Text 34
śrī-rudra uvāca
tvaṁ hi brahma paraṁ jyotir
gūḍhaṁ brahmaṇi vāṅ-maye
yaṁ paśyanty amalātmāna
ākāśam iva kevalam
śrī-rudraḥ uvāca — Lord Śiva said; tvam — You; hi — alone; brahma — the Absolute Truth; param — supreme; jyotiḥ — light; gūḍham — hidden; brahmaṇi — in the Absolute; vāk-maye — in its form of language (the Vedas); yam — whom; paśyanti — they see; amala — spotless; ātmānaḥ — whose hearts; ākāśam — the sky; iva — like; kevalam — pure.
Śrī Rudra said: You alone are the Absolute Truth, the supreme light, the mystery hidden within the verbal manifestation of the Absolute. Those whose hearts are spotless can see You, for You are uncontaminated, like the sky.
The Absolute Truth is the source of all light and is therefore the supreme light, self-luminous. This Absolute Truth is explained confidentially in the Vedas and is therefore difficult for an ordinary reader to understand. The following statements quoted by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī from the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad show how the Vedic sounds occasionally reveal the Absolute: Te hocur upāsanam etasya parātmano govindasyākhilādhāriṇo brūhi (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 17): “They [the four Kumāras] said [to Brahmā], ‘Please tell us how to worship Govinda, the Supreme Soul and the foundation of all that exists.’” Cetanaś cetanānām (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 21): “He is the chief of all living beings.” And taṁ ha devam ātma-vṛtti-prakāśam (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 23): “One realizes that Supreme Godhead by first realizing one’s own self.” The great ācārya Jīva Gosvāmī also quotes a verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.10.48) — gūḍhaṁ paraṁ brahma manuṣya-liṅgam — which refers to “the Supreme Truth concealed in a humanlike form.”
Since the Lord is pure, why do some people perceive Kṛṣṇa’s form and activities as impure? Ācārya Jīva explains that those whose own hearts are impure cannot understand the pure Lord. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further quotes the Lord’s own instruction to Arjuna in Śrī Hari-vaṁśa:
tat-paraṁ paramaṁ brahma
sarvaṁ vibhajate jagat
mamaiva tad ghanaṁ tejo
jñātum arhasi bhārata
“Superior to that [total material nature] is the Supreme Brahman, from which this entire creation expands. O descendant of Bharata, you should know that the Supreme Brahman consists of My concentrated effulgence.”
Thus, to save his devotee, Śiva now glorifies the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, his eternal worshipable master. The Lord’s bewildering potency induced Śiva to fight with Lord Kṛṣṇa, but now the fight is over, and to save his devotee Lord Śiva offers these beautiful prayers.