TEXT 32
grhyamanais tvam agrahyo
vikaraih prakrtair gunaih
ko nv iharhati vijnatum
prak siddham guna-samvrtah
SYNONYMS
grhyamanaih—accepting the body made of material nature as existing at the present moment because of being visible; tvam—You; agrahyah—not confined in a body made of material nature; vikaraih—agitated by the mind; prakrtaih gunaih—by the material modes of nature (sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna); kah—who is there; nu—after that; iha—in this material world; arhati—who deserves; vijnatum—to know; prak siddham—that which existed before the creation; guna-samvrtah—because of being covered by the material qualities.
TRANSLATION
O Lord, You exist before the creation. Therefore, who, trapped by a body of material qualities in this material world, can understand You?
PURPORT
As it is said:
“No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Krsna through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)
Krsna’s name, attributes and form are Absolute Truth, existing before the creation. Therefore, how can those who are created—that is, those entrapped in bodies created of material elements—understand Krsna perfectly? This is not possible. But, sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah: Krsna reveals Himself to those engaged in devotional service. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (18.15) by the Lord Himself: bhaktya mam abhijanati [Bg. 18.55]. Even the descriptions of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam are sometimes misunderstood by less intelligent men with a poor fund of knowledge. Therefore, the best course by which to know Him is to engage oneself in pure devotional activities. The more one advances in devotional activities, the more one can understand Him as He is. If from the material platform one could understand Krsna, then, since Krsna is everything (sarvam khalv idam brahma), one could understand Krsna by seeing anything within this material world. But that is not possible.
(Bg. 9.4)
Everything is resting on Krsna, and everything is Krsna, but this is not to be realized by persons on the material platform.
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