyā,
or an illusion, by which one considers a rope to be a snake. The rope-and-the-snake argument is generally offered by the Māyāvādī philosophers. Therefore these words, which represent
vivarta-vāda,
are specifically mentioned herein. Actually Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is eternally liberated. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living within this body along with the individual soul, and this is confirmed in the
Vedas.
They are likened to two friends sitting on the same tree. Yet Paramātmā is above the illusory energy. The illusory energy is called
bahiraṅgā śakti,
or external energy, and the living entity is called
taṭasthā śakti,
or marginal potency. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
the material energy, represented as earth, water, air, fire, sky, etc., and the spiritual energy, the living entity, are both energies of the Supreme Lord. Even though the energies and the energetic are identical, the living entity, individual soul, being prone to be influenced by the external energy, considers the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be one with himself.
The word
prapadye
is also significant in this verse, for it refers to the conclusion of the
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.66)
:
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.
In another place the Lord says,
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jṣānavān māṁ prapadyate
(
Bg. 7.19
). This
prapadye
or
śaraṇaṁ vraja
refers to the individual’s surrender to the Supersoul. The individual soul, when surrendered, can understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although situated within the heart of the individual soul, is superior to the individual soul. The Lord is always transcendental to the material manifestation, even though it appears that the Lord and the material manifestation are one and the same. According to the Vaiṣṇava philosophy, He is one and different simultaneously. The material energy is a manifestation of His external potency, and since the potency is identical with the potent, it appears that the Lord and individual soul are one; but actually the individual soul is under the influence of material energy, and the Lord is always transcendental to it. Unless the Lord is superior to the individual soul, there is no question of
prapadye,
or surrender unto Him. This word
prapadye
refers to the process of devotional service. Simply by nondevotional speculation on the rope and the snake, one cannot approach the Absolute Truth. Therefore devotional service is stressed as more important than deliberation or mental speculation to understand the Absolute Truth.