Srimad Bhagavatham : 5.3.4 &5.

Skandham-5.


Chapter-3. ( 3. RSabhadeva's Appearance in the Womb of Merudevi, the
Wife of King Nabhi : )


Slokam-4 & 5.


The priests began to offer prayers to the Lord, saying: O most worshipable
one, we are simply Your servants. Although You are full in Yourself, please, out
of Your causeless mercy, accept a little service from us, Your eternal servants.
We are not actually aware of Your transcendental form, but we can simply offer
our respectful obeisances again and again, as instructed by the Vedic literatures
and authorized acaryas. Materialistic living entities are very much attracted to
the modes of material nature, and therefore they are never perfect, but You are
above the jurisdiction of all material conceptions. Your name, form and qualities
are all transcendental and beyond the conception of experimental knowledge.
Indeed, who can conceive of You? In the material world we can perceive only
material names and qualities. We have no other power than to offer our
respectful obeisances and prayers unto You, the transcendental person. The
chanting of Your auspicious transcendental qualities will wipe out the sins of all
mankind. That is the most auspicious activity for us, and we can thus partially
understand Your supernatural position.


The Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with material
perception. Even the impersonalist Sankaracharya says. narayanah paro
'vyaktat: "Narayana. the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond the
material conception." We cannot concoct the form and attributes of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. We must simply accept the description given
in Vedic literatures about the Lord's form and activities.


As stated in Brahma-samhita (5.29):

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the
cows, yielding all desires, in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by
millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and
affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune." We can have
some conception of the Absolute Truth, His form and His attributes simply by
reading the descriptions given in Vedic literatures and authoritative
statements given by exalted personalities like Brahma, Narada, Suka-Muni
 and others. Great Rishi says : "We cannot conceive the name, form
and qualities of Sri Krishna through our material senses." Because of this, other
names for the Lord are adhoksaja and aprakrta, which indicate that He is
beyond any material senses. Out of His causeless mercy upon His devotees, the
Lord appeared before Maharaja Nabhi. Similarly, when we are engaged in the
Lord's devotional service, the Lord reveals Himself to us. Sevonmukhe hi
jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adau. This is the only way to understand the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in Bhagavad-geeta, bhaktya
mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah : [Bg. 18.55] one can understand the
Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service. There is no other
way. We have to hear from the authorities and from the çästras and consider
the Supreme Lord in terms of their statements. We cannot imagine or concoct
forms and attributes of the Lord.


Continues...