Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2 Chapter 5 Verse 20

Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation | Chapter 5: The Cause of All Causes

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.5.20

sa eṣa bhagavān lińgais

tribhir etair adhokṣajaḥ

svalakṣita-gatir brahman

sarveṣāḿ mama ceśvaraḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — He; eṣaḥ — this; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; lińgaiḥ — by the symptoms; tribhiḥ — by the three; etaiḥ — by all these; adhokṣajaḥ — the Superseer Transcendence; su-alakṣita — veritably unseen; gatiḥ — movement; brahman — O Nārada; sarveṣām — of everyone; mama — mine; ca — as also; īśvaraḥ — the controller.

TRANSLATION

O Brāhmaṇa Nārada, the Superseer, the transcendent Lord, is beyond the perception of the material senses of the living entities because of the above-mentioned three modes of nature. But He is the controller of everyone, including me.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.24-25) the Lord has declared very clearly that the impersonalist, who gives more importance to the transcendental rays of the Lord as brahmajyoti and who concludes that the Absolute Truth is ultimately impersonal and only manifests a form at a time of necessity, is less intelligent than the personalist, however much the impersonalist may be engaged in studying the Vedānta. The fact is that such impersonalists are covered by the above-mentioned three modes of material nature; therefore, they are unable to approach the transcendental Personality of the Lord. The Lord is not approachable by everyone because He is curtained by His yogamāyā potency. But one should not wrongly conclude that the Lord was formerly unmanifested and has now manifested Himself in the human form. This misconception of the formlessness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is due to the yogamāyā curtain of the Lord and can be removed only by the Supreme Will, as soon as the conditioned soul surrenders unto Him. The devotees of the Lord who are transcendental to the above-mentioned three modes of material nature can see the all-blissful transcendental form of the Lord with their vision of love in the attitude of pure devotional service.

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