Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Six

SB2.6.37

TEXT 37

naham na yuyam yad-rtam gatim vidur

na vamadevah kim utapare surah

tan-mayaya mohita-buddhayas tv idam

vinirmitam catma-samam vicaksmahe

SYNONYMS

na—neither; aham—I; na—nor; yuyam—all you sons; yat—whose; rtam—factual; gatim—movements; viduh—do know; na—nor; vamadevah—Lord Siva; kim—what; uta—else; apare—others; surah—demigods; tat—by His; mayaya—by the illusory energy; mohita—bewildered; buddhayah—with such intelligence; tu—but; idam—this; vinirmitam—what is created; ca—also; atma-samam—by dint of one’s personal ability; vicaksmahe—observe.

TRANSLATION

Since neither Lord Siva nor you nor I could ascertain the limits of spiritual happiness, how can other demigods know it? And because all of us are bewildered by the illusory external energy of the Supreme Lord, we can see only this manifested cosmos according to our individual ability.

PURPORT

We have many times mentioned the names of twelve selected authorities (dvadasa-mahajana), of which Brahma, Narada and Lord Siva head the list as the first, second and third in order of merit of those who know something of the Supreme Lord. Other demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, Caranas, Vidyadharas, human beings or asuras cannot possibly know fully about the potencies of the Absolute Lord, Sri Krsna. The demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, etc., are all highly intelligent persons in the upper planets, the human beings are inhabitants of the intermediate planets, and the asuras are inhabitants of the lower planets. All of them have their respective conceptions and estimations of the Absolute Truth, as does the scientist or the empiric philosopher in human society. All such living entities are creatures of the material nature, and consequently they are bewildered by the wonderful display of the three modes of material nature. Such bewilderment is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita (7.13). Tribhir gunamayair bhavair ebhih samam idam jagat: every entity, beginning from Brahma down to the ant, is individually bewildered by the three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone thinks, in terms of individual capacity, that this universe, which is manifested before us, is all in all. And so the scientist in the human society of the twentieth century calculates the beginning and end of the universe in his own way. But what can the scientists know? Even Brahma himself was once bewildered, thinking himself the only one Brahma favored by the Lord, but later on, by the grace of the Lord, he came to know that there are innumerable more powerful Brahmas as well, in far bigger universes beyond this universe, and all of these universes combined together form ekapad-vibhuti, or one fourth of the manifestation of the Lord’s creative energy. The other three fourths of His energy are displayed in the spiritual world, and so what can the tiny scientist with a tiny brain know of the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna? The Lord says, therefore, mohitam nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam: bewildered by such modes of material nature, they cannot understand that beyond these manifestations is a Supreme Person who is the absolute controller of everything. Brahma, Narada and Lord Siva know about the Lord to a considerable extent, and therefore one should follow the instructions of these great personalities instead of being satisfied with a tiny brain and its playful discoveries such as spacecraft and similar products of science. As the mother is the only authority to identify the father of a child, so the mother Vedas, presented by the recognized authority such as Brahma, Narada or Siva, is the only authority to inform us about the Absolute Truth.

SB2.6.38

TEXT 38

yasyavatara-karmani

gayanti hy asmad-adayah

na yam vidanti tattvena

tasmai bhagavate namah

SYNONYMS

yasya—whose; avatara—incarnation; karmani—activities; gayanti—chant in glorification; hi—indeed; asmat-adayah—persons like us; na—do not; yam—whom; vidanti—know; tattvena—cent percent as He is; tasmai—unto Him; bhagavate—unto the personality of Godhead Sri Krsna; namah—respectful obeisances.

TRANSLATION

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose incarnations and activities are chanted by us for glorification, though He can hardly be fully known as He is.

