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Any such use, and any use not specifically granted above, will require the express written permission of the copyright owner. For any questions, please contact our rights and permissions department: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. Rights and Permissions copyrights@bbti.orgwww.bbti.org This book and electronic file is Copyright 1989 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International Inc., 3764 Watseka Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90034, USA. All rights reserved. For any questions, comments, correspondence, or to evaluate dozens of other books in this collection, visit the website of the publishers, www.krishna.com. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Srimad-Bhagavatam Translation and Editroial Board Hridayananda dasa Goswami Sannyasa disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Ph.D., Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University Project Director, Translator, Commentator and Editor in Chief Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari Disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Translator, Commentator and Sanskrit Editor Dravida dasa Brahmacari Disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabrupada English Editor Preface nama om visnu-padaya krsna presthaya bhutale srimate bhaktivedanta svamin iti namine I offer my most respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine I offer my most respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is the disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and who is powerfully distributing the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and thus saving the fallen Western countries from impersonalism and voidism. Srimad-Bhagavatam, with authorized translation and elaborate purports in the English language, is the great work of His Divine Grace Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara-sata Sri Srimad A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master. Our present publication is a humble attempt by his servants to complete his most cherished work of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Just as one may worship the holy Ganges River by offering Ganges water unto the Ganges, similarly, in our attempt to serve our spiritual master, we are offering to him that which he has given to us. Srila Prabhupada came to America in 1965, at a critical moment in the history of America and the world in general. The story of Srila Prabhupadas arrival and his specific impact on world civilization, and especially Western civilization, has been brilliantly documented by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. From Satsvarupa Goswamis authorized biography of Srila Prabhupada, called Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, the reader can fully understand Srila Prabhupadas purpose, desire and mission in presenting Srimad-Bhagavatam. Further, in Srila Prabhupadas own preface to the Bhagavatam (reprinted as the foreword in this volume), he clearly states that this transcendental literature will provoke a cultural revolution in the world, and that is now underway. I do not wish to be redundant by repeating what Srila Prabhupada has so eloquently stated in his preface, or that which has been so abundantly documented by Satsvarupa Goswami in his authorized biography. It is necessary to mention, however, that Srimad-Bhagavatam is a completely transcendental, liberated sound vibration coming from the spiritual world. And, being absolute, it is not different from the Absolute Truth Himself, Lord Sri Krsna. By understanding Srimad-Bhagavatam, consisting of twelve cantos, the reader acquires perfect knowledge, by which he or she may live peacefully and progressively on the earth, attending to all material necessities and simultaneously achieving supreme spiritual liberation. As we have worked to prepare this and other volumes of Srimad-Bhagavatam, our intention has always been to faithfully serve the lotus feet of our spiritual master, carefully trying to translate and comment exactly as he would have, thus preserving the unity and spiritual potency of this edition of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In other words, by our strictly following the disciplic succession, called in Sanskrit guru-parampara, this edition of the Bhagavatam will continue to be throughout its volumes a liberated work, free from material contamination and capable of elevating the reader to the kingdom of God. Our method has been to faithfully follow the commentaries of previous acaryas and exercise a careful selectivity of material based on the example and mood of Srila Prabhupada. One may write transcendental literature only by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, and the authorized, liberated spiritual masters coming in disciplic succession. Thus we humbly fall at the lotus feet of the previous acaryas, offering special gratitude to the great commentators on the Bhagavatam, namely Srila Sridhara Svami, Srila Jiva Gosvami, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada. We also offer our obeisances at the lotus feet of Srila Viraraghavacary, Srila Vijayadhvaja Thakura and Srila Vamsidhara Thakura, whose commentaries have also helped in this work. Additionally, we offer our humble obeisances at the lotus feet of the great acarya Srila Madhva, who has made innumerable learned comments on Srimad-Bhagavatam. WE further offer our humble obeisances at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and to all of His eternally liberated followers, headed by Srila Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadahara Prabhu, Srivasa Thakura and the six Gosvamis, namely Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. Finally we offer our most respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of the Absolute Truth, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna, and humbly beg for Their mercy so that this great work of Srimad-Bhagavatam can be quickly finished. Srimad-Bhagavatam is undoubtedly the most important book in the universe, and the sincere readers of Srimad-Bhagavatam will undoubtedly achieve the highest perfection of life, Krsna consciousness. In conclusion, I again remind the reader that Srimad-Bhagavatam is the great work of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and that the present volume is the humble attempt of his devoted servants. Hare Krsna Hridayananda dasa Goswami 1Forward We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need?Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particularcountries or communities. Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages,and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society. The idealsof spiritual communism, according to rmad-Bhgavatam, are based more orless on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy ofliving beings. The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successfulideology. rmad-Bhgavatam will fill this need in human society. It begins,therefore, with the aphorism of Vednta philosophy janmdy asya yata [SB1.1.1] to establish the ideal of a common cause.Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. Ithas made rapid progress in the field of material comforts, education andeconomic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinpricksomewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scalequarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to howhumanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a commoncause. rmad-Bhgavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation forthe respiritualization of the entire human society.rmad-Bhgavatam should be introduced also in the schools and colleges,for it is recommended by the great student-devotee Prahlda Mahrja inorder to change the demoniac face of society.kaumra caret prjodharmn bhgavatn ihadurlabha mnua janmatad apy adhruvam arthadam (SB 7.6.1)Disparity in human society is due to lack of principles in a godless2civilization. There is God, or the Almighty One, from whom everythingemanates, by whom everything is maintained and in whom everything ismerged to rest. Material science has tried to find the ultimate source ofcreation very insufficiently, but it is a fact that there is one ultimate source ofeverything that be. This ultimate source is explained rationally andauthoritatively in the beautiful Bhgavatam, or rmad-Bhgavatam.rmad-Bhgavatam is the transcendental science not only for knowing theultimate source of everything but also for knowing our relation with Him andour duty toward perfection of the human society on the basis of this perfectknowledge. It is powerful reading matter in the Sanskrit language, and it isnow rendered into English elaborately so that simply by a careful reading onewill know God perfectly well, so much so that the reader will be sufficientlyeducated to defend himself from the onslaught of atheists. Over and abovethis, the reader will be able to convert others to accepting God as a concreteprinciple.rmad-Bhgavatam begins with the definition of the ultimate source. It is abona fide commentary on the Vednta-stra by the same author, rlaVysadeva, and gradually it develops into nine cantos up to the highest state ofGod realization. The only qualification one needs to study this great book oftranscendental knowledge is to proceed step by step cautiously and not jumpforward haphazardly like with an ordinary book. It should be gone throughchapter by chapter, one after another. The reading matter is so arranged withits original Sanskrit text, its English transliteration, synonyms, translation andpurports so that one is sure to become a God-realized soul at the end offinishing the first nine cantos.The Tenth Canto is distinct from the first nine cantos because it dealsdirectly with the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead rKa. One will be unable to capture the effects of the Tenth Canto withoutgoing through the first nine cantos. The book is complete in twelve cantos,each independent, but it is good for all to read them in small installments oneafter another.3I must admit my frailties in presenting rmad-Bhgavatam, but still I amhopeful of its good reception by the thinkers and leaders of society on thestrength of the following statement of rmad-Bhgavatam (1.5.11):tad-vg-visargo janatgha-viplavoyasmin prati-lokam abaddhavaty apinmny anantasya yao 'kitni yacchvanti gyanti ganti sdhava"On the other hand, that literature which is full with descriptions of thetranscendental glories of the name, fame, form and pastimes of the unlimitedSupreme Lord is a transcendental creation meant to bring about a revolutionin the impious life of a misdirected civilization. Such transcendentalliteratures, even though irregularly composed, are heard, sung and accepted bypurified men who are thoroughly honest."O tat satA.C. Bhaktivedanta SwamiDated at DelhiDecember 15, 19621IntroductionThe conception of God and the conception of Absolute Truth are not onthe same level. The rmad-Bhgavatam hits on the target of the AbsoluteTruth. The conception of God indicates the controller, whereas theconception of the Absolute Truth indicates the summum bonum or theultimate source of all energies. There is no difference of opinion about thepersonal feature of God as the controller because a controller cannot beimpersonal. Of course modern government, especially democratic government,is impersonal to some extent, but ultimately the chief executive head is aperson, and the impersonal feature of government is subordinate to thepersonal feature. So without a doubt whenever we refer to control over otherswe must admit the existence of a personal feature. Because there are differentcontrollers for different managerial positions, there may be many small gods.According to the Bhagavad-gt any controller who has some specificextraordinary power is called a vibhtimat sattva, or controller empowered bythe Lord. There are many vibhtimat sattvas, controllers or gods with variousspecific powers, but the Absolute Truth is one without a second. Thisrmad-Bhgavatam designates the Absolute Truth or the summum bonum asthe para satyam.The author of rmad-Bhgavatam, rla Vysadeva, first offers hisrespectful obeisances unto the para satyam (Absolute Truth), and becausethe para satyam is the ultimate source of all energies, the para satyam is theSupreme Person. The gods or the controllers are undoubtedly persons, but thepara satyam from whom the gods derive powers of control is the SupremePerson. The Sanskrit word vara (controller) conveys the import of God, butthe Supreme Person is called the paramevara, or the supreme vara. TheSupreme Person, or paramevara, is the supreme conscious personality, andbecause He does not derive any power from any other source, He is supremelyindependent. In the Vedic literatures Brahm is described as the supreme godor the head of all other gods like Indra, Candra and Varua, but the2rmad-Bhgavatam confirms that even Brahm is not independent as far ashis power and knowledge are concerned. He received knowledge in the form ofthe Vedas from the Supreme Person who resides within the heart of everyliving being. That Supreme Personality knows everything directly andindirectly. Individual infinitesimal persons, who are parts and parcels of theSupreme Personality, may know directly and indirectly everything about theirbodies or external features, but the Supreme Personality knows everythingabout both His external and internal features.The words janmdy asya [SB 1.1.1] suggest that the source of all production,maintenance or destruction is the same supreme conscious person. Even in ourpresent experience we can know that nothing is generated from inert matter,but inert matter can be generated from the living entity. For instance, bycontact with the living entity, the material body develops into a workingmachine. Men with a poor fund of knowledge mistake the bodily machinery tobe the living being, but the fact is that the living being is the basis of thebodily machine. The bodily machine is useless as soon as the living spark isaway from it. Similarly, the original source of all material energy is theSupreme Person. This fact is expressed in all the Vedic literatures, and all theexponents of spiritual science have accepted this truth. The living force iscalled Brahman, and one of the greatest cryas (teachers), namely rpdaakarcrya, has preached that Brahman is substance whereas the cosmicworld is category. The original source of all energies is the living force, and Heis logically accepted as the Supreme Person. He is therefore conscious ofeverything past, present and future, and also of each and every corner of Hismanifestations, both material and spiritual. An imperfect living being does noteven know what is happening within his own personal body. He eats his foodbut does not know how this food is transformed into energy or how it sustainshis body. When a living being is perfect, he is aware of everything thathappens, and since the Supreme Person is all-perfect, it is quite natural thatHe knows everything in all detail. Consequently the perfect personality isaddressed in the rmad-Bhgavatam as Vsudeva, or one who lives everywhere3in full consciousness and in full possession of His complete energy. All of thisis clearly explained in the rmad-Bhgavatam, and the reader has ampleopportunity to study this critically.In the modern age Lord r Caitanya Mahprabhu preached thermad-Bhgavatam by practical demonstration. It is easier to penetrate intothe topics of the rmad-Bhgavatam through the medium of r Caitanya'scauseless mercy. Therefore a short sketch of His life and precepts is insertedherein to help the reader understand the real merit of rmad-Bhgavatam.It is imperative that one learn the rmad-Bhgavatam from the personBhgavatam. The person Bhgavatam is one whose very life isrmad-Bhgavatam in practice. Since r Caitanya Mahprabhu is theAbsolute Personality of Godhead, He is both Bhagavn and Bhgavatam inperson and in sound. Therefore His process of approaching thermad-Bhgavatam is practical for all people of the world. It was His wish thatthe rmad-Bhgavatam be preached in every nook and corner of the world bythose who happened to take their birth in India.The rmad-Bhgavatam is the science of Ka, the Absolute Personality ofGodhead of whom we have preliminary information from the text of theBhagavad-gt. r Caitanya Mahprabhu has said that anyone, regardless ofwhat he is, who is well versed in the science of Ka (rmad-Bhgavatam andBhagavad-gt) can become an authorized preacher or preceptor in the scienceof Ka.There is a need for the science of Ka in human society for the good of allsuffering humanity of the world, and we simply request the leaders of allnations to pick up this science of Ka for their own good, for the good ofsociety and for the good of all the world's people.114. Brahm's Prayers to Lord KaThis chapter describes the prayers Brahm offered to Lord Ka, who isalso known as Nanda-nandana.For His satisfaction, Brahm first praised the beauty of the Lord'stranscendental limbs and then declared that His original identity of sweetnessis even more difficult to comprehend than His opulence. Only by thedevotional process of hearing and chanting transcendental sounds receivedfrom Vedic authorities can one realize the Personality of Godhead. It isfruitless to try to realize God through processes outside the scope of Vedicauthority.The mystery of the Personality of Godhead, who is the reservoir ofunlimited spiritual qualities, is inconceivable; it is even more difficult tounderstand than the impersonal Supreme. Thus only by the mercy of God canone understand His glories. Finally realizing this, Brahm repeatedlycondemned his own actions and recognized that Lord r Ka, the ultimateshelter of the universe, is Brahm's own father, the original Nryaa. In thisway Brahm begged the Lord's forgiveness.Brahm then glorified the inconceivable opulence of the Personality ofGodhead and described the ways in which Brahm and iva differ from LordViu, the reason for the Supreme Lord's appearance in various species ofdemigods, animals and so on, the eternal nature of the pastimes of thePersonality of Godhead, and the temporality of the material world. Byknowing the Supreme Personality in truth, the individual spirit soul canachieve liberation from bondage. In actuality, however, both liberation andcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com2bondage are unreal, for it is only from the living entity's conditioned outlookthat his bondage and liberation are produced. Thinking the personal form ofLord Ka illusory, fools reject His lotus feet and look elsewhere to find theSupreme Self. But the futility of their search is the obvious proof of theirfoolishness. There is simply no way to understand the truth of the Personalityof Godhead without His mercy.Having established this conclusion, Lord Brahm analyzed the great goodfortune of the residents of Vraja and then personally prayed to be born thereeven as a blade of grass, a bush or a creeper. Indeed, the homes of the residentsof Vndvana are not prisons of material existence but rather abodes enviedeven by the jns and yogs. On the other hand, any home without aconnection to Lord Ka is in fact a prison cell of material existence. Finally,Brahm offered his whole self at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and,praising Him again and again, circumambulated Him and took his leave.Lord Ka then gathered the animals Brahm stole and led them to theplace on the Yamun's bank where the cowherd boys had been taking lunch.The same friends who had been present before were sitting there now. By thepower of Ka's illusory energy, they were not at all aware of what hadhappened. Thus when Ka arrived with the calves, the boys told Him,"You've returned so quickly! Very good. As long as You were gone we couldn'ttake even a morsel of food, so come and eat."Laughing at the words of the cowherd boys, Lord Ka began taking Hismeal in their company. While eating, Ka pointed out to His young friendsthe skin of the python, and the boys thought, "Ka has just now killed thisterrible snake." Indeed, later they related to the residents of Vndvana theincident of Ka's killing the Agha demon. In this way, the cowherd boysdescribed pastimes that Lord Ka had performed in His blya age (one tofive), even though His paugaa age (six to ten) had begun.ukadeva Gosvm concludes this chapter by explaining how the gopsloved Lord Ka even more than they loved their own sons.