SRI BRAHMA-SAMHITA

Verse 44

srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka
chhayeva yasya bhuvanani vibhartti durga
ichchhanurupam api yasya cha cestate sa
govindam adi purusam tam aham bhajami [44]

Translation: The intrinsic, or divine, potency’s shadow is personified as the Maya potency who accomplishes creation, sustenance and dissolution, and who is worshipped in the world as ‘Durga’; by He whose wish she acts—that Primeval Lord, Govinda, do I worship.

Purport: (The presiding deity of the aforementioned Devi-dhama is being described.) This world, where Brahma is situated and singing the Glories of the Lord of Goloka, is the world of fourteen planes, ‘Devi-dhama,’ of which the presiding goddess is Durga. She has ten arms, representing the ten karmas, or purificatory rites. Her prowess as a heroine is indicated by her riding on a lion. She is the subduer of vice, represented in her punishing Mahisasura, the buffalo-demon. She is the mother of Kartika and Ganesh, indicating her to be the possessor of beauty and success, represented in her sons. She is positioned midway between the aspects of Laksmi and Saraswati, who are the companions of worldly opulence and knowledge. For suppressing vice, she is the bearer of twenty weapons representing the manifold Vedic religious duties. She is adorned with, that is, she holds the snake, representing the beauty of time, the vanquisher. Durga possesses all these features.

Durga also possesses a durga. Durga means ‘prison.’ When the jivas, who have their origin in the marginal potency, become averse to Krishna, the prison in which they are interned is Durga’s durga. The instrument of punishment in that prison is the wheel of karma; her duty by the wish of Govinda is to fulfill the task of reforming the averse jivas by such corrective measures, a task that she executes perpetually. When the jivas have the fortune of attaining sadhu-sanga, the holy association of pure devotees, and their aversion is removed and they turn towards the Lord—the very same Durga, by the wish of Govinda, becomes the cause of their liberation.

So it is conducive to show the ‘warden,’ Durga, one’s reformed favourable attitude, to satisfy her and gain her undeceiving grace. Wealth, successful agriculture, assurance of the health of one’s family members, etc.—one should know all such benedictions as the deceptive grace of Durga. For the delusion of souls averse to Krishna, Durga manifests in the mundane world her ten forms known as dasa-mahavidya showing their ‘worldly psychic pastimes.’

The soul is a particle of consciousness. When he commits the offence of aversion to the service of Krishna, he is pulled by Maya’s attracting potency; as soon as he is thus distracted, Durga restricts him to a gross body of the five basic mundane elements, their attributes, and eleven senses, which is like a prisoner’s uniform; then she hurls him into the wheel of karma. Revolving within that cycle, the jiva experiences joy and sorrow, heaven and hell, and so on. Besides this, she gives him, within the gross body, a subtle body consisting of the mind, intelligence and ego. Upon leaving one gross body, the jiva, in that subtle body, takes shelter within another gross body. Until he is liberated he cannot leave his subtle body, which is composed of evil desires. When the subtle body is given up, he bathes in the waters of the Viraja river and goes to the abode of Lord Hari.

Durga performs all these tasks by the will of Govinda. Vilajjamanaya yasya sthatum iksa-pathe ’muya, vimohita vikatthante mamaham iti durddhiyah. In this statement of Bhagavatam, Durga’s relationship with the jivas averse to Krishna has been described. This is the Durga who is worshipped in the mundane world. But the Durga mentioned in the mantra which is the outer covering of the abode of the Lord—She is the transcendental maidservant of Krishna. The shadow-Durga executes the duties of the world as Her maidservant. See (Sri Jiva’s Sanskrit) commentary on the third sloka.

• For Reader's Appreciation
• Feelings of Appreciation
• Prologue
• Translator's Note
• Illumination
• Verse 1
• Verse 2
• Verse 3
• Verse 4
• Verse 5
• Verse 6
• Verse 7
• Verse 8
• Verse 9

• Verse 11
• Verse 12
• Verse 13
• Verse 14
• Verse 15
• Verse 16
• Verse 17
• Verse 18
• Verse 19

• Verse 20
• Verse 21
• Verse 22
• Verse 23
• Verse 24
• Verse 25
• Verse 26
• Verse 27
• Verse 28
• Verse 29

• Verse 30
• Verse 31
• Verse 32
• Verse 33
• Verse 34
• Verse 35
• Verse 36
• Verse 37
• Verse 38
• Verse 39

• Verse 40
• Verse 41
• Verse 42
• Verse 43
• Verse 44
• Verse 45
• Verse 46
• Verse 47
• Verse 48
• Verse 49

• Verse 50
• Verse 51
• Verse 52
• Verse 53
• Verse 54
• Verse 55
• Verse 56
• Verse 57
• Verse 58
• Verse 59

• Verse 60
• Verse 61
• Verse 62

• Verse Contents

Download (epub)
Download (pdf)