PURPORT

It is said that the transcendental name, form, quality, pastimes, paraphernalia, personality, etc., cannot possibly be perceived by the gross materialistic senses. But when the senses are purified by the process of hearing, chanting, remembering, and worshiping the lotus feet of the holy Deity, etc., the Lord reveals Himself proportionately to the advancement of the quality of devotional service (ye yatha mam prapadyante). One should not expect the Lord to be an order-supplying agent who must be present before us as soon as we desire to see Him. We must be ready to undergo the prescribed devotional duties, following the path shown by the predecessors in the disciplic succession from Brahma, Narada and similar authorities. As the senses are progressively purified by bona fide devotional service, the Lord reveals His identity according to the spiritual advancement of the devotee. But one who is not in the line of devotional service can hardly perceive Him simply by calculations and philosophical speculations. Such a hard worker can present a jugglery of words before an audience, but can never know the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His personal feature. The Lord has clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita that one can know Him only by devotional service. No one can know the Lord by any puffed-up material process of challenge, but the humble devotee can please the Lord by his earnest devotional activities. Thus the Lord reveals Himself proportionately before the devotee. Lord Brahma therefore offers his respectful obeisances as a bona fide spiritual master and advises us to follow the process of sravana and kirtana. Simply by this process, or simply by hearing and chanting the glories of the activities of the Lord’s incarnation, one can certainly see within himself the identity of the Lord. We have already discussed this subject in volume one of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in connection with this verse:

tac chraddadhana munayo
jnana-vairagya-yuktaya
pasyanty atmani catmanam
bhaktya sruta-grhitaya

(Bhag. 1.2.12)

The conclusion is that one cannot know the Supreme Personality of Godhead fully by any method, but He can be seen and felt partially by the devotional service process of hearing, chanting, etc.

SB2.6.39

TEXT 39

sa esa adyah purusah

kalpe kalpe srjaty ajah

atmatmany atmanatmanam

sa samyacchati pati ca

SYNONYMS

sah—He; esah—the very; adyah—the original Personality of Godhead; purusah—the Maha-Visnu incarnation, a plenary portion of Govinda, Lord Krsna; kalpe kalpe—in each and every millennium; srjati—creates; ajah—the unborn; atma—self; atmani—upon the self; atmana—by His own self; atmanam—own self; sah—He; samyacchati—absorbs; pati—maintains; ca—also.

TRANSLATION

That supreme original Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, expanding His plenary portion as Maha-Visnu, the first incarnation, creates this manifested cosmos, but He is unborn. The creation, however, takes place in Him, and the material substance and manifestations are all Himself. He maintains them for some time and absorbs them into Himself again.

PURPORT

The creation is nondifferent from the Lord, and still He is not in the creation. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gita (9.4) as follows:

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah

The impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth is also a form of the Lord called avyakta-murti. Murti means “form,” but because His impersonal feature is inexplicable to our limited senses, He is the avyakta-murti form, and in that inexplicable form of the Lord the whole creation is resting; or, in other words, the whole creation is the Lord Himself, and the creation is also nondifferent from Him, but simultaneously He, as the original Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, is aloof from the created manifestation. The impersonalist gives stress to the impersonal form or feature of the Lord and does not believe in the original personality of the Lord, but the Vaisnavas accept the original form of the Lord, of whom the impersonal form is merely one of the features. The impersonal and personal conceptions of the Lord are existing simultaneously, and this fact is clearly described both in the Bhagavad-gita and in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and also in other Vedic scriptures. Inconceivable to human intelligence, the idea must simply be accepted on the authority of the scriptures, and it can only be practically realized by the progress of devotional service unto the Lord, and never by mental speculation or inductive logic. The impersonalists depend more or less on inductive logic, and therefore they always remain in darkness about the original Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. Their conception of Krsna is not clear, although everything is clearly mentioned in all the Vedic scriptures. A poor fund of knowledge cannot comprehend the existence of an original personal form of the Lord when He is expanded in everything. This imperfectness is due, more or less, to the material conception that a substance distributed widely in parts can no longer exist in the original form.