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com3TEXT 1''! ='!''! '"?' r' ''=''' '' r'"'!''! '!='r' '''''^''' ^'!''=''''' `='^'=' '='''!!=' ! ~^''''' ' '' '''! ''!f`'!''r-brahmovcanaumya te 'bhra-vapue taid-ambaryagujvatasa-paripiccha-lasan-mukhyavanya-sraje kavala-vetra-via-veu-lakma-riye mdu-pade paupgajyaSYNONYMSr-brahm uvcaLord Brahm said; naumiI offer praise; yaO mostworshipable one; teunto You; abhralike a dark cloud; vapuewhose body;taitlike lightning; ambaryawhose garment; gujmade of smallberries; avatasawith ornaments (for the ears); paripicchaand peacockfeathers; lasatresplendent; mukhya-whose face; vanya-srajewearinggarlands of forest flowers; kavalaa morsel of food; vetraa stick; viaabuffalo-horn bugle; veuand a flute; lakmacharacterized by; riyewhosebeauty; mdusoft; padewhose feet; pau-paof the cowherd (NandaMahrja); aga-jyaunto the son.TRANSLATIONLord Brahm said: My dear Lord, You are the only worshipable Lord, thecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com4Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore I offer my humble obeisancesand prayers just to please You. O son of the king of the cowherds, Yourtranscendental body is dark blue like a new cloud, Your garment is brilliant likelightning, and the beauty of Your face is enhanced by Your guj earrings andthe peacock feather on Your head. Wearing garlands of various forest flowersand leaves, and equipped with a herding stick, a buffalo horn and a flute, Youstand beautifully with a morsel of food in Your hand.PURPORTIn the previous chapter Brahm, the creator of the universe, tried tobewilder the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Ka, by stealing Hiscowherd boyfriends and calves. But by a slight exhibition of Ka's ownmystic potency, Brahm himself was completely bewildered, and now withgreat humility and devotion he offers his humble obeisances and prayers untothe Lord.The word kavala in this verse refers to a morsel of rice mixed with yogurtthat Ka held in His left hand. According to Santana Gosvm, the Lordheld a cowherding stick and a buffalo horn pressed under His left arm, and Hisflute was placed under His belt. Beautiful young Ka, decorated withmulticolored forest minerals, exhibited opulences far greater than those ofVaikuha. Although Brahm had seen innumerable four-armed forms of theLord, he now surrendered unto the lotus feet of the two-armed form of Ka,who appeared as the son of Nanda Mahrja. Brahm offered his prayers tothat form.TEXT 2''!'' =' =''' ''! '' '6''=' !''''' ' r' +' r'''''' `! '''copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com5' '! '6 r='=''r' '''!r' !'!'!'=' =' `' r'!r'' ^'!' +' r' asypi deva vapuo mad-anugrahasyasvecch-mayasya na tu bhta-mayasya ko 'pinee mahi tv avasitu manasntareaskt tavaiva kim uttma-sukhnubhteSYNONYMSasyaof this; apieven; devaO Lord; vapuathe body;mat-anugrahasyawhich has shown mercy to me; sva-icch-mayasyawhichappears in response to the desires of Your pure devotees; nanot; tuon theother hand; bhta-mayasyaa product of matter; kaBrahm; apieven; naeI am not able; mahithe potency; tuindeed; avasitumto estimate;manaswith my mind; antareawhich is controlled and withdrawn;sktdirectly; tavaYour; evaindeed; kim utawhat to speak;tmawithin Yourself; sukhaof happiness; anubhteof Your experience.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, neither I nor anyone else can estimate the potency of thistranscendental body of Yours, which has shown such mercy to me and whichappears just to fulfill the desires of Your pure devotees. Although my mind iscompletely withdrawn from material affairs, I cannot understand Your personalform. How, then, could I possibly understand the happiness You experiencewithin Yourself?PURPORTIn Ka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter Fourteen, rlaPrabhupda explains that in the present verse Lord Brahm expressed thecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com6following prayerful sentiment: "Your appearance as a cowherd child is for thebenefit of the devotees, and although I have committed an offense at Yourlotus feet by stealing away Your boys and calves, I can understand that Youhave bestowed Your mercy upon me. That is Your transcendental quality: Youare very affectionate toward Your devotees. But in spite of Your great affectionfor me, I cannot estimate the potency of Your bodily activities. It is to beunderstood that when I, Lord Brahm, the supreme personality of thisuniverse, cannot estimate the childlike body of the Supreme Personality ofGodhead, then what to speak of others? And if I cannot estimate the spiritualpotency of Your childlike body, then what can I understand about Yourtranscendental pastimes? Therefore, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gt, anyonewho can understand a little of the transcendental pastimes, appearance anddisappearance of the Lord immediately becomes eligible to enter the kingdomof God after quitting the material body. This statement is confirmed in theVedas, where it is stated. Simply by understanding the Supreme Personality ofGodhead, one can overcome the chain of repeated birth and death. I thereforerecommend that people should not try to understand You by their speculativeknowledge."When Brahm disrespected the supreme status of the Personality ofGodhead, Lord Ka first bewildered him by exhibiting the Lord's owntranscendental power. Then, having humbled His devotee Brahm, Ka gavehim His personal audience.According to rla Vivantha Cakravart hkura, Lord Ka'stranscendental body can also function through the agency of His plenaryexpansions, called viu-tattva. As stated by Brahm himself in theBrahma-sahit (5.32): agni yasya sakalendriya-vttimanti. This verseindicates not only that the Lord can perform any bodily function with any ofHis limbs but also that He can see through the eyes of His Viu expansions or,indeed, through the eyes of any living entity, and similarly that He can hearthrough the ears of any Viu or jva expansion. rla Vivantha Cakravarthkura points out that although the Lord can perform any function with anycopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com7one of His senses, in His transcendental pastimes as r Ka He generallysees with His eyes, touches with His hands, hears with His ears and so on. ThusHe behaves like the most beautiful and charming young cowherd boy.The Vedic knowledge expands from Lord Brahm, who is described in thefirst verse of rmad-Bhgavatam as di-kavi, the primeval Vedic scholar. YetBrahm could not understand the transcendental body of Lord Ka, becauseit is beyond the reach of ordinary Vedic knowledge. Among all thetranscendental forms of the Lord, the two-armed form of Govinda-Kaisoriginal and supreme. Thus Lord Govinda's pastimes of stealing butter,drinking the gops' breast-milk, tending the calves, playing His flute andplaying childhood sports are extraordinary even in comparison with theactivities of the Lord's Viu expansions.TEXT 37'!' '''!'' ''!'' ''r' =''='r' '' ^'r'! +'='''='!r'! ''!' 'r'! ' r'!r'! r'' ='!" `''! +' '' '!'''!! ''r' 'r'! ''''' r' U^'! ''!'jne praysam udapsya namanta evajvanti san-mukharit bhavadya-vrtmsthne sthit ruti-gat tanu-v-manobhirye pryao 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokymSYNONYMSjnefor knowledge; praysamthe endeavor; udapsyagiving upcompletely; namantaoffering obeisances; evasimply; jvantilive;sat-mukharitmchanted by the pure devotees; bhavadya-vrtmtopicscopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com8related to You; sthnein their material position; sthitremaining;ruti-gatmreceived by hearing; tanuwith their body; vkwords;manobhiand mind; yewho; pryaafor the most part; ajitaOunconquerable one; jitaconquered; apinevertheless; asiYou become;taiby them; tri-lokymwithin the three worlds.TRANSLATIONThose who, even while remaining situated in their established socialpositions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body,words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality andactivities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by Youpersonally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship,although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.PURPORTHere the word udapsya clearly indicates that one should not even slightlyendeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by the process of mentalspeculation, for it invariably carries one to an imperfect, impersonalunderstanding of God. The word jvanti indicates that a devotee who alwayshears about Lord Ka will go back home, back to Godhead, even if he can donothing except maintain his existence and hear topics concerning the Lord.rla Santana Gosvm has explained the words tanu-v-manobhi ("bythe body, words and mind") in three ways. In reference to devotees, throughtheir body, words and mind they are able to conquer Lord Ka. Thusbecoming perfect in Ka consciousness, they can touch His lotus feet withtheir hands, call Him to come with their words, and attain His direct audiencewithin their mind simply by thinking about Him.In the case of nondevotees, the words tanu-v-manobhi refer to the wordajita, "unconquered," and indicate that those not engaged in the loving servicecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com9of Lord Ka cannot conquer the Absolute Truth by their bodily strength,verbal expertise or mental power. Despite all their endeavors, the ultimatetruth remains beyond their reach.In reference to the word jita, "conquered," the words tanu-v-manobhiindicate that the pure devotees of Lord Ka conquer His body, words andmind. Lord Ka's body is conquered because He always remains by the side ofHis pure devotees; Lord Ka's words are conquered because He always chantsthe glories of His devotees; and Lord Ka's mind is conquered because Healways thinks about His loving devotees.rla Vivantha Cakravart hkura has explained the wordstanu-v-manobhi in regard to the word namanta, "offering obeisances." Heexplains that the devotees can take full advantage of the transcendental topicsof the Lord by offering all respects to those topics with their body, words andmind. One should engage his body by touching the ground with his hands andhead while offering obeisances to the topics of the Lord; one should engage hiswords by praising transcendental literatures such as Bhagavad-gt andrmad-Bhgavatam, as well as the devotees who are preaching such literatures;and one should engage his mind by feeling great reverence and pleasure whilehearing the transcendental topics of the Lord. In this way, a sincere devoteewho has acquired even a small amount of transcendental knowledge aboutLord Ka can conquer Him and thus go back home, back to Godhead, foreternal life at the Lord's side.TEXT 4' ''' r' +'`' '' r' ='+'!