SB 3.9.2 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

रूपं यदेतदवबोधरसोदयेन शश्वन्निवृत्ततमस: सदनुग्रहाय । आदौ गृहीतमवतारशतैकबीजं यन्नाभिपद्मभवनादहमाविरासम् ॥ २ ॥

Verse text

rūpaṁ yad etad avabodha-rasodayena śaśvan-nivṛtta-tamasaḥ sad-anugrahāya ādau gṛhītam avatāra-śataika-bījaṁ yan-nābhi-padma-bhavanād aham āvirāsam

Synonyms

rūpam — form ; yat — which ; etat — that ; avabodha — rasa — of Your internal potency ; udayena — with the manifestation ; śaśvat — forever ; nivṛtta — freed from ; tamasaḥ — material contamination ; sat — anugrahāya — for the sake of the devotees ; ādau — original in the creative energy of matter ; gṛhītam — accepted ; avatāra — of incarnations ; śata — eka — bījam — the root cause of hundreds ; yat — that which ; nābhi — padma — the navel lotus flower ; bhavanāt — from the home ; aham — myself ; āvirāsam — generated .

Translation

The form which I see is eternally freed from material contamination and has advented to show mercy to the devotees as a manifestation of internal potency. This incarnation is the origin of many other incarnations, and I am born from the lotus flower grown from Your navel home.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

By your mercy to the devotees, by your cit-śakti, you have shown at the beginning this form which is eternally devoid of māyā, which is the seed of countless avatāras, and from whose navel appeared the lotus from which I have appeared. “But this form that you have described is current, something you see today. If it is recent it is not eternal. You words show that.” Worrying that the Lord will joke in this way, Brahmā speaks. Because it is caused by the appearance of the cit-śakti arising from your svarūpa, your form is eternally devoid of māyā (tamasaḥ). Because the form is eternal, the word gṛhītam cannot mean that the Lord accepted this form at some time. It simply means that the form appeared. This is the opinion of Śrīdhara Svāmī. The Sandarbha says that grḥītam means that the form is brought before the devotees’ vision. Some persons with material minds will say that this means that the Lord accepts material qualities. Other say that it means the form is accepted by the influence of the cit-śakti (avabodha-rasodayena).

Purport

The three deities Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva), the executive heads of the three modes of material nature (passion, goodness and ignorance), are all generated from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is described herein by Brahmā. From the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, many Viṣṇu incarnations expand at different ages in the duration of the cosmic manifestation. They are expanded only for the transcendental happiness of the pure devotees. The incarnations of Viṣṇu, who appear at different ages and times, are never to be compared to the conditioned souls. The viṣṇu-tattvas are not to be compared to deities like Brahmā and Śiva, nor are they on the same level. Anyone who compares them is called a pāṣaṇḍī, or infidel. Tamasaḥ, mentioned herein, is the material nature, and the spiritual nature has a completely separate existence from tamaḥ. Therefore, spiritual nature is called avabodha-rasa, or avarodha-rasa. Avarodha means “that which completely nullifies.” In the Transcendence there is no chance of material contact by any means. Brahmā is the first living being, and therefore he mentions his birth from the lotus flower generated from the abdomen of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.