Text 16]
Nārada's Instructions on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
243
प्रवर्तमानस्य
गुणैरनात्मन-
स्ततो भवान्दर्शय चेष्टितं विभोः ॥१६॥
vicakṣaṇo'syārhati veditum vibhor ananta-pārasya nivṛttitaḥ sukham pravarta-mānasya guṇair anātmanas tato bhavān darśaya ceṣṭitam vibhoḥ
vicakṣaṇaḥ—very expert; asya—of him; arhati—deserves; veditum—to understand; vibhoḥ—of the Lord; ananta-pārasya—of the unlimited; nivṛttitaḥ—retired from; sukham—material happiness; pravarta-mānasya—those who are attached to; guṇaiḥ—by the material qualities; anātmanaḥ—devoid of knowledge in spiritual value; tataḥ—therefore; bhavān—your goodness; darśaya—show the ways; ceṣṭitam—activities; vibhoḥ—of the Lord.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Lord is unlimited. Only a very expert personality, retired from the activities of material happiness, deserves to understand this knowledge of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so well situated, due to material attachment, should be shown the ways of transcendental realization, by your goodness, through descriptions of the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord.
PURPORT
Theological science is a difficult subject, especially when it deals with the transcendental nature of God. It is not a subject matter to be understood by persons who are too much attached to material activities. Only the very expert, who have almost retired from materialistic activities by culture of spiritual knowledge, can be admitted to the study of this great science. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  it is clearly stated that out of many hundreds and thousands of men only one person deserves to enter into transcendental realization. And out of many thousands of such transcendentally realized persons, only a few can understand the theological science specifically dealing with God as a person. Śrī Vyāsadeva is therefore advised by Nārada to describe the science of God directly by relating His transcendental activities. Vyāsadeva is himself a personality expert in this science, and he is unattached to material enjoyment. Therefore he is the right person to describe it, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vyāsadeva, is the right per-