वृतं चतुःषोडशपञ्चशक्तिभिः ।
युक्तं भगैः स्वैरितरत्र चाध्रुवैः
स्व एव धामन्रममाणमीश्वरम् ॥१७॥
adhyarhaṇīyÄsanam Ästhitaá¹ paraá¹
vá¹›taá¹ catuḥ-á¹£oá¸aÅ›a-pañca-Å›aktibhiḥ
yuktaá¹ bhagaiḥ svair itaratra cÄdhruvaiḥ
sva eva dhÄman ramamÄṇam Ä«Å›varam
adhyarhaṇīya - greatly worshipable; Äsanam - throne; Ästhitam - seated on it; param - the Supreme; vá¹›tam - surrounded by; catuḥ - four, namely praká¹›ti, puruá¹£a, mahat and ego; á¹£oá¸aÅ›a - the sixteen; pañca - the five; Å›aktibhiḥ - by the energies; yuktam - empowered with; bhagaiḥ - His opulences; svaiḥ - personal; itaratra - other minor prowesses; ca - also; adhruvaiḥ - temporary; sve - own; eva - certainly; dhÄman - abode; ramamÄṇam - enjoying; Ä«Å›varam - the Supreme Lord.
The Lord was seated on His throne and was surrounded by different energies like the four, the sixteen, the five, and the six natural opulences, along with other insignificant energies of the temporary character. But He was the factual Supreme Lord, enjoying His own abode.
The Lord is naturally endowed with His six opulences. Specifically, He is the richest, He is the most powerful, He is the most famous, He is the most beautiful, He is the greatest in knowledge, and He is the greatest renouncer as well. And for His material creative energies, He is served by four, namely the principles of praká¹›ti, puruá¹£a, mahat-tattva and ego. He is also served by the sixteen, namely the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky), the five perceptive sense organs (the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin), the five working sense organs (the hand, the leg, the stomach, the evacuation outlet and the genitals) and the mind. The five includes the sense objects, namely form, taste, smell, sound and touch. All these twenty-five items serve the Lord in the material creation, and all of them are personally present to serve the Lord. The insignificant opulences numbering eight (the aá¹£á¹a-siddhis, attained by yogÄ«s for temporary overlordship) are also under His control, but He is naturally full with all such powers without any effort, and therefore He is the Supreme Lord.
The living being, by severe penance and performance of bodily exercises, can temporarily attain some wonderful power, but that does not make him the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord, by His own potency, is unlimitedly more powerful than any yogÄ«, He is unlimitedly more learned than any jñÄnÄ«, He is unlimitedly richer than any wealthy person, He is unlimitedly more beautiful than any beautiful living being, and He is unlimitedly more charitable than any philanthropist. He is above all; no one is equal to or greater than Him. Nor can anyone reach His level of perfection in any of the above powers by any amount of penance or yogic demonstrations. The yogÄ«s are dependent on His mercy. Out of His immensely charitable disposition He can award some temporary powers to the yogÄ«s because of the yogÄ«s’ hankering after them, but to His unalloyed devotees, who do not want anything from the Lord save and except His transcendental service, the Lord is so pleased that He gives Himself in exchange for unalloyed service.
