Devanagari
ऋषिरुवाच
एवं गिरित्र: प्रिययाभिभाषित:
प्रत्यभ्यधत्त प्रहसन् सुहृत्प्रिय: ।
संस्मारितो मर्मभिद: कुवागिषून्
यानाह को विश्वसृजां समक्षत: ॥ १५ ॥
Verse text
ṛṣir uvāca
evaṁ giritraḥ priyayābhibhāṣitaḥ
pratyabhyadhatta prahasan suhṛt-priyaḥ
saṁsmārito marma-bhidaḥ kuvāg-iṣūn
yān āha ko viśva-sṛjāṁ samakṣataḥ
Synonyms
ṛṣiḥ uvāca
—
the great sage Maitreya said
;
evam
—
thus
;
giritraḥ
—
Lord Śiva
;
priyayā
—
by his dear wife
;
abhibhāṣitaḥ
—
being spoken to
;
pratyabhyadhatta
—
replied
;
prahasan
—
while smiling
;
suhṛt
—
priyaḥ — dear to the relatives
;
saṁsmāritaḥ
—
remembering
;
marma
—
bhidaḥ — heart piercing
;
kuvāk
—
iṣūn — malicious words
;
yān
—
which (words)
;
āha
—
said
;
kaḥ
—
who (Dakṣa)
;
viśva
—
sṛjām — of the creators of the universal manifestation
;
samakṣataḥ
—
in the presence .
Translation
The great sage Maitreya said: Lord Śiva, the deliverer of the hill Kailāsa, having thus been addressed by his dear wife, replied smilingly, although at the same time he remembered the malicious, heart-piercing speeches delivered by Dakṣa before the guardians of the universal affairs.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Maitreya said: Addressed in this way by his wife, Śiva, replied with a smile, while reminding his wife of the heart-piercing arrows of insults which Dakṣa spoke in the presence of the creators of the universe.
He made his wife remember the arrows of sharp words which pierce the heart. “How can the sharp words of Dakṣa pierce the heart of Śiva, who is self-satisfied?” Since Śiva is the supreme lord, he is certainly self-satisfied. But because he is also related to tamoguṇa, sometimes lamentation, illusion, attachment and hatred manifest in him, with his supreme powers not visible. Though Kṛṣṇa is always self-satisfied, because of having prema, he also shows lamentation, illusion, attachment and hatred in relation to Yaśodā, Baladeva and the gopīs, because of invisibility of his supreme powers. In Śiva, those moods arise from tamoguṇa, and are filled with an experience of a shadow of grief. In Kṛṣṇa, those moods arise from prema, and are filled with an experience of the highest bliss. Since prema is the ultimate essence of the cit-śakti, these moods cannot be restricted by the Lord’s being self-satisfied. However, destruction of demons is the effect of sattva-guṇa alone. Because of the mutual friction of the guṇas, sattva-guṇa destroys tamas and rajas, just as light destroys darkness. In this way, Kṛṣṇa destroys demons. Since he is śuddha-sattva, though the effects of material sattva are also present in him (in the sense that they are handled by him), they do not affect him. This has been explained in the First Canto (SB 1.2.23), and will be explained again at the beginning of the Seventh Canto (SB 7.9.37).
Purport
When Lord Śiva heard from his wife about Dakṣa, the psychological effect was that he immediately remembered the strong words spoken against him in the assembly of the guardians of the universe, and, remembering those words, he was sorry at heart, although to please his wife he smiled. In
Bhagavad-gītā
it is said that a liberated person is always in mental equilibrium in both the distress and the happiness of this material world. Therefore the question may now be raised why a liberated personality like Lord Śiva was so unhappy because of the words of Dakṣa. The answer is given by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura: Lord Śiva is
ātmārāma,
or situated in complete self-realization, but because he is the incarnation in charge of the material mode of ignorance,
tamo-guṇa,
he is sometimes affected by the pleasure and pain of the material world. The difference between the pleasure and pain of this material world and that of the spiritual world is that in the spiritual world the effect is qualitatively absolute. Therefore one may feel sorry in the absolute world, but the manifestation of so-called pain is always full of bliss. For instance, once Lord Kṛṣṇa, in His childhood, was chastised by His mother, Yaśodā, and Lord Kṛṣṇa cried. But although He shed tears from His eyes, this is not to be considered a reaction of the mode of ignorance, for the incident was full of transcendental pleasure. When Kṛṣṇa was playing in so many ways, sometimes it appeared that He caused distress to the
gopīs,
but actually such dealings were full of transcendental bliss. That is the difference between the material and spiritual worlds. The spiritual world, where everything is pure, is pervertedly reflected in this material world. Since everything in the spiritual world is absolute, in the spiritual varieties of apparent pleasure and pain there is no perception other than eternal bliss, whereas in the material world, because everything is contaminated by the modes of material nature, there are feelings of pleasure and pain. Therefore because Lord Śiva, although a fully self-realized person, was in charge of the material mode of ignorance, he felt sorrow.