Shloka 28
Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi Meets Lord Śiva: Devotee as Living Tīrtha and the Lord’s Māyā
श्रीमार्कण्डेय उवाच अहो ईश्वरलीलेयं दुर्विभाव्या शरीरिणाम् । यन्नमन्तीशितव्यानि स्तुवन्ति जगदीश्वरा: ॥ २८ ॥
śrī-mārkaṇḍeya uvāca aho īśvara-līleyaṁ durvibhāvyā śarīriṇām yan namantīśitavyāni stuvanti jagad-īśvarāḥ
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya berkata: Wahai! Sukar bagi makhluk berjasad memahami līlā para penguasa alam, kerana para jagad-īśvara sendiri menunduk dan memuji makhluk yang mereka perintah.
In the material world, conditioned souls strive to lord it over one another. Therefore they cannot understand the pastimes of the actual lords of the universe. Such bona fide lords have a wonderfully magnanimous mentality and thus sometimes bow down to the most qualified and saintly among their own subjects.
FAQs
This verse states that the Supreme Lord’s divine play is difficult for embodied beings to comprehend, because His supremacy overturns ordinary expectations—those who seem powerful still bow to Him.
In the context of his extraordinary vision and experience of the Lord’s mystic power, Mārkaṇḍeya acknowledges that the Lord’s līlā transcends worldly logic and the limits of material understanding.
It encourages humility: worldly status, control, and achievement are secondary to devotion and reverence for the Supreme; one should not judge spiritual reality only by external power or social rank.