परो मदन्यो जगतस्तस्थुषश्च
ओतं प्रोतं पटवद्यत्र विश्वम् ।
यदंशतोऽस्य स्थितिजन्मनाशा
नस्योतवद् यस्य वशे च लोकः ॥१२॥
yama uvÄca
paro mad-anyo jagatas tasthuá¹£aÅ› ca
otaá¹ protaá¹ paá¹avad yatra viÅ›vam
yad-amÅ›ato 'sya sthiti-janma-nÄÅ›Ä
nasy otavad yasya vaśe ca lokaḥ
yamaḥ uvÄca - YamarÄja replied; paraḥ - superior; mat - than me; anyaḥ - another; jagataḥ - of all moving things; tasthuá¹£aḥ - of nonmoving things; ca - and; otam - crosswise; protam - lengthwise; paá¹avat - like a woven cloth; yatra - in whom; viÅ›vam - the cosmic manifestation; yat - of whom; amÅ›ataḥ - from the partial expansions; asya - of this universe; sthiti - the maintenance; janma - the creation; nÄÅ›Äḥ - the annihilation; nasi - in the nose; ota-vat - like the rope; yasya - of whom; vaÅ›e - under the control; ca - and; lokaḥ - the whole creation.
YamarÄja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are BrahmÄ, Viṣṇu and Åšiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose.
The order carriers of YamarÄja suspected that there was a ruler even above YamarÄja. To eradicate their doubts, YamarÄja immediately replied, “Yes, there is one supreme controller above everything.†YamarÄja is in charge of some of the moving living entities, namely the human beings, but the animals, who also move, are not under his control. Only human beings have consciousness of right and wrong, and among them only those who perform sinful activities come under the control of YamarÄja. Therefore although YamarÄja is a controller, he is only a departmental controller of a few living entities. There are other demigods who control many other departments, but above them all is one supreme controller, Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-Änanda-vigrahaḥ: the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. Others, who control their own departments in the affairs of the universe, are insignificant in comparison to Kṛṣṇa, the supreme controller. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.7), mattaḥ parataraá¹ nÄnyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: “My dear Dhanañjaya [Arjuna], no one is superior to Me.†Therefore YamarÄja immediately cleared away the doubts of his assistants, the YamadÅ«tas, by confirming that there is a supreme controller above all others.
ÅšrÄ«la MadhvÄcÄrya explains that the words otaá¹ protam refer to the cause of all causes. The Supreme Lord is both vertical and horizontal to the cosmic manifestation. This is confirmed by the following verse from the Skanda PurÄṇa:
yathÄ kanthÄ-paá¹Äḥ sÅ«tra
otÄḥ protÄÅ› ca sa sthitÄḥ
evaá¹ viṣṇÄv idaá¹ viÅ›vam
otaá¹ protaá¹ ca saá¹sthitam
Like the two threads, horizontal and vertical, of which a quilt is manufactured, Lord Viṣṇu is situated as the vertical and horizontal cause of the cosmic manifestation.
