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Brahmā Stealing the Boys and Calves
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One description given of Brahman is  satyaṁ brahma, ānanda-rūpam : “Brahman is the Absolute Truth and complete  ānanda , or bliss.” The forms of  Viṣṇu , the Supreme Brahman, were one, but They were manifested differently. The followers of the  Upaniṣads , however, cannot understand the varieties manifested by Brahman. This proves that Brahman and Paramātmā can actually be understood only through devotion, as confirmed by the Lord Himself in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  ( bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ, Bhāg.  11.14.21). To establish that Brahman indeed has transcendental form, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura gives various quotations from the  śāstras . In the  Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad  (3.8), the Supreme is described as  āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt , “He whose self-manifest form is luminous like the sun and transcendental to the darkness of ignorance.”  Ānanda-mātram ajaraṁ purāṇam ekaṁ santaṁ bahudhā dṛśyamānam : “The Supreme is blissful, with no tinge of unhappiness. Although He is the oldest, He never ages, and although one, He is experienced in different forms.”  Sarve nityāḥ śāśvatāś ca dehās tasya parātmanaḥ : “All the forms of that Supreme Person are eternal.” ( Mahā-varāha Purāṇa ) The Supreme Person has a form, with hands and legs and other personal features, but His hands and legs are not material.  Bhaktas  know that the form of  Kṛṣṇa , or Brahman, is not at all material. Rather, Brahman has a transcendental form, and when one is absorbed in it, being fully developed in  bhakti , one can understand Him ( premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena ). The Māyāvādīs, however, cannot understand this transcendental form, for they think that it is material.
Transcendental forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His person are so great that the impersonal followers of the  Upaniṣads  cannot reach the platform of knowledge to understand them. Particularly, the transcendental forms of the Lord are beyond the reach of the impersonalists, who can only understand, through the studies of the  Upaniṣads , that the Absolute Truth is not matter and that the Absolute Truth is not materially restricted by limited potency.
Yet although  Kṛṣṇa  cannot be seen through the  Upaniṣads , in some places it is said that  Kṛṣṇa  can in fact be known in this way.  Aupaniṣadaṁ puruṣam : “He is known by the  Upaniṣads .” This means that when one is purified by Vedic knowledge, one is then allowed to enter into devotional understanding ( mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām ).