Devanagari
यच्छक्तयो वदतां वादिनां वै
विवादसंवादभुवो भवन्ति ।
कुर्वन्ति चैषां मुहुरात्ममोहं
तस्मै नमोऽनन्तगुणाय भूम्ने ॥ ३१ ॥
Verse text
yac-chaktayo vadatāṁ vādināṁ vai
vivāda-saṁvāda-bhuvo bhavanti
kurvanti caiṣāṁ muhur ātma-mohaṁ
tasmai namo ’nanta-guṇāya bhūmne
Synonyms
yat
—
śaktayaḥ — whose multifarious potencies
;
vadatām
—
speaking different philosophies
;
vādinām
—
of the speakers
;
vai
—
indeed
;
vivāda
—
of argument
;
saṁvāda
—
and agreement
;
bhuvaḥ
—
the causes
;
bhavanti
—
are
;
kurvanti
—
create
;
ca
—
and
;
eṣām
—
of them (the theorists)
;
muhuḥ
—
continuously
;
ātma
—
moham — bewilderment regarding the existence of the soul
;
tasmai
—
unto Him
;
namaḥ
—
my respectful obeisances
;
ananta
—
unlimited
;
guṇāya
—
possessing transcendental attributes
;
bhūmne
—
the all-pervading Godhead .
Translation
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, who possesses unlimited transcendental qualities. Acting from within the cores of the hearts of all philosophers, who propagate various views, He causes them to forget their own souls while sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing among themselves. Thus He creates within this material world a situation in which they are unable to come to a conclusion. I offer my obeisances unto Him.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I offer respects to the great Lord of eternal qualities, whose material energy is the cause of agreement and disagreement among those who make philosophies and then argue with others, and whose material energy continually bewilders them as to the real nature of ātmā.
“Others will contest this. There are the Advaita-vādis who cannot tolerate any type of difference. The logicians, Dvaita-vādis, who speak of sixteen different substances, argue with them. The Vaiśeṣika argue with the logicians. The Mīmāṁsakas, who proclaim that this world is not dissimilar to what other say, still argue with all of them. The Svabhāva-vādis argue with them. Why are all these persons bewildered, even though taking knowledge for learned persons?” The actions of māyā are the cause of disagreement and sometimes agreement among those who make philosophies and criticize others. The purpose is explained. They are forever (muhuḥ) bewildered about ātmā, even though they desire to know. I offer respects to the Lord who has unlimited qualities or indestructible qualities. The earth speaks of the Lord’s eternal qualities:
ete cānye ca bhagavan nityā yatra mahā-guṇāḥ |
prārthyā mahattvam icchadbhir na viyanti sma karhicit ||
In you reside the following eternal, great qualities, which do not disappear at any time. SB 1.16.27
Sūta speaks of the non-material qualities of the Lord:
ko nāma tṛpyed rasavit kathāyāṁ
mahattamaikānta-parāyaṇasya |
nāntaṁ guṇānām aguṇasya jagmur
yogeśvarā ye bhava-pādma-mukhyāḥ ||
What knower of rasa could be satisfied with the topics of the Lord without material, who is the sole, supreme shelter of the greatest devotees? Even those who are masters of yoga, the devatās headed by Brahmā and Śiva, cannot find an end to the spiritual qualities of the Lord who is without material qualities. SB 1.18.14
Parāśara says:
jṣāna-śakti-balaiśvarya-vīrya-tejāṁsy aśeṣataḥ
bhagavac chabda-vācyāni vinā heyair guṇaḍibhiḥ
The word bhagavān means that he is filled with knowledge, energies, strength, powers, potency and glory, and devoid of all inferior qualities. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.79
He has mentioned that the Lord’s qualities are devoid of inferior qualities. From these statements it is understood that the Lord has many spiritual qualities. Those who claim that these qualities are unreal are offenders. How can they not be bewildered by māyā?
Purport
Since time immemorial or since the creation of the cosmic manifestation, the conditioned souls have formed various parties of philosophical speculation, but this is not true of the devotees. Nondevotees have different ideas of creation, maintenance and annihilation, and therefore they are called
vādīs
and
prativādīs
— proponents and counterproponents. It is understood from the statement of
Mahābhārata
that there are many
munis,
or speculators:
tarko ’pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā
nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam
All speculators must disagree with other speculators; otherwise, why should there be so many opposing parties concerned with ascertaining the supreme cause?
Philosophy means finding the ultimate cause. As
Vedānta-sūtra
very reasonably says,
athāto brahma jijṣāsā:
human life is meant for understanding the ultimate cause. Devotees accept that the ultimate cause is Kṛṣṇa because this conclusion is supported by all Vedic literature and also by Kṛṣṇa Himself, who says,
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ:
“I am the source of everything.” Devotees have no problem understanding the ultimate cause of everything, but nondevotees must face many opposing elements because everyone who wants to be a prominent philosopher invents his own way. In India there are many parties of philosophers, such as the
dvaita-vādīs, advaita-vādīs, vaiśeṣikas, mīmāṁsakas,
Māyāvādīs and
svabhāva-vādīs,
and each of them opposes the others. Similarly, in the Western countries there are also many philosophers with different views of creation, life, maintenance and annihilation. Thus it is undoubtedly a fact that there are countless philosophers throughout the world, each of them contradicting the others.
Now, one might ask why there are so many philosophers if the ultimate goal of philosophy is one. Undoubtedly the ultimate cause is one — the Supreme Brahman. As Arjuna told Kṛṣṇa in
Bhagavad-gītā
(10.12):
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam
ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum
“You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty.” Nondevotee speculators, however, do not accept an ultimate cause (
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
). Because they are ignorant and bewildered concerning the soul and its activities, even though some of them have a vague idea of the soul, many controversies arise, and the philosophical speculators can never reach a conclusion. All of these speculators are envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as Kṛṣṇa says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(16.19-20):
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān
saṁsāreṣu narādhamān
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
āsurīṁ yonim āpannā
mūḍhā janmani janmani
mām aprāpyaiva kaunteya
tato yānty adhamāṁ gatim
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Attaining repeated birth among the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence.” Because of their envy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nondevotees are born in demoniac families life after life. They are great offenders, and because of their offenses the Supreme Lord keeps them always bewildered.
Kurvanti caiṣāṁ muhur ātma-moham:
the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, purposely keeps them in darkness (
ātma-moham
).
The great authority Parāśara, the father of Vyāsadeva, explains the Supreme Personality of Godhead thus:
jṣāna-śakti-balaiśvarya-
vīrya-tejāṁsy aśeṣataḥ
bhagavac-chabda-vācyāni
vinā heyair guṇādibhiḥ
The demoniac speculators cannot understand the transcendental qualities, form, pastimes, strength, knowledge and opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which are all free from material contamination (
vinā heyair guṇādibhiḥ
). These speculators are envious of the existence of the Lord.
Jagad āhur anīśvaram:
their conclusion is that the entire cosmic manifestation has no controller, but is just working naturally. Thus they are kept in constant darkness, birth after birth, and cannot understand the real cause of all causes. This is the reason why there are so many schools of philosophical speculation.