Text 28
śrī-mārkaṇḍeya uvāca
aho īśvara-līleyaṁ
durvibhāvyā śarīriṇām
yan namantīśitavyāni
stuvanti jagad-īśvarāḥ
śrī-mārkaṇḍeyaḥ uvāca — Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said; aho — ah; īśvara — of the great lords; līlā — the pastime; iyam — this; durvibhāvyā — inconceivable; śarīriṇām — for embodied souls; yat — since; namanti — they offer obeisances; īśitavyāni — to those who are controlled by them; stuvanti — they praise; jagat-īśvarāḥ — the rulers of the universe.
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: It is indeed most difficult for embodied souls to understand the pastimes of the universal controllers, for such lords bow down to and offer praise to the very living beings they rule.
In the material world, conditioned souls strive to lord it over one another. Therefore they cannot understand the pastimes of the actual lords of the universe. Such bona fide lords have a wonderfully magnanimous mentality and thus sometimes bow down to the most qualified and saintly among their own subjects.