Devanagari
यन्मर्त्यलीलौपयिकं स्वयोग-
मायाबलं दर्शयता गृहीतम् ।
विस्मापनं स्वस्य च सौभगर्द्धे:
परं पदं भूषणभूषणाङ्गम् ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
yan martya-līlaupayikaṁ sva-yoga-
māyā-balaṁ darśayatā gṛhītam
vismāpanaṁ svasya ca saubhagarddheḥ
paraṁ padaṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇāṅgam
Synonyms
yat
—
His eternal form which
;
martya
—
mortal world
;
līlā
—
upayikam — just suitable for the pastimes
;
sva
—
yoga — māyā — balam — potency of the internal energy
;
darśayatā
—
for manifestation
;
gṛhītam
—
discovered
;
vismāpanam
—
wonderful
;
svasya
—
of His own
;
ca
—
and
;
saubhaga
—
ṛddheḥ — of the opulent
;
param
—
supreme
;
padam
—
ultimate stand
;
bhūṣaṇa
—
ornament
;
bhūṣaṇa
—
aṅgam — of the ornaments .
Translation
The Lord appeared in the mortal world by His internal potency, yoga-māyā. He came in His eternal form, which is just suitable for His pastimes. These pastimes were wonderful for everyone, even for those proud of their own opulence, including the Lord Himself in His form as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. Thus His [Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s] transcendental body is the ornament of all ornaments.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kṛṣṇa possesses that form suitable for human pastimes to show the full capacity of his yoga-māyā. That form astonishes even the lord of Vaikuṇṭha. It is the pinnacle of auspicious qualities and enhances the beauty of his ornaments.
“When he made his form disappear, did he go to Vaikuṇṭha?” How could he take that form suitable for human pastimes (martya-līlaupayikam) to Vaikuṇṭha? This means that even now, as previously, he is residing in Dvārakā. But one should not think that the Lord has some fault because he has human pastimes. On the contrary, the human pastimes are superior to the Vaikuṇṭha pastimes. He accepted a form suitable for human pastimes in order to show the full capacity (balam) of his yoga-māyā, his spiritual energy arising from his svarūpa. He does not establish this form by hiding sweetness or power, but by depositing all his powers in this human form. Such capacity is not displayed even in Vaikuṇṭha. Though it is said that the Lord accepted this form, his form is inseparable from himself. No time of accepting that form is indicated. In the following statement gṛhitā is used in a similar way. Actually māyā eternally accepts the guṇas.
attvaṁ rajas tama iti nirguṇasya guṇās trayaḥ
sthiti-sarga-nirodheṣu gṛhītā māyayā vibhoḥ
The three guṇas of sattva, rajas and tamas, belonging to the Lord without guṇas, are accepted by the māyā of the Lord for creation, maintenance and destruction. SB 2.5.18
Intelligence makes distinctions in the Lord even though the Lord cannot be distinguished in parts. Thus gṛhītam simply means “he revealed” according to Bhagavat-sandarbha.
Another meaning is as follows. In order to show that human form, the Lord accepted the strength of his yoga-māyā for accomplishing pastimes such as marrying sixteen thousand queens, which would astonish even Kṛṣṇa’s expansion, the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha (svasya). “This human form with such qualities astonishes even me, what to speak of astonishing the associates of the lord in Vaikuṇṭha, who can se all the forms and qualities of all the avatāras!”
This form is the supreme position (paraṁ padam) of complete auspiciousness (saubhagardheḥ). Even the lord of Vaikuṇṭha desires to see this form:
dvijātmajā me yuvayor didṛkṣuṇā mayopanītā bhuvi dharma-guptaye
I have brought the brāhmaṇa’s sons here because I wanted to see the two of you, who have descended to the earth to save the principles of religion. SB 10.89.58
His limbs are ornaments (enhancers) of ornaments. This indicates Kṛṣṇa’s supreme beauty.
Purport
In conformity with the Vedic hymns (
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
), the Personality of Godhead is more excellent than all other living beings within all the universes in the material world. He is the chief of all living entities; no one can surpass Him or be equal to Him in wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge or renunciation. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was within this universe, He seemed to be a human being because He appeared in a manner just suitable for His pastimes in the mortal world. He did not appear in human society in His Vaikuṇṭha feature with four hands because that would not have been suitable for His pastimes. But in spite of His appearing as a human being, no one was or is equal to Him in any respect in any of the six different opulences. Everyone is more or less proud of his opulence in this world, but when Lord Kṛṣṇa was in human society, He excelled all His contemporaries within the universe.
When the Lord’s pastimes are visible to the human eye, they are called
prakaṭa,
and when they are not visible they are called
aprakaṭa.
In fact, the Lord’s pastimes never stop, just as the sun never leaves the sky. The sun is always in its right orbit in the sky, but it is sometimes visible and sometimes invisible to our limited vision. Similarly, the pastimes of the Lord are always current in one universe or another, and when Lord Kṛṣṇa disappeared from the transcendental abode of Dvārakā, it was simply a disappearance from the eyes of the people there. It should not be misunderstood that His transcendental body, which is just suitable for the pastimes in the mortal world, is in any way inferior to His different expansions in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. His body manifested in the material world is transcendental par excellence in the sense that His pastimes in the mortal world excel His mercy displayed in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. In the Vaikuṇṭhalokas the Lord is merciful toward the liberated or
nitya-mukta
living entities, but in His pastimes in the mortal world He is merciful even to the fallen souls who are
nitya-baddha,
or conditioned forever. The six excellent opulences which He displayed in the mortal world by the agency of His internal potency,
yoga-māyā,
are rare even in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. All His pastimes were manifested not by the material energy but by His spiritual energy. The excellence of His
rāsa-līlā
at Vṛndāvana and His householder life with sixteen thousand wives is wonderful even for Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha and is certainly so for other living entities within this mortal world. His pastimes are wonderful even for other incarnations of the Lord, such as Śrī Rāma, Nṛsiṁha and Varāha. His opulence was so superexcellent that His pastimes were adored even by the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, who is not different from Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself.