तस्मै नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय धीमहि ।
यन्मायया दुर्जयया मां वदन्ति जगद्गुरुम् ॥
विलज्जमानया यस्य स्थातुमीक्षापथेऽमुया ।
विमोहिता विकत्थन्ते ममाहमिति दुर्धियः ॥
tasmai namo bhagavate vāsudevāya dhīmahi |
yan-māyayā durjayayā māṁ vadanti jagad-gurum ||
vilajjamānayā yasya sthātum īkṣā-pathe’muyā |
vimohitā vikatthante mamāham iti durddhiyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.5.12–13; cited in Tattva Sandarbha: 32; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 28, 100; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.32)
“[Brahmādeva:] Obeisance unto him, Bhagavān. We meditate on Vāsudeva, because of whose difficult to surmount māyā people call me the master of the universe, and thoroughly deluded by she [i.e., Māyā] who is ashamed to stand in whose purview, the ignorant boast of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’”
Commentary
tama-ādimattvena svasya sadoṣatvāt sac-cid-ānanda-ghanatvena yasya nirdoṣasya netra-gocare sthātuṁ vilajjamānayāmuyā māyayā vimohitā | asmad-ādayo durdhiyaḥ vikatthante ātmānaṁ ślāghante |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 28)
“Thoroughly deluded by māyā, she who is ashamed to stand in the purview of he who is faultless by virtue of [his] being constituted of condensed eternal being, consciousness, and bliss on account of her own faultiness as a result of being constituted of tamas and so forth [i.e., and the other guṇas, viz., rajas and sattva], the ignorant boast of ‘I’ and so on, that is, they praise themselves.”
atra ‘vilajjamānayā’ ity anenedam āyāti, tasyā jīva-sammohanaṁ karma śrī-bhagavate na rocata iti yadyapi sā svayaṁ jānāti, tathāpi ‘bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya’ iti diśā jīvānām anādi-bhagavad-ajñāna-maya-vaimukhyam asahamānā svarūpāvaraṇam asvarūpāveśaṁ ca karoti | śrī-bhagavāṁś cānādita eva bhaktāyāṁ prapañcādhikāriṇyāṁ tasyāṁ dākṣiṇyaṁ laṅghituṁ na śaknoti | tathā tad-bhayenāpi jīvānāṁ sva-sāmmukhyaṁ vāñchann upadiśati—‘daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā | mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te || iti, ‘satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ | taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati || iti ca |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.7.5; Excerpt from Tattva Sandarbha: 32–33)
“‘By she who is ashamed’ (vilajjamānayā)—from this [qualifier], this is understood: although she [i.e., Māyā] herself knows that her work of bewildering the jīvas is not pleasing to Śrī Bhagavān, still, as per the indication [in SB 11.2.37], ‘Non-awareness, misapprehension, and fear because of absorption in a second shall occur by means of Īśa’s māyā for one who is averse to him,’ she, being intolerant of the jīvas’ obliviousness of beginnningless non-awareness of Bhagavān, covers their essential nature (svarūpa) and makes them absorbed in that which is not their essential nature [i.e., in a false sense of self]. Śrī Bhagavān, furthermore, is not able to overstep courtesy in regard [māyā,] she who is verily beginninglessly a bhakta [of his] and the overseer of the phenomenal world [i.e., he is not able to withdraw with favor and stop her from acting as she does]. So, desiring the jīva’s intentness (sāmmukhya) towards himself even by way of fear of himself, he instructs [them in BG 7.14], ‘This divine māyā of mine constituted of the guṇas is certainly difficult to surmount; [still,] those who take shelter in me exclusively cross beyond this māyā,’ and [in SB 3.25.25], ‘As a result of extensive association with sādhus, discussions [of me] become full perceptions of my potency and elixirs for the heart and the ears. By cherishing them, swiftly śraddhā, rati (bhāva), and bhakti (prema) in relation to I who am the path to liberation will manifest in succession.’”
nanu jagad-gurur brahmā viśvaṁ sṛjatīti sarvatraiva tava khyātiḥ | tatra savismaya-sotprāsam āha—tasmai namo dhīmahīti | jagad-guru-viśva-sraṣṭā tvaṁ bhavasy eveti tubhyam ādara-dāyinaḥ santaḥ kiṁ māyā-mohitāḥ? satyaṁ, bhagavat-sambandhaṁ vinā ye ādara-dāyinaḥ ye ca tasmāt ādara-grāhiṇaś ca, te ubhaye’pi bahir darśino bhagavataḥ pṛṣṭha-deśa-sthayā māyayā mohyanta evety āha | vilajjamānayā mat-kapaṭam asau jānātīti kapaṭinyā striyā iva | yasya dṛṣṭi-pathe sthātuṁ vilajjamānayā arthāt tat-pṛṣṭha-deśa eva sthitavatyā amuyā māyayā vimohitā vikatthante | atra tad-vimukhataiva tat-pṛṣṭha-deśo jñeyaḥ | tad-vaimukhye saty eva tasyā prabhāvo na sāmmukhye ity arthaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[Nārada objects:] ‘“Well, the master of the universe, Brahmā, emanates the universe”—this is your renown everywhere.’ To this, he [i.e., Brahmādeva] says with modesty and sarcasm: tasmāi namo dhīmahi … [i.e., “Obeisance unto him. We meditate …]. [Nārada interjects:] ‘“You are certainly the master of the universe and the emanator of the world”—are those who give honor to you in this way deluded by māyā?’ [Brahmādeva replies:] Yes. Indeed both those who give honor [to anyone] without reference to Bhagavān [i.e., without that honor for the recipient being based on that recipient’s relation with Bhagavān] and those who accept honor from them are possessed of external vision and indeed deluded by Māyā, who is situated at the back of Bhagavān. Thus, he speaks [SB 2.5.13]: thoroughly deluded by she [i.e., Māyā] who, like a deceitful woman [thinking], ‘He understands my deceit,’ is ashamed to stand in whose [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān’s] purview, meaning, by she who is standing only at his back, [the ignorant] boast of ‘I‘ and ‘mine.’ Here, obliviousness of him is to be understood as ‘his back.’ Her influence is present only when there is obliviousness of him [on the part of a jīva], and not when there is intentness [upon him on the jīva’s part] (sāmmukhya). This is the meaning.”