yasyÄnubhÅ«tiḥ kÄlena
layotpatty-ÄdinÄsya vai
svato 'nyasmÄc ca guṇato
na kutaścana riṣyati
taá¹ kleÅ›a-karma-paripÄka-guṇa-pravÄhair
avyÄhatÄnubhavam Ä«Å›varam advitÄ«yam
prÄṇÄdibhiḥ sva-vibhavair upagÅ«á¸ham anyo
manyeta sÅ«ryam iva megha-himoparÄgaiḥ

 yasya - whose; anubhÅ«tiḥ - awareness; kÄlena - caused by time; laya - by the destruction; utpatti - creation; ÄdinÄ - and so on; asya - of this (universe); vai - indeed; svataḥ - on its own; anyasmÄt - due to some other agency; ca - or; guṇataḥ - in terms of its qualities; na - not; kutaÅ›cana - for any reason; riá¹£yati - becomes disrupted; tam - Him; kleÅ›a - by material distresses; karma - material activities; paripÄka - their consequences; guṇa - of the modes of nature; pravÄhaiḥ - and by the constant flow; avyÄhata - unaffected; anubhavam - whose consciousness; Ä«Å›varam - the supreme controller; advitÄ«yam - who has no second; prÄṇa - by the vital air; Ädibhiḥ - and other (elements of the material body); sva - His own; vibhavaiḥ - expansions; upagÅ«á¸ham - disguised; anyaḥ - someone else; manyeta - considers; sÅ«ryam iva - like the sun; megha - by clouds; hima - snow; uparÄgaiḥ - and eclipses.


Text

The Supreme Lord’s awareness is never disturbed by time, by the creation and destruction of the universe, by changes in its own qualities, or by anything else, whether self-caused or external. But although the consciousness of the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme one without a second, is never affected by material distress, by the reactions of material work or by the constant flow of nature’s modes, ordinary persons nonetheless think that the Lord is covered by His own creations of prÄṇa and other material elements, just as one may think that the sun is covered by clouds, snow or an eclipse.

Purport

Things of this world are inevitably destroyed by one means or another. Time itself causes the eventual decay of every created being — a fruit, for instance, which may grow ripe but then must either rot or be eaten. Some things, like lightning, destroy themselves as soon as they are manifested, while others are destroyed suddenly by external agents, as a clay pot is by a hammer. Even in living bodies and other things whose existence continues for some time, there is a constant flux of various qualities that are destroyed and replaced by others.

In contrast to all of this, the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s awareness is never disrupted by anything. Only out of ignorance could one imagine Him to be an ordinary human being subject to material conditions. Mortal beings are covered by their entanglement in fruitive activities and their consequent happiness and distress, but the Supreme Lord cannot be covered by what are in fact His own expansions. Analogously, the immense sun is the source of the relatively insignificant phenomena of clouds, snow and eclipses, and so it cannot be covered by them, though the ordinary observer may think that it is.