The original personality of Godhead (adyah), Govinda, expands Himself as the Maha-Visnu incarnation and rests in the Causal Ocean, which He Himself creates. The Brahma-samhita (5.47) confirms this as follows:

yah karanarnava-jale bhajati sma yoga-
nidram ananta-jagad-anda-saroma-kupah
adhara-saktim avalambya param sva-murtim
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

Lord Brahmaji says in his Brahma-samhita, “I worship the primeval Lord Govinda, who lies down in the Causal Ocean in His plenary portion as Maha-Visnu, with all the universes generating from the pores of hair on His transcendental body, and who accepts the mystic slumber of eternity.”

So this Maha-Visnu is the first incarnation in the creation, and from Him all the universes are generated and all material manifestations are produced, one after another. The Causal Ocean is created by the Lord as the mahat-tattva, as a cloud in the spiritual sky, and is only a part of His different manifestations. The spiritual sky is an expansion of His personal rays, and He is the mahat-tattva cloud also. He lies down and generates the universes by His breathing, and again, by entering into each universe as Garbhodakasayi Visnu, He creates Brahma, Siva and many other demigods for maintenance of the universe and again absorbs the whole thing into His person as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.7):

sarva-bhutani kaunteya
prakrtim yanti mamikam
kalpa-ksaye punas tani
kalpadau visrjamy aham

“O son of Kunti, when the kalpa, or the duration of the life of Brahma, is ended, then all the created manifestations enter into My prakrti, or energy, and again, when I desire, the same creation takes place by My personal energy.”

The conclusion is that these are all but displays of the Lord’s inconceivable personal energies, of which no one can have any full information. This point we have already discussed.

SB2.6.40-41

TEXTS 40–41

visuddham kevalam jnanam

pratyak samyag avasthitam

satyam purnam anady-antam

nirgunam nityam advayam

rse vidanti munayah

prasantatmendriyasayah

yada tad evasat-tarkais

tirodhiyeta viplutam

SYNONYMS

visuddham—without any material tinge; kevalam—pure and perfect; jnanam—knowledge; pratyak—all-pervading; samyak—in fullness; avasthitam—situated; satyam—truth; purnam—absolute; anadi—without any beginning; antam—and so also without any end; nirgunam—devoid of material modes; nityam—eternal; advayam—without any rival; rse—O Narada, O great sage; vidanti—they can only understand; munayah—the great thinkers; prasanta—pacified; atma—self; indriya—senses; asayah—sheltered; yada—while; tat—that; eva—certainly; asat—untenable; tarkaih—arguments; tirah-dhiyeta—disappears; viplutam—distorted.

TRANSLATION

The Personality of Godhead is pure, being free from all contaminations of material tinges. He is the Absolute Truth and the embodiment of full and perfect knowledge. He is all-pervading, without beginning or end, and without rival. O Narada, O great sage, the great thinkers can know Him when completely freed from all material hankerings and when sheltered under undisturbed conditions of the senses. Otherwise, by untenable arguments, all is distorted, and the Lord disappears from our sight.

