FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.21

को वेत्ति भूमन् भगवन् परात्मन् योगेश्वरोतीर्भवतस्त्रिलोक्याम् । क्‍व वा कथं वा कति वा कदेति विस्तारयन्क्रीडसि योगमायाम् ॥ २१ ॥
ko vetti bhūman bhagavan parātman
[ko vetti bhooman bhagavan paraatman]
yogeśvarotīr bhavatas tri-lokyām
[yogeshvaroteer bhavatas tri-lokyaam]
kva vā kathaṁ vā kati vā kadeti
[kva vaa katham vaa kati vaa kadeti]
vistārayan krīḍasi yoga-māyām
[vistaarayan kreedasi yoga-maayaam]
kaḥ — who vetti — knows bhūman — O supreme great one bhagavan — O Supreme Personality of Godhead para - ātman — O Supreme Soul yoga - īśvara — O master of mystic power ūtīḥ — the pastimes bhavataḥ — of Your Lordship tri - lokyām — in the three worlds kva — where vā — or katham — how vā — or kati — how many vā — or kadā — when iti — thus vistārayan — expanding krīḍasi — You play yoga - māyām — Your spiritual energy .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
ko vetti bhūman bhagavan parātman
yogeśvarotīr bhavatas tri-lokyām
kva vā kathaṁ vā kati vā kadeti
kaḥ
who
vetti
knows
bhūman
O supreme great one
bhagavan
O Supreme Personality of Godhead
para - ātman
O Supreme Soul
vistārayan krīḍasi yoga-māyām
yoga - īśvara
O master of mystic power
ūtīḥ
the pastimes
bhavataḥ
of Your Lordship
tri - lokyām
in the three worlds
kva
where
vā
or
katham
how
vā
or
kati
how many
vā
or
kadā
when
iti
thus
vistārayan
expanding
krīḍasi
You play
yoga - māyām
Your spiritual energy .
  • yoga-īśvara — master of mystic power
    Compound: yoga (union, mystic power) + īśvara (master). Kṛṣṇa as the source of all yoga-śaktis. Same title given Him in BG 18.78 — yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ — where Kṛṣṇa is, all yogic power is.
  • yoga-māyām — (Your) divine internal energy
    Compound: yoga (union, mystical) + māyā (energy). Distinct from mahā-māyā — yoga-māyā is the internal śakti by which Bhagavān stages His personal līlās. Rūpa Gosvāmī attributes the management of Vraja-līlā specifically to yoga-māyā (Pūrṇamāsī, Paurṇamāsī).
  • krīḍasi — You play
    Second person singular of √krīḍ — to play. Kṛṣṇa's activity is krīḍā, līlā, play — not work, not duty. The Gauḍīya signature: Bhagavān is the player; the cosmos is His playground; bhakti is the invitation onto the field.
  • ūtīḥ — pastimes, activities
    Plural of ūti — activity. Brahmā uses the plural deliberately — Kṛṣṇa's līlās are innumerable, simultaneously taking place across many cosmoses. Caitanya-caritāmṛta develops this into the doctrine of nitya-līlā ever-present in Goloka.
  • vistārayan — expanding
    Present participle of vi-√stṛ — to spread out. The līlā is an ongoing expansion, not a finished event. Vraja's līlā has not ended; in the spiritual sky it is unfolding now.
O supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul, master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in these three worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employing Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one can understand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts.

Brahmā previously stated that Lord Kṛṣṇa incarnates among the demigods, human beings, animals, fish and so on. This does not mean, however, that the Lord is degraded by His incarnations. As Brahmā clarifies here, no conditioned soul can understand the transcendental nature of the Lord’s activities, which He enacts through His spiritual potency. Although the Lord is bhūman, the supremely great one, He is still Bhagavān, the supremely beautiful personality exhibiting pastimes of love in His own abode. At the same time He is Paramātmā, the all-pervading Supersoul, who witnesses and sanctions all the activities of conditioned souls. The Lord’s multiple identity is explained by the term yogeśvara. The Absolute Truth is the master of all mystic potencies, and although He is one and supreme, He manifests His greatness and opulence in many different ways. Such elevated spiritual matters can hardly be understood by foolish persons primitively identifying themselves with the insignificant material body. These conditioned souls, such as atheistic scientists, consider their own puffed-up intelligence supreme. Gullibly placing their firm faith in material illusion, they are captured by the modes of nature and driven far away from knowledge of God.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
O supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul, master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in these three worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employing Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one can understand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts.
Commentary

