Devanagari
यत्तत्कर्ममयं लिङ्गं ब्रह्मलिङ्गं जनोऽर्चयेत् ।
एकान्तमद्वयं शान्तं तस्मै भगवते नम इति ॥ ३३ ॥
Verse text
yat tat karmamayaṁ liṅgaṁ
brahma-liṅgaṁ jano ’rcayet
ekāntam advayaṁ śāntaṁ
tasmai bhagavate nama iti
Synonyms
yat
—
which
;
tat
—
that
;
karma
—
mayam — obtainable by the Vedic ritualistic system
;
liṅgam
—
the form
;
brahma
—
liṅgam — which makes known the Supreme Brahman
;
janaḥ
—
a person
;
arcayet
—
must worship
;
ekāntam
—
who has full faith in the one Supreme
;
advayam
—
nondifferent
;
śāntam
—
peaceful
;
tasmai
—
unto him
;
bhagavate
—
the most powerful
;
namaḥ
—
our respects
;
iti
—
thus .
Translation
Lord Brahmā is known as karma-maya, the form of ritualistic ceremonies, because by performing ritualistic ceremonies one may attain his position and because the Vedic ritualistic hymns become manifest from him. He is devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead without deviation, and therefore in one sense he is not different from the Lord. Nevertheless, he should be worshiped not as the monists worship him, but in duality. One should always remain a servitor of the Supreme Lord, the supreme worshipable Deity. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Lord Brahmā, the form of manifest Vedic knowledge.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
They say: I offer respects the Supreme Lord whom people, with the idea of servant and object of service, worship as Brahmā, who is attained by karma, who is fixed in devotion to the Lord, who is non-different from the Lord, who is peaceful, and by whom the Vedas are known.
It is said sva-dharma-niṣṭhaḥ śata-janmabhiḥ pumān viriṣcatām eti tataḥ paraṁ hi mām: A person fixed in dharma attains the post of Brahmā after a hundred births, and by more pious acts a person attains me (Śiva). (SB 4.24.29) For this reason Brahmā is called karma-mayam: he is attained by performing karmas. People worship Brahmā who is attained by karma (karma-mayam liṅgam), by whom the Vedas are known (brahma-liṅgam), by differentiating the object of service and the servant (bhedena). [Note: This is an alternate version of the line : bhedenaikāntam advayam.] Brahmā is fixed in devotion (antam) to the one Lord (eka). He is non-different from the Lord according to the reasoning yo yac-chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ: one becomes similar to whatever form he worships with faith. (BG 17.3)
Purport
In this verse, the word
karma-mayam
(“obtainable by the Vedic ritualistic system”) is significant. The
Vedas
say,
svadharma-niṣṭhaḥ śata janmabhiḥ pumān viriṣcatām eti:
“One who strictly follows the principles of
varṇāśrama-dharma
for at least one hundred births will be rewarded with the post of Lord Brahmā.” It is also significant that although Lord Brahmā is extremely powerful, he never thinks himself one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead; he always knows that he is an eternal servitor of the Lord. Because the Lord and the servant are identical on the spiritual platform, Brahmā is herein addressed as
bhagavān.
Bhagavān is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, but if a devotee serves Him with full faith, the meaning of the Vedic literature is revealed to him. Therefore Brahmā is called
brahma-liṅga,
which indicates that his entire form consists of Vedic knowledge.