Text 18]
Bhīṣma's Passing Away
459
eṣa vai bhagavān sākṣād ādyo nārāyaṇaḥ pumān mohayan māyayā lokam gūḍhaś carati vṛṣṇiṣu
eṣaḥ—this; vai—positively; bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead; sākṣāt—original; ādyaḥ—the first; nārāyaṇaḥ—the Supreme Lord (who lies down on the water); pumān—the supreme enjoyer; mohayan—bewildering; māyayā—by His self-created energy; lokam—the planets; gūḍhaḥ—inconceivable; carati—moves; vṛṣṇiṣu—among the Vṛṣṇi family.
TRANSLATION
This Śrī Kṛṣṇa is no other than the original Personality of Godhead. He is the first Nārāyaṇa, the supreme enjoyer. But He is moving amongst the descendants of King Vṛṣṇi, just like one of us, and He is bewildering us with His Self-created energy.
PURPORT
The Vedic system of acquiring knowledge is the deductive process. The Vedic knowledge is received perfectly by disciplinary succession from authorities. Such knowledge is never dogmatic, as is ill-conceived by less intelligent persons. The mother is the authority to verify the identity of the father. She is the authority for such confidential knowledge. Therefore, authority is not dogmatic. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  this truth is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter (Bg. 4.2), and the perfect system of learning is to receive it from authority. The very same system is accepted universally as truth, but only the false arguer speaks against this system. For example, modern spacecraft fly in the sky, and they say that they travel to the other side of the moon, and men believe these stories blindly because they have accepted the modern scientists as authorities. The authorities speak, and the people in general believe them. But in the case of Vedic truths, they have been taught not to believe. Even if they accept them they give a different interpretation. Each and every man wants a direct perception of Vedic knowledge, but foolishly they deny it. This means that the misguided man can believe one authority, the scientist, but will reject the authority of the  Vedas . The result is that people have degenerated.
Here is an authority speaking about Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead and the first Nārāyaṇa. Even an impersonalist like Ācārya Śaṅkara has said in the beginning of his commentation on the  Bhagavad-