You were born as Krsna to relieve the burden of the universe, and you appeared as Rama to kill Ravana. As the white, red, black and syama avataras you institute religion. The purpose is not to defeat the false jnanis. Actually no one can fully understand where you will appear, the purpose, the time, and the number of appearances that you will make. Unlimited Lord, cause of all causes, if Your transcendental body were not beyond the modes of material nature, one could not understand the difference between matter and transcendence. Only by Your presence can one understand the transcendental nature of Your Lordship, the controller of material nature. Your transcendental nature is very difficult to understand unless one is influenced by the presence of Your transcendental form. O form spread throughout the universe (bhuman)! O bhagavan! though you spread throughout matter, you are still full of your six opulences. Though you are full of all opulence you also expand to witness everything as Paramatma. O yogesvara, because of your yogamaya, you display such powers. Who can understand Your pastimes (uti) performed throughout the three worlds (trailokyam)? Why? Where? How? When? Your form is unlimited, spread throughout the universe, full of all opulences. It is not material but everywhere in the three worlds. But how is it possible to satisfy simultaneously all your devotee at all times with pastimes? This can happen because of yogamaya. By your inconceivable energy , yogamaya carries out the work of presenting various pastimes to various worshipers at the suitable time.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

After describing everything, Brahmā speaks with respect. O unlimited Lord (bhūman)! O supreme person endowed with all powers (bhagavān)! O soul with all beings, or the cause of all beings (parātman)! O Lord, spreading yourself over all time by your innate power of yoga (yogeśvara)! Who knows how or when your pastimes (utīḥ) will occur? You alone know the location of all the unrestricted pastimes since you are unrestricted (bhūman). You alone know how these pastimes take place since you are endowed with all powers (bhagavān). You alone know the quantity of these pastimes since you are Paramātmā. You know when they will occur since you spread over all time (yogeśvara). The cause of all this is yogamāyā, your great svarūpa-śakti.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

“Among your avatāras is there not one that performs actions like a normal person of this world?” Who knows you? You are unlimited (bhuman). You are endowed with all powers (bhagavān). You reside within all beings (paramātman). You can do the impossible (yogeśvara). In the sequence of names of the Lord, they are gradually more difficult to comprehend and show the greater excellence of the Lord. You spread yoga-māyā. This is a special śakti of the Lord, which is endowed with eternity, knowledge and bliss. Thus his pastimes (ūtīḥ) are real. This is explained in Bhāgavatāmṛta. Or yoga-māyā can mean mercy (māyā) endowed with power (yoga) shown to devotees. Your activities cannot be understood because they are unlimited and filled with your powers. Or why are so many materialists seen even today? Who can know your activities? They are generally bewildered since your pastimes are difficult to understand, being spread with yogamāyā. That is suitable because you are bhūman, bhagavan, parātman and yogeśvara. Since the lord is inconceivable, his pastimes are inconceivable. That is the conclusion. The ignorant must surrender to your devotees for gaining knowledge of your pastimes. By this they are delivered and by nothing else.

Related values
Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)Kritajnata (Gratitude)Kartavya (Duty / Responsibility)Satya (Truthfulness)Samata (Equanimity / Even-mindedness)Dana (Charity / Generosity)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses
Concepts
Maya
Even Brahmā cannot map the where, when, and how of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. The Lord is one and supreme but plays endlessly through His mystic potency — the wise stop trying to manage Him and just receive Him.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I trying to manage the Lord's timing instead of receiving His play?
  • What pastime of His do I find hardest to accept, and what would happen if I trusted it as His yoga?

A child watches the ocean and asks: how many waves, in which direction, how often, when? No oceanographer can answer. Brahmā watches Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with yoga-māyā and asks the same: where, how, how many, when — and gives up. The līlā is not a system; it is a Person's spontaneous play.

📝 My note

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