Ādi-līlā, Chapter 1
51
sented in the scientific knowledge of  Bhagavad-gītā , which is read and adored all over the world by all classes of scholars, with as many interpretations as there are empiric philosophers. The truth of these mysteries was revealed to Brahmā by a descending process, without the help of the ascending one. His mercy descends to a devotee like Brahmā and, through Brahmā, to Nārada, from Nārada to Vyāsa, from Vyāsadeva to Śukadeva and so on in the bona fide chain of discipline succession. We cannot discover the mysteries of the Lord by our mundane endeavors; they are only revealed, by His grace, to the proper devotees. These mysteries are gradually disclosed to the various grades of devotees in proportion to the gradual development of their service attitude. In other words, impersonalists who depend upon the strength of their poor fund of knowledge and morbid speculative habits, without submission and service in the forms of hearing, chanting and the others mentioned above, cannot penetrate to the mysterious region of transcendence where the supreme truth is a transcendental person, free from all tinges of the material elements. Discovering the mystery of the Lord eliminates the impersonal feature realized by common spiritualists who are merely trying to enter the spiritual region from the mundane platform.
TEXT 53
অহমেবাসমেবাগ্রে নাত্রদ্ যৎ সদসংপরম্ ।
পশ্চাদহং যদেতচ্চ যোহবশিষ্ট্যেত সোহস্মাহম্ ॥ ৫৩ ॥
aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat-param
paścād aham yad etac ca
yo 'vaśiṣyeta so 'smy aham
SYNONYMS
aham —I, the Personality of Godhead;  eva —certainly;  āsam —existed;  eva —only;  agre —before the creation;  na —never;  anyat —anything else;  yat —which;  sat —the effect;  asat —the cause;  param —the supreme;  paścāt —at the end;  aham —I, the Personality of Godhead;  yat —which;  etat —this creation;  ca —also;  yah —who;  avaśiṣyeta —remains;  sah —that;  asmi —am;  aham —I, the Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
“Prior to the cosmic creation, only I exist, and no phenomena exist, either gross, subtle or primordial. After creation, only I exist in everything, and after annihilation, only I remain eternally.
PURPORT
Aham  means “I”; therefore the speaker who is saying  aham , “I,” must have His own personality. The Māyāvādī philosophers interpret this word  aham  as referring to the impersonal Brahman. These Māyāvādīs are very proud of their grammatical knowledge, but any person who has actual knowledge of grammar can understand