Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
The Lord is naturally endowed with His six opulences. Specifically, He is the richest, He is the most powerful, He is the most famous, He is the most beautiful, He is the greatest in knowledge, and He is the greatest renouncer as well. And for His material creative energies, He is served by four, namely the principles of prakṛti, puruṣa, mahat-tattva and ego. He is also served by the sixteen, namely the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky), the five perceptive sense organs (the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin), the five working sense organs (the hand, the leg, the stomach, the evacuation outlet and the genitals) and the mind. The five includes the sense objects, namely form, taste, smell, sound and touch. All these twenty-five items serve the Lord in the material creation, and all of them are personally present to serve the Lord. The insignificant opulences numbering eight (the aṣṭa-siddhis, attained by yogīs for temporary overlordship) are also under His control, but He is naturally full with all such powers without any effort, and therefore He is the Supreme Lord.
The living being, by severe penance and performance of bodily exercises, can temporarily attain some wonderful power, but that does not make him the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord, by His own potency, is unlimitedly more powerful than any yogī, He is unlimitedly more learned than any jñānī, He is unlimitedly richer than any wealthy person, He is unlimitedly more beautiful than any beautiful living being, and He is unlimitedly more charitable than any philanthropist. He is above all; no one is equal to or greater than Him. Nor can anyone reach His level of perfection in any of the above powers by any amount of penance or yogic demonstrations. The yogīs are dependent on His mercy. Out of His immensely charitable disposition He can award some temporary powers to the yogīs because of the yogīs’ hankering after them, but to His unalloyed devotees, who do not want anything from the Lord save and except His transcendental service, the Lord is so pleased that He gives Himself in exchange for unalloyed service.
The four śaktis are dharma, jñāna, aiśvarya and vairāgya. These are described in the Padma Purāṇa in the description of the center of Vaikuṇṭha:
dharma-jñāna tathaiśvarya-vairāgyaiḥ pāda-vigrahaiḥ | ṛg-yajuḥ-sāmātharvāṇa-rūpair nityaṁ vṛtaṁ kramād ||
The place is surrounded by the dharma, jñāna, aiśvarya and vairāgya, and the personifications of the Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma and Atharva Vedas.
The sixteen śaktis are Caṇḍa and others. They are also described in the Padma Purāṇa:
caṇḍa-pracaṇḍau prāg-dvāre yāmye bhadra-subhadrakau | vāruṇyāṁ jaya-vijayau saumye dhātṛ-vidhātarau || kumudaḥ kumudākṣaś ca puṇḍarīko’tha vāmanaḥ | śaṅku-karṇaḥ sarva-netraḥ sumukhaḥ supratiṣṭhitaḥ || ete dik-patayaḥ proktāḥ puryām atra suśobhane ||
At the eastern gate are Caṇḍa and Pracaṇḍa. At the southern gate are Bhadra and Subhadra. At the western gate are Jaya and Vijaya. At the northern gate are Dhātā and Vidhātā. In the directions starting from east are Kumuda, Kumudakṣa, Puṇḍarīka, Vāmana, Śaṅkukarṇa, Sarvanetra, Sumukha, and Supratiṣṭhita. Padmā Purāṇa 6.228.13-15
The five śaktis are as follows:
kūrmaś ca nāgarājaś ca vanateyas trayīśvaraḥ | chandāṁsi sarva-mantrāś ca pīṭha-rūpatvam āsthitā ||
Kūrma, Ananta, Garuḍa -- who is lord of the Vedas --, the Vedic meters and all the mantras are situated as the form of the pīṭha. Padma Purāṇa 6.228.24
The four can also refer to prakṛti, puruṣa, mahat-tattva and ahaṅkāra. The sixteen can refer to the ten senses with the mind and the five gross elements. The five can refer to the five tan-mātrās. Śrīdhara Svāmī gives this explanation, which is acceptable. In this case, even māyā along with mahat-tattva and other elements remain there, offering devotion to the Lord. This can be explained by the fact that the spiritual world, composed of the svarūpa-śakti of the Lord, is the shelter of all śaktis including the material śaktis. It has already been stated in verse 10 that māyā and her products cannot bewilder the jīva in the spiritual world. This should be understood when the verse says that the place is not influenced by time (kāla-vikramaḥ). This should also be understood when Brahmā saw Kṛṣṇa’s expansions as Viṣṇu forms:
aṇimādyair mahimabhir ajādyābhir vibhūtibhiḥ catur-viṁśatibhis tattvaiḥ parītā mahad-ādibhiḥ
All the viṣṇu-mūrtis were surrounded by the opulences, headed by aṇimā-siddhi; by the mystic potencies, headed by Ajā; and by the twenty-four elements for the creation of the material world, headed by the mahat-tattva. SB 10.13.52
The Lord was also endowed with his natural powers (svaiḥ bhagaiḥ) and the temporary powers (adhruvaiḥ) of Brahmā and others (itaratra). He saw the Lord who enjoys in Vaikuṇṭha (dhāman) with its own form (sve).
- Do I let the Lord be the actual richest, strongest, most beautiful, most renounced?
- How does seeing Him fully complete change how much I demand of myself or others?
My note
Source: vedabase.io