Shloka 36
Brahmā’s Prayers to Lord Nārāyaṇa and the Lord’s Empowering Instructions for Creation
ज्ञातोऽहं भवता त्वद्य दुर्विज्ञेयोऽपि देहिनाम् । यन्मां त्वं मन्यसेऽयुक्तं भूतेन्द्रियगुणात्मभि: ॥ ३६ ॥
jñāto ’haṁ bhavatā tv adya durvijñeyo ’pi dehinām yan māṁ tvaṁ manyase ’yuktaṁ bhūtendriya-guṇātmabhiḥ
ਦੇਹਧਾਰੀ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਲਈ ਮੈਂ ਦੁੱਧਰ ਜਾਣਯੋਗ ਹਾਂ, ਤਾਂ ਵੀ ਅੱਜ ਤੂੰ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਜਾਣ ਲਿਆ; ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਤੂੰ ਸਮਝਦਾ ਹੈਂ ਕਿ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਰੂਪ ਭੌਤਿਕ ਭੂਤ‑ਇੰਦ੍ਰੀ‑ਗੁਣਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਬਣਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ।
Knowledge of the Supreme Absolute Truth does not necessitate negation of the material manifestation but understanding of spiritual existence as it is. To think that because material existence is realized in forms therefore spiritual existence must be formless is only a negative material conception of spirit. The real spiritual conception is that spiritual form is not material form. Brahmā appreciated the eternal form of the Lord in that way, and the Personality of Godhead approved of Brahmā’s spiritual conception. In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa condemned the material conception of His body, a conception that arises because He is apparently present like a man. The Lord may appear in any of His many, many spiritual forms, but He is not materially composed, nor has He any difference between body and self. That is the way of conceiving the spiritual form of the Lord.
FAQs
This verse says the Lord is hard to know for embodied beings, but He becomes knowable when one does not mistake Him as made of material elements, senses, or the modes of nature.
After Brahmā offered prayers and sought empowerment for creation, the Lord affirmed that Brahmā truly understood Him by not imposing a material conception upon the Supreme.
Practice seeing the Divine as transcendent—avoid reducing God to mere psychology, nature, or matter—and cultivate devotion and humility that seek the Lord beyond sensory and material limitations.