Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.88.4
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
vikārāḥ
—
transformations
From vi-√kṛ — modifications of the false ego. The whole material display the senses meet is vikāra, not the original tattva. Devotion to vikāra yields vikāra-fruit.
-
ṣoḍaśa
—
sixteen
The eleven senses (five jñānendriyas, five karmendriyas, mind) plus the five gross elements — Sāṅkhya's enumeration. Śiva's worshipers each find their bhoga at one of these sixteen counters.
-
upadhāvan
—
pursuing in worship
Present active participle of upa-√dhāv — to run toward. Vivid verb: the worshiper runs, breath short, after a chosen element. Compare verse 17 where Vṛka 'runs toward' Śiva (upādhāvat) — the same verb, the same shape of demoniac haste.
-
vibhūtīnām
—
of material opulences
Plural of vibhūti — extraordinary asset. The fruit Śiva grants is real vibhūti, not illusion; the Gauḍīya critique is not that he is fake but that his gifts are inside māyā.
-
aśnute gatim
—
obtains the destination
Contiguous from synonyms (aśnute + gatim). Each worshiper does reach what he sought — but gati here means a material acquisition, not the Vaikuṇṭha-gati of verse 25-26.
False ego transforms into the mind, ten senses (the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, hands, feet, voice, genitals and anus), and five physical elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether). Lord Śiva appears in a special liṅga form in each of these sixteen substances, which are worshiped individually as deities in various sacred locations of the universe. A devotee of Śiva may worship one of his particular liṅgas to obtain the mystic opulences pertaining to it. Thus Lord Śiva’s ākāśa-liṅga bestows the opulences of ether, his jyotir-liṅga bestows the opulences of fire, and so on.
There are sixteen transformations: the ten senses including their respective deities, the mind and the five gross elements. Among these, people, pursuing enjoyment for the some of these, namely the genital, tongue or mind, worship Siva, and obtain the essence (gatim) of all types of enjoyment (vibhutinam). This means that because of the interdependence of all these elements, by attaining one, they obtain all material enjoyment. That happiness, and the attainment of all enjoyment is in proportion to the amount of worship they do. Since these enjoyments are all composed of the three modes and those modes come from Siva, by worshipping him one attains them. Therefore what you say is not wrong.
“Let that be. When he is covered by upādhis, what happens?” Then, as a representative of the Lord, sixteen transformations from ahaṅkāra which he controls arise. Worshipping him in the upādhi, as one of the many powers among the transformations (amīṣu) a person attains the result.
From ahaṅkāra (tataḥ) arise transformations. Among the transformations when a person worships Śiva, the personification of the transformations, since he is their controller, he enjoys attainment of all wealth. According to the upādhi one gets a result. One attains everything as one desires. Because of worshipping Śiva conditionally, according to one’s material desires, one generally attains material wealth only and not the supreme abode.
- What limited outcome am I targeting that limits what God can give me?
- Where could I expand my ask to expand the giving?
A devotee of the treasury-minister can be paid out in gold, grain, horses, or weapons — sixteen different sub-departments, each its own opulence. So Śiva's worshipers harvest from whichever of the sixteen elements they aim at: a long life, a kingdom, a beautiful body. The cash is real; the cashier is still inside the palace.
My note
Source: vedabase.io