^''''r' '' `='^''! ''^'''''r' ''!''! ^' '!^' =' '!'''r'copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com10'!''9'! ' ^'r' ''!=''!r''!'reya-sti bhaktim udasya te vibhokliyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhayetem asau kleala eva iyatennyad yath sthla-tuvaghtinmSYNONYMSreyaof supreme benefit; stimthe path; bhaktimdevotional service;udasyarejecting; tethey; vibhoO almighty Lord; kliyantistruggle;yewho; kevalaexclusive; bodhaof knowledge; labdhayefor theachievement; temfor them; asauthis; klealabotheration;evamerely; iyateremains; nanothing; anyatother; yathjust as;sthla-tuaempty husks; avaghtinmfor those who are beating.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the best path forself-realization. If someone gives up that path and engages in the cultivation ofspeculative knowledge, he will simply undergo a troublesome process and willnot achieve his desired result. As a person who beats an empty husk of wheatcannot get grain, one who simply speculates cannot achieve self-realization. Hisonly gain is trouble.PURPORTLoving service to the Supreme Person is the natural and eternal function ofevery living entity. If a person renounces his own constitutional function andinstead laboriously seeks so-called enlightenment through impersonal,speculative knowledge, his result is simply the trouble and bother that comefrom following an artificial process. A fool may beat an empty husk, notcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com11knowing that the grain has already been removed. Similarly foolish is theperson who throws his mind again and again into the pursuit of knowledgewithout surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for it is theSupreme Personality of Godhead who is the very substance and goal ofknowledge, just as grain is the substance and goal of the entire agriculturaleffort. Vedic knowledge or, indeed, material science without the Personality ofGodhead is exactly like an empty and useless husk of wheat.One may argue that by practicing yoga or cultivating impersonal knowledgeone can acquire prestige, wealth, mystic powers or even impersonal liberation.But these so-called gains are actually useless, because they do not situate theliving being in his constitutional position of loving service to the SupremeLord. Therefore such results, being superfluous to the living being's essentialnature, are impermanent. As stated in the Nsiha Pura, patreu pupeuphaleu toyev akrta-labhyeu vadaiva satsu/ bhakty su-labhye purue puremuktyai kim artha kriyate prayatna: "Since the primeval Personality ofGodhead is easily attained by offering Him such things as leaves, flowers, fruitsand water, which are all found without difficulty, why does one need toendeavor for liberation separately?"Although the process of devotional service to Lord Ka is very simple, itis extremely difficult for stubborn conditioned souls to completely humblethemselves before the Supreme Personality of Godhead and absorb themselvestwenty-four hours a day in His loving service. The mood of loving service isanathema to belligerent conditioned souls determined to defy God and enjoy.When such stubborn conditioned souls attempt to bypass surrendering to Godthrough proud attempts at philosophical speculation, austerity, and yoga, theyare turned back to the material platform by the powerful laws of God andviolently merged into the heaving ocean of insignificance called the materialworld.TEXT 5copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com12'' 6 +' '' '6='! ''' ''! !''r=''' r' 6! ''`' ^'''''!='' ''' +'r'' =' `'! '''r'''!''' ''! ''' r' r' !r' ''!'pureha bhman bahavo 'pi yoginastvad-arpiteh nija-karma-labdhayvibudhya bhaktyaiva kathopantayprapedire 'jo 'cyuta te gati parmSYNONYMSpurpreviously; ihain this world; bhmanO almighty Lord;bahavamany; apiindeed; yoginafollowers of the path of yoga;tvatunto You; arpitahaving offered; hall their endeavors;nija-karmaby their prescribed duties; labdhaywhich is achieved;vibudhyacoming to understand; bhaktyby devotional service;evaindeed; kath-upantaycultivated through hearing and chantingtopics about You; prapedirethey achieved by surrender; ajaeasily;acyutaO infallible one; teYour; gatimdestination; parmsupreme.TRANSLATIONO almighty Lord, in the past many yogs in this world achieved the platformof devotional service by offering all their endeavors unto You and faithfullycarrying out their prescribed duties. Through such devotional service, perfectedby the processes of hearing and chanting about You, they came to understandYou, O infallible one, and could easily surrender to You and achieve Yoursupreme abode.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com13TEXT 6r''!'' +' ''6'!! !'' r'=''! '' '6 r'''^'!r'!r'+'='`''!r='!' +'='!*`''r'!''''! '''!r'r'''! ' '!'''!tathpi bhman mahimguasya teviboddhum arhaty amalntar-tmabhiavikriyt svnubhavd arpatohy ananya-bodhytmatay na cnyathSYNONYMStath apinevertheless; bhmanO limitless one; mahimthe potency;aguasyaof Him who has no material qualities; teof You; viboddhumtounderstand; arhatione is able; amalaspotless; anta-tmabhiwith mindand senses; avikriytnot based on material differentiations;sva-anubhavtby perception of the Supreme Soul; arpatawithoutattachment to material forms; hiindeed; ananya-bodhya-tmatayasself-manifested, without the help of any other illuminating agent; nanot;caand; anyathotherwise.TRANSLATIONNondevotees, however, cannot realize You in Your full personal feature.Nevertheless, it may be possible for them to realize Your expansion as theimpersonal Supreme by cultivating direct perception of the Self within theheart. But they can do this only by purifying their mind and senses of allconceptions of material distinctions and all attachment to material sense objects.Only in this way will Your impersonal feature manifest itself to them.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com14PURPORTIt is difficult for conditioned souls to understand all the transcendentalfeatures of the Supreme Lord. As confirmed in the First Canto ofrmad-Bhgavatam (1.2.11): brahmeti paramtmeti bhagavn iti abdyate. Thetranscendental existence of God is understood progressively as the impersonaleffulgence, the localized Supersoul in one's heart, and finally the SupremePersonality of Godhead existing in His eternal abode. Lord Ka'stranscendental existence is beyond the qualities of material nature. Thus herethe Lord is referred to as aguasya, without material qualities.Even by practicing yoga or engaging in advanced philosophical speculation,one will find it very difficult to understand clearly the transcendentalexistence beyond the modes of material nature. And these processes arevirtually useless for understanding the Lord's own unlimited transcendentalqualities, which are far beyond the impersonal conception of spiritualexistence. Only by the mercy of the pure devotees of the Lord or by associatingwith the Lord Himself can one begin the process of realizing the personalfeature of Goda process that culminates in pure Ka consciousness, thefinal and supreme perfection of knowledge.TEXT 7! !!r''r' ''' ! !!' =''!r' 6r'!='r'`''' ` 1 '! '''`!^' ' '' ='! =''r'! ' `^'' +' ''! '!=' ^' '6`! 9 +'!'gutmanas te 'pi gun vimtuhitvatnasya ka ire 'syacopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com15klena yair v vimit su-kalpairbh-pava khe mihik dyu-bhsaSYNONYMSgua-tmanaof the possessor of all superior qualities; teYou;apicertainly; gunthe qualities; vimtumto count;hita-avatrasyawho have descended for the benefit of all living entities;kewho; ireare able; asyaof the universe; klenain due course oftime; yaiby whom; vor; vimitcounted; su-kalpaiby greatscientists; bh-pavathe atoms of an earthly planet; khein the sky;mihikthe particles of snow; dyu-bhsathe illumination of stars andplanets.TRANSLATIONIn time, learned philosophers or scientists might be able to count all theatoms of the earth, the particles of snow, or perhaps even the shining moleculesradiating from the sun, the stars and other luminaries. But among these learnedmen, who could possibly count the unlimited transcendental qualities possessedby You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who have descended onto thesurface of the earth for the benefit of all living entities?PURPORTrla Santana Gosvm explains that Lord Ka is gutm, "the soul ofall superior qualities," because He gives them life. For example, one may discussin an abstract way such qualities as generosity, intelligence and mercy, butthey come to life only when a living person exhibits them. Thus Lord Ka isgutm because He descends to the material world and reestablishes religiousprinciples by exhibiting all godly qualities Himself and inspiring them inothers. A living entity who develops the transcendental qualities found in thecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com16Lord receives immeasurable benefit and eventually goes with the Lord back toHis own abode, where all living beings are liberated and fully endowed withthe transcendental nature.rla Santana Gosvm further explains that the Lord manifests a specificspiritual quality for the benefit of each living entity. Since there areinnumerable living entities within the confines of the material creation, theLord manifests infinite qualities. Thus every conditioned soul can appreciatethe Supreme Lord in a particular way.The example is given here that even if the most learned scholars couldsomeday count the particles of earth, snow and light, they would still fail tounderstand the qualities of the Lord. In this example earth, snow and light areprogressively more subtle; thus it is to be understood that there is an increasingdifficulty in counting their virtually infinite particles.According to rla Vivantha Cakravart hkura, great personalities likeLord Sakaraa actually have counted the number of atoms on the earth, andeven the molecules in the entire universe. Yet even such a personality asSakaraa, who has been continuously chanting the glories of the Lord sincetime immemorial, has not even approached a final count of those glories.Lord Ka exhibits His most astonishing qualities during His childhoodpastimes in Vndvana, where He steals butter from the cowherd ladies,dances with His girlfriends, and plays with His cowherd boyfriends as theirmost dear companion. Although appearing like ordinary human activities,such sublime pastimes embody Lord Ka's immeasurable and innumerablebeautiful transcendental qualities, which are the life and soul of the puredevotees.TEXT 8r'' '' `''! ' ''''!!!+' '!' ='!r' `r' ='''!`'copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com176!=''' +' =' ''?''r''=' r' ''! ' `'' ' !''+'! `tat te 'nukamp su-samkamobhujna evtma-kta vipkamhd-vg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas tejveta yo mukti-pade sa dya-bhkSYNONYMStattherefore; teYour; anukampmcompassion;su-samkamaearnestly hoping for; bhujnaenduring;evacertainly; tma-ktamdone by himself; vipkamthe fruitive results;htwith his heart; vkwords; vapurbhiand body; vidadhanoffering;namaobeisances; teunto You; jvetalives; yaanyone who;mukti-padeto the position of liberation; sahe; dya-bhkthe rightfulheir.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causelessmercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his pastmisdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body,is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.PURPORTrla rdhara Svm explains in his commentary that just as a legitimateson has to simply remain alive to gain an inheritance from his father, one whosimply remains alive in Ka consciousness, following the regulativeprinciples of bhakti-yoga, automatically becomes eligible to receive the mercyof the Personality of Godhead. In other words, he will be promoted to thecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com18kingdom of God.The word su-samkama indicates that a devotee earnestly awaits themercy of the Supreme Lord even while suffering the painful effects of previoussinful activities. Lord Ka explains in the Bhagavad-gt that a devotee whofully surrenders unto Him is no longer liable to suffer the reactions of hisprevious karma. However, because in his mind a devotee may still maintain theremnants of his previous sinful mentality, the Lord removes the last vestiges ofthe enjoying spirit by giving His devotee punishments that may sometimesresemble sinful reactions. The purpose of the entire creation of God is torectify the living entity's tendency to enjoy without the Lord, and thereforethe particular punishment given for a sinful activity is specifically designed tocurtail the mentality that produced the activity. Although a devotee hassurrendered to the Lord's devotional service, until he is completely perfect inKa consciousness he may maintain a slight inclination to enjoy the falsehappiness of this world. The Lord therefore creates a particular situation toeradicate this remaining enjoying spirit. This unhappiness suffered by asincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction; it is rather the Lord'sspecial mercy for inducing His devotee to completely let go of the materialworld and return home, back to Godhead.A sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord's abode.Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord's merciful punishment and continuesoffering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words and body.Such a bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price topay for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes alegitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words dya-bhk. Just as onecannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach thesupreme pure, Lord Ka, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process,which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatmentadministered by the personal hand of the Lord.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com19TEXT 9''''' '! ' ''!'' ''r' !9''!r'' r='''''' '!'''!''''!''! ='r'r'' 'r' '!r'=' +'='6 `''!' '='!' '!payea me 'nryam ananta dyepartmani tvayy api myi-myinimy vitatyekitum tma-vaibhavahy aha kiyn aiccham ivrcir agnauSYNONYMSpayajust see; aO Lord; memy; anryamcontemptible behavior;ananteagainst the unlimited; dyethe primeval; para-tmanitheSupersoul; tvayiYou; apieven; myi-myinifor the masters of illusion;mym(my) illusory potency; vitatyaspreading; kitumto see;tmaYour; vaibhavampower; hiindeed; ahamI; kiynhow much;aicchamI desired; ivajust like; arcia small spark; agnauin comparisonto the whole fire.TRANSLATIONMy Lord, just see my uncivilized impudence! To test Your power I tried toextend my illusory potency to cover You, the unlimited and primeval Supersoul,who bewilder even the masters of illusion. What am I compared to You? I amjust like a small spark in the presence of a great fire.PURPORTcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com20A great fire produces many sparks, which are insignificant in comparison toit. Indeed, if one of the small sparks were to try to burn the original fire, theattempt would be simply ludicrous. Similarly, even the creator of the entireuniverse, Lord Brahm, is an insignificant spark of the potency of God, andtherefore Brahm's attempt to bewilder the Supreme Lord was certainlyludicrous.Brahm here addresses Lord Ka as a, which indicates that Ka is notonly the supreme master of everyone but is also specifically the master ofBrahm, who creates the universe directly under the guidance of the Lord andwho, indeed, is born directly from the Lord's own body.Brahm felt ashamed of his impudent attempt at deluding Lord Ka, andhe was therefore perfectly willing to be punished or forgiven by the Lord,according to His decision. If Lord Ka does not mercifully punish Hisdevotees when they act improperly, their foolishness will simply increase andgradually completely overwhelm their devotional sentiments. Therefore LordKa kindly disciplines His devotees and maintains them on the progressivepath back home, back to Godhead.TEXT 10r' ''='!'' r' ' '! +' ='!'!'r'r='r'' '!'!'!'''!='^' ''!''r''! ''''' ''''! '' `'''! ''' '!'='!'r'ata kamasvcyuta me rajo-bhuvohy ajnatas tvat-pthag-a-mninaajvalepndha-tamo-'ndha-cakuaeo 'nukampyo mayi nthavn iticopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com21SYNONYMSatatherefore; kamasvaplease excuse; acyutaO infallible Lord;meme; raja-bhuvawho have taken birth in the mode of passion;hiindeed; ajnatabeing ignorant; tvatfrom You; pthakseparate;aa controller; mninapresuming myself; ajathe unborn creator;avalepathe covering; andha-tamaby such darkness of ignorance;andhablinded; cakuamy eyes; eathis person; anukampyashouldbe shown mercy; mayiMe; ntha-vnhaving as his master; itithusthinking.TRANSLATIONTherefore, O infallible Lord, kindly excuse my offenses. I have taken birthin the mode of passion and am therefore simply foolish, presuming myself acontroller independent of Your Lordship. My eyes are blinded by the darknessof ignorance, which causes me to think of myself as the unborn creator of theuniverse. But please consider that I am Your servant and therefore worthy ofYour compassion.PURPORTIn his commentary, rla Vivantha Cakravart hkura explains thatBrahm wanted to present the following argument to the Lord: "My dear Lord,because I have acted so badly I certainly deserve to be punished. On the otherhand, because I am so ignorant You should consider me an innocent fool andbe merciful to me. Thus, although I deserve both punishment and forgiveness,I humbly beg You to exercise tolerance in this matter and simply forgive meand show me Your mercy."The words nthavn iti indicate that Lord Brahm wanted to humblyremind Lord Ka that He was, after all, Brahm's father and master andcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com22should therefore forgive the unfortunate transgressions of His humble servant.Every conditioned soul, whether he be Lord Brahm or an insignificant ant,falsely identifies himself with the material world and in this way forgets hiseternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Brahm,because of his prestigious position as the cosmic creator, also tends to identifyhimself as the lord of this world, and thus he sometimes forgets his position asan insignificant servant of the Supreme Lord. Now, by Lord Ka's mercy,this false identification is being rectified and Lord Brahm is remembering hisconstitutional position as the eternal servant of God.TEXT 11`!6 r''! '66 ^''!'='!+' ~' =' r'!"'`'F'='r'r'`!'' ` ='''!='!!r'!"''!! '''! ~='!r'!'='! '='=''' ' r' '6r=''kvha tamo-mahad-aha-kha-cargni-vr-bh-saveita-ghaa-sapta-vitasti-kyakvedg-vidhvigaita-paru-cary-vtdhva-roma-vivarasya ca te mahitvamSYNONYMSkvawhere; ahamI; tamathe material nature; mahatthe total materialenergy; ahamfalse ego; khaether; caraair; agnifire; vwater;bhearth; saveitasurrounded by; aa-ghaaa potlike universe;sapta-vitastiseven spans; kyabody; kvawhere; dksuch; vidhlike;avigaitaunlimited; aauniverses; para-aulike the atomic dust;carymoving; vta-adhvaairholes; romaof hair on the body;copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com23vivarasyaof the holes; caalso; teYour; mahitvamgreatness.TRANSLATIONWhat am I, a small creature measuring seven spans of my own hand? I amenclosed in a potlike universe composed of material nature, the total materialenergy, false ego, ether, air, water and earth. And what is Your glory?Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just as particles ofdust pass through the openings of a screened window.PURPORTIn the Caitanya-caritmta, di-ll, Chapter Five, Text 72, rlaPrabhupda gives the following purport for this verse: "Then Lord Brahm,after having stolen all Ka's cows and cowherd boys, returned and saw thatthe cows and boys were still roaming with Ka, he offered this prayer in hisdefeat. A conditioned souleven one so great as Brahm, who manages theaffairs of the entire universecannot compare to the Personality of Godhead,for He can produce numberless universes simply by the spiritual raysemanating from the pores of His body. Material scientists should take lessonsfrom the utterances of r Brahm regarding our insignificance in comparisonwith God. In these prayers of Brahm there is much to learn for those who arefalsely puffed up by the accumulation of power."In Ka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter Fourteen, rlaPrabhupda further comments on this verse: "Lord Brahm realized his actualposition. He is certainly the supreme teacher of this universe, in charge of theproduction of material nature, consisting of the complete material energy, falseego, sky, air, fire, water and earth. Such a universe may be gigantic, but it canbe measured, just as we measure our body as seven spans. Generally, everyone'spersonal bodily measurement is calculated to be seven spans of his hand. Thisparticular universe may appear to be a very gigantic body, but it is nothing butcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com24the measurement of seven spans for Lord Brahm."Aside from this universe, there are unlimited other universes outside thejurisdiction of this particular Lord Brahm. Just as innumerable atomicinfinitesimal fragments pass through the holes of a screened window, somillions and trillions of universes in their seedling form are coming out fromthe bodily pores of Mah-Viu, and that Mah-Viu is but a part of theplenary expansion of Ka. Under these circumstances, although LordBrahm is the supreme creature within this universe, what is his importance inthe presence of Lord Ka?TEXT 12r' ''! !+' !r''' ''!''! ` `^''r' '!r' ''! ''!!'`'r''!r'='''' '!+' ''r'r'='!r' `' `''''''r'utkepaa garbha-gatasya pdayoki kalpate mtur adhokajgasekim asti-nsti-vyapadea-bhitatavsti kuke kiyad apy anantaSYNONYMSutkepaamthe kicking; garbha-gatasyaof a child in the womb;pdayoof the legs; kimwhat; kalpateamounts to; mtufor themother; adhokajaO transcendental Lord; gaseas an offense; kimwhat;astiit exists; na astiit does not exist; vyapadeaby the designations;bhitamdecorated; tavaYour; astithere is, kuke-of the abdomen;kiyathow much; apieven; anantaexternal.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com25TRANSLATIONO Lord Adhokaja, does a mother take offense when the child within herwomb kicks with his legs? And is there anything in existencewhetherdesignated by various philosophers as real or as unrealthat is actually outsideYour abdomen?PURPORTrla Prabhupda comments as follows on this verse in Ka, the SupremePersonality of Godhead, Chapter Fourteen: "Lord Brahm therefore comparedhimself to a little child within the womb of his mother. If the child within thewomb plays with his hands and legs, and while playing touches the body of themother, is the mother offended with the child? Of course she isn't. Similarly,Lord Brahm may be a very great personality, and yet not only Brahm buteverything that be is existing within the womb of the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. The Lord's energy is all-pervading: there is no place in the creationwhere it is not acting. Since everything is existing within the energy of theLord, the Brahm of this universe or the Brahms of the many other millionsand trillions of universes are existing within the energy of the Lord; thereforethe Lord is considered to be the mother, and everything existing within thewomb of the mother is considered to be the child. And the good mother isnever offended with the child, even if he touches the body of the mother bykicking his legs."TEXT 13'!r'''!r'! ''''^'='! '!!''!''! '!+''!^'!r'=''! r'! ''r='r' ='!" ` ' =' ' ''!copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com26`r='H r='?' =''! r'! ''jagat-trayntodadhi-samplavodenryaasyodara-nbhi-nltvinirgato 'jas tv iti v na vai mkintv vara tvan na vinirgato 'smiSYNONYMSjagat-trayaof the three worlds; antain the dissolution; udadhiof all theoceans; samplavaof the total deluge; udein the water; nryaasyaof theSupreme Personality of Godhead, Nryaa; udaragrowing from theabdomen; nbhifrom the navel; nltout of the lotus stem;vinirgatacame out; ajaBrahm; tuindeed; itithus speaking;vkthe words; naare not; vaicertainly; mfalse; kintuthus;varaO Lord; tvatfrom You; nanot; vinirgataspecifically emanated;asmiam I.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, it is said that when the three planetary systems are mergedinto the water at the time of dissolution, Your plenary portion, Nryaa, liesdown on the water, gradually a lotus flower grows from His navel, and Brahmtakes birth upon that lotus flower. Certainly, these words are not false. Thusam I not born from You?PURPORTAlthough every living being is a child of God, Lord Brahm here makes aspecial claim because he takes birth on a lotus flower that emanates from thenavel of Nryaa, the Personality of Godhead. Ultimately, all living beingsare equally expansions of the transcendental body of the Supreme Lord. Butcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com27Brahm has an intimate relationship with the Lord because of the activities ofuniversal creation, and so he uses the prefix vi in the word vinirgata to beg theLord's special mercy. Lord Brahm is called aja because he is not born from anymother but rather emanates directly from the body of the Lord. As rlaPrabhupda states in Ka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, "It is naturallyconcluded that the mother of Brahm is Nryaa." On these grounds, LordBrahm is requesting special forgiveness for his offenses.TEXT 14'!!''!r=' ' 6 '=' 6'!'!r'!'''''!!^'^'^'! `'!''!!''!! 'f ` '+' '^'!'''!r'r'+'!'' 'r'' ' r'=' =' '!''!nryaas tva na hi sarva-dehinmtmsy adhkhila-loka-sknryao 'ga nara-bh-jalyanttac cpi satya na tavaiva mySYNONYMSnryaathe Supreme Lord Nryaa; tvamYou; nanot; hiwhether;sarvaof all; dehinmembodied living beings; tmthe Supersoul;asiYou are; adhaO supreme controller; akhilaof all; lokaplanets;skthe witness; nryaaLord r Nryaa; agamthe expandedplenary portion; narafrom the Supreme Personality; bhoriginating;jalaof the water; ayantbecause of being the manifesting source; tatthat(expansion); caand; apiindeed; satyamtrue; nanot; tavaYour;evaat all; myillusory energy.copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com28TRANSLATIONAre You not the original Nryaa, O supreme controller, since You are theSoul of every embodied being and the eternal witness of all created realms?Indeed, Lord Nryaa is Your expansion, and He is called Nryaa becauseHe is the generating source of the primeval water of the universe. He is real,not a product of Your illusory My.PURPORTIn the Caitanya-caritmta, di-ll, Chapter Two, Text 30, rlaPrabhupda comments on this verse as follows: "This statement was spoken byLord Brahm in his prayers to Lord Ka after the Lord defeated him bydisplaying His mystic powers. Brahm had tried to test Lord Ka to see if Hewas really the Supreme Personality of Godhead playing as a cowherd boy.Brahm stole all the other boys and their cows from the pasturing grounds, butwhen he returned to the pastures he saw that all the boys and cows were stillthere, for Lord Ka had created them all again. When Brahm saw thismystic power of Lord Ka, he admitted defeat and offered prayers to theLord, addressing Him as the proprietor and seer of everything in the creationand as the Supersoul who is within each and every living entity and is dear toall. Lord Ka is Nryaa, the father of Brahm, because Lord Ka'splenary expansion Garbhodakay Viu, after placing Himself on the GarbhaOcean, created Brahm from His own body. Mah-Viu in the Causal Oceanand Krodakay Viu, the Supersoul in everyone's heart, are alsotranscendental expansions of the Supreme Truth."In his commentary on this verse, rla Santana Gosvm has elaboratelyexplained the expansion of the Viu, or Nryaa, incarnations from theoriginal form of Godhead, Lord r Ka. The essence is that although LordBrahm was born from Lord Nryaa, Brahm now understands thatNryaa is Himself a mere expansion of the original Personality of Godhead,copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com29Lord r Ka.TEXT 15r'+' '^'' r'=' ''!'' ` ' ' +'!=' r' =' ` ='! ' 6 ' r' =' ` '! '''9 =' '' '='' '!tac cej jala-stha tava saj jagad-vapuki me na da bhagavas tadaivaki v su-da hdi me tadaivaki no sapady eva punar vyadariSYNONYMStatthat; cetif; jala-sthamsituated upon the water; tavaYour; satreal;jagatsheltering the entire universe; vaputhe transcendental body;kimwhy; meby me; na damwas not seen; bhagavanO SupremeLord; tad evaat that very time; kimwhy; vor; su-damperfectlyseen; hdiwithin the heart; meby me; tad evajust then; kimwhy;nanot; uon the other hand; sapadisuddenly; evaindeed;punaagain; vyadariwas seen.