Text 35]
Prayers by the Demigods
181
गुणप्रकाशैरनुमीयते भवान्  
 प्रकाशते यस्य च येन वा गुणः ॥३५॥
sattvam na ced dhātar idam nijam bhaved 
vijñānam ajñāna-bhidāpamārjanam 
guṇa-prakāśair anumīyate bhavān 
prakāśate yasya ca yena vā guṇaḥ
sattvam—śuddha-sattva, transcendental; na—not; cet—if; dhātaḥ—  
O reservoir of all energies, cause of all causes;  idam —this;  nijam —per- 
sonal, spiritual;  bhavet —could have been;  vijñānam —transcenden- 
tal knowledge;  ajñāna-bhidā —which drives away the ignorance 
of the material modes;  apamārjanam —completely vanquished;  guṇa-  
 prakāśaiḥ —by the awakening of such transcendental knowledge; 
 anumīyate —becomes manifested;  bhavān —Your Lordship;  prakāśate — 
exhibit;  yasya —whose;  ca —and;  yena —by which;  vā —either;  gu-  
 ṇaḥ —quality or intelligence.
TRANSLATION
O Lord, cause of all causes, if Your transcendental body were not 
beyond the modes of material nature, one could not understand 
the difference between matter and transcendence. Only by Your 
presence can one understand the transcendental nature of Your 
Lordship, who are the controller of material nature. Your tran- 
scendental nature is very difficult to understand unless one is in- 
fluenced by the presence of Your transcendental form.
PURPORT
It is said,  traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna . Unless one 
is situated in transcendence, one cannot understand the transcendental 
nature of the Lord. As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (10.14.29):
athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-  
 prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi  
 jānāti tattvam bhagavan-mahimno  
 na cānya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan