Verse 1.1.50

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.1.50:

আদিদেব, মহা-যোগী, ‘ঈশ্বর’, ‘বৈষ্ণব’ মহিমার অন্ত ইহা না জানযে সব ॥ ৫০ ॥

आदिदेव, महा-योगी, ‘ईश्वर’, ‘वैष्णव’ महिमार अन्त इहा ना जानये सब ॥ ५० ॥

ādideva, mahā-yogī, ‘īśvara’, ‘vaiṣṇava’ mahimāra anta ihā nā jānaye saba || 50 ||

adideva, maha-yogi, ‘isvara’, ‘vaisnava’ mahimara anta iha na janaye saba (50)

English translation:

(50) Lord Ananta is the first incarnation of the Lord and the master of all mystic power. At the same time, He is a servant of God, a Vaiṣṇava.

Since there is no end to His glories, no one can understand Him fully.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The word ādideva is found in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (2.7.41) as Lord Brahmā describes the līlā-avatāras of Lord Kṛṣṇa to Nārada Muni in the following words: “Even [Ādideva] the first incarnation of the Lord, namely Śeṣa, has not been able to reach the limit of such knowledge, although He is describing the qualities of the Lord with ten hundred faces.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.25.6) Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī tells Parīkṣit Mahārāja: “Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa is the ocean of unlimited spiritual qualities, and thus He is known as Anantadeva. He is [Ādideva] nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For the welfare of all living entities within this material world, He resides in His abode, restraining His anger and intolerance.”

Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa is Ādideva or ādi-puruṣa, the original Personality of Godhead. In this regard one should refer to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (6.16.31

and 10.15.6).

The word mahāyogi has two meanings: the first is yogeśvara, or “master of all mystic power.” In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.78.31) after Baladeva killed the show-bottle devotee Romaharṣaṇa Sūta, the disciple of Vyāsa, the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya lamented and offered prayers to Baladeva as follows: “Of course, even the injunctions of revealed scripture cannot dictate to You, the Lord of all mystic power.”

The second meaning of mahāyogi is yoga-māyādhīśa, or “controller of mystic power.” In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.78.34) Lord Balarāma accepts the sages’ prayers and replies to them as follows: “O sages, just say the word, and by My mystic power I shall restore everything you promised him.” In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.30.26) it is stated: “Lord Balarāma then sat down on the shore of the ocean and yogam āsthāya pauruṣam, fixed Himself in meditation upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” In his commentary on this verse, Śrīdhara Svāmī writes: “The words pauruṣam yogam indicate parama-puruṣa-dhyāna, or ‘meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”

The word īśvara is described in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (6.16.47) as King Citraketu prays to Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa in the following words: “My dear Lord, You are the creator, maintainer, and annihilator of this cosmic manifestation, but persons who are too materialistic and who always see separateness do not have eyes with which to see You. They cannot understand Your real position, and therefore they conclude that the cosmic manifestation is independent of Your opulence. My Lord, You are the supreme pure, and You are full in all six opulences. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.15.35), while describing the killing of Dhenukāsura, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī glorifies Balarāma by saying, “My dear Parīkṣit, that Lord Balarāma killed Dhenukāsura is not such a wonderful thing, considering that He is the unlimited Personality of Godhead, the controller of the entire universe. Indeed, the entire cosmos rests upon Him just as a woven cloth rests upon its own horizontal and

vertical threads.”

When the angry Lord Baladeva was pulling the city of Hastināpura into the Yamunā with His plow, the Kauravas prayed to Him in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.68.45) as follows: “You alone cause the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of the cosmos, and of You there is no prior cause. Indeed, O Lord, authorities say that the worlds are mere playthings for You as You perform Your pastimes.”

The word vaiṣṇava is used in reference to Anantadeva in the following statement of Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.2.5):

saptamo vaiṣṇavaṃ dhāma yam anantaṃ pracakṣate garbho babhūva devakyā harṣa-śoka-vivardhanaḥ

“A plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa [the Vaiṣṇava Ananta] entered her womb as her seventh child, arousing her pleasure and lamentation. That plenary portion is celebrated by great sages as Ananta.”

Not everyone can understand that the glories of Anantadeva are unlimited. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.17.17, 5.25.6, 9, 12-13 (quoted as verses 56 and 57 of this chapter) and 6.16.23, 46-47).