FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.33

ఏతద్భగవతో రూపం స్థూలం తే వ్యాహృతం మయా । మహ్యాదిభిశ్చావరణైరష్టభిర్బహిరావృతమ్ ॥ ౩౩ ॥
etad bhagavato rūpaṁ
[etad bhagavato roopam]
sthūlaṁ te vyāhṛtaṁ mayā
[sthoolam te vyaahritam mayaa]
mahy-ādibhiś cāvaraṇair
[mahy-aadibhish chaavaranair]
aṣṭabhir bahir āvṛtam
[ashtabhir bahir aavritam]
etat — all these bhagavataḥ — of the Personality of Godhead rūpam — form sthūlam — gross te — unto you vyāhṛtam — explained mayā — by me mahī — the planets ādibhiḥ — and so on ca — unlimitedly avaraṇaiḥ — by coverings aṣṭabhiḥ — by eight bahiḥ — external āvṛtam — covered.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
etad bhagavato rūpaṁ
etat
all these
bhagavataḥ
of the Personality of Godhead
rūpam
form
sthūlaṁ te vyāhṛtaṁ mayā
sthūlam
gross
te
unto you
vyāhṛtam
explained
mayā
by me
mahy-ādibhiś cāvaraṇair
mahī
the planets
ādibhiḥ
and so on
ca
unlimitedly
avaraṇaiḥ
by coverings
aṣṭabhir bahir āvṛtam
aṣṭabhiḥ
by eight
bahiḥ
external
āvṛtam
covered.
Thus by all this, the external feature of the Personality of Godhead is covered by gross forms such as those of planets, which were explained to you by me.

As explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4) , the separated material energy of the Personality of Godhead is covered by eight kinds of material coverings: earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence and false ego. All these are emanations from the Personality of Godhead as His external energy. These coverings are just like the covering of clouds for the sun. The cloud is a creation of the sun, yet it actually covers the eyes so that one cannot see the sun. The sun cannot be covered by the clouds. The cloud can at utmost extend a few hundreds of miles in the sky, but the sun is far greater than millions of miles. So a hundred-mile covering is not competent to cover millions of miles. Therefore, one of the various energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot, of course, cover the Lord. But these coverings are created by Him to cover the eyes of the conditioned souls who want to lord it over the material nature. Actually the conditioned souls are covered by the illusory creative cloud of matter, and the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to their eyes. Because they have no eyes of transcendental vision and because they cannot see the Personality of Godhead, they therefore deny the existence of the Lord and the transcendental form of the Lord. The covering of the gigantic material feature is accepted by such men with a poor fund of knowledge, and how this is so is explained in the following verse.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
I have thus described to you the composition of one universe as a form of the Lord, which is covered by eight layers of earth, water, fire, air, ether, false ego, mahat-tattva and prakṛti.
Commentary

Sthūlam refers to the universal form, the totality of one universe. Mahy-ādhibhiḥ refers to the layers around the universe. The universe with its covering is called the mahā-samaṣṭi or mahā-sthūlam.

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