Fourteen Worlds
FOURTEEN WORLDSVedic Cosmology

SB 10.14.19

Devanāgarī

अजानतां त्वत्पदवीमनात्म- न्यात्मात्मना भासि वितत्य मायाम् । सृष्टाविवाहं जगतो विधान इव त्वमेषोऽन्त इव त्रिनेत्र: ॥ १९ ॥

Text

ajānatāṁ tvat-padavīm anātmany ātmātmanā bhāsi vitatya māyām sṛṣṭāv ivāhaṁ jagato vidhāna iva tvam eṣo ’nta iva trinetraḥ

Synonyms

ajānatām—to persons who are in ignorance;tvat-padavīm—of Your transcendental position;anātmani—in the material energy;ātmā—Yourself;ātmanā—by Yourself;bhāsi—appear;vitatya—expanding;māyām—Your inconceivable energy;sṛṣṭau—in the matter of creation;iva—as if;aham—I, Brahmā;jagataḥ—of the universe;vidhāne—in the maintenance;iva—as if;tvameṣaḥ—Yourself;ante—in the annihilation;iva—as if;tri-netraḥ—Lord Śiva.

Translation

To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [Brahmā], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viṣṇu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Śiva].

Purport

Although the impersonal Māyāvādī philosophers think that the demigods are illusory, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu are stated here to be expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus real. Indeed, they are the extraordinarily powerful controllers of the universe. The ultimate truth is a supreme and beautiful person, and thus throughout the creation of God we will always find the personal touch.
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