Text 11
svacchandopātta-dehāya
viśuddha-jñāna-mūrtaye
sarvasmai sarva-bījāya
sarva-bhūtātmane namaḥ
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.
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.