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Srimad-Bhagavatam - Canto 2 Chapter 4 Text 19
sa esa atmatmavatam adhisvaras
trayimayo dharmamayas tapomayah
gata-vyalikair aja-sankaradibhir
vitarkya-lingo bhagavan prasidatam

sah -- He; esah -- it is; atma -- the Supersoul; atmavatam -- of the self-realized souls; adhisvarah -- the Supreme Lord; trayi-mayah -- personified Vedas; dharma-mayah -- personified religious scripture; tapah-mayah -- personified austerity; gata-vyalikaih -- by those who are above all pretensions; aja -- Brahmaji; sankara-adibhih -- by Lord Siva and others; vitarkya-lingah -- one who is observed with awe and veneration; bhagavan -- the Personality of Godhead; prasidatam -- be kind toward me.

TRANSLATION

He is the Supersoul and the Supreme Lord of all self-realized souls. He is the personification of the Vedas, religious scriptures and austerities. He is worshiped by Lord Brahma and Siva and all those who are transcendental to all pretensions. Being so revered with awe and veneration, may that Supreme Absolute be pleased with me.

PURPORT

The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, although the Lord of all followers of different paths of self-realization, is knowable only by those who are above all pretensions. Everyone is searching for eternal peace or eternal life, and with an aim to this destination everyone is either studying the Vedic scriptures or other religious scriptures or undergoing severe austerity as empiric philosophers, as mystics yogis or as unalloyed devotees, etc. But the Supreme Lord is perfectly realized only by the devotees because they are above all pretensions. Those who are on the path of self-realization are generally classified as karmis, jnanis, yogis, or devotees of the Lord. The karmis, who are much attracted by the fruitive activities of the Vedic rituals, are called bhukti-kami, or those who desire material enjoyment. The jnanis, who try to become one with the Supreme by mental speculation, are called mukti-kami, or those who desire liberation from material existence. The mystic yogis, who practice different types of austerities for attainment of eight kinds of material perfection and who ultimately meet the Supersoul (Paramatma) in trance, are called siddhi-kami, or those who desire the perfection of becoming finer than the finest, becoming heavier than the heaviest, getting everything desired, having control over everyone, creating everything liked, etc. All these are abilities of a powerful yogi. But the devotees of the Lord do not want anything like that for self-satisfaction. They want only to serve the Lord because the Lord is great and as living entities they are eternally subordinate parts and parcels of the Lord. This perfect realization of the self by the devotee helps him to become desireless, to desire nothing for his personal self, and thus the devotees are called niskami, without any desire. A living entity, by his constitutional position, cannot be void of all desires (the bhukti-kami, mukti-kami and siddhi-kami all desire something for personal satisfaction), but the niskami devotees of the Lord desire everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. They are completely dependent on the orders of the Lord and are always ready to discharge their duty for the satisfaction of the Lord.

In the beginning Arjuna placed himself as one of those who desire self-satisfaction, for he desired not to fight in the Battle of Kuruksetra, but to make him desireless the Lord preached the Bhagavad-gita, in which the ways of karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, hatha-yoga and also bhakti-yoga were explained. Because Arjuna was without any pretension, he changed his decision and satisfied the Lord by agreeing to fight (karisye vacanam tava) [Bg. 18.73], and thus he became desireless.

The examples of Brahma and Lord Siva are specifically cited here because Brahmaji, Lord Siva, Srimati Laksmiji and the four Kumaras (Sanaka, Sanatana, etc.) are leaders of the four desireless Vaisnava sampradayas. They are all freed from all pretensions. Srila Jiva Gosvami interprets the word gata-vyalikaih as projjhita-kaitavaih, or those who are freed from all pretensions (the unalloyed devotees only). In the Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 19.149) it is said:

krsna-bhakta -- niskama, ata eva 'santa'
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami, sakali 'asanta'

Those who are after fruitive results for their pious activities, those who desire salvation and identity with the Supreme, and those who desire material perfections of mystic power are all restless because they want something for themselves, but the devotee is completely peaceful because he has no demand for himself and is always ready to serve the desire of the Lord. The conclusion is, therefore, that the Lord is for everyone because no one can achieve the result of his respective desires without His sanction, but as stated by the Lord in Bhagavad-gita (8.9), all such results are awarded by Him only, for the Lord is adhisvara (the original controller) of everyone, namely the Vedantists, the great karma-kandiyas, the great religious leaders, the great performers of austerity and all who are striving for spiritual advancement. But ultimately He is realized by the pretensionless devotees only. Therefore special stress is given to the devotional service of the Lord by Srila Sukadeva Gosvami.