Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.12.4

śrī-mahādeva uvāca

deva-deva jagad-vyāpiñ

jagad-īśa jagan-maya

sarveṣām api bhāvānāḿ

tvam ātmā hetur īśvaraḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-mahādevaḥ uvāca — Lord Śiva (Mahādeva) said; deva-deva — O best demigod among the demigods; jagat-vyāpin — O all-pervading Lord; jagat-īśa — O master of the universe; jagat-maya — O my Lord, who are transformed by Your energy into this creation; sarveṣām api — all kinds of; bhāvānām — situations; tvam — You; ātmā — the moving force; hetuḥ — because of this; īśvaraḥ — the Supreme Lord, Parameśvara.

TRANSLATION

Lord Mahādeva said: O chief demigod among the demigods, O all-pervading Lord, master of the universe, by Your energy You are transformed into the creation. You are the root and efficient cause of everything. You are not material. Indeed, You are the Supersoul or supreme living force of everything. Therefore, You are Parameśvara, the supreme controller of all controllers.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, resides within the material world as the sattva-guṇa-avatāra. Lord Śiva is the tamo-guṇa-avatāra, and Lord Brahmā is the rajo-guṇa-avatāra, but although Lord Viṣṇu is among them, He is not in the same category. Lord Viṣṇu is deva-deva, the chief of all the demigods. Since Lord Śiva is in this material world, the energy of the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, includes Lord Śiva. Lord Viṣṇu is therefore called jagad-vyāpī, "the all-pervading Lord." Lord Śiva is sometimes called Maheśvara, and so people think that Lord Śiva is everything. But here Lord Śiva addresses Lord Viṣṇu as Jagad-īśa, "the master of the universe." Lord Śiva is sometimes called Viśveśvara, but here he addresses Lord Viṣṇu as Jagan-maya, indicating that even Viśveśvara is under Lord Viṣṇu's control. Lord Viṣṇu is the master of the spiritual world, yet He controls the material world also, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram [Bg. 9.10]). Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are also sometimes called īśvara, but the supreme īśvara is Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Kṛṣṇa. As stated in Brahma-saḿhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ: [Bs. 5.1] the Supreme Lord is Kṛṣṇa, Lord Viṣṇu. Everything in existence works in proper order because of Lord Viṣṇu. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Even paramāṇu, the small atoms, work because of Lord Viṣṇu's presence within them.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness