Devanagari
एतद्रूपं भगवतो ह्यरूपस्य चिदात्मन: ।
मायागुणैर्विरचितं महदादिभिरात्मनि ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
etad rūpaṁ bhagavato
hy arūpasya cid-ātmanaḥ
māyā-guṇair viracitaṁ
mahadādibhir ātmani
Synonyms
etat
—
all these
;
rūpam
—
forms
;
bhagavataḥ
—
of the Lord
;
hi
—
certainly
;
arūpasya
—
of one who has no material form
;
cit
—
ātmanaḥ — of the Transcendence
;
māyā
—
material energy
;
guṇaiḥ
—
by the qualities
;
viracitam
—
manufactured
;
mahat
—
ādibhiḥ — with the ingredients of matter
;
ātmani
—
in the self .
Translation
The conception of the virāṭ universal form of the Lord, as appearing in the material world, is imaginary. It is to enable the less intelligent [and neophytes] to adjust to the idea of the Lord’s having form. But factually the Lord has no material form.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This material realm, composed of the material guṇas and the elements from mahat-tattva to earth and wtih the Paramātmā as its basis, is a material form of the Lord who has a spiritual form of consciousness and is devoid of a material form.
Purport
The conception of the Lord known as the
viśva-rūpa
or the
virāṭ-rūpa
is particularly not mentioned along with the various incarnations of the Lord because all the incarnations of the Lord mentioned above are transcendental and there is not a tinge of materialism in their bodies. There is no difference between the body and self as there is in the conditioned soul. The
virāṭ-rūpa
is conceived for those who are just neophyte worshipers. For them the material
virāṭ-rūpa
is presented, and it will be explained in the Second Canto. In the
virāṭ-rūpa
the material manifestations of different planets have been conceived as His legs, hands, etc. Actually all such descriptions are for the neophytes. The neophytes cannot conceive of anything beyond matter. The material conception of the Lord is not counted in the list of His factual forms. As Paramātmā, or Supersoul, the Lord is within each and every material form, even within the atoms, but the outward material form is but an imagination, both for the Lord and for the living being. The present forms of the conditioned souls are also not factual. The conclusion is that the material conception of the body of the Lord as
virāṭ
is imaginary. Both the Lord and the living beings are living spirits and have original spiritual bodies.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“The universal form of the Lord has been recommended as the first type of worship in the Second Canto and other places with such verses as pātālam etasya hi pāda-mūlam: Pātāla is the base of his feet. (SB 2.1.26) Why is this not considered an avatāra of the Lord?” This verse answers.
This material realm, composed of collective and individual universes, is a material form of the Lord who has a spiritual form of consciousness (cid-ātmanaḥ), and is devoid of a material form (arūpasya). This material form is composed of the material guṇas and the elements from mahat-tattva to earth (mahadādibhiḥ) situated on the paramātmā as its basis (ātmani). In other words this universal form composed of matter is not counted among the avatāras such as Matsya and Kūrma composed of viśuddha-sattva.