Skip to main content
Library » Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 11: General History » CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ŚB 11.16.4

Devanagari

गूढश्चरसि भूतात्मा भूतानां भूतभावन ।
न त्वां पश्यन्ति भूतानि पश्यन्तं मोहितानि ते ॥ ४ ॥

Text

gūḍhaś carasi bhūtātmā
bhūtānāṁ bhūta-bhāvana
na tvāṁ paśyanti bhūtāni
paśyantaṁ mohitāni te

Synonyms

gūḍhaḥ — hidden; carasi — You are engaged; bhūta-ātmā — the Supersoul; bhūtānām — of the living entities; bhūta-bhāvana — O maintainer of all living beings; na — not; tvām — You; paśyanti — they see; bhūtāni — living entities; paśyantam — who are seeing; mohitāni — bewildered; te — by You.

Translation

O my Lord, maintainer of all, although You are the Supersoul of the living entities, You remain hidden. Thus being bewildered by You, the living entities cannot see You, although You are seeing them.

Purport

The Lord exists as the Supersoul within everything. He also appears in various incarnations or sometimes empowers a devotee to act as an incarnation. All such forms of the Lord are unknown to the nondevotees. The bewildered conditioned souls think that the supreme enjoyer, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is actually meant to be enjoyed by them for their sense gratification. Praying to God for specific material benedictions and assuming God’s creation to be their personal property, the nondevotees cannot understand the actual form of the Lord. They therefore remain foolish and bewildered. Within the universe everything is subject to creation, maintenance and destruction, and thus the Supersoul is the only actual controller in the material world. Unfortunately, when the Supersoul appears in various incarnations to clarify His position, ignorant persons think that the Supersoul is merely another creation of the modes of material nature. As stated in this verse, they cannot see that person who is actually seeing them, and simply remain bewildered.