Shloka 14
Brahmā’s Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa (Brahmā-stuti) and the Restoration of Vraja’s Lunch Pastime
नारायणस्त्वं न हि सर्वदेहिना- मात्मास्यधीशाखिललोकसाक्षी । नारायणोऽङ्गं नरभूजलायना- त्तच्चापि सत्यं न तवैव माया ॥ १४ ॥
nārāyaṇas tvaṁ na hi sarva-dehinām ātmāsy adhīśākhila-loka-sākṣī nārāyaṇo ’ṅgaṁ nara-bhū-jalāyanāt tac cāpi satyaṁ na tavaiva māyā
Bist Du nicht der ursprüngliche Nārāyaṇa, o höchster Lenker, da Du die Seele aller verkörperten Wesen, ihr Herr und der ewige Zeuge aller Welten bist? Wahrlich, der Herr Nārāyaṇa ist Deine Expansion und heißt so, weil Er Quelle und Zuflucht des ‘nara’, der uranfänglichen Wasser des Universums, ist. Er ist wirklich, kein Erzeugnis Deiner illusorischen Māyā.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Two, text 30, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows: “This statement which is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.14) was spoken by Lord Brahmā in his prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa after the Lord had defeated him by displaying His mystic powers. Brahmā had tried to test Lord Kṛṣṇa to see if He was really the Supreme Personality of Godhead playing as a cowherd boy. Brahmā stole all the other boys and their calves from the pasturing grounds, but when he returned to the pastures he saw that all the boys and calves were still there, for Lord Kṛṣṇa had created them all again. When Brahmā saw this mystic power of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s, he admitted defeat and offered prayers to the Lord, addressing Him as the proprietor and seer of everything in the creation and as the Supersoul who is within each and every living entity and is dear to all. That Lord Kṛṣṇa is Nārāyaṇa, the father of Brahmā, because Lord Kṛṣṇa’s plenary expansion Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, after placing Himself on the Garbha Ocean, created Brahmā from His own body. Mahā-Viṣṇu in the Causal Ocean and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul in everyone’s heart, are also transcendental expansions of the Supreme Truth.”
FAQs
This verse states that the Lord is Nārāyaṇa because He is the ātmā (inner Self) of all embodied beings and the witness of all worlds—present within everyone while remaining the supreme controller.
After being humbled by Kṛṣṇa’s divine power, Brahmā offers prayers recognizing that the cowherd boy of Vraja is the same Supreme Lord known as Nārāyaṇa, the source and overseer of the cosmos.
It encourages humility: do not confine the Divine to limited concepts, and recognize a higher witnessing presence within all—helping one act with devotion, restraint, and reverence toward every being.