21.58

ananta brahmandera yata brahma-rudra-gana

cira-loka-pala-sabde tahara ganana

SYNONYMS

ananta—unlimited; brahmandera—of the universes; yata—all; brahma—Lord Brahmas; rudra-gana—and Lord Sivas; cira-loka-pala—permanent governors of the worlds; sabde—by the word; tahara—of them; ganana—counting "Actually it is very difficult to ascertain the number of universes.

Every universe has its separate Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, who are known as permanent governors.

Therefore there is also no counting of them.

PURPORT

Lord Brahma and Lord Siva are called cira-loka-pala, permanent governors.

This means that they govern the affairs of the universe from the beginning of the creation to the end.

In the next creation, the same living entities may not be present, but because Brahma and Siva are existing from the beginning to the end, they are called cira-loka-pala, permanent governors.

Loka-pala means “predominating deities.” There are eight predominating deities of the prominent heavenly planets, and they are Indra, Agni, Yama, Varuna, Nirrti, Vayu, Kuvera and Siva.