By Karandhara dāsa adhikārī (ISKCON Los Angeles)

"I offer my obeisances unto Lord Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, who is the supreme all-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahma, the first created being. Through Him this world, like a mirage, appears real even to great sages and demigods. Because of Him, the material universes, created by the three modes of nature, appear to be factual, although they are unreal. I meditate therefore upon Him, the Absolute Truth, who is eternally existent in His transcendental abode, and who is forever free of illusion."

This is the first verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was compiled by Veda-vyasa as the perfect commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, the summary of all the Vedas. The very ancient knowledge of the Vedas was recorded by Veda-vyasa 5,000 years ago, and after he thus recorded the range of Vedic knowledge, he summarized it all in the compact synopsis called the Vedanta-sutra. The author of a huge voluminous work who wants to make its general information available to those who do not have the time or facility to study the whole work may write a synopsis. Thus after compiling all the Vedas, the Upanisads, the Puranas and Mahabharata, Vyasadeva found it necessary to summarize them in the Vedanta-sutra. It then became known to him that even this Vedanta-sutra was not sufficiently explicit to give a clear understanding of the Vedas. Seeing that it would be misunderstood, he thought it necessary to write a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra itself. This is the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra written by Vyasadeva himself.