Verse 10.2

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 10.2:

न मे विदुः सुर-गणाः प्रभवं न महर्षयः ।
अहम् आदिर् हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वशः ॥ २ ॥

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṃ na maharṣayaḥ |
aham ādir hi devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ || 2 ||

na–neither; me–My; viduḥ–they understand; sura-gaṇāḥ–the hosts of gods; prabhavam–the nature of My glorious appearance; na–nor; mahā-ṛṣayaḥ–the great sages; aham–I; ādiḥ–the original cause; hi–because; devānām–of the gods; mahā-ṛṣīṇām–of the great sages; ca–and; sarvaśaḥ–in every respect.

I am the original cause in every respect. For this reason, even all the demigods and saintly maharṣis do not know the nature of My glorious appearance in this mundane world.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

“This tattva can be understood only by My special mercy, not by any other means.” Śrī Bhagavān therefore speaks this verse beginning with na me. Mama-prabhāvam means, “Even the demigods do not know the most extraordinary tattva concerning My birth from Devakī.” If one raises the question that perhaps the demi-gods cannot understand this tattva because they are absorbed in sense enjoyment, and that surely the saintly ṛṣis know it, the response is, “No, not even the ṛṣis have knowledge of this tattva, because I am their original cause in every respect. In the material world, the son does not know the facts of his father’s birth and similarly, the ṛṣis do not know the tattva concerning My transcendental appearance in this world.”

Bhagavad-gītā (10.14) states, “O Bhagavān, neither the demigods, the demoniac Dānavas, nor anyone else can understand the tattva of Your birth and appearance in this world.” Therefore, the word prabhava means ‘Your birth and appearance in this world’. There is no need to imagine any other meaning.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Kṛṣṇa’s mercy cannot be attained by any means other than bhakti. Without His mercy, a person cannot understand the tattva of Bhagavān on the strength of his own endeavour, even if he tries in hundreds of ways.

It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.29.42–44):

prajāpati-patiḥ sākṣād bhagavān giriśo manuḥ
dakṣādayaḥ prajādhyakṣā naiṣṭhikāḥ sanakādayaḥ
marīcir atry-aṅgirasau pulastyaḥ pulahaḥ kratuḥ
bhṛgur vasiṣṭha ity ete mad-antā brahma-vādinaḥ
adyāpi vācas-patayas tapo-vidyā-samādhibhiḥ
paśyanto’pi na paśyanti paśyantaṃ parameśvaram

Many great personalities–including Brahmā, Śiva, the four Kumāras beginning with Sanaka, Bhṛgu and famous brahmavādīs (jñānīs) like Vasiṣṭha–desire to have darśana of Parameśvara. They endeavour for this by performing austerities, acquiring knowledge and entering samādhi, but still, to this day they have been unable to attain My darśana.

Moreover Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.29) states:

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
jānāti tattvaṃ bhagavan-mahimno na cānya eko’pi ciraṃ vicinvan

O Bhagavān, You are unfathomable. Who in the three worlds can understand where, why, when and how You perform Your pastimes? Still, O Bhagavān, You manifest Yourself in the hearts of Your devotees, who have received merely a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet. Thus they become blessed and are the only ones who can understand the tattva of the glory of Your transcendental form, composed of eternality, knowledge and bliss. Even after long-term enthusiastic endeavour in practices such as jñāna and vairāgya (knowledge and renunciation), a person can never actually know Your glories.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “I am the original cause of the demigods and the ṛṣis. That is why they can never understand the power of My pastimes on the strength of their own endeavours. That is, by their endeavours they cannot understand the reality of My appearance in the material world in a human-like form. Everyone, including the demigods and great saintly personalities, searches for Me on the strength of their intelligence. Yet they can only partially realize Me, despite diligently endeavouring with their material intelligence. The aspect they can realize is nirviśeṣa-brahma, the formless negation of the mundane world. It is unmanifest, unvariegated and devoid of qualities. They consider this dry and tasteless nirviśeṣa-brahma to be the Absolute Truth, but it is not. I am that Supreme Absolute and the very embodiment of eternality, knowledge and bliss (sac-cid-ānanda). I always manifest Myself through My acintya-śakti (inconceivable potency). I am completely devoid of any material contamination and I possess all transcendental qualities. My aparā-śakti (internal potency) manifests a partial aspect of My svarūpa called Īśvara, or Paramātmā, who dwells within all jīvas. The impersonal brahma is one of My indistinct forms, beyond the conception of the conditioned souls who are deluded by My external potency. Therefore, only two of My manifestations, Īśvara (or Paramātmā) and brahma, are indicated directly and indirectly within created objects.

“Sometimes, by My inconceivable potency (the acintya-śakti) I manifest My own svarūpa in this material world. At that time, the aforementioned demigods and great sages, who cannot understand the glory of My acintya-śakti on the strength of their own intelligence, think that the appearance of My eternal, transcendental form has manifested from the above-mentioned Paramātmā, and they consider Me to be mortal. This is because they are bewildered by māyā. Thinking the dry nature of My impersonal, undifferentiated feature (brahma-bhāva) to be superior, they attempt to merge into it. My devotees, however, understand that My inconceivable potency is beyond the grasp of their limited human comprehension, and they simply engage in My bhajana. Upon seeing their attitude, I become compassionate and bestow pure intelligence upon them by which they can easily experience My svarūpa.”