SB 8.3.10 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

नम आत्मप्रदीपाय साक्षिणे परमात्मने । नमो गिरां विदूराय मनसश्चेतसामपि ॥ १० ॥

Verse text

nama ātma-pradīpāya sākṣiṇe paramātmane namo girāṁ vidūrāya manasaś cetasām api

Synonyms

namaḥ — I offer my respectful obeisances ; ātma — pradīpāya — unto Him who is self-effulgent or who gives enlightenment to the living entities ; sākṣiṇe — who is situated in everyone’s heart as a witness ; parama — ātmane — unto the Supreme Soul, the Supersoul ; namaḥ — I offer my respectful obeisances ; girām — by words ; vidūrāya — who is impossible to reach ; manasaḥ — by the mind ; cetasām — or by consciousness ; api — even .

Translation

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the self-effulgent Supersoul, who is the witness in everyone’s heart, who enlightens the individual soul and who cannot be reached by exercises of the mind, words or consciousness.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

I offer respects to the Paramātmā who reveals the jīva, who is the witness of the jīva, and who is not approachable by the jīva’s words, mind or citta. The Lord is not understood by the mind and words of the jīva. The Lord is the revealer of knowledge to the jīva (ātmā-pradīpāya). That which is revealed does not know the nature of the revealer. deho 'savo 'kṣā manavo bhūta-mātrām ātmānam anyaṁ ca viduḥ paraṁ yat sarvaṁ pumān veda guṇāṁś ca taj-jṣo na veda sarva-jṣam anantam īḍe The body, life airs, senses, internal senses, gross elements and sense objects do not know themselves or other things or the jīva. The jīva knows all of these items and the guṇas which cause them. He also knows Paramātmā, but does not know the omniscient Lord. I worship that Lord with infinite qualities. SB 6.4.25 I offer respects to the Lord who cannot be understood (vidūrāya) by the actions of the jīva’s consciousness (cetasām).

Purport

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, cannot be understood by the individual soul through mental, physical or intellectual exercises. It is by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that the individual soul is enlightened. Therefore, the Lord is described here as ātma-pradīpa. The Lord is like the sun, which illuminates everything and cannot be illuminated by anyone. Therefore, if one is serious about understanding the Supreme, one must receive enlightenment from Him, as instructed in Bhagavad-gītā. One cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by one’s mental, physical or intellectual powers.