अध्यास्ते सर्वधिष्ण्येभ्यः परमेष्ठी निजासनम् ॥९॥
तदहं वर्धमानेन तपोयोगसमाधिना ।
कालात्मनोश्च नित्यत्वात्साधयिष्ये तथात्मनः ॥१०॥
sṛṣá¹vÄ carÄcaram idaá¹
tapo-yoga-samÄdhinÄ
adhyÄste sarva-dhiṣṇyebhyaḥ
parameá¹£á¹hÄ« nijÄsanam
tad ahaá¹ vardhamÄnena
tapo-yoga-samÄdhinÄ
kÄlÄtmanoÅ› ca nityatvÄt
sÄdhayiá¹£ye tathÄtmanaḥ
sṛṣá¹vÄ - creating; cara - moving; acaram - and not moving; idam - this; tapaḥ - of austerity; yoga - and mystic power; samÄdhinÄ - by practicing the trance; adhyÄste - is situated in; sarva-dhiṣṇyebhyaḥ - than all the planets, including the heavenly planets; parameá¹£á¹hÄ« - Lord BrahmÄ; nija-Äsanam - his own throne; tat - therefore; aham - I; vardhamÄnena - by dint of increasing; tapaḥ - austerity; yoga - mystic powers; samÄdhinÄ - and trance; kÄla - of time; Ätmanoḥ - and of the soul; ca - and; nityatvÄt - from the eternality; sÄdhayiá¹£ye - shall achieve; tathÄ - so much; Ätmanaḥ - for my personal self.
“The supreme person within this universe, Lord BrahmÄ, has gotten his exalted post by dint of severe austerities, mystic power and trance. Consequently, after creating the universe, he has become the most worshipable demigod within it. Since I am eternal and time is eternal, I shall endeavor for such austerity, mystic power and trance for many, many births, and thus I shall occupy the same post occupied by Lord BrahmÄ.
HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu’s determination was to occupy the post of Lord BrahmÄ, but this was impossible because BrahmÄ has a long duration of life. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (8.17), sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ: one thousand yugas equals one day of BrahmÄ. The duration of BrahmÄ’s life is extremely great, and consequently it was impossible for HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu to occupy that post. Nonetheless, his decision was that since the self (ÄtmÄ) and time are both eternal, if he could not occupy that post in one lifetime he would continue to execute austerities life after life so that sometime he would be able to do so.
