SALUTATIONS TO BUDDHA!

TEXT 12
namaù çäntäya ghoräya
müòhäya guëa-dharmiëe
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nirviçeñäya sämyäya
namo jïäna-ghanäya ca
SYNONYMS
namaù—all obeisances; çäntäya—unto Him who is above all material qualities
and completely peaceful, or unto Väsudeva, the Supersoul in every living
entity; ghoräya—unto the fierce forms of the Lord like Jämadagnya and
Nåsiàhadeva; müòhäya—the form of the Lord as an animal, such as the boar;
guëa-dharmiëe—who accepts different qualities within the material world;
nirviçeñäya—who is without material qualities, being fully spiritual;
sämyäya—Lord Buddha, the form of nirväëa, wherein the material qualities
stop; namaù—I offer my respectful obeisances; jïäna-ghanäya—who is
knowledge or the impersonal Brahman; ca—also.
TRANSLATION
I offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Väsudeva, who is all-pervading, to
the Lord's fierce form as Lord Nåsiàhadeva, to the Lord's form as an animal
[Lord Varähadeva], to Lord Dattätreya, who preached impersonalism, to Lord
Buddha, and to all the other incarnations. I offer my respectful obeisances unto
the Lord, who has no material qualities but who accepts the three qualities
goodness, passion and ignorance within this material world. I also offer my
respectful obeisances unto the impersonal Brahman effulgence.
PURPORT
In the previous verses it has been described that although the Supreme
Personality of Godhead has no material form, He accepts innumerable forms
to favor His devotees and kill the demons. As stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam,
there are so many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that
they are like the waves of a river. The waves of a river flow incessantly, and no
copyright ©1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved – www.krishna.com
106
one can count how many waves there are. Similarly, no one can calculate
when and how the different incarnations of the Lord appear according to the
necessities of time, place and candidates. The Lord appears perpetually. As
Kåñëa says in Bhagavad-gétä (4.7):
yadä yadä hi dharmasya
glänir bhavati bhärata
abhyutthänam adharmasya
tadätmänaà såjämy aham
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant
of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend
Myself." In the material world there is always the possibility of deviation from
Kåñëa consciousness, and therefore Kåñëa and His devotees always act in
various forms to curb such godlessness.
Even impersonalists who stress the knowledge feature of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead want to merge in the effulgence of the Lord.
Therefore, here the word jïäna-ghanäya indicates that for atheists who
disbelieve in the form and existence of the Lord, all these various incarnations
appear. Since the Lord comes to teach in so many forms, no one can say that
there is no God. The word jïäna-ghanäya is especially used here to refer to
those whose knowledge has become solidified by dint of their searching for the
Lord through speculative philosophical understanding. Superficial knowledge
is useless for understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but when
one's knowledge becomes extremely intense and deep, one understands
Väsudeva (väsudevaù sarvam iti sa mahätmä sudurlabhaù [Bg. 7.19]). A jïäné
attains this stage after many, many births. Therefore the word jïäna-ghanäya
is used here. The word çantäya indicates that Lord Väsudeva is situated in
everyone's heart but does not act with the living entity. Impersonalist jïänés
realize Väsudeva when they are fully mature in knowledge (väsudevaù samam
iti sa mahätmä sudurlabhaù).