Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.63.34

śrī-rudra uvāca

tvaḿ hi brahma paraḿ jyotir

gūḍhaḿ brahmaṇi vāń-maye

yaḿ paśyanty amalātmāna

ākāśam iva kevalam

SYNONYMS

śrī-rudraḥ uvāca — Lord Śiva said; tvam — You; hi — alone; brahma — the Absolute Truth; param — supreme; jyotiḥ — light; gūḍham — hidden; brahmaṇi — in the Absolute; vāk-maye — in its form of language (the Vedas); yam — whom; paśyanti — they see; amala — spotless; ātmānaḥ — whose hearts; ākāśam — the sky; iva — like; kevalam — pure.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Rudra said: You alone are the Absolute Truth, the supreme light, the mystery hidden within the verbal manifestation of the Absolute. Those whose hearts are spotless can see You, for You are uncontaminated, like the sky.

PURPORT

The Absolute Truth is the source of all light and is therefore the supreme light, self-luminous. This Absolute Truth is explained confidentially in the Vedas and is therefore difficult for an ordinary reader to understand. The following statements quoted by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī from the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad show how the Vedic sounds occasionally reveal the Absolute: Te hocur upāsanam etasya parātmano govindasyākhilādhāriṇo brūhi (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 17): "They [the four Kumāras] said [to Brahmā], 'Please tell us how to worship Govinda, the Supreme Soul and the foundation of all that exists.' " Cetanaś cetanānām (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 21): "He is the chief of all living beings." And taḿ ha devam ātma-vṛtti-prakāśam (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 23): "One realizes that Supreme Godhead by first realizing one's own self." The great ācārya Jīva Gosvāmī also quotes a verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.10.48) — gūḍhaḿ paraḿ brahma manuṣya-lińgam — which refers to "the Supreme Truth concealed in a humanlike form."

Since the Lord is pure, why do some people perceive Kṛṣṇa's form and activities as impure? Ācārya Jīva explains that those whose own hearts are impure cannot understand the pure Lord. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further quotes the Lord's own instruction to Arjuna in Śrī Hari-vaḿśa:

tat-paraḿ paramaḿ brahma

sarvaḿ vibhajate jagat

mamaiva tad ghanaḿ tejo

jñātum arhasi bhārata

"Superior to that [total material nature] is the Supreme Brahman, from which this entire creation expands. O descendant of Bharata, you should know that the Supreme Brahman consists of My concentrated effulgence."

Thus, to save his devotee, Śiva now glorifies the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, his eternal worshipable master. The Lord's bewildering potency induced Śiva to fight with Lord Kṛṣṇa, but now the fight is over, and to save his devotee Lord Śiva offers these beautiful prayers.

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