Verse 2.3.88-89

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.88-89:

इत्य् एवं कोटि-कोटीनां ब्रह्मणां महतां क्रमात् ।
कोटि-कोटि-मुखाब्जानां तादृग्-ब्रह्माण्ड-कोटिषु ॥ ८८ ॥
गच्छतो लीलाया तत्-तद्-अनुरूप-परिच्छदान् ।
गणेशोऽदर्शयत् तान् मां बहुशो दृङ्-मनो-हरान् ॥ ८९ ॥

ity evaṃ koṭi-koṭīnāṃ brahmaṇāṃ mahatāṃ kramāt |
koṭi-koṭi-mukhābjānāṃ tādṛg-brahmāṇḍa-koṭiṣu || 88 ||
gacchato līlāyā tat-tad-anurūpa-paricchadān |
gaṇeśo'darśayat tān māṃ bahuśo dṛṅ-mano-harān || 89 ||

iti–thus; evam–in this way; koṭi-koṭīnām–of billions upon billions; brahmaṇām–of Brahmās; mahatām–great; kramāt–in sequence; koṭikoṭi–billions of billions; mukha-abjānām–having lotus faces; tādṛk–appropriate; brahmāṇḍa–of universes; koṭiṣu–in millions; gacchataḥ–going; līlayā–by pastimes; tat-tat-anurūpa–appropriate for each one; paricchadān–paraphernalia; gaṇeśaḥ–Gaṇeśa; adarśayat–showed; tān–them; mām–to me; bahuśaḥ–many; dṛk–eyes; manaḥ–and minds; harān–charming.

In this way, there are Brahmās who possess heads ranging from sixteen all the way up to billions upon billions, each Brahmā dwelling in his proportionately larger universe. Śrī Gaṇeśa pointed out to me, “O highly fortunate one, just see these Vaikuṇṭha associates. Their beauty enchants the eyes. They are entering those universes, manifesting garments, ornaments, and opulences suitable to the vastness of each universe.”

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Gopa-kumāra heard Śrī Gaṇeśa’s description of the Vaikuṇṭha associates and witnessed them personally. In two verses, beginning here with iti, he presents this in Gaṇeśa’s own words. He says, “Śrī Gaṇeśa told me, ‘O most fortunate one, just see these Brahmās who have so many heads. Starting from sixteen, they increase to thirty-two heads, then sixty-four, one hundred and twenty-eight, and so on up to the billions upon billions. Each one is situated in his own brahmāṇḍa.”

Just as the Brahmās he saw were uncountable, the universes ruled by them were also billions in number. The term koṭi-koṭi, meaning ‘billions and billions,’ implies that just as the Brahmās are countless, the universes ruled by them are also infinite and unlimited.

This is described in Brahmā’s prayers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.11):

क्वाहं तमो-महद्-अहं-ख-चराग्नि-वार्-भू संवेष्टिताण्ड-घट-सप्त-वितस्ति-कायः
क्वेदृग्-विधाविगणिताण्ड-पराणु-चर्या वाताध्व-रोम-विवरस्य च ते महित्वम्

kvāhaṃ tamo-mahad-ahaṃ-kha-carāgni-vār-bhū saṃveṣṭitāṇḍa-ghaṭa-sapta-vitasti-kāyaḥ
kvedṛg-vidhāvigaṇitāṇḍa-parāṇu-caryā vātādhva-roma-vivarasya ca te mahitvam

O Bhagavān, this universe, surrounded by the coverings made of material energy (prakṛti), mahat-tattva, false ego, ether, air, fire, water, and earth is my very body. But You are so vast that innumerable universes such as this come in and out of every pore of Your body, just like particles of dust seen floating in the sunrays coming through a latticed window. What am I? An insignificant person whose body measures three-and-a-half cubits. And what is Your unlimited glory?

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.87.41), in the prayers of the personified Vedas (Śruti) it is stated:

द्यु-पतय एव ते न ययुर् अन्तम् अनन्ततया त्वम् अपि यद्-अन्तराण्ड-निचया ननु सावरणाः
ख इव रजांसि वान्ति वयसा सह यच् छ्रुतयस् त्वयि हि फलन्त्य् अतन्-निरसनेन भवन्-निधनाः

dyu-pataya eva te na yayur antam anantatayā tvam api yad-antarāṇḍa-nicayā nanu sāvaraṇāḥ
kha iva rajāṃsi vānti vayasā saha yac chrutayas tvayi hi phalanty atan-nirasanena bhavan-nidhanāḥ

O Bhagavān, the rulers of the heavenly abodes, like Indra and Brahmā, cannot fathom Your limit. But the astonishing thing is that You also do not know it. How can anyone know Your limit if it is endless? O Lord, just as small particles of dust are kept aloft by the wind, so by the speed of time, innumerable universes, each with a shell of seven layers, each layer ten times larger than the previous one, simultaneously revolve within You. And finally these universes enter into You alone. Even we Śrutis cannot describe Your nature fully. All we can do is to give some idea of Your glories while rejecting everything other than You.

In the Sixth Canto (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.16.37), Citraketu prays to Bhagavān Śrī Saṅkarṣaṇa:

क्षित्य्-आदिभिर् एष किलावृतः सप्तभिर् दश-गुणोत्तरैर् अण्ड-कोशः
यत्र पतत्य् अणु-कल्पः सहाण्ड-कोटि-कोटिभिस् तद् अनन्तः

kṣity-ādibhir eṣa kilāvṛtaḥ saptabhir daśa-guṇottarair aṇḍa-kośaḥ
yatra pataty aṇu-kalpaḥ sahāṇḍa-koṭi-koṭibhis tad anantaḥ

O Bhagavān, every universe is covered by seven elements (earth, etc.), and each element is ten times larger than the previous one. Billions of universes of this nature revolve in the pores of Your skin like subatomic particles. Therefore, just as You are unlimited, so is Your opulence.

Gopa-kumāra says, “In this way, Śrī Gaṇeśa showed me how the Lord’s associates from the innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets were performing the pastime of visiting countless universes. I could see all these things without obstruction because the abode of liberation has no material coverings.

“What were those Vaikuṇṭha associates like? They were appropriate to the universe to which they were going. Those associates, who were enchantingly beautiful to the eyes, were adorned with garments, ornaments, and opulences proportionately suitable to the enormity of the respective universes. If they did not manifest vast opulences appropriate to all those gigantic universes, then the residents of those universes, seeing them with external vision, might become guilty of disrespecting the eternal associates of Vaikuṇṭha.”