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, if Your transcendental body, which shelters the entireuniverse, is actually lying upon the water, then why were You not seen by mewhen I searched for You? And why, though I could not envision You properlywithin my heart, did You then suddenly reveal Yourself?copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com30PURPORTLord Brahm here refers to his experience at the dawn of cosmic creation.As described in the Second Canto of rmad-Bhgavatam, Lord Brahm tookbirth on the seat of a giant lotus whose stem emanated from the navel ofNryaa. Brahm was bewildered as to his whereabouts, function andidentity, and therefore he tried to trace out the source of the lotus stem,searching for clear information. Unable to find the Personality of Godhead, hereturned to his seat and engaged in severe austerities, having been ordered todo so by the transcendental voice of the Lord, who could be heard but notseen. After long meditation, Brahm saw the Lord but then again lost sight ofHim. Thus Brahm concludes that the transcendental body of the Personalityof Godhead is not material but rather an eternal, spiritual form endowed withinconceivable mystic potencies. In other words, Lord Brahm should not havechallenged the Personality of Godhead, the Lord of all mystic power.TEXT 16' =' '!''!''''!='r'! '' '''''' '6 ``'' `rh''' '!r'' ` ''''!'!''!r='' =' '`` `r' r'atraiva my-dhamanvatrehy asya prapacasya bahi sphuasyaktsnasya cntar jahare jananymytvam eva praka-kta teSYNONYMScopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com31atrain this; evaindeed; my-dhamanaO subduer of My; avatreinthe incarnation; hicertainly; asyaof this; prapacasyacreated materialmanifestation; bahiexternally; sphuasyawhich is visible;ktsnasyaentire; caand; antawithin; jahareYour abdomen;jananyunto Your mother; mytvamYour bewildering potency;evaindeed; praka-ktamhas been demonstrated; teby You.TRANSLATIONMy dear Lord, in this incarnation You have proved that You are the supremecontroller of My. Although You are now within this universe, the wholeuniversal creation is within Your transcendental bodya fact Youdemonstrated by exhibiting the universe within Your abdomen before Yourmother, Yaod.PURPORTLord Brahm here describes the inconceivable spiritual potency of theLord. We may find a pot within a house, but we can hardly expect to find thehouse within the same pot. By the Lord's spiritual potency, however, He canappear within this universe and simultaneously exhibit all the universes withinHis body. One may argue that since the universes seen by mother Yaodwithin Lord Ka's abdomen were within the Lord's body, they are differentfrom the illusory material universes manifest externally. Here Lord Brahmrefutes that argument, however. Lord Ka is my-dhamana, the supremecontroller of illusion. By the Lord's own supreme mystic potency, He canbewilder even illusion herself, and thus the Lord actually exhibited all thematerial universes within His body. This is mytvam, the supreme bewilderingpotency of the Personality of Godhead.TEXT 17copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com32'''' `'!=' '=''!r' +'!r' '''! r''!r'=''''''6 r'r'='`' '!''''! =''!yasya kukv ida sarvastma bhti yath tathtat tvayy apha tat sarvakim ida myay vinSYNONYMSyasyaof whom; kukauwithin the abdomen; idamthis cosmicmanifestation; sarvamall; sa-tmamincluding Yourself; bhtiismanifested; yathas; tathso; tatthat; tvayiwithin You; apialthough;ihahere externally; tatthat cosmic manifestation; sarvamwhole;kimwhat; idamthis; myaythe influence of Your inconceivable energy;vinwithout.TRANSLATIONJust as this entire universe, including You, was exhibited within Yourabdomen, so it is now manifested here externally in the same exact form. Howcould such things happen unless arranged by Your inconceivable energy?PURPORTrla Prabhupda comments on this verse as follows in Ka, the SupremePersonality of Godhead: "Lord Brahm stressed herein that without acceptingthe inconceivable energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannotexplain things as they are."copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com33TEXT 189 =' r=' r' ''' ` '' ' r' '!''!r=''!'! r''`! '' ''' r'r'! ''' 6r'! ''r'! ''r'!='r'! '' 'r' +' '!r'^'^' '! ` '''! ''!'r'!'r'!='r'' =' '!r''+' r''r' '!'' '!'''r'adyaiva tvad te 'sya ki mama na te mytvam daritameko 'si prathama tato vraja-suhd-vats samast apitvanto 'si catur-bhujs tad akhilai ska mayopsitstvanty eva jaganty abhs tad amita brahmdvaya iyateSYNONYMSadyatoday; evajust; tvat teapart from You; asyaof this universe;kimwhat; mamato me; nanot; teby You; mytvamthe basis in Yourinconceivable potency; daritamshown; ekaalone; asiYou are;prathamamfirst of all; tatathen; vraja-suhtYour cowherd boyfriends ofVndvana; vatsand the calves; samastall; apieven; tvantaofthe same number; asiYou became; catu-bhujfour-handed forms of LordViu; tatthen; akhilaiby all; skamtogether with; maymyself;upsitbeing worshiped; tvantiof the same number; evaalso;jagantiuniverses; abhYou became; tatthen; amitamthe unlimited;brahmaAbsolute Truth; advayamone without a second; iyateYou nowremain.TRANSLATIONHave You not shown me today that both You Yourself and everythingwithin this creation are manifestations of Your inconceivable potency? Firstcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com34You appeared alone, and then You manifested Yourself as all of Vndvana'scalves and cowherd boys, Your friends. Next You appeared as an equal numberof four-handed Viu forms, who were worshiped by all living beings, includingme, and after that You appeared as an equal number of complete universes.Finally, You have now returned to Your unlimited form as the SupremeAbsolute Truth, one without a second.PURPORTAs stated in the Vedic literature, sarva khalv ida brahma: everythingthat exists is an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thuseverything is ultimately part and parcel of the Lord's spiritual existence. ByLord Ka's causeless mercy, Lord Brahm personally experienced that allexistence, being the potency of God, is nondifferent from Him.TEXT 19'!'r'! r='r''='''!r'''!r'!r''! +'!' ='r'r'' '!''!'' !='='!6 '!r'! ='''!'1=' r='' ''! 'r' 1=' '' 'ajnat tvat-padavm antmanytmtman bhsi vitatya mymsv ivha jagato vidhnaiva tvam eo 'nta iva trinetraSYNONYMSajnatmto persons who are in ignorance; tvat-padavmof Yourtranscendental position; antmaniin the material energy; tmYourself;copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com35tmanby Yourself; bhsiappear; vitatyaexpanding; mymYourinconceivable energy; sauin the matter of creation; ivaas if; ahamI,Brahm; jagataof the universe; vidhnein the maintenance; ivaas if;tvam eaYourself; antein the annihilation; ivaas if; tri-netraLordiva.TRANSLATIONTo persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear aspart of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Yourinconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me[Brahm], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viu], and for itsannihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [iva].PURPORTAlthough the impersonal Myvd philosophers think that the demigodsare illusory, Lord Brahm, Lord iva and Lord Viu are stated here to beexpansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus real. Indeed,they are the extraordinarily powerful controllers of the universe. The ultimatetruth is a supreme and beautiful person, and thus throughout the creation ofGod we will always find the personal touch.TEXT 20' '=' '''=''! r'' =' ' '='''r''' ' ''!=''' r' '''''''!'r'! ' ''6!'''+'! ='''!r' '' '6!'' 'copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com36surev iv a tathaiva nv apitiryaku ydasv api te 'janasyajanmsat durmada-nigrahyaprabho vidhta sad-anugrahya caSYNONYMSsureuamong the demigods; iuamong the great sages; aO Lord;tathas well as; evaindeed; nuamong the human beings; apiand;tiryakuamong animals; ydasuamong aquatics; apialso; teof You;ajanasyawho never takes material birth; janmathe birth; asatmof thenondevotees; durmadathe false pride; nigrahyafor the purpose ofsubduing; prabhoO master; vidhtaO creator; satto the faithfuldevotees; anugrahyafor the purpose of showing mercy; caand.TRANSLATIONO Lord, O supreme creator and master, You have no material birth, yet todefeat the false pride of the faithless demons and show mercy to Your saintlydevotees, You take birth among the demigods, sages, human beings, animals andeven the aquatics.PURPORTAmong the demigods Lord Ka appears in such forms as Vmanadeva,among the sages as Paraurma, among human beings as Lord Ka Himselfand as Lord Rmacandra, and among animals as the boar incarnation. LordKa appears among the aquatics as Matsya, the gigantic fish. Indeed, theplenary expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are innumerable,as the Lord relentlessly comes down within the universes to smash the falsepride of the atheists and show mercy to the saintly devotees.In another sense, the Lord never appears, since He exists eternally. Hiscopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com37appearance is like that of the sun, which is always present in the sky but whichperiodically appears to our vision.TEXT 21`! =' ' +' '' +'!='' ''!r''''! ! H! r'+' ='r'U^'! ''!'` ='! `' ='! `r' ='! ` r'='r'!''' `"' ''! !'!''!'ko vetti bhman bhagavan partmanyogevarotr bhavatas tri-lokymkva v katha v kati v kadetivistrayan krasi yoga-mymSYNONYMSkawho; vettiknows; bhmanO supreme great one; bhagavanOSupreme Personality of Godhead; para-tmanO Supreme Soul;yoga-varaO master of mystic power; tthe pastimes; bhavataofYour Lordship; tri-lokymin the three worlds; kvawhere; vor;kathamhow; vor; katihow many; vor; kadwhen; itithus;vistrayanexpanding; krasiYou play; yoga-mymYour spiritualenergy.TRANSLATIONO supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul,master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in thesethree worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employingcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com38Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one canunderstand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts.PURPORTBrahm previously stated that Lord Ka incarnates among the demigods,human beings, animals, fish and so on. This does not mean, however, that theLord is degraded by His incarnations. As Brahm clarifies here, no conditionedsoul can understand the transcendental nature of the Lord's activities, whichHe enacts through His spiritual potency. Although the Lord is bhman, thesupremely great one, He is still Bhagavn, the supremely beautiful personalityexhibiting pastimes of love in His own abode. At the same time He isParamtm, the all-pervading Supersoul, who witnesses and sanctions all theactivities of conditioned souls. The Lord's multiple identity is explained by theterm yogevara. The Absolute Truth is the master of all mystic potencies, andalthough He is one and supreme, He manifests His greatness and opulence inmany different ways.Such elevated spiritual matters can hardly be understood by foolish personsprimitively identifying themselves with the insignificant material body. Theseconditioned souls, such as atheistic scientists, consider their own puffed-upintelligence supreme. Gullibly placing their firm faith in material illusion, theyare captured by the modes of nature and driven far away from knowledge ofGod.TEXT 22r''! '!'