PURPORT

Here is an estimation of the Lord apart from His transcendental activities in the temporary, material creations. Mayavada philosophy tries to designate the Lord as contaminated by a material body when He accepts forms of incarnation. This sort of interpolation is completely denied herein by the explanation that the Lord’s position is pure and unalloyed in all circumstances. According to Mayavada philosophy, the spirit soul, when covered by nescience, is designated as jiva, but when freed from such ignorance or nescience he merges in the impersonal existence of the Absolute Truth. But here it is said that the Lord is eternally the symbol of full and perfect knowledge. This is His speciality: perpetual freedom from all material contaminations. This distinguishes the Lord from the individual, common living entities who have the aptitude for being subordinated by nescience and thus becoming materially designated. In the Vedas it is said that the Lord is vijnanam anandam, full of bliss and knowledge. The conditioned souls are never to be compared to Him because such individual souls have the tendency to become contaminated. Although after liberation the living entity can become one with the same quality of existence as the Lord, his very tendency to become contaminated, which the Lord never has, makes the individual living entity different from the Lord. In the Vedas it is said, suddham apapa-viddham: the individual atma becomes polluted by sin, but the Lord is never contaminated by sins. The Lord is compared to the powerful sun. The sun is never contaminated by anything infectious because it is so powerful. On the contrary, infected things are sterilized by the rays of the sun. Similarly, the Lord is never contaminated by sins; on the contrary, the sinful living entities become sterilized by contact with the Lord. This means that the Lord is also all-pervading like the sun, and as such the word pratyak is used in this verse. Nothing is excluded from the existence of the Lord’s potential expansions. The Lord is within everything, and He is all-covering also, without being disturbed by the activities of the individual souls. He is therefore infinite, and the living entities are infinitesimal. In the Vedas it is said that only the Lord alone exists, and all others’ existences depend on Him. He is the generating reservoir for everyone’s existential capacity; He is the Supreme Truth of all other categorical truths. He is the source of everyone’s opulence, and therefore no one can equal Him in opulence. Being full of all opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, certainly He is the Supreme Person. And because He is a person, He has many personal qualities, although He is transcendental to the material modes. We have already discussed the statement, ittham-bhuta-guno harih (Bhag. 1.7.10). His transcendental qualities are so attractive that even the liberated souls (atmaramas) are also attracted by them. Although possessed of all personal qualities, He is nevertheless omnipotent. Therefore, personally He has nothing to do, for everything is being carried out by His omnipotent energies. This is confirmed by the Vedic mantras: parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca. This suggests His specific spiritual form, which can never be experienced by the material senses. He can be seen only when the senses are purified by devotional service (yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyah). As such, there are basic differences between the Lord and the living entities, in so many respects. No one can be compared to the Lord, as the Vedas declare (ekam evadvitiyam brahma, dvaitad vai bhayam bhavati). The Lord has no competitor, and He has nothing to fear from any other being, nor can anyone be equal to Him. Although He is the root of all other beings, there are basic differences between Him and other beings. Otherwise there would have been no necessity for the statement in the previous verse that no one can know Him one hundred percent as He is (na yam vidanti tattvena). That no one can fully understand Him is explained also in this verse, but the qualification for understanding to some degree is mentioned here. Only the prasantas, or the unalloyed devotees of the Lord, can know Him to a greater extent. The reason is that the devotees have no demands in their lives but to be obedient servants of the Lord, while all others, namely the empiric philosophers, the mystics and the fruitive workers, all basically have some demand, and as such they cannot be pacified. The fruitive worker wants reward for his work, the mystic wants some perfection of life, and the empiric philosopher wants to merge in the existence of the Lord. Somehow or other, as long as there is a demand for sense satisfaction, there is no chance for pacification; on the contrary, by unnecessary dry speculative arguments, the whole matter becomes distorted, and thus the Lord moves still further away from our understanding. The dry speculators, however, because of their following the principles of austerity and penance, can have knowledge of the impersonal features of the Lord to some extent, but there is no chance of their understanding His ultimate form as Govinda because only the amalatmanas, or the completely sinless persons, can accept pure devotional service to the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.28):

yesam tv anta-gatam papam
jananam punya-karmanam
te dvandva-moha-nirmukta
bhajante mam drdha-vratah

SB2.6.42

TEXT 42

adyo ’vatarah purusah parasya

kalah svabhavah sad-asan-manas ca

dravyam vikaro guna indriyani

virat svarat sthasnu carisnu bhumnah

SYNONYMS

adyah—first; avatarah—incarnation; purusah—Karanarnavasayi Visnu; parasya—of the Lord; kalah—time; svabhavah—space; sat—result; asat—cause; manah—mind; ca—also; dravyam—elements; vikarah—material ego; gunah—modes of nature; indriyani—senses; virat—the complete whole body; svarat—Garbhodakasayi Visnu; sthasnu—immovable; carisnu—movable; bhumnah—of the Supreme Lord.

