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sri-devah ucuh—the demigods said; namah—obeisances; te—unto You; yajna-viryaya—unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is able to give the results of sacrifice; vayase—who is the time factor, which ends the results of yajna; uta—although; te—unto You; namah—obeisances; namah—obeisances; te—unto You; hi—indeed; asta-cakraya—who throws the disc; namah—respectful obeisances; supuru-hutaye—having varieties of transcendental names.

The demigods said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are competent to give the results of sacrifice, and You are also the time factor that destroys all such results in due course. You are the one who releases the cakra to kill the demons. O Lord, who possesses many varieties of names, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You.

SB6.9.32

TEXT 32

yat te gatinam tisrnam

isituh paramam padam

narvacino visargasya

dhatar veditum arhati

SYNONYMS

yat—which; te—of You; gatinam tisrnam—of the three destinations (the heavenly planets, the earthly planets and hell); isituh—who are the controller; paramam padam—the supreme abode, Vaikunthaloka; na—not; arvacinah—a person appearing after; visargasya—the creation; dhatah—O supreme controller; veditum—to understand; arhati—is able.

TRANSLATION

O supreme controller, You control the three destinations [promotion to the heavenly planets, birth as a human being, and condemnation in hell], yet Your supreme abode is Vaikuntha-dhama. Since we appeared after You created this cosmic manifestation, Your activities are impossible for us to understand. We therefore have nothing to offer You but our humble obeisances.

PURPORT

An inexperienced man generally does not know what to beg from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone is under the jurisdiction of the created material world, and no one knows what benediction to ask when praying to the Supreme Lord. People generally pray to be promoted to the heavenly planets because they have no information of Vaikunthaloka. Srila Madhvacarya quotes the following verse:

deva-lokat pitr-lokat
nirayac capi yat param
tisrbhyah paramam sthanam
vaisnavam vidusam gatih

There are different planetary systems, known as Devaloka (the planets of the demigods), Pitrloka (the planet of the Pitas) and Niraya (the hellish planets). When one transcends these various planetary systems and enters Vaikunthaloka, he achieves the ultimate resort of the Vaisnavas. Vaisnavas have nothing to do with the other planetary systems.

SB6.9.33

TEXT 33

om namas te ’stu bhagavan narayana vasudevadi-purusa maha-purusa mahanubhava parama-mangala parama-kalyana parama-karunika kevala jagad-adhara lokaika-natha sarvesvara laksmi-natha paramahamsa-parivrajakaih paramenatma-yoga-samadhina paribhavita-parisphuta-paramahamsya-dharmenodghatita-tamah-kapata-dvare citte ’pavrta atma-loke svayam upalabdha-nija-sukhanubhavo bhavan.

om—O Lord; namah—respectful obeisances; te—unto You; astu—let there be; bhagavan—O Supreme Personality of Godhead; narayana—the resort of all living entities, Narayana; vasudeva—Lord Vasudeva, Sri Krsna; adi-purusa—the original person; maha-purusa—the most exalted personality; maha-anubhava—the supremely opulent; parama-mangala—the most auspicious; parama-kalyana—the supreme benediction; parama-karunika—the supremely merciful; kevala—changeless; jagat-adhara—the support of the cosmic manifestation; loka-eka-natha—the only proprietor of all the planetary systems; sarva-isvara—the supreme controller; laksmi-natha—the husband of the goddess of fortune; paramahamsa-parivrajakaih—by the topmost sannyasis wandering all over the world; paramena—by supreme; atma-yoga-samadhina—absorption in bhakti-yoga; paribhavita—fully purified; parisphuta—and fully manifested; paramahamsya-dharmena—by executing the transcendental process of devotional service; udghatita—pushed open; tamah—of illusory existence; kapata—in which the door; dvare—existing as the entrance; citte—in the mind; apavrte—without contamination; atma-loke—in the spiritual world; svayam—personally; upalabdha—experiencing; nija—personal; sukha-anubhavah—perception of happiness; bhavan—Your Lordship.

O Supreme Personality of Godhead, O Narayana, O Vasudeva, original person! O most exalted person, supreme experience, welfare personified! O supreme benediction, supremely merciful and changeless! O support of the cosmic manifestation, sole proprietor of all planetary systems, master of everything and husband of the goddess of fortune! Your Lordship is realized by the topmost sannyasis, who wander about the world to preach Krsna consciousness, fully absorbed in samadhi through bhakti-yoga. Because their minds are concentrated upon You, they can receive the conception of Your personality in their fully purified hearts. When the darkness in their hearts is completely eradicated and You are revealed to them, the transcendental bliss they enjoy is the transcendental form of Your Lordship. No one but such persons can realize You. Therefore we simply offer You our respectful obeisances.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has numerous transcendental names pertaining to different grades of revelation to various grades of devotees and transcendentalists. When He is realized in His impersonal form He is called the Supreme Brahman, when realized as the Paramatma He is called antaryami, and when He expands Himself in different forms for material creation He is called Ksirodakasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu and Karanodakasayi Visnu. When He is realized as Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha—the Caturvyuha, who are beyond the three forms of Visnu—He is the Vaikuntha Narayana. Above realization of Narayana is realization of Baladeva, and above that is realization of Krsna. All these realizations are possible when one engages fully in devotional service. The covered core of one’s heart is then completely open to receiving an understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His various forms.

SB6.9.34

TEXT 34

duravabodha iva tavayam vihara-yogo yad asarano ’sarira idam anaveksitasmat-samavaya atmanaivavikriyamanena sagunam agunah srjasi pasi harasi.

duravabodhah—difficult to understand; iva—quite; tava—Your; ayam—this; vihara-yogah—engagement in the pastimes of material creation, maintenance and annihilation; yat—which; asaranah—not dependent on any other support; asarirah—without having a material body; idam—this; anaveksita—without waiting for; asmat—of us; samavayah—the cooperation; atmana—by Your own self; eva—indeed; avikriyamanena—without being transformed; sa-gunam—the material modes of nature; agunah—although transcendental to such material qualities; srjasi—You create; pasi—maintain; harasi—annihilate.

O Lord, You need no support, and although You have no material body, You do not need cooperation from us. Since You are the cause of the cosmic manifestation and You supply its material ingredients without being transformed, You create, maintain and annihilate this cosmic manifestation by Yourself. Nevertheless, although You appear engaged in material activity, You are transcendental to all material qualities. Consequently these transcendental activities of Yours are extremely difficult to understand.

atha tatra bhavan kim devadattavad iha guna-visarga-patitah paratantryena sva-krta-kusalakusalam phalam upadadaty ahosvid atmarama upasama-silah samanjasa-darsana udasta iti ha vava na vidamah.

The Brahma-samhita (5.37) says, goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutah: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is always situated in Goloka Vrndavana. It is also said, vrndavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati: Krsna never goes even a step from Vrndavana. Nevertheless, although Krsna is situated in His own abode, Goloka Vrndavana, He is simultaneously all-pervading and is therefore present everywhere. This is very difficult for a conditioned soul to understand. but devotees can understand how Krsna, without undergoing any changes, can simultaneously be in His abode and be all-pervasive. The demigods are understood to be various limbs of the Supreme Lord’s body, although the Supreme Lord has no material body and does not need anyone’s help. He is spread everywhere (maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina). Nevertheless, He is not present everywhere in His spiritual form. According to the Mayavada philosophy, the Supreme Truth, being all-pervasive, does not need a transcendental form. The Mayavadis suppose that since His form is distributed everywhere, He has no form. This is untrue. The Lord keeps His transcendental form, and at the same time He extends everywhere, in every nook and corner of the material creation.

SB6.9.35

TEXT 35

atha—therefore; tatra—in that; bhavan—Your Lordship; kim—whether; deva-datta-vat—like an ordinary human being, forced by the fruits of his activities; iha—in this material world; guna-visarga-patitah—fallen in a material body impelled by the modes of material nature; paratantryena—by dependence on the conditions of time, space, activity and nature; sva-krta—executed by oneself; kusala—auspicious; akusalam—inauspicious; phalam—results of action; upadadati—accepts; ahosvit—or; atmaramah—completely self-satisfied; upasama-silah—self-controlled in nature; samanjasa-darsanah—not deprived of full spiritual potencies; udaste—remains neutral as the witness; iti—thus; ha vava—certainly; na vidamah—we do not understand.

These are our inquiries. The ordinary conditioned soul is subject to the material laws, and he thus receives the fruits of his actions. Does Your Lordship, like an ordinary human being, exist within this material world in a body produced by the material modes? Do You enjoy or suffer the good or bad results of actions under the influence of time, past work and so forth? Or, on the contrary, are You present here only as a neutral witness who is self-sufficient, free from all material desires, and always full of spiritual potency? We certainly cannot understand Your actual position.

na hi virodha ubhayam bhagavaty aparimita-guna-gana isvare ’navagahya-mahatmye ’rvacina-vikalpa-vitarka-vicara-pramanabhasa-kutarka-sastra-kalilantahkaranasraya-duravagraha-vadinam vivadanavasara uparata-samasta-mayamaye kevala evatma-mayam antardhaya ko nv artho durghata iva bhavati svarupa-dvayabhavat.

In Bhagavad-gita Krsna says that He descends to this material world for two purposes, namely paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]—to relieve the devotees and kill demons or nondevotees. These two kinds of action are the same for the Absolute Truth. When the Lord comes to punish the demons, He bestows His favor upon them, and similarly when He delivers His devotees and gives them relief, He also bestows His favor. Thus the Lord bestows His favor equally upon the conditioned souls. When a conditioned soul gives relief to others he acts piously, and when he gives trouble to others he acts impiously, but the Lord is neither pious nor impious; He is always full in His spiritual potency, by which He shows equal mercy to the punishable and the protectable. The Lord is apapa-viddham; He is never contaminated by the reactions of so-called sinful activities. When Krsna was present on this earth, He killed many inimical nondevotees, but they all received sarupya; in other words, they returned to their original spiritual bodies. One who does not know the Lord’s position says that God is unkind to him but merciful to others. Actually the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (9.29), samo ’ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo ’sti na priyah: “I am equal to everyone. No one is My enemy, and no one is My friend.” But He also says, ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya mayi te tesu capy aham: “If one becomes My devotee and fully surrenders unto Me, I give him special attention.”

SB6.9.36

TEXT 36

na—not; hi—certainly; virodhah—contradiction; ubhayam—both; bhagavati—in the Supreme Personality of Godhead; aparimita—unlimited; guna-gane—whose transcendental attributes; isvare—in the supreme controller; anavagahya—possessing; mahatmye—unfathomable ability and glories; arvacina—recent; vikalpa—full of equivocal calculations; vitarka—opposing arguments; vicara—judgments; pramana-abhasa—imperfect evidence; kutarka—useless arguments; sastra—by unauthorized scriptures; kalila—agitated; antahkarana—minds; asraya—whose shelter; duravagraha—with wicked obstinacies; vadinam—of theorists; vivada—of the controversies; anavasare—not within the range; uparata—withdrawn; samasta—from whom all; maya-maye—illusory energy; kevale—without a second; eva—indeed; atma-mayam—the illusory energy, which can do and undo the inconceivable; antardhaya—placing between; kah—what; nu—indeed; arthah—meaning; durghatah—impossible; iva—as it were; bhavati—is; sva-rupa—natures; dvaya—of two; abhavat—due to the absence.

O Supreme Personality of Godhead, all contradictions can be reconciled in You. O Lord, since You are the Supreme Person, the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities, the supreme controller, Your unlimited glories are inconceivable to the conditioned souls. Many modern theologians argue about right and wrong without knowing what is actually right. Their arguments are always false and their judgments inconclusive because they have no authorized evidence with which to gain knowledge of You. Because their minds are agitated by scriptures containing false conclusions, they are unable to understand the truth concerning You. Furthermore, because of polluted eagerness to arrive at the right conclusion, their theories are incapable of revealing You, who are transcendental to their material conceptions. You are one without a second, and therefore in You contradictions like doing and not doing, happiness and distress, are not contradictory. Your potency is so great that it can do and undo anything as You like. With the help of that potency, what is impossible for You? Since there is no duality in Your constitutional position, You can do everything by the influence of Your energy.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, being self-sufficient, is full of transcendental bliss (atmarama). He enjoys bliss in two ways—when He appears happy and when He appears distressed. Distinctions and contradictions are impossible in Him because only from Him have they emanated. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all knowledge, all potency, all strength, opulence and influence. There is no limit to His powers. Since He is full in all transcendental attributes, nothing abominable from the material world can exist in Him. He is transcendental and spiritual, and therefore conceptions of material happiness and distress do not apply to Him.

We should not be astonished to find contradictions in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually there are no contradictions. That is the meaning of His being supreme. Because He is all-powerful, He is not subject to the conditioned soul’s arguments regarding His existence or nonexistence. He is pleased to protect His devotees by killing their enemies. He enjoys both the killing and the protecting.

Such freedom from duality applies not only to the Lord but also to His devotees. In Vrndavana, the damsels of Vrajabhumi enjoy transcendental bliss in the company of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, and they feel the same transcendental bliss in separation when Krsna and Balarama leave Vrndavana for Mathura. There is no question of material pains or pleasures for either the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His pure devotees, although they are sometimes superficially said to be distressed or happy. One who is atmarama is blissful in both ways.

Nondevotees cannot understand the contradictions present in the Supreme Lord or His devotees. Therefore in Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, bhaktya mam abhijanati: [Bg. 18.55] the transcendental pastimes can be understood through devotional service; to nondevotees they are inconceivable. Acintyah khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet: the Supreme Lord and His form, name, pastimes and paraphernalia are inconceivable to nondevotees, and one should not try to understand such realities simply by logical arguments. They will not bring one to the right conclusion about the Absolute Truth.

SB6.9.37

TEXT 37

sama-visama-matinam matam anusarasi yatha rajju-khandah sarpadi-dhiyam.

sama—equal or proper; visama—and unequal or mistaken; matinam—of those having intelligence; matam—conclusion; anusarasi—You follow; yatha—just as; rajju-khandah—a piece of rope; sarpa-adi—a snake, etc.; dhiyam—of those who perceive.

A rope causes fear for a bewildered person who considers it a snake, but not for a person with proper intelligence who knows it to be only a rope. Similarly, You, as the Supersoul in everyone’s heart, inspire fear or fearlessness according to one’s intelligence, but in You there is no duality.

sa eva hi punah sarva-vastuni vastu-svarupah sarvesvarah sakala-jagat-karana-karana-bhutah sarva-pratyag-atmatvat sarva-gunabhasopalaksita eka eva paryavasesitah.

In Bhagavad-gita (4.11) the Lord says, ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham: “As one surrenders unto Me, I reward him accordingly.” The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of everything, including all knowledge, all truth and all contradictions. The example cited herein is very appropriate. A rope is one truth, but some mistake it for a snake, whereas others know it to be a rope. Similarly, devotees who know the Supreme Personality of Godhead do not see contradictions in Him, but nondevotees regard Him as the snakelike source of all fear. For example, when Nrsimhadeva appeared, Prahlada Maharaja saw the Lord as the supreme solace, whereas his father, a demon, saw Him as the ultimate death. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.37), bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syat: fear results from being absorbed in duality. When one is in knowledge of duality, one knows both fear and bliss. The same Supreme Lord is a source of bliss to devotees and fear to nondevotees who have a poor fund of knowledge. God is one, but people understand the Absolute Truth from different angles of vision. The unintelligent see contradictions in Him, but sober devotees find no contradictions.

SB6.9.38

TEXT 38

sah—He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); eva—indeed; hi—certainly; punah—again; sarva-vastuni—in everything, material and spiritual; vastu-svarupah—the substance; sarva-isvarah—the controller of everything; sakala-jagat—of the whole universe; karana—of the causes; karana-bhutah—existing as the cause; sarva-pratyak-atmatvat—because of being the Supersoul of every living being, or being present in everything, even the atom; sarva-guna—of all the effects of the material modes of nature (such as intelligence and the senses); abhasa—by the manifestations; upalaksitah—perceived; ekah—alone; eva—indeed; paryavasesitah—left remaining.

With deliberation, one will see that the Supreme Soul, although manifested in different ways, is actually the basic principle of everything. The total material energy is the cause of the material manifestation, but the material energy is caused by Him. Therefore He is the cause of all causes, the manifester of intelligence and the senses. He is perceived as the Supersoul of everything. Without Him, everything would be dead. You, as that Supersoul, the supreme controller, are the only one remaining.

The words sarva-vastuni vastu-svarupah indicate that the Supreme Lord is the active principle of everything. As described in the Brahma-samhita (5.35):

eko ’py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim
yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah
andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who enters the existence of every universe and every atom by one of His plenary portions and thus manifests His infinite energy throughout the material creation.” By His one plenary portion as Paramatma, antaryami, the Lord is all-pervading throughout the unlimited universes. He is the pratyak, or antaryami, of all living entities. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (13.3), ksetrajnam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata: “O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies.” Because the Lord is the Supersoul, He is the active principle of every living entity and even the atom (anda-ntara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham). He is the actual reality. According to various stages of intelligence, one realizes the presence of the Supreme in everything through the manifestations of His energy. The entire world is permeated by the three gunas, and one can understand His presence according to one’s modes of material nature.

SB6.9.39

TEXT 39

atha ha vava tava mahimamrta-rasa-samudra-viprusa sakrd avalidhaya sva-manasi nisyandamananavarata-sukhena vismarita-drsta-sruta-visaya-sukha-lesabhasah parama-bhagavata ekantino bhagavati sarva-bhuta-priya-suhrdi sarvatmani nitaram nirantaram nirvrta-manasah katham u ha va ete madhumathana punah svartha-kusala hy atma-priya-suhrdah sadhavas tvac-caranambujanusevam visrjanti na yatra punar ayam samsara-paryavartah.