SB 5.11.13 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

क्षेत्रज्ञ आत्मा पुरुष: पुराण: साक्षात्स्वयंज्योतिरज: परेश: । नारायणो भगवान् वासुदेव: स्वमाययाऽऽत्मन्यवधीयमान: ॥ १३ ॥ यथानिल: स्थावरजङ्गमाना- मात्मस्वरूपेण निविष्ट ईशेत् । एवं परो भगवान् वासुदेव: क्षेत्रज्ञ आत्मेदमनुप्रविष्ट: ॥ १४ ॥

Verse text

kṣetrajṣa ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ sākṣāt svayaṁ jyotir ajaḥ pareśaḥ nārāyaṇo bhagavān vāsudevaḥ sva-māyayātmany avadhīyamānaḥ yathānilaḥ sthāvara-jaṅgamānām ātma-svarūpeṇa niviṣṭa īśet evaṁ paro bhagavān vāsudevaḥ kṣetrajṣa ātmedam anupraviṣṭaḥ

Synonyms

kṣetra — jṣaḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead* ; ātmā — all-pervading, present everywhere ; puruṣaḥ — the unrestricted controller, who has unlimited power ; purāṇaḥ — the original ; sākṣāt — perceivable by hearing from the authorities and by direct perception ; svayam — personal ; jyotiḥ — manifesting His bodily rays (the Brahman effulgence) ; ajaḥ — never born ; pareśaḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; nārāyaṇaḥ — the resting place of all living entities ; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead with six full opulences ; vāsudevaḥ — the shelter of everything, manifested and nonmanifest ; sva — māyayā — by His own potency ; ātmani — in His own self, or in the ordinary living entities ; avadhīyamānaḥ — existing as the controller ; yathā — as much as ; anilaḥ — the air ; sthāvara — of nonmoving living entities ; jaṅgamānām — and of the moving living entities ; ātma — svarūpeṇa — by His expansion as the Supersoul ; niviṣṭaḥ — entered ; īśet — controls ; evam — thus ; paraḥ — transcendental ; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; vāsudevaḥ — the shelter of everything ; kṣetra — jṣaḥ — known as kṣetrajṣa ; ātmā — the vital force ; idam — this material world ; anupraviṣṭaḥ — entered within .

Translation

There are two kinds of kṣetrajṣa — the living entity, as explained above, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is explained as follows. He is the all-pervading cause of creation. He is full in Himself and is not dependent on others. He is perceived by hearing and direct perception. He is self-effulgent and does not experience birth, death, old age or disease. He is the controller of all the demigods, beginning with Lord Brahmā. He is called Nārāyaṇa, and He is the shelter of living entities after the annihilation of this material world. He is full of all opulences, and He is the resting place of everything material. He is therefore known as Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His own potency, He is present within the hearts of all living entities, just as the air or vital force is within the bodies of all beings, moving and nonmoving. In this way He controls the body. In His partial feature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters all bodies and controls them.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Supreme Lord is the knower of all bodies, is all pervasive, has a human form, is the cause of the universe, is self-revealing, is without material birth and is Lord of all others. He is Mahā-viṣṇu, the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha and the master of Mathurā and Dvārakā. He is the object of meditation for the liberated jīvas, by his mercy. Just as the air enters all moving and stationary beings as prāṇa and controls them, the Supreme Lord Vāsudeva, the knower of all bodies, pervading everywhere, enters this universe. The conditioned jīva absorbs himself in the conventional world of saṁsāra. In what does the liberated jīva absorb himself? In this verse the knower of the field refers to the Paramātmā, who knows all bodies completely. He pervades everywhere (ātmā), is the cause of the universe (purāṇaḥ), has the form of a human, is self-revealing (svayaṁjyotiḥ), devoid of material birth (ajaḥ), is the Lord of all others such as Brahmā (pareśaḥ), lies on the Kāraṇa Ocean (nārāyaṇaḥ), is full of six powers (bhagavān) as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, is the son of Vasudeva, the master of Mathurā and Dvārakā, and is the object of the mind for the liberated jīva, since he is completely free of māyā (su amāyayā), or he is the object of meditation for the liberated jīva, because of his svarūpa śakti or his mercy. The Lord is easily attained by the liberated jīva. An example is given. Just as the air, in the form of prāṇa (ātma-svarūpena) enters all beings and controls them (īśet), so the Lord enters this universe (idam).

Purport

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) . Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jṣānam apohanaṁ ca. Every living being is controlled by the supreme living being, Paramātmā, who resides within everyone’s heart. He is the puruṣa, the puruṣa-avatāra, who creates this material world. The first puruṣa-avatāra is Mahā-Viṣṇu, and that Mahā-Viṣṇu is the plenary portion of the plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion is Baladeva, and His next expansions are Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Vāsudeva is the original cause of the brahmajyoti, and the brahmajyoti is the expansion of the rays of the body of Vāsudeva. yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi “I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes.” ( Brahma-saṁhitā 5.40 ) The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus described in Bhagavad-gītā : mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ “By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” ( Bg. 9.4 ) This is the position of the plenary expansions of Kṛṣṇa as the all-pervading Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.