TRANSLATION

Karanarnavasayi Visnu is the first incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and He is the master of eternal time, space, cause and effects, mind, the elements, the material ego, the modes of nature, the senses, the universal form of the Lord, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, and the sum total of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.

PURPORT

That the material creation is not permanent has been discussed many times hereinbefore. The material creation is but a temporary exhibition of the material energy of the Almighty God. This material manifestation is necessary to give a chance to the conditioned souls who are unwilling to associate with the Lord in the relationship of loving transcendental service. Such unwilling conditioned souls are not allowed to enter into the liberated life of spiritual existence because at heart they are not willing to serve. Instead, they want to enjoy themselves as imitation Gods. The living entities are constitutionally eternal servitors of the Lord, but some of them, because of misusing their independence, do not wish to serve; therefore they are allowed to enjoy the material nature, which is called maya, or illusion. It is called illusion because the living beings under the clutches of maya are not factually enjoyers, although they think that they are, being illusioned by maya. Such illusioned living entities are given a chance at intervals to rectify their perverted mentality of becoming false masters of the material nature, and they are imparted lessons from the Vedas about their eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Krsna (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]). So the temporary creation of the material manifestation is an exhibition of the material energy of the Lord, and to manage the whole show the Supreme Lord incarnates Himself as the Karanarnavasayi Visnu just as a magistrate is deputed by the government to manage affairs temporarily. This Karanodakasayi Visnu causes the manifestation of material creation by looking over His material energy (sa aiksata). In the first volume of this book we have already discussed to some extent the explanation of the verse jagrhe paurusam rupam. The duration of the illusory play of material creation is called a kalpa, and we have already discussed the creation’s taking place in kalpa after kalpa. By His incarnation and potential activities, the complete ingredients of creation, namely time, space, cause, result, mind, the gross and subtle elements and their interactional modes of nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—and then the senses and their reservoir source, the gigantic universal form as the second incarnation Garbhodakasayi Visnu, and all living beings, both moving and standing, which come out of the second incarnation, all became manifested. Ultimately, all these creative elements and the creation itself are but potential manifestations of the Supreme Lord; nothing is independent of the control of the Supreme Being. This first incarnation in the material creation, namely Karanarnavasayi Visnu, is the plenary part of the original Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, described in the Brahma-samhita (5.48) as follows:

yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

All the innumerable universes are maintained only during the breathing period of Maha-Visnu, or Karanarnavasayi Visnu, who is only a plenary part of Govinda, the original Personality of Godhead Lord Krsna.

