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TEXT 36
nunam janair ihitam isvaranam
asmad-vidhais tad-guna-sarga-mayaya
na jnayate mohita-citta-vartmabhis
tebhyo namo vira-yasas-karebhyah
SYNONYMS
nunamsurely; janaihby the people in general; ihitamactivities; isvaranamof the controllers; asmat-vidhaihlike me; tatof the Personality of Godhead; gunaof the modes of material nature; sargawhich brings forth creation; mayayaby Your energy; nanever; jnayateare understood; mohitabewildered; cittawhose minds; vartmabhihway; tebhyahunto them; namahobeisances; vira-yasah-karebhyahwho bring renown to heroes themselves.
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, I am also the creation of one of Your energies, composed of the three modes of material nature. Consequently I am bewildered by Your activities. Even the activities of Your devotees cannot be understood, and what to speak of Your pastimes. Thus everything appears to us to be contradictory and wonderful.
PURPORT
The activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His various forms and incarnations are always uncommon and wonderful. It is not possible for a tiny human being to estimate the purpose and plans of such activities; therefore Srila Jiva Gosvami has said that unless the Lords activities are accepted as inconceivable, they cannot be explained. The Lord is eternally existing as Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Goloka Vrndavana. He has also simultaneously expanded Himself in innumerable forms, beginning with Lord Rama, Lord Nrsimha, Lord Varaha and all the incarnations coming directly from Sankarsana. Sankarsana is the expansion of Baladeva, and Baladeva is the first manifestation of Krsna. Therefore all these incarnations are known as kala.
The word isvaranam refers to all the Personalities of Godhead. As stated in Brahma-samhita (5.39): ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is confirmed that all the incarnations are partial expansions, or kala, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should not take the plural number of the word isvaranam to mean that there are many Godheads. The fact is that God is one, but He exists eternally and expands Himself in innumerable forms and acts in various ways. Sometimes the common man is bewildered by all this and considers such activities contradictory, but they are not contradictory. There is a great plan behind all the Lords activities.
For our understanding it is sometimes said that the Lord is situated in the heart of the thief as well as in the heart of the householder, but the Supersoul in the heart of the thief dictates, Go and steal things from that particular house, and at the same time the Lord tells the householder, Now be careful of thieves and burglars. These instructions to different persons appear contradictory, yet we should know that the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has some plan, and we should not consider such activities contradictory. The best course is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead wholeheartedly, and, being protected by Him, remain peaceful.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fourth Canto, Seventeenth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled Maharaja Prthu Becomes Angry at the Earth.
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