Chapter 17
भवानीनाथै: स्त्रीगणार्बुदसहस्रैरवरुध्यमानो भगवतश्चतुर्मूर्तेर्महापुरुषस्य तुरीयां तामसीं मूर्तिं प्रकृतिमात्मन: सङ्कर्षणसंज्ञामात्मसमाधिरूपेण सन्निधाप्यैतदभिगृणन् भव उप-धावति ॥ १६ ॥
Transliteration
bhavānī-nāthaiḥ strī-gaṇārbuda-sahasrair avarudhyamāno bhagavataś catur-mūrter mahā-puruṣasya turīyāṁ tāmasīṁ mūrtiṁ prakṛtim ātmanaḥ saṅkarṣaṇa-saṁjñām ātma-samādhi-rūpeṇa sannidhāpyaitad abhigṛṇan bhava upadhāvati.
Synonyms (Word-for-Word)
bhavānī-nāthaiḥ — by the company of Bhavānī; strī-gaṇa — of females; arbuda-sahasraiḥ — by ten billion; avarudhyamānaḥ — always being served; bhagavataḥ catuḥ-mūrteḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is expanded in four; mahā-puruṣasya — of the Supreme Person; turīyām — the fourth expansion; tāmasīm — related to the mode of ignorance; mūrtim — the form; prakṛtim — as the source; ātmanaḥ — of himself (Lord Śiva); saṅkarṣaṇa-saṁjñām — known as Saṅkarṣaṇa; ātma-samādhi-rūpeṇa — by meditating upon Him in trance; sannidhāpya — bringing Him near; etat — this; abhigṛṇan — clearly chanting; bhavaḥ — Lord Śiva; upadhāvati — worships.
Translation
“In Ilāvṛta-varṣa, Lord Śiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of Goddess Durgā, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa, 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 tāmasī, the Lord’s form in the mode of ignorance. Lord Śiva knows that Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra.”