Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 21
Viṣṇupadī Gaṅgā: Descent, Cosmic Pathways, and Śiva’s Praise of Saṅkarṣaṇa
यमाहुरस्य स्थितिजन्मसंयमंत्रिभिर्विहीनं यमनन्तमृषय: । न वेद सिद्धार्थमिव क्वचित्स्थितंभूमण्डलं मूर्धसहस्रधामसु॒ ॥ २१ ॥
yam āhur asya sthiti-janma-saṁyamaṁ tribhir vihīnaṁ yam anantam ṛṣayaḥ na veda siddhārtham iva kvacit sthitaṁ bhū-maṇḍalaṁ mūrdha-sahasra-dhāmasu
Śiva poursuivit : les grands sages reconnaissent le Seigneur comme la source de la création, du maintien et de la destruction, bien qu’en vérité Il ne soit nullement lié à ces actes ; c’est pourquoi on L’appelle Ananta, l’Illimité. Dans Son incarnation de Śeṣa, Il porte tous les univers sur des milliers de capuchons, et pourtant chaque univers ne Lui pèse pas plus qu’un grain de moutarde. Qui, aspirant à la perfection, ne L’adorerait pas ?
The incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Śeṣa or Ananta has unlimited strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation. As described in this verse, Ananta’s strength is so great that the innumerable universes rest on His hoods. He has the bodily features of a snake with thousands of hoods, and since His strength is unlimited, all the universes resting on His hoods feel no heavier than mustard seeds. We can just imagine how insignificant a mustard seed is on the hood of a serpent. In this connection, the reader is referred to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Five, verses 117-125. There it is stated that Lord Viṣṇu’s incarnation as the serpentine Ananta Śeṣa Nāga supports all the universes on His hoods. By our calculation, a universe may be very, very heavy, but because the Lord is ananta (unlimited), He feels the weight to be no heavier than a mustard seed.
FAQs
This verse states that Bhū-maṇḍala rests upon Ananta’s thousands of hoods, emphasizing the Lord’s inconceivable potency and the vastness of cosmic arrangement.
He highlights that Ananta is not subject to the ordinary threefold transformations of the material world—creation, preservation, and destruction—showing His transcendental nature.
It encourages humility: reality and the Divine are greater than our measurements, so a seeker should approach scripture, teachers, and devotion with reverence rather than arrogance.