ajÄnatÄá¹ tvat-padavÄ«m anÄtmany
ÄtmÄtmanÄ bhÄsi vitatya mÄyÄm
sṛṣá¹Äv ivÄhaá¹ jagato vidhÄna
iva tvam eṣo 'nta iva trinetraḥ
ajÄnatÄm - to persons who are in ignorance; tvat-padavÄ«m - of Your transcendental position; anÄtmani - in the material energy; ÄtmÄ - Yourself; ÄtmanÄ - by Yourself; bhÄsi - appear; vitatya - expanding; mÄyÄm - Your inconceivable energy; sṛṣá¹au - in the matter of creation; iva - as if; aham - I, BrahmÄ; jagataḥ - of the universe; vidhÄne - in the maintenance; iva - as if; tvam eá¹£aḥ - Yourself; ante - in the annihilation; iva - as if; tri-netraḥ - Lord Åšiva.
To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [BrahmÄ], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viṣṇu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Åšiva].
Although the impersonal MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers think that the demigods are illusory, Lord BrahmÄ, Lord Åšiva and Lord Viṣṇu are stated here to be expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus real. Indeed, they are the extraordinarily powerful controllers of the universe. The ultimate truth is a supreme and beautiful person, and thus throughout the creation of God we will always find the personal touch.
