Devanagari
यद्रूपमेतन्निजमाययार्पित-
मर्थस्वरूपं बहुरूपरूपितम् ।
सङ्ख्या न यस्यास्त्ययथोपलम्भनात्-
तस्मै नमस्तेऽव्यपदेशरूपिणे ॥ ३१ ॥
Verse text
yad-rūpam etan nija-māyayārpitam
artha-svarūpaṁ bahu-rūpa-rūpitam
saṅkhyā na yasyāsty ayathopalambhanāt
tasmai namas te ’vyapadeśa-rūpiṇe
Synonyms
yat
—
of whom
;
rūpam
—
the form
;
etat
—
this
;
nija
—
māyayā arpitam — manifested by Your personal potency
;
artha
—
svarūpam — this entire visible cosmic manifestation
;
bahu
—
rūpa — rūpitam — manifested in various forms
;
saṅkhyā
—
the measurement
;
na
—
not
;
yasya
—
of which
;
asti
—
there is
;
ayathā
—
falsely
;
upalambhanāt
—
from perceiving
;
tasmai
—
unto Him (the Supreme Lord)
;
namaḥ
—
my respectful obeisances
;
te
—
unto You
;
avyapadeśa
—
cannot be ascertained by mental speculation
;
rūpiṇe
—
whose real form .
Translation
My dear Lord, this visible cosmic manifestation is a demonstration of Your own creative energy. Since the countless varieties of forms within this cosmic manifestation are simply a display of Your external energy, this virāṭ-rūpa [universal body] is not Your real form. Except for a devotee in transcendental consciousness, no one can perceive Your actual form. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This universe is also your form, but arises from your external energy. It is real, and displayed in many forms which cannot be counted because it is impossible to realize them all. I offer respects to you, whose form cannot be described in words.
This universe (etat) is your form alone, but arises by māyā-śakti, not by your svarūpa-śakti. It is a real form (artha-svarūpam), not something unreal. Your form is displayed in many forms—humans, cows, animals, birds and fish. But they cannot be counted, because it is impossible to realize the full extent of these forms, whose varieties give rise to this universe. It is impossible to know unlimited numbers of types within one type of gross human because of differences in caste, nature, pitch of voice and other qualities. What to speak then of smaller beings, born of perspiration or seeds. You are unlimited but there are unlimited varieties within the effects of your śakti. What then to speak of your spiritual form which is unknown to all. I offer respects to the form impossible to describe (avyapadeśa-rūpine).
Purport
Māyāvādī philosophers think the universal form of the Lord to be real and His personal form illusory. We can understand their mistake by a simple example. A fire consists of three elements: heat and light, which are the energy of the fire, and the fire itself. Anyone can understand that the original fire is the reality and that the heat and light are simply the fire’s energy. Heat and light are the formless energies of fire, and in that sense they are unreal. Only the fire has form, and therefore it is the real form of the heat and light. As Kṛṣṇa states in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.4)
,
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā:
“By Me, in My unmanifested form. this entire universe is pervaded.” Thus the impersonal conception of the Lord is like the expansion of heat and light from a fire. In
Bhagavad-gītā
the Lord also says,
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ:
the entire material creation is resting on Kṛṣṇa’s energy, either material, spiritual or marginal, but because His form is absent from the expansion of His energy, He is not personally present. This inconceivable expansion of the Supreme Lord’s energy is called
acintya-śakti.
Therefore no one can understand the real form of the Lord without becoming His devotee.