तुरीयां तामसीं मूर्तिं प्रकृतिमात्मनः सङ्कर्षणसंज्ञामात्मसमाधिरूपेण
सन्निधाप्यैतदभिगृणन् भव उपधावति ॥१६॥
bhavÄnÄ«-nÄthaiḥ strÄ«-gaṇÄrbuda-sahasrair avarudhyamÄno bhagavataÅ› catur-mÅ«rter mahÄ-puruá¹£asya turÄ«yÄá¹ tÄmasÄ«á¹ mÅ«rtiá¹ praká¹›tim Ätmanaḥ saá¹…kará¹£aṇa-saá¹jñÄm Ätma-samÄdhi-rÅ«peṇa sannidhÄpyaitad abhigṛṇan bhava upadhÄvati
bhavÄnÄ«-nÄthaiḥ - by the company of BhavÄnÄ«; strÄ«-gaṇa - of females; arbuda-sahasraiḥ - by ten billion; avarudhyamÄnaḥ - always being served; bhagavataḥ catuḥ-mÅ«rteḥ - the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is expanded in four; mahÄ-puruá¹£asya - of the Supreme Person; turÄ«yÄm - the fourth expansion; tÄmasÄ«m - related to the mode of ignorance; mÅ«rtim - the form; praká¹›tim - as the source; Ätmanaḥ - of himself (Lord Åšiva); saá¹…kará¹£aṇa-saá¹jñÄm - known as Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa; Ätma-samÄdhi-rÅ«peṇa - by meditating upon Him in trance; sannidhÄpya - bringing Him near; etat - this; abhigṛṇan - clearly chanting; bhavaḥ - Lord Åšiva; upadhÄvati - worships.
In IlÄvá¹›ta-vará¹£a, Lord Åšiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of Goddess DurgÄ, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of VÄsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa. Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, the fourth expansion, is certainly transcendental, but because His activities of destruction in the material world are in the mode of ignorance, He is known as tÄmasÄ«, the Lord’s form in the mode of ignorance. Lord Åšiva knows that Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra.
Sometimes we see a picture of Lord Åšiva engaged in meditation. This verse explains that Lord Åšiva is always meditating upon Lord Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa in trance. Lord Åšiva is in charge of the destruction of the material world. Lord BrahmÄ creates the material world, Lord Viṣṇu maintains it, and Lord Åšiva destroys it. Because destruction is in the mode of ignorance, Lord Åšiva and his worshipable Deity, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, are technically called tÄmasÄ«. Lord Åšiva is the incarnation of tamo-guṇa. Since both Lord Åšiva and Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa are always enlightened and situated in the transcendental position, they have nothing to do with the modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — but because their activities involve them with the mode of ignorance, they are sometimes called tÄmasÄ«.
