FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.27.11

స్వచ్ఛన్దోపాత్తదేహాయ విశుద్ధజ్ఞానమూర్తయే । సర్వస్మై సర్వబీజాయ సర్వభూతాత్మనే నమ: ॥ ౧౧ ॥
svacchandopātta-dehāya
[svachchandopaatta-dehaaya]
viśuddha-jñāna-mūrtaye
[vishuddha-jnaana-moortaye]
sarvasmai sarva-bījāya
[sarvasmai sarva-beejaaya]
sarva-bhūtātmane namaḥ
[sarva-bhootaatmane namah]
sva — of His own (devotees) chanda — according to the desire upātta — who assumes dehāya — His transcendental bodies viśuddha — perfectly pure jñāna — knowledge mūrtaye — whose form sarvasmai — to Him who is everything sarva - bījāya — who is the seed of all sarva - bhūta — of all created beings ātmane — who is the indwelling Soul namaḥ — obeisances .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
svacchandopātta-dehāya
sva
of His own (devotees)
chanda
according to the desire
upātta
who assumes
dehāya
His transcendental bodies
viśuddha-jñāna-mūrtaye
viśuddha
perfectly pure
jñāna
knowledge
mūrtaye
whose form
sarvasmai sarva-bījāya
sarvasmai
to Him who is everything
sarva - bījāya
who is the seed of all
sarva-bhūtātmane namaḥ
sarva - bhūta
of all created beings
ātmane
who is the indwelling Soul
namaḥ
obeisances .
  • sva-chanda-upātta-dehāya — who assumes transcendental bodies according to His own (devotees') desire
    Long compound: sva-chanda (own/devotees' desire) + upātta (assumed) + deha (body). Gauḍīyas read 'sva-chanda' double — Bhagavān's own free choice, and His devotee's desire treated as His own. Both readings are correct; both protect avatāra-doctrine.
  • viśuddha-jñāna-mūrtaye — whose form is pure knowledge
    Compound: viśuddha (perfectly pure) + jñāna (knowledge) + mūrti (form). Kṛṣṇa's deha is not made of matter touched by knowledge; it is jñāna itself in shape. Gauḍīya refutation of any 'merely human' reading of His Vraja-form.
  • sarvasmai — to Him who is everything
    Dative of sarva. Not pantheistic merging — Bhagavān is everything as the source and substance of everything, while remaining distinct (acintya-bhedābheda). Indra's stuti walks the Gauḍīya line carefully.
  • sarva-bījāya — to the seed of all
    Compound: sarva (all) + bīja (seed). The Bhāgavatam's preferred metaphor for Bhagavān as material and efficient cause — He is the seed (BG 7.10, 9.18, 10.39) from which all proceeds. Gauḍīyas pair this with bhedābheda.
  • sarva-bhūta-ātmane — to the indwelling Soul of all created beings
    Compound: sarva-bhūta (all beings) + ātman (Soul). The Paramātmā tattva named precisely. Indra is doing thorough theology in his stuti — Bhagavān, Puruṣa, Vāsudeva, and now Paramātmā, all of the same Kṛṣṇa.
Unto Him who assumes transcendental bodies according to the desires of His devotees, unto Him whose form is itself pure consciousness, unto Him who is everything, who is the seed of everything and who is the Soul of all creatures, I offer my obeisances.

We could hardly construe from the first line of this verse that God is somehow impersonal but assumes a personal material body. It is clearly said here that the Lord assumes different forms according to svacchanda — according to His own desire or according to the desires of His devotees. An impersonal God could hardly reciprocate with the personal desires of Its devotees, nor could an impersonal God Itself have desires, since desire is characteristic of personality. Therefore, the Lord’s manifesting different forms in a personal way, responding to personal desires, indicates that He is eternally a person and manifests His different transcendental bodies as an expression of His own eternal nature. The word viśuddha-jñāna-mūrtaye is most significant. Mūrti means the form of the Deity, and it is specifically stated here that the Lord’s form is itself completely pure consciousness. Consciousness is the primary spiritual element, distinct from any of the material elements, and even distinct from the subtle or psychological material elements — mundane mind, intelligence and false ego — which are simply a psychic covering over pure consciousness. Since the Lord’s form is made of pure consciousness, it can hardly be understood as a material body like the mortal bags of flesh and bones we carry around in this world. In the last two lines of this verse, there is poetic emphasis on the word sarva, “everything.” The Lord is everything: He is the seed of everything and He is the Soul of every creature. Therefore, let us join with Indra in offering our obeisances to the Lord.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Unto Him who assumes transcendental bodies according to the desires of His devotees, unto Him whose form is itself pure consciousness, unto Him who is everything, who is the seed of everything and who is the Soul of all creatures, I offer my obeisances.
Commentary

I pay respects to you who accept bodies for giving happiness to your devotees with emotions of dasya, sakhya vatsalya and srngara, since you are the object of various types of prema. Being non-material, that body is pure, a form of knowledge beyond maya. As you are the possessor of all energies such as maya, you are everything (sarva). Therefore you are the cause of all (sarvabija). And therefore you are the soul of all entities. I pay respects to you."

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Therefore you are everything. I offer respects to you who have accepted many bodies like Matsya and Kūrma by your free will, because of the devotees. You reveal those avatāras to give knowledge of the nature of your form: you have forms which are knowledge itself, beyond māyā (viśuddha-jṣāna-mūrtaye), since they are self-revealing. You are the form of the universe (sarvasmai), the mahā-puruṣa, who is the cause of all things (sarva-bījāya) and the antaryāmī of all beings (sarva-bhūtātmane).

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

I offer respects to you who are hardness (mūrtaye) for persons absorbed in understanding ātmā, whose jṣāna is devoid of bhakti (viśuddha). Though the Lord is both cause and effect (sarvasmai), he is an object hard to approach for those dedicated to pure ātma alone. I offer respect to him since he has an astonishing nature and is full of extraordinary greatness. Or I offer obeisances to he who reveals a form (mūrtaye) to those having knowledge of the Lord (viśuddha-jṣāna), who is the source of all sādhanas and sādhyas—bhakti and prema, who is complete (sarvasmai), who is dear to all beings or spreads bhakti to all beings (sarva-bhūtātmane). Therefore you are everything. I offer respects to you who have accepted many bodies like Matsya and Kūrma by your free will, because of the devotees. You reveal those avatāras to give knowledge of the nature of your form: you have forms which are knowledge itself, beyond māyā (viśuddha-jṣāna-mūrtaye), since they are self-revealing. You are the form of the universe (sarvasmai), the mahā-puruṣa, who is the cause of all things (sarva-bījāya) and the antaryāmī of all beings (sarva-bhūtātmane).

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses
Concepts
Atma

A potter makes one jar to hold water and another to hold ghee — same hands, different vessels, each for the user's purpose. Kṛṣṇa, Indra confesses, takes whatever transcendental form His devotees long for: cowherd boy, charioteer, Vāmana, Nṛsiṁha. The form is svacchanda — chosen by the devotee's desire, not constrained by anyone's necessity.

Prahlāda asks for the half-lion, half-man

Hiraṇyakaśipu's boon required a form that was neither man nor beast, neither at night nor at day, neither inside nor outside. Prahlāda's devotion drew Bhagavān into precisely that form — Nṛsiṁha — at twilight on the threshold (SB 7.8).

Gauḍīyas read sva-chanda-upātta-dehāya (this verse's first word) as the doctrinal claim that Prahlāda's bhakti is what shaped the form. Bhagavān has no compulsion; He has only the desire of His devotees.

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