Verse 2.3.56

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.56:

स स-हासम् अवोचन् मां गोपालोपासना-परा ।
गोप-बाल न जानीषे श्री-शिवं जगद्-ईश्वरम् ॥ ५६ ॥

sa sa-hāsam avocan māṃ gopālopāsanā-parā |
gopa-bāla na jānīṣe śrī-śivaṃ jagad-īśvaram || 56 ||

saḥ–he; sa-hāsam–with a laugh; avocat–said; mām–to me; gopāla–of Śrī Gopāla; upāsanā-para–devoted to the worship; gopa-bāla–O cowherd boy; na–not; jānīṣe–you know; śrī-śivam–Lord Śiva; jagat–of the universe; īśvaram–the Lord.

He (Śrī Nandī) laughed and told me, “O cowherd boy, you are devoted to the worship of Gopāla! You don’t know that this is Jagadīśvara Lord Śiva, the lord of the universe?

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Nandīśvara says, “O one attached to the worship of Gopāla!” This address dispels any possibility of such a person’s being ignorant about Śrī Śiva, for it is impossible that someone devoted to worshiping Gopāla would not know about Śrī Śiva. “But still you don’t know about Lord Śiva?” Therefore, laughing, Śrī Nandīśvara again says, “O gopa-bāla!” The meaning is: “Since you are simply a cowherd boy, you may be unaware of śivatattva, the essential truth about Lord Śiva.”

Śrī Nandīśvara’s use of the address ‘Jagadīśvara,’ meaning ‘controller of the universe,’ indicates that Śrī Mahādeva is completely independent, and therefore, even the fault of transgressing moral conduct does not touch him.