śrī-rājovāca
parasya viṣṇor īśasya
māyinām api mohinīm
māyāḿ veditum icchāmo
bhagavanto bruvantu naḥ
sri-raja uvaca -- the King said; parasya -- of the Supreme; vishnoh -- Vishnu; isasya -- the Lord; mayinam -- for the possessors of great mystic power; api -- even; mohinim -- which is bewildering; mayam -- the illusory potency; veditum -- to understand; icchamah -- we desire; bhagavantah -- my lords; bruvantu -- please tell this; nah -- to us.
According to Srila Sridhara Svami, in this chapter various saintly sons of Rishabhadeva will speak about the illusory energy (maya), the means for crossing beyond it, the characteristics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and prescribed duties for human beings. The forty-eighth verse of the previous chapter stated, vishnor mayam idam pasyan: "A devotee of Krishna should see the entire universe to be the illusory potency of the Lord." Therefore King Nimi is now pursuing this subject matter by requesting more detailed information from the saintly Yogendras.
According to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the demigods, headed by Lord Brahma, and the human beings of the earth are all driven by their particular desires for material sense gratification. Thus they direct their senses toward research for material knowledge. The subtle celestial senses of the demigods and the gross senses of human beings are all busy in ascertaining the measurements of material sense objects. To understand fully the actual nature of maya, the illusory potency, which causes the conditioned souls to become averse to Krishna consciousness and surrender to bewildering material manifestations, King Nimi is inquiring from another of the nine Yogendras, Sri Antariksha.