Devanagari
नमो गुणप्रदीपाय गुणात्मच्छादनाय च ।
गुणवृत्त्युपलक्ष्याय गुणद्रष्ट्रे स्वसंविदे ॥ ४६ ॥
Verse text
namo guṇa-pradīpāya
guṇātma-cchādanāya ca
guṇa-vṛtty-upalakṣyāya
guṇa-draṣṭre sva-saṁvide
Synonyms
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
guṇa
—
pradīpāya — to Him who manifests various qualities
;
guṇa
—
by the material modes
;
ātma
—
Himself
;
chādanāya
—
who disguises
;
ca
—
and
;
guṇa
—
of the modes
;
vṛtti
—
by the functioning
;
upalakṣyāya
—
who can be ascertained
;
guṇa
—
draṣṭre — to the separate witness of the material modes
;
sva
—
to His own devotees
;
saṁvide
—
who is known .
Translation
Obeisances to You, O Lord, who manifest varieties of material and spiritual qualities. You disguise Yourself with the material qualities, and yet the functioning of those same material qualities ultimately reveals Your existence. You stand apart from the material qualities as a witness and can be fully known only by Your devotees.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Obeisances to You, O Lord, who manifest varieties of material and spiritual qualities. You disguise Yourself with the material qualities, and yet the functioning of those same material qualities ultimately reveals Your existence. You stand apart from the material qualities as a witness and can be fully known only by Your devotees.
KB 10.16.46-47
“By Your activities only, the living entities become covered by forgetfulness or discover their real identity. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (Fifteenth Chapter): the Lord is sitting as the Supersoul in everyone’s heart, and due to His presence the living entity either forgets himself or revives his original identity. We can partially understand that You are within our hearts as the witness of all our activities, but it is very difficult to appreciate Your presence, although every one of us can do so to some extent.
Purport
The word
guṇa
conveys various meanings: the three basic qualities of material nature, i.e., goodness, passion and ignorance; excellent qualities one manifests because of piety and spiritual achievement; or the internal senses, such as the mind and intelligence. The word
pradīpāya
means “unto Him who manifests or illumines.” Thus here the Nāgapatnīs are addressing the Supreme Lord as “He who manifests all material and spiritual qualities and who causes the living entities to be conscious.” One can see the Lord by going beyond the screen of material nature, and therefore He is called
guṇātma-cchādanāya.
If one methodically and intelligently studies the functioning of the material qualities, he will ultimately conclude that there is a Supreme Personality of Godhead and that He exhibits His illusory potency to bewilder those who do not surrender unto Him.
The Lord is never affected by the modes of nature, being their witness, and thus He is called
guṇa-draṣṭre.
The word
sva
indicates “one’s own,” and thus
sva-saṁvide
means that Lord Kṛṣṇa can be known only by His own people, the devotees, and also that ultimately only the Lord can know Himself perfectly. Therefore we should take Lord Kṛṣṇa’s instructions in
Bhagavad-gītā
and immediately come to the right conclusion: full surrender to the Lord’s lotus feet. Thus we should humbly glorify the Lord, following the example of the Nāgapatnīs.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Because Krsna is the revealer of his qualities such as being controlled by prema (guna pradipa) and the coverer of his majestic powers through those qualities (guna accadana), that form is known only by those extremely knowledgeable of bhakti. Krsna is recognized by his extraordinary quality of extreme bhakti vatsalya (guna vrtty upalaksya). No one except svayam bhagavan has this quality. That Lord sees the good qualities in his devotee not the faults (guna drasta). And he appears (samvit) in his devotee’s (sva) heart (sva samvit)."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
For the devotees, Kṛṣṇa is the revealer of his spiritual qualities arising from his svarūpa (guṇa-pradīpāya). For the non-devotees he covers himself with the guṇas of prakṛti. Though this is so, he can be inferred as the instigator of the guṇas of prakṛti which are without consciousness. How does he do this? He does this just by glancing (guṇa-draṣṭre). But his qualities and form are self-revealing (sva-saṁvide). Or, though he is related to the Yādavas, he is more related to Gokula. He reveals his qualities such as being controlled by prema and by those qualities hides himself. Hiding his powers, he becomes covered by ropes (guṇātma-cchādanāya), since he was bound up by Yaśodā as Dāmodara. He is known (upalakṣyāya) for the qualities of the rope (guṇa-vṛtti) which was long enough to deliver the arjuna trees, but insufficient to tie him up. But he gazed at the ropes in fear (guṇa-draṣṭre). But he indicated (saṁvide) to his friends (sva) to steal butter even at that time.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
As lord of the devotees, you reveal qualities such as mercy (guṇa-pradīpāya). And you also hide your nature by disappearing sometimes. You are the cause of the guṇas and senses. You are the witness of the guṇas. You reveal yourself (sva-saṁvide). Or being the revealer of ropes (guṇa-pradīpāya), you cover yourself with ropes as Dāmodara. As Dāmodara you were bound with ropes by Yaśodā. Or you are bound by ropes of affection of the devotees. You are revealed by exchanges in which you are bound by affection to the devotees (guṇa-vṛtty-upalakṣāya). Nalakuvara, Maṇigrīva and others all were able to see you. You are absorbed in seeing with affection the devotees bound with devotion to you (guṇa-draṣṭre). And you plan with your friends for stealing butter and other pastimes (sva-saṁvide). This is amazing. After stealing butter, being tied up, you glance at your friends and make plans to steal butter again.