Shloka 4

Vibhūti-yoga in the Bhāgavata: The Lord’s Manifest Opulences and the Discipline of Control

Devanagari script

गूढश्चरसि भूतात्मा भूतानां भूतभावन । न त्वां पश्यन्ति भूतानि पश्यन्तं मोहितानि ते ॥ ४ ॥

Transliteration

gūḍhaś carasi bhūtātmā bhūtānāṁ bhūta-bhāvana na tvāṁ paśyanti bhūtāni paśyantaṁ mohitāni te

Translation

အို သတ္တဝါတို့၏ အတ္တမ, သတ္တဝါတို့ကို ပြုစုထိန်းသိမ်းသူ၊ သင်သည် သတ္တဝါတို့အတွင်း၌ လျှို့ဝှက်စွာ တည်ရှိ၍ လှုပ်ရှားနေသည်။ သင်သည် သူတို့ကို မြင်သော်လည်း၊ သင့်မောဟကြောင့် မျက်နှာမူမိသော သတ္တဝါတို့သည် သင့်ကို မမြင်နိုင်ကြ။

Synonyms

• गूढः: hidden
• गूढः: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: गुह् (धातु) → गूढ (कृदन्त)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (past passive participle/क्त), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘त्वम्’ विशेषण

• चरसि: you move, you wander
• चरसि: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: चर् (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• भूत-आत्मा: the Self of all beings
• भूत-आत्मा: Pradhana-visheshya (विधेय/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत (प्रातिपदिक) + आत्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘त्वम्’ प्रति सम्बोधन/विधेय-नाम; अर्थः ‘भूतानाम् आत्मा’

• भूतानाम्: of beings
• भूतानाम्: Shashthi-sambandha (षष्ठी-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, बहुवचन

• भूत-भावन: O nourisher/creator of beings
• भूत-भावन: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत (प्रातिपदिक) + भावन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative), एकवचन; ‘भूतानां भावनः’ = पोषक/उत्पादक

• न: not
• न: Nishedha (निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; निषेध-निपात (negation particle)

• त्वाम्: you
• त्वाम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: युष्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: उत्तमपुरुष-सर्वनाम, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• पश्यन्ति: see
• पश्यन्ति: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश् (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd), बहुवचन; परस्मैपद

• भूतानि: beings
• भूतानि: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• पश्यन्तम्: (you) seeing
• पश्यन्तम्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दृश् (धातु) → पश्यत् (कृदन्त)
• Form: वर्तमानकृदन्त (present active participle/शतृ), पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; ‘त्वाम्’ विशेषण (you who see)

• मोहितानि: deluded
• मोहितानि: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मुह् (धातु) → मोहित (कृदन्त)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (past passive participle/क्त), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; ‘भूतानि’ विशेषण

• ते: they
• ते: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; ‘भूतानि’ एव (apposition)

Purport

The Lord exists as the Supersoul within everything. He also appears in various incarnations or sometimes empowers a devotee to act as an incarnation. All such forms of the Lord are unknown to the nondevotees. The bewildered conditioned souls think that the supreme enjoyer, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is actually meant to be enjoyed by them for their sense gratification. Praying to God for specific material benedictions and assuming God’s creation to be their personal property, the nondevotees cannot understand the actual form of the Lord. They therefore remain foolish and bewildered. Within the universe everything is subject to creation, maintenance and destruction, and thus the Supersoul is the only actual controller in the material world. Unfortunately, when the Supersoul appears in various incarnations to clarify His position, ignorant persons think that the Supersoul is merely another creation of the modes of material nature. As stated in this verse, they cannot see that person who is actually seeing them, and simply remain bewildered.

Characters & Entities

• Uddhava
• Sri Krishna

FAQs

What does the Srimad Bhagavatam say about why we cannot see God?

This verse says the Lord is present as the indwelling Soul and witness, but living beings, bewildered by māyā, fail to perceive Him even though He sees everyone.

Why did Uddhava say this to Krishna in Canto 11?

In Chapter 16, Uddhava is inquiring into Krishna’s divine opulences and supremacy; he acknowledges that the Lord moves among beings unseen because conditioned souls are covered by illusion.

How can I apply this teaching in modern life?

Practice seeing the Lord as the inner witness—cultivate mindfulness, humility, and bhakti (hearing and chanting), recognizing that ego and distraction are forms of delusion that block spiritual perception.