! ''''r='*`''=''!+''r'''''! '' ` ^' ^''r='''' =' 'r''' ^''! ''r''!=''r'copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com39'!''!r' 9'' ''r'='!='+'!r'tasmd ida jagad aeam asat-svarpasvapnbham asta-dhiaa puru-dukha-dukhamtvayy eva nitya-sukha-bodha-tanv anantemyta udyad api yat sad ivvabhtiSYNONYMStasmttherefore; idamthis; jagatcosmic manifestation; aeamentire;asat-svarpamwhose existence is unreal in the sense of temporary;svapna-bhamlike a dream; asta-dhiaamwherein awareness becomescovered over; puru-dukha-dukhamfull of repeated miseries; tvayiwithinYou; evaindeed; nityaeternal; sukhahappy; bodhaconscious;tanauwhose personal appearances; anantewho is unlimited; mytabythe illusory energy; udyatcoming forth; apialthough; yatwhich;satreal; ivaas if; avabhtiappears.TRANSLATIONTherefore this entire universe, which like a dream is by nature unreal,nevertheless appears real, and thus it covers one's consciousness and assails onewith repeated miseries. This universe appears real because it is manifested bythe potency of illusion emanating from You, whose unlimited transcendentalforms are full of eternal happiness and knowledge.PURPORTAs an object of enjoyment or a permanent residence for the conditionedsouls, the material universe is certainly illusion, nothing more than a dream.One may give the analogy that the vision of abundant water in a desert is nomore than a dream, although real water exists elsewhere. Similarly, the visioncopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com40of home, happiness and reality within matter is certainly no better than afoolish dream in which repeated miseries appear.In another sense, however, the universe is real. In his commentary onVedanta-stra, rla Madhvcrya has confirmed this by quoting the followingstatement from the Vedic ruti-mantras: satya hy eveda vivam asjata. "Thisuniverse, created by the Lord, is real." The perfect authority of the Vedas thuscertifies this universe to be real; nevertheless, because our knowledge is stolenby illusion (as indicated here by the words asta-dhiaam), we cannot properlyunderstand this universe or the Supreme Lord who has created it. As theexpansion of Lord Ka, the universe is real and is meant for being engagedin His service. One who accepts the kingdom of God as home, the LordHimself as the object of love, and the material universe as paraphernalia forbeing engaged in the Lord's service dwells within eternal reality wherever hemay go within the material and spiritual worlds.TEXT 23`r=''!r'! '' `'' '' !!'r'' =''' ''! r''r' !9'r''! ''! '''' ^'! ''''' !! ''! ' ` ''!''r'! '' r'ekas tvam tm purua purasatya svaya-jyotir ananta dyanityo 'karo 'jasra-sukho nirajanaprdvayo mukta updhito 'mtaSYNONYMSekaone; tvamYou; tmthe Supreme Soul; puruathe Supremecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com41Person; purathe oldest; satyathe Absolute Truth;svayam-jyotiself-manifested; anantawithout end; dyawithoutbeginning; nityaeternal; akaraindestructible; ajasra-sukhawhosehappiness cannot be obstructed; nirajanadevoid of contamination;pracomplete; advayawithout a second; muktafree;updhitafrom all material designations; amtadeathless.TRANSLATIONYou are the one Supreme Soul, the primeval Supreme Personality, theAbsolute Truthself-manifested, endless and beginningless. You are eternaland infallible, perfect and complete, without any rival and free from all materialdesignations. Your happiness can never be obstructed, nor have You anyconnection with material contamination. Indeed, You are the indestructiblenectar of immortality.PURPORTrla rdhara Svm explains how the various terms of this versedemonstrate that the transcendental body of Lord Ka is free from thecharacteristics of material bodies. All material bodies go through six phases:birth, growth, maturity, reproduction, decline and destruction. But Lord Kadoes not take material birth, since He is the original reality, a fact clearlyindicated here by the word adya, "original." We take our material birth withina particular material atmosphere, in material bodies that are amalgamations ofvarious material elements. Since Lord Ka existed long before the creationof any material atmosphere or element, there is no question of material birthfor His transcendental body.Similarly, the word pra, meaning "full and complete," refutes the conceptthat Lord Ka could grow, since He is ever-existing in fullness. When one'smaterial body becomes mature, one can no longer enjoy as in youth; but thewords ajasra-sukha, "enjoying unobstructed happiness," indicate that Lordcopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com42Ka's body never reaches so-called middle age, since it is always full ofspiritual youthful bliss. The word akara, "undiminishing," refutes thepossibility that Lord Ka's body grows old or declines, and the word amta,"immortal" negates the possibility of death.In other words, Lord Ka's transcendental body is free from thetransformations of material bodies. The Lord does, however, createinnumerable worlds and expand Himself as innumerable living entities. Butthe Lord's so-called reproduction is completely spiritual and does not takeplace at a certain phase of bodily existence; rather, it constitutes the Lord'seternal proclivity to expand His spiritual bliss and glories.As the Lord states in ruti, prvam evham ihsam: "I alone existed in thebeginning." Therefore here the Lord is called purua pura, "the primevalenjoyer. "This original purua expands Himself as the Supersoul and entersevery living being. Still, He is ultimately the Absolute Truth, Ka, as statedin the Gopla-tpan Upaniad: ya skt para-brahmeti govindasac-cid-nanda-vigraha vndvana-sura-bhruha-talsnam. "The AbsoluteTruth Himself is Govinda, who has an eternal form of bliss and knowledge andwho is sitting beneath the shady desire trees of Vndvana." This AbsoluteTruth is beyond material ignorance and beyond even ordinary spiritualknowledge, as stated in the same Gopla-tpan ruti: vidyvidybhybhinna. Thus, in many ways the supremacy of Lord Ka has beenestablished in the Vedic literature, and it is here confirmed by Lord Brahmhimself.TEXT 24=' =''' r='! '`^'!r''!'''='!r'!''!r'!r'r'''! ='''r'! =' `^'''! '''''r' '' ''!copyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com43'' r' r'r'=' +'='!' r'!' '''eva-vidha tv sakaltmanm apisvtmnam tmtmatay vicakategurv-arka-labdhopaniat-sucakuye te tarantva bhavntmbudhimSYNONYMSevam-vidhamas thus described; tvmYou; sakalaof all; tmanmsouls;apiindeed; sva-tmnamthe very Soul; tma-tmatayas the Supersoul;vicakatethey see; gurufrom the spiritual master; arkawho is like thesun; labdhareceived; upaniatof confidential knowledge; su-cakubythe perfect eye; yewho; tethey; taranticross over; ivaeasily; bhavaofmaterial existence; antawhich is not real; ambudhimthe ocean.TRANSLATIONThose who have received the clear vision of knowledge from the sunlikespiritual master can see You in this way, as the very Soul of all souls, theSupersoul of everyone's own self. Thus understanding Your originalpersonality, they are able to cross over the ocean of illusory material existence.PURPORTAs confirmed in the Bhagavad-gt (4.9),janma karma ca me divyameva yo vetti tattvatatyaktv deha punar janmanaiti mm eti so 'rjuna"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activitiescopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com44does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, butattains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."TEXT 25!r'!'' ='!r'r'''!=''!'r'!r' ' =' '!r' '^'^' ''''r''7'!' ' +' ''! ''' ' r'r'^'''r'='!'6 +'! !+'='!+'='! '''!tmnam evtmatayvijnattenaiva jta nikhila prapacitamjnena bhyo 'pi ca tat pralyaterajjvm aher bhoga-bhavbhavau yathSYNONYMStmnamYourself; evaindeed; tmatayas the Supreme Soul;avijnatmfor those who do not understand; tenaby that; evaalone;jtamis generated; nikhilamthe entire; prapacitammaterial existence;jnenaby knowledge; bhya apionce again; caand; tatthat materialexistence; pralyatedisappears; rajjvmwithin a rope; aheof a snake;bhogaof the body; bhava-abhavauthe apparent appearance anddisappearance; yathjust as.TRANSLATIONA person who mistakes a rope for a snake becomes fearful, but he then givesup his fear upon realizing that the so-called snake does not exist. Similarly, forthose who fail to recognize You as the Supreme Soul of all souls, the expansivecopyright 1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved www.krishna.com45illusory material existence arises, but knowledge of You at once causes it tosubside.PURPORTThose submerged in illusion see material existence as infinite, just as onewho is submerged in water sees only water all around him. For example,material scientists and philosophers, submerged deep within the ocean ofmaterial illusion, imagine that material nature extends infinitely in alldirections. In fact, the material creation is a finite ocean of ignorance in whichfoolish living entities, such as material scientists, are unceremoniously dunkedby the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.To be trapped in a world in which all things are born and die is certainly afearful experience. Anyone trapped in a dark place naturally becomes fearful.Since material life is always covered by the darkness of ignorance, everyconditioned soul