SB2.6.43-45

TEXTS 43–45

aham bhavo yajna ime prajesa

daksadayo ye bhavad-adayas ca

svarloka-palah khagaloka-pala

nrloka-palas talaloka-palah

gandharva-vidyadhara-caranesa

ye yaksa-raksoraga-naga-nathah

ye va rsinam rsabhah pitrnam

daityendra-siddhesvara-danavendrah

anye ca ye preta-pisaca-bhuta-

kusmanda-yado-mrga-paksy-adhisah

yat kinca loke bhagavan mahasvad

ojah-sahasvad balavat ksamavat

sri-hri-vibhuty-atmavad adbhutarnam

tattvam param rupavad asva-rupam

SYNONYMS

aham—myself (Brahmaji); bhavah—Lord Siva; yajnah—Lord Visnu; ime—all these; praja-isah—the father of the living beings; daksa-adayah—Daksa, Marici, Manu, etc.; ye—those; bhavat—yourself; adayah ca—and the bachelors (Sanat-kumara and his brothers); svarloka-palah—the leaders of the heavenly planets; khagaloka-palah—the leaders of space travelers; nrloka-palah—the leaders of mankind; talaloka-palah—the leaders of the lower planets; gandharva—the residents of Gandharvaloka; vidyadhara—the residents of the Vidyadhara planet; carana-isah—the leaders of the Caranas; ye—as also others; yaksa—the leaders of the Yaksas; raksa—demons; uraga—snakes; naga-nathah—the leaders of Nagaloka (below the earth); ye—others; va—also; rsinam—of the sages; rsabhah—the chief; pitrnam—of the forefathers; daitya-indra—leaders of the atheists; siddha-isvara—leaders of the Siddhaloka planets (spacemen); danava-indrah—leaders of the non-Aryans; anye—besides them; ca—also; ye—those; preta—dead bodies; pisaca—evil spirits; bhuta—jinn; kusmanda—a special type of evil spirit; yadah—aquatics; mrga—animals; paksi-adhisah—giant eagles; yat—anything; kim ca—and everything; loke—in the world; bhagavat—possessed of bhaga, or extraordinary power; mahasvat—of a special degree; ojah-sahasvat—specific mental and sensual dexterity; balavat—possessed of strength; ksamavat—possessed of forgiveness; sri—beauty; hri—ashamed of impious acts; vibhuti—riches; atmavat—possessed of intelligence; adbhuta—wonderful; arnam—race; tattvam—specific truth; param—transcendental; rupavat—as if the form of; asva-rupam—not the form of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

I myself [Brahma], Lord Siva, Lord Visnu, great generators of living beings like Daksa and Prajapati, yourselves [Narada and the Kumaras], heavenly demigods like Indra and Candra, the leaders of the Bhurloka planets, the leaders of the earthly planets, the leaders of the lower planets, the leaders of the Gandharva planets, the leaders of the Vidyadhara planets, the leaders of the Caranaloka planets, the leaders of the Yaksas, Raksas and Uragas, the great sages, the great demons, the great atheists and the great spacemen, as well as the dead bodies, evil spirits, satans, jinn, kusmandas, great aquatics, great beasts and great birds, etc.—in other words, anything and everything which is exceptionally possessed of power, opulence, mental and perceptual dexterity, strength, forgiveness, beauty, modesty, opulence, and breeding, whether in form or formless—may appear to be the specific truth and the form of the Lord, but actually they are not so. They are only a fragment of the transcendental potency of the Lord.

PURPORT

Those in the list given above, beginning from the name Brahmaji, the first living creature within the universe, down to Lord Siva, Lord Visnu, Narada and other powerful demigods, men, supermen, sages, rsis, and other lower creatures of extraordinary strength and opulence, including the dead bodies, satans, evil spirits, jinn, aquatics, birds and beasts, may appear to be the Supreme Lord, but factually none of them is the Supreme Lord; every one of them possesses only a fragment of the great potencies of the Supreme Lord. The less intelligent man is surprised to see the wonderful actions of material phenomena, as the aborigines are fearful of a great thunderbolt, a great and gigantic banyan tree, or a great lofty mountain in the jungle. For such undeveloped human beings, merely the slight display of the Lord’s potency is captivating. A still more advanced person is captivated by the powers of the demigods and goddesses. Therefore, those who are simply astonished by the powers of anything in the creation of the Lord, without any factual information of the Lord Himself, are known as saktas, or worshipers of the great powers. The modern scientist is also captivated by the wonderful actions and reactions of natural phenomena and therefore is also a sakta. These lower-grade persons gradually rise to become sauriyas (worshipers of the sun-god) or ganapatyas (worshipers of the mass of people as janata janardana or daridra-narayana, etc., in the form of Ganapati) and then rise to the platform of worshiping Lord Siva in search for the ever-existing soul, and then to the stage of worshiping Lord Visnu, the Supersoul, etc., without any information of Govinda, Lord Krsna, who is the original Lord Visnu. In other ways some are worshipers of race, nationality, birds, beasts, evil spirits, satans, etc. The general worship of Sanideva, the lord of distressful condition, and Sitaladevi, the goddess of smallpox, is also common to the mass of people, and there are many foolish men who worship the mass of people or the poor class of men. So different persons, societies and communities, etc., worship some of the potent manifestations of the Lord, wrongly accepting the powerful object as God. But in this verse it is advised by Brahmaji that none of them is the Supreme Lord; they are only borrowed plumes from the original Almighty Lord Sri Krsna. When the Lord advises in Bhagavad-gita to worship Him alone, it is to be understood that worshiping Lord Krsna includes worshiping all that is mentioned, because He, Lord Krsna, includes everyone.

