Srimad Bhagavatam — Ashtama Skandha, Shloka 8
Lord Śiva Bewildered by Mohinī
Viṣṇu’s Yoga-māyā and the Limits of Ascetic Power
एकस्त्वमेव सदसद्द्वयमद्वयं च स्वर्णं कृताकृतमिवेह न वस्तुभेद: । अज्ञानतस्त्वयि जनैर्विहितो विकल्पो यस्माद् गुणव्यतिकरो निरुपाधिकस्य ॥ ८ ॥
ekas tvam eva sad asad dvayam advayaṁ ca svarṇaṁ kṛtākṛtam iveha na vastu-bhedaḥ ajñānatas tvayi janair vihito vikalpo yasmād guṇa-vyatikaro nirupādhikasya
My dear Lord, Your Lordship alone is the cause and the effect. Therefore, although You appear to be two, You are the absolute one. As there is no difference between the gold of a golden ornament and the gold in a mine, there is no difference between cause and effect; both of them are the same. Only because of ignorance do people concoct differences and dualities. You are free from material contamination, and since the entire cosmos is caused by You and cannot exist without You, it is an effect of Your transcendental qualities. Thus the conception that Brahman is true and the world false cannot be maintained.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that the living entities are representations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s marginal potency whereas the various bodies accepted by the living entities are products of the material energy. Thus the body is considered material, and the soul is considered spiritual. The origin of them both, however, is the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. As the Lord explains in Bhagavad-gītā (7.4-5):
FAQs
This verse states that the Supreme Lord is one, nondual reality who may appear as duality (sat and asat) to conditioned perception, but in truth remains without any real division.
In the Mohinī-līlā narrative, Śiva offers prayers acknowledging Viṣṇu’s transcendence—explaining that any perceived contradictions or material qualities are superimposed by ignorance, not inherent in the Lord.
It encourages seeing beyond superficial dualities—success/failure, friend/enemy—by recognizing that many divisions arise from ignorance, and cultivating steady devotion to the one Supreme Reality beyond changing circumstances.