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Śrī brahma-saṁhitā 5.49

Text

bhāsvān yathāśma-śakaleṣu nijeṣu tejaḥ
svīyam kiyat prakaṭayaty api tadvad atra
brahmā ya eṣa jagad-aṇḍa-vidhāna-kartā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

Synonyms

bhāsvān — the illuminating sun; yathā — as; aśma-śakaleṣu — in various types of precious stones; nijeṣu — his own; tejaḥ — brilliance; svīyam — his own; kiyat — to some extent; prakaṭayati — manifests; api — also; tadvat — similarly; atra — here; brahmā — Lord Brahmā; yaḥ — who; eṣaḥ — he; jagat-aṇḍa-vidhāna-kartā — the chief of the universe; govindam — Govinda; ādi-puruṣam — the original person; tam — Him; aham — I; bhajāmi — worship.

Translation

I adore the primeval Lord Govinda from whom the separated subjective portion Brahmā receives his power for the regulation of the mundane world, just as the sun manifests some portion of his own light in all the effulgent gems that bear the names of sūryakānta, etc.

Purport

Brahmā is two types: in certain kalpas when the potency of the Supreme Lord infuses Himself in an eligible jīva, the latter acts in the office of Brahmā and creates the universe. In those kalpas when no eligible jīva is available, after the Brahmā of the previous kalpa is liberated, Kṛṣṇa, by the process of allotment of His own potency, creates the Brahmā who has the nature of the avatāra (descent) of the Divinity in the active mundane principle (rajo-guṇa). By principle Brahmā is superior to ordinary jīvas but is not the direct Divinity. The divine nature is present in a greater measure in Śambhu than in Brahmā. The fundamental significance of the above is that the aggregate of fifty attributes, belonging to the jīva, are present in a fuller measure in Brahmā who possesses, in a lesser degree, five more attributes which are not found in jīvas. But in Śambhu both the fifty attributes of jīvas as also the five additional attributes found in Brahmā are present in even greater measure than in Brahmā.