Devanagari
नमोऽस्तु तेऽध्यात्मविदां परात्मने
अनात्मने स्वात्मविभक्तमृत्यवे ।
सकारणाकारणलिङ्गमीयुषे
स्वमाययासंवृतरुद्धदृष्टये ॥ ४८ ॥
Verse text
namo ’stu te ’dhyātma-vidāṁ parātmane
anātmane svātma-vibhakta-mṛtyave
sa-kāraṇākāraṇa-liṅgam īyuṣe
sva-māyayāsaṁvṛta-ruddha-dṛṣṭaye
Synonyms
namaḥ
—
obeisances
;
astu
—
may there be
;
te
—
unto You
;
adhyātma
—
the Absolute Truth
;
vidām
—
for those who know
;
para
—
ātmane — the Supreme Soul
;
anātmane
—
to the conditioned jīva soul
;
sva
—
ātma — from Yourself (in the form of time)
;
vibhakta
—
who gives
;
mṛtyave
—
death
;
sa
—
kāraṇa — having a cause
;
akāraṇa
—
having no cause
;
liṅgam
—
the forms (respectively, the material form of the universe and also Your original spiritual form)
;
īyuṣe
—
who assume
;
sva
—
māyayā — by Your own mystic potency
;
asaṁvṛta
—
uncovered
;
ruddha
—
and blocked
;
dṛṣṭaye
—
vision .
Translation
Let me offer my obeisances unto You. You are realized as the Supreme Soul by those who know the Absolute Truth, whereas in Your form of time You impose death upon the forgetful souls. You appear both in Your causeless spiritual form and in the created form of this universe, thus simultaneously uncovering the eyes of Your devotees and obstructing the vision of the nondevotees.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Let me offer my obeisances unto You. You are realized as the Supreme Soul by those who know the Absolute Truth, whereas in Your form of time You impose death upon the forgetful souls. You appear both in Your causeless spiritual form and in the created form of this universe, thus simultaneously uncovering the eyes of Your devotees and obstructing the vision of the nondevotees.
KB 10.86.48
“It is said that Your Lordship, sitting in the heart of a devotee, gives him direction by which he can very quickly come back home, back to You. This direct dictation by You reveals Your existence within the heart of the devotee. Only a devotee can immediately appreciate Your existence within his heart, whereas for a person who has only a bodily concept of life and is engaged in sense gratification, You always remain covered by the curtain of yogamāyā. Such a person cannot realize that You are very near, sitting within his heart. For a nondevotee, You are appreciated only as ultimate death. The difference is like the difference between a cat’s carrying its kittens in its mouth and carrying a rat in its mouth. In the mouth of the cat, the rat feels its death, whereas the kittens in the mouth of the cat feel motherly affection. Similarly, You are present to everyone, but the nondevotee feels You as ultimate cruel death, whereas for a devotee You are the supreme instructor and philosopher. The atheist, therefore, understands the presence of God as death, but the devotee understands the presence of God always within his heart, takes dictation from You and lives transcendentally, unaffected by the contamination of the material world.
“You are the supreme controller and superintendent of the material nature’s activities. The atheistic class of men simply observe the activities of material nature but cannot find You as the original background. A devotee, however, can immediately see Your hand in every movement of material nature. The curtain of yogamāyā cannot cover the eyes of the devotee of Your Lordship, but it can cover the eyes of the nondevotee. The nondevotee is unable to see You face to face, just as a person whose eyes are blocked by the covering of a cloud cannot see the sun, although persons flying above the cloud can see the sunshine brilliantly, as it is. My dear Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
Purport
When the Lord appears before His devotees in His eternal, spiritual form, their eyes become “uncovered” in the sense that all vestiges of illusion are dispelled and they drink in the beautiful vision of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. For the nondevotees, on the other hand, the Lord “appears” as material nature, His universal form, and in this way He covers their vision so that His spiritual, personal form remains invisible to them.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives another interpretation of this verse, based on an alternative understanding of
anātmane,
a form of the word
anātmā:
Various classes of men know the Absolute Truth in different ways. The devotees of the Lord who are in the reciprocal mood of neutral admiration (
śānta-rasa
) meditate on the Supreme as possessing a divine, personal form (
ātmā
or
śrī-vigraha
) transcending all aspects of material illusion. The impersonal philosophers (
jṣānīs
) conceive of Him as formless (
anātmā
). And the envious demons see Him in the form of death.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Elaborating the meaning, he offers his respects.
"I offer respects to the Lord who possesses a form (atma) beyond maya (para), which is the object of meditation for the santa bhatas who are knowers of the atma (adhyatma vidam). I offer my respects to the Lord who is without form (anatmane) for the jnanis, and to the Lord who gives out death (vibhakta) through his form of time (sva atma) to the asuras. I offer my respects the Lord who assumes the material form of the virat (sa karanam) and the spiritual form of eternity, knowledge and bliss. I offer my respects to the Lord who appear uncovered by his maya to his devotees and covered to the non devotees."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Since I did not accomplish these acts of bhakti, the cause of my meeting you is only your mercy. He offers respects in bliss, describing the Lord’s mercy. Using the form namas astu indicates excellence. You appear as the root form of everything (paramātmane) for those who know the truth about you, since there exists no other ātmā than the human parabrahman (anātmane).
You are death for the demons who reject your spiritual (sva) form (ātma). Having stated the glory of the Lord’s svarūpa, he speaks of his manifested power as objects (vaibhava). The Lord possesses eternally vaibhava in the form of the temporary universe (sa-kāraṇam) and the permanent spiritual world (akāraṇam). Śruti says utāmrtatvasyeśānaḥ: the Lord has an eternal abode. “Then why am I difficult for you to attain?” You do not cover the vision of those in the spiritual world but you cover the vision of those in the material world. Thus my seeing you is only your mercy.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Let there always be (astu) respects to you. Saṁsāra is dependent on you. Liṅgam means the upādhis on the jīva. Appearing as Paramātmā the Lord gives liberation. Not appearing as Paramātmā the Lord gives death. Or you are death allotted to those with faults in their hearts (svātma-vibhakta-mṛtyave). Or the cause of Paramātmā is explained. You are devoid of promoting death or liberation (anātmane) since you give unlimited results by your will alone. You are death for persons devoid of bhakti (vibhakta)—who are separate from the Lord or his heart (svātma).
Or you are not attainable by personal endeavors, since all jīvas are dependent on you. After stating this in the last verse, he offers respects in order to make a request. I offer respects to the Lord who promotes endeavors as antaryāmī (paramātmane) for the knowers of ātmā. Jñānīs are dependent on you. You are also independent (anātmane) in these actions. You give death to the materialists: the non-devotees are dependent on you. The devotees are naturally dependent on you: by your mercy to the devotees (sva-māyayā), you manifest (iyuṣe) the human body (liṅgam) to promote bhakti, and without a reason (akāraṇa), by your will, since you are not dependent on karma like the jīva. O Lord who manifests powers (saṁvṛta)! You control the eyes of people by your beauty (ruddha-dṛṣṭaye).