Text 6
athāpy ambuja-patrākṣa
puṇya-śloka-śikhāmaṇe
drakṣye māyāṁ yayā lokaḥ
sa-pālo veda sad-bhidām
atha api — nonetheless; ambuja-patra — like the petals of a lotus; akṣa — O You whose eyes; puṇya-śloka — of famous personalities; śikhāmaṇe — O crest jewel; drakṣye — I desire to see; māyām — the illusory energy; yayā — by which; lokaḥ — the entire world; sa-pālaḥ — along with its ruling demigods; veda — considers; sat — of the absolute reality; bhidām — material differentiation.
O lotus-eyed Lord, O crest jewel of renowned personalities, although I am satisfied simply by seeing You, I do wish to see Your illusory potency, by whose influence the entire world, together with its ruling demigods, considers reality to be materially variegated.
A conditioned soul sees the material world to be constituted of independent, separate entities. Actually, all things are united, being potencies of the Supreme Lord. Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi is curious to witness the exact process by which māyā, the Lord’s bewildering potency, casts living beings into illusion.