TEXT 4
yat tad visuddhanubhava-matram ekam
sva-tejasa dhvasta-guna-vyavastham
pratyak prasantam sudhiyopalambhanam
hy anama-rupam niraham prapadye
SYNONYMS
yatwhich; tatto that supreme truth; visuddhatranscendentally pure, without contamination by material nature; anubhavaexperience; matramthat sac-cid-ananda transcendental body; ekamthe one; sva-tejasaby His own spiritual potency; dhvastavanquished; guna-vyavasthamthe influence of the modes of material nature; pratyaktranscendental, not to be seen with material eyes; prasantamundisturbed by material agitation; sudhiyaby Krsna consciousness, or purified consciousness, uncontaminated by material desires, fruitive activities and speculative philosophy; upalambhanamwho can be achieved; hiindeed; anama-rupamwithout a material name and form; nirahamwithout a material ego; prapadyelet me offer my respectful obeisances.
TRANSLATION
The Lord, whose pure form [sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]] is uncontaminated by the modes of material nature, can be perceived by pure consciousness. In the Vedanta He is described as being one without a second. Because of His spiritual potency, He is untouched by the contamination of material nature, and because He is not subjected to material vision, He is known as transcendental. He has no material activities, nor has He a material form or name. Only in pure consciousness, Krsna consciousness, can one perceive the transcendental form of the Lord. Let us be firmly fixed at the lotus feet of Lord Ramacandra, and let us offer our respectful obeisances unto those transcendental lotus feet.
PURPORT
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, appears in various expansions, as stated in the Brahma-samhita (5.39):
I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who is always situated in various incarnations such as Rama, Nrsimha and many subincarnations as well, but who is the original personality of Godhead known as Krsna and who incarnates personally also. Krsna, who is visnu-tattva, has expanded Himself in many Visnu forms, of which Lord Ramacandra is one. We know that the visnu-tattva is carried by the transcendental bird Garuda and is equipped with different types of weapons in four hands. Therefore we may doubt whether Lord Ramacandra could be in the same category, since He was carried by Hanuman, not by Garuda, and had neither four hands nor the sankha, cakra, gada and padma. Consequently this verse clarifies that Ramacandra is as good as Krsna (ramadi-murtisu kala). Although Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ramacandra is not different from Him. Ramacandra is unaffected by the modes of material nature, and therefore He is prasanta, never disturbed by those modes.
Unless one is saturated with love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot appreciate the transcendental value of Lord Ramacandra; one cannot see Him with material eyes. Because demons like Ravana have no spiritual vision, they consider Lord Ramacandra an ordinary ksatriya king. Ravana therefore attempted to kidnap Lord Ramacandras eternal consort, Sitadevi. Actually, however, Ravana could not carry off Sitadevi in her original form. As soon as she was touched by Ravanas hands, she gave him a material form, but she maintained her original form beyond his vision. Therefore in this verse the words pratyak prasantam indicate that Lord Ramacandra and His potency, the goddess Sita, keep themselves aloof from the influence of the material energy.
In the Upanisads it is said: yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyah. The Supreme Lord, Paramatma, the Personality of Godhead, can be seen or perceived only by persons who are saturated with devotional service. As stated in the Brahma-samhita (5.38):
premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Syamasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee. Similarly, in the Chandogya Upanisad it is stated, etas tisro devata anena jivena. In this verse of the Chandogya Upanisad the word anena is used to distinguish the atma and Paramatma as two separate identities. The words tisro devata indicate that the body of the living entity is made of three material elementsfire, earth and water. Although the Paramatma enters the heart of the jivatma, who is influenced and designated by a material body, the Paramatma has nothing to do with the jivatmas body. Because the Paramatma has no material connections, He is described here as anama-rupam niraham. The Paramatma has no material identity, whereas the jivatma does. The jivatma may introduce himself as an Indian, American, German and so on, but the Paramatma has no such material designations, and therefore He has no material name. The jivatma is different from his name, but the Paramatma is not; His name and He Himself are one and the same. This is the meaning of niraham, which means without material designations. This word cannot possibly be twisted to mean that the Paramatma has no ahankara, no I-ness or identity. He has His transcendental identity as the Supreme. This is the explanation given by Srila Jiva Gosvami. According to another interpretation, given by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, niraham means nirniscayena aham. Niraham does not mean that the Supreme Lord has no identity. Rather, the stress given by the word aham proves strongly that He does have His personal identity because nir not only means negative but also means strong ascertainment.

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