SB 9.4.56 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीशङ्कर उवाच वयं न तात प्रभवाम भूम्नि यस्मिन् परेऽन्येऽप्यजजीवकोशा: । भवन्ति काले न भवन्ति हीद‍ृशा: सहस्रशो यत्र वयं भ्रमाम: ॥ ५६ ॥

Verse text

śrī-śaṅkara uvāca vayaṁ na tāta prabhavāma bhūmni yasmin pare ’nye ’py aja-jīva-kośāḥ bhavanti kāle na bhavanti hīdṛśāḥ sahasraśo yatra vayaṁ bhramāmaḥ

Synonyms

śrī — śaṅkaraḥ uvāca — Lord Śiva said ; vayam — we ; na — not ; tāta — O my dear son ; prabhavāmaḥ — sufficiently able ; bhūmni — unto the great Supreme Personality of Godhead ; yasmin — in whom ; pare — in the Transcendence ; anye — others ; api — even ; aja — Lord Brahmā ; jīva — living entities ; kośāḥ — the universes ; bhavanti — can become ; kāle — in due course of time ; na — not ; bhavanti — can become ; hi — indeed ; īdṛśāḥ — like this ; sahasraśaḥ — many thousands and millions ; yatra — wherein ; vayam — all of us ; bhramāmaḥ — are rotating .

Translation

Lord Śiva said: My dear son, I, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods, who rotate within this universe under the misconception of our greatness, cannot exhibit any power to compete with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for innumerable universes and their inhabitants come into existence and are annihilated by the simple direction of the Lord.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Śiva said: My dear son! We cannot compete with the Supreme Lord within whom the thousands of universes in which we wander in bewilderment arise and are destroyed with time. The universes (kośāḥ), which are coverings on the jīva and even Brahmā, are created and destroyed within the Supreme Lord. In those universes we who think we are controllers of the planets wander around bewildered.

Purport

There are innumerable universes in the material world, and there are innumerable Lord Brahmās, Lord Śivas and other demigods. All of them rotate within this material world under the supreme direction of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore no one is able to compete with the strength of the Lord. Lord Śiva also refused to protect Durvāsā, for Lord Śiva also was under the rays of the Sudarśana cakra sent by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.