Devanagari
कस्माच्च ते न नमेरन्महात्मन्
गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्यादिकर्त्रे ।
अनन्त देवेश जगन्निवास
त्वमक्षरं सदसत्तत्परं यत् ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
kasmāc ca te na nameran mahātman
garīyase brahmaṇo ’py ādi-kartre
ananta deveśa jagan-nivāsa
tvam akṣaraṁ sad-asat tat paraṁ yat
Synonyms
kasmāt
—
why
;
ca
—
also
;
te
—
unto You
;
na
—
not
;
nameran
—
they should offer proper obeisances
;
mahā-ātman
—
O great one
;
garīyase
—
who are better
;
brahmaṇaḥ
—
than Brahmā
;
api
—
although
;
ādi-kartre
—
to the supreme creator
;
ananta
—
O unlimited
;
deva-īśa
—
O God of the gods
;
jagat-nivāsa
—
O refuge of the universe
;
tvam
—
You are
;
akṣaram
—
imperishable
;
sat-asat
—
to cause and effect
;
tat param
—
transcendental
;
yat
—
because.
Translation
O great one, greater even than Brahmā, You are the original creator. Why then should they not offer their respectful obeisances unto You? O limitless one, God of gods, refuge of the universe! You are the invincible source, the cause of all causes, transcendental to this material manifestation.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
37. O great soul, why should they not offer respects to You, the first creator, greater than Brahmā? O infinite one, lord of the devas, abode of the universe, You are the Brahman, above cause and effect.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
37. O great soul, why should they not offer respects to You, the first creator, greater than Brahmā? O infinite one, lord of the devas, abode of the universe, You are the jīva in bondage, prakṛti in its gross and subtle forms, and the jīva in liberation.
Purport
By this offering of obeisances, Arjuna indicates that Kṛṣṇa is worshipable by everyone. He is all-pervading, and He is the Soul of every soul. Arjuna is addressing Kṛṣṇa as mahātmā, which means that He is most magnanimous and unlimited. Ananta indicates that there is nothing which is not covered by the influence and energy of the Supreme Lord, and deveśa means that He is the controller of all demigods and is above them all. He is the shelter of the whole universe. Arjuna also thought that it was fitting that all the perfect living entities and powerful demigods offer their respectful obeisances unto Him, because no one is greater than Him. Arjuna especially mentions that Kṛṣṇa is greater than Brahmā because Brahmā is created by Him. Brahmā is born out of the lotus stem grown from the navel abdomen of Garbhodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu, who is Kṛṣṇa’s plenary expansion; therefore Brahmā and Lord Śiva, who is born of Brahmā, and all other demigods must offer their respectful obeisances. It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the Lord is respected by Lord Śiva and Brahmā and similar other demigods. The word akṣaram is very significant because this material creation is subject to destruction but the Lord is above this material creation. He is the cause of all causes, and being so, He is superior to all the conditioned souls within this material nature as well as the material cosmic manifestation itself. He is therefore the all-great Supreme.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Why should they not offer respects to You? Certainly, they should offer respects to You, for You are Brahman (akṣaram), above both cause and effect (sad-asat param)?
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Arjuna described how the Lord is the object of respect for all living entities. Now, in four verses he expounds the Lord’s pervasion of everything by being the soul of everything.
O Lord with generous mind (mahātman)! O Lord who pervades everything (ananta)! O controller of all devas (deveśa)! O shelter of everything (jagannivāsa)! For what reason (kasmāt) should the gathering of devotees not offer their respects? Certainly they should offer respects. Ātmanepadam (nameran for the self) is used instead of parasmaipadam (nameyuḥ for another person) as poetic license. They should offer respects to You who are even greater than Brahmā (garīyase), because You are the creator of all existing elements (ādi kartre). [Note: Brahmā does not create tattvas, but only combines their products.] These terms supply some of the many reasons in the rhetorical question “Why should they not respect You?” This is the literary device called samuccaya.
Akṣaram is the jīva in contact with prakṛti. Prakṛti has two forms gross and subtle, effect and cause (sat asat). What is superior to jīva which is mixed with prakṛti and prakṛti in its gross and subtle forms is the liberated jīva (tat param). You are all of these: jīva in māyā, prakṛti and the liberated jīva.