Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.76.21
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bahu-rūpa
—
with many forms
Contiguous join (bahu + rūpa). Bhagavān is also bahu-rūpa (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.39). But Bhagavān's bahu-rūpa is acintya-bhedābheda — non-different even when many. Saubha's bahu-rūpa is mere reflection, illusion not reality.
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eka-rūpam
—
with one form
Contiguous join (eka + rūpam). The dual movement many/one is the Upaniṣadic eka-aneka tension. In bhakti, the resolution is Bhagavān; here it is the trick of an asura.
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māyā-mayam
—
magical
Contiguous join (māyā + mayam) from synonyms. Suffix -maya — 'made of.' Saubha is made-of-māyā; jīvas in saṁsāra ride māyā-maya vehicles of their own — bodies, identities, opinions — all eventually dissolved by Bhagavān's astra.
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durvibhāvyam
—
impossible to find
duṣ + vi + √bhū. Hard to make-present-to-mind. The Bhāgavatam uses the same root family for the Lord Himself when described from the outside (Gītā 11.52, su-durdarśam); the asura claims this vocabulary illegitimately.
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maya-kṛtam
—
made by Maya Dānava
Contiguous join (maya + kṛtam). Authorship matters. Whatever an asura crafts inherits the asura's intentionality. Gauḍīyas read all kāma-crafted things as carrying their craftsman; only Kṛṣṇa-prasāda-crafted things carry Kṛṣṇa.
The saubha aircraft (tat) could sometimes be seen and sometimes became invisible. Sometimes it was in one form and sometimes in many forms.
Out of fear of Pradyumna, the vehicle became invisible and unsteady in form. This is described in two verses. It had many colors or forms but was one form. Or it displayed many forms and then one form. This ship was made by Maya, not by illusion, though it produced illusions. The Yadus (paraiḥ) could not determine its location.
- Where do illusions in my life confuse me by their shifting appearance?
- What practice steadies my perception?
Like a fog that splits into a hundred fogs and a moment later is one fog and a moment later is no fog at all, Saubha multiplies, unifies, vanishes. The asuric vehicle imitates Bhagavān's vaibhava-vilāsa (multiple simultaneous forms) — but in māyā, not in cit.
In SB 10.33, during the rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa expands into as many forms as there are gopīs — one Kṛṣṇa visible beside each, dancing each as if she were the only one. He is fully present in each form; bahu-rūpa eka-rūpa is His native grammar.
Gauḍīyas read Maya's saubha as the asuric counterfeit of that divine multi-presence. Where Kṛṣṇa expands for prema, Maya constructs for fear. Same outward sign, opposite hearts; the Bhāgavatam never lets the asura's mimicry pass without quietly reminding us of the original.
My note
Source: vedabase.io