Śrīmad Bhāgavata 1.11.38

Synonyms

etat — this; īśanam — [is] the supreme divinity [aiśvaryam¹²⁹]; īśasya — of the Supremely Divine; api — that although; prakṛti-sthaḥ — [He is] present in the midst of material nature [in the world consisting of the guṇas (guṇa-maye prapañce)¹³⁰]; sadā na yujyate — [He] is never influenced; tat-guṇaiḥ — by its guṇas [such as happiness and distress (sukha-duḥkhādi)]; yathā — just as; buddhiḥ — the wisdom faculty; tat-āśrayā [api] — though sheltered in the body [ātmāśrayāpi]; [remains uninfluenced (na yujyate)]; ātma-sthaiḥ — by the [guṇas] that inhere in the body [such as the feeling of joy (ānandādibhiḥ)].

This is the supreme divinity of the Supremely Divine, that although He is present in the midst of material nature, He is never influenced by its guṇas, just as the wisdom faculty, though sheltered in the body, remains uninfluenced by the guṇas that inhere in the body.¹³¹

Notes

129Unless otherwise indicated, this and the following bracketed inserts in verse 38 are Śrīdhara Svāmī’s comments.↩

130Jīva Gosvāmī.↩

131Jīva Gosvāmī gives two other interpretations of this verse based on positive and negative reasoning (anvaya-vyatireka). By anvaya, he interprets it as follows: “This is the supreme divinity of the Supremely Divine, that although He is present in the midst of material nature, He is never influenced by its guṇas, just as the wisdom faculty of the parama-bhāgavatas who have taken shelter of Bhagavān, though existing within prakṛti, remains uninfluenced by the guṇas situated therein.” And by vyatireka: “This is the supreme divinity of the Supremely Divine, that although He is present in the midst of material nature, He is never influenced by its guṇas, unlike the intellect (buddhi), or the cognitive faculty of the jīva, which, being sheltered in prakṛti, is ever influenced by its guṇas.”↩

SB 1.11.38

Synonyms

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