Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 6 Chapter 4 Verse 23

Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind | Chapter 4: The Haḿsa-guhya Prayers

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.4.23

śrī-prajāpatir uvāca

namaḥ parāyāvitathānubhūtaye

guṇa-trayābhāsa-nimitta-bandhave

adṛṣṭa-dhāmne guṇa-tattva-buddhibhir

nivṛtta-mānāya dadhe svayambhuve

SYNONYMS

śrī-prajāpatiḥ uvāca — the prajāpati Dakṣa said; namaḥ — all respectful obeisances; parāya — unto the Transcendence; avitatha — correct; anubhūtaye — unto Him whose spiritual potency brings about realization of Him; guṇa-traya — of the three material modes of nature; ābhāsa — of the living entities who have the appearance; nimitta — and of the material energy; bandhave — unto the controller; adṛṣṭa-dhāmne — who is not perceived in His abode; guṇa-tattva-buddhibhiḥ — by the conditioned souls whose poor intelligence dictates that real truth is found in the manifestations of the three modes of material nature; nivṛtta-mānāya — who has surpassed all material measurements and calculations; dadhe — I offer; svayambhuve — unto the Supreme Lord, who is manifest with no cause.

TRANSLATION

Prajāpati Dakṣa said: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental to the illusory energy and the physical categories it produces. He possesses the potency for unfailing knowledge and supreme willpower, and He is the controller of the living entities and the illusory energy. The conditioned souls who have accepted this material manifestation as everything cannot see Him, for He is above the evidence of experimental knowledge. Self-evident and self-sufficient, He is not caused by any superior cause. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

PURPORT

The transcendental position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is explained herewith. He is not perceivable by the conditioned souls, who are accustomed to material vision and cannot understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead exists in His abode, which is beyond that vision. Even if a materialistic person could count all the atoms in the universe, he would still be unable to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in Brahma-saḿhitā (5.34):

panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-saḿpragamyo

vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puńgavānām

so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve

govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

The conditioned souls may try to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead for many billions of years through their mental speculative processes, traveling at the speed of the mind or the wind, but still the Absolute Truth will remain inconceivable to them because a materialistic person cannot measure the length and breadth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's unlimited existence. If the Absolute Truth is beyond measurement, one may ask, how can one realize Him? The answer is given here by the word svayambhuve: one may understand Him or not, but nevertheless He is existing in His own spiritual potency.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness