TEXT 17
adhyarhaniyasanam asthitam param
vrtam catuh-sodasa-panca-saktibhih
yuktam bhagaih svair itaratra cadhruvaih
sva eva dhaman ramamanam isvaram
SYNONYMS
adhyarhaniyagreatly worshipable; asanamthrone; asthitamseated on it; paramthe Supreme; vrtamsurrounded by; catuhfour, namely prakrti, purusa, mahat and ego; sodasathe sixteen; pancathe five; saktibhihby the energies; yuktamempowered with; bhagaihHis opulences; svaihpersonal; itaratraother minor prowesses; caalso; adhruvaihtemporary; sveown; evacertainly; dhamanabode; ramamanamenjoying; isvaramthe Supreme Lord.
TRANSLATION
The Lord was seated on His throne and was surrounded by different energies like the four, the sixteen, the five, and the six natural opulences, along with other insignificant energies of the temporary character. But He was the factual Supreme Lord, enjoying His own abode.
PURPORT
The Lord is naturally endowed with His six opulences. Specifically, He is the richest, He is the most powerful, He is the most famous, He is the most beautiful, He is the greatest in knowledge, and He is the greatest renouncer as well. And for His material creative energies, He is served by four, namely the principles of prakrti, purusa, mahat-tattva and ego. He is also served by the sixteen, namely the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky), the five perceptive sense organs (the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin), and the five working sense organs (the hand, the leg, the stomach, the evacuation outlet and the genitals), and the mind. The five includes the sense objects, namely form, taste, smell, sound and touch. All these twenty-five items serve the Lord in the material creation, and all of them are personally present to serve the Lord. The insignificant opulences numbering eight (the asta-siddhis, attained by yogis for temporary overlordship) are also under His control, but He is naturally full with all such powers without any effort, and therefore He is the Supreme Lord.
The living being, by severe penance and performance of bodily exercises, can temporarily attain some wonderful power, but that does not make him the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord, by His own potency, is unlimitedly more powerful than any yogi, He is unlimitedly more learned than any jnani, He is unlimitedly richer than any wealthy person, He is unlimitedly more beautiful than any beautiful living being, and He is unlimitedly more charitable than any philanthropist. He is above all; no one is equal to or greater than Him. Nor can anyone reach His level of perfection in any of the above powers by any amount of penance or yogic demonstrations. The yogis are dependent on His mercy. Out of His immensely charitable disposition He can award some temporary powers to the yogis because of the yogis hankering after them, but to His unalloyed devotees, who do not want anything from the Lord save and except His transcendental service, the Lord is so pleased that He gives Himself in exchange for unalloyed service.

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