When the Lord is described as formless in the Vedic literatures, it is to be understood that all these forms mentioned above, within the experience of universal knowledge, are different exhibitions of the Lord’s transcendental potencies only, and none of them factually represents the transcendental form of the Lord. But when the Lord actually descends on the earth or anywhere within the universe, the less intelligent class of men also mistake Him to be one of them, and thus they imagine the Transcendence to be formless or impersonal. Factually, the Lord is not formless, nor does He belong to any of the multiforms experienced within the universal forms. One should try to know the truth about the Lord by following the instruction of Brahmaji.

SB2.6.46

TEXT 46

pradhanyato yan rsa amananti

lilavataran purusasya bhumnah

apiyatam karna-kasaya-sosan

anukramisye ta iman supesan

SYNONYMS

pradhanyatah—chiefly; yan—all those; rse—O Narada; amananti—worship; lila—pastimes; avataran—incarnations; purusasya—of the personality of Godhead; bhumnah—the Supreme; apiyatam—in order to be relished by you; karna—ears; kasaya—foul matter; sosan—that which evaporates; anukramisye—shall state one after another; te—they; iman—as they are in my heart; su-pesan—all pleasing to hear.

TRANSLATION

O Narada, now I shall state, one after another, the transcendental incarnations of the Lord known as lila-avataras. Hearing of their activities counteracts all foul matters accumulated in the ear. These pastimes are pleasing to hear and are to be relished. Therefore they are in my heart.

PURPORT

As it was said in the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.8), one cannot be fully satisfied by hearing unless and until one is given a chance to hear of the transcendental activities of the Lord. So Brahmaji is also trying, in this verse, to stress the importance of narrating the transcendental pastimes of the Lord as He comes and manifests Himself here on the surface of the material planets. Every living entity has a tendency to hear pleasing messages, and as such almost every one of us is inclined to hear news and talks broadcast by the radio stations. But the difficulty is that no one is satisfied at heart by hearing all those messages. The cause of such dissatisfaction is the incompatibility of the message with the innermost stratum of the living soul. This transcendental literature is especially prepared by Srila Vyasadeva to give the utmost satisfaction to the people in general by narration of the activities of the Lord, as instructed by Sri Narada Muni to Srila Vyasadeva. Such activities of the Lord are principally of two varieties. One concerns the mundane manifestation of the material creative force, and the other deals with His pastimes in the form of different incarnations in terms of the time and place. There are innumerable incarnations of the Lord, like the waves of the river flowing constantly in and out. Less intelligent persons take more interest in the creative forces of the Lord in the material world, and, being disconnected from their relationship with the Lord, they put forward many theories of the creation in the name of scientific research. The devotees of the Lord, however, know well how the creative forces work concurrently by the action and reaction of the material energy of the Lord. Therefore they take more interest in the transcendental activities of the Lord as He incarnates Himself on the surface of the material world. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the history of such activities of the Lord, and people who take interest in hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam clear their hearts of accumulated mundane filth. There are a thousand and one rash literatures on the market, but one who has taken interest in the Srimad-Bhagavatam loses all interest in such filthy literatures. Sri Brahmaji is thus attempting to narrate the principal incarnations of the Lord so that they may be drunk by Narada as transcendental nectar.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Canto, Sixth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “Purusa-sukta Confirmed.”

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