Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 Chapter 16 Verse 4

Canto 11: General History | Chapter 16: The Lord's Opulence

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.16.4

gūḍhaś carasi bhūtātmā

bhūtānāḿ bhūta-bhāvana

na tvāḿ paśyanti bhūtāni

paśyantaḿ mohitāni te

SYNONYMS

gūḍhaḥ — hidden; carasi — You are engaged; bhūta-ātmā — the Supersoul; bhūtānām — of the living entities; bhūta-bhāvana — O maintainer of all living beings; na — not; tvām — You; paśyanti — they see; bhūtāni — living entities; paśyantam — who are seeing; mohitāni — bewildered; te — by You.

TRANSLATION

O my Lord, maintainer of all, although You are the Supersoul of the living entities, You remain hidden. Thus being bewildered by You, the living entities cannot see You, although You are seeing them.

PURPORT

The Lord exists as the Supersoul within everything. He also appears in various incarnations or sometimes empowers a devotee to act as an incarnation. All such forms of the Lord are unknown to the nondevotees. The bewildered conditioned souls think that the supreme enjoyer, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is actually meant to be enjoyed by them for their sense gratification. Praying to God for specific material benedictions and assuming God's creation to be their personal property, the nondevotees cannot understand the actual form of the Lord. They therefore remain foolish and bewildered. Within the universe everything is subject to creation, maintenance and destruction, and thus the Supersoul is the only actual controller in the material world. Unfortunately, when the Supersoul appears in various incarnations to clarify His position, ignorant persons think that the Supersoul is merely another creation of the modes of material nature. As stated in this verse, they cannot see that person who is actually seeing them, and simply remain bewildered.

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