186
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 10, Ch. 2]
senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.” Since Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental name, form and activities are all of a transcendental nature, ordinary persons or those who are only slightly advanced cannot understand them. Even big scholars who are nondevotees think that Kṛṣṇa is fictitious. Yet although so-called scholars and commentators do not believe that Kṛṣṇa was factually a historical person whose presence on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra is recorded in the history of  Mahābhārata , they feel compelled to write commentaries on  Bhagavad-gītā  and other historical records.  Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ : Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental name, form, attributes and activities can be revealed only when one engages in His service in full consciousness. This confirms Kṛṣṇa’s own words in  Bhagavad-gītā  (18.55):
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti 
    yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ 
    tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā 
    viśate tad-anantaram
“One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” Only by  sevonmukha , by engaging oneself in the Lord’s service, can one realize the name, form and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
“O Lord,” the demigods say, “the impersonalists, who are nondevotees, cannot understand that Your name is identical with Your form.” Since the Lord is absolute, there is no difference between His name and His actual form. In the material world there is a difference between form and name. The mango fruit is different from the name of the mango. One cannot taste the mango fruit simply by chanting, “Mango, mango, mango.” But the devotee who knows that there is no difference between the name and the form of the Lord chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and realizes that he is always in Kṛṣṇa’s company.
For persons who are not very advanced in absolute knowledge of the