12
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 1]
interest in the matter of the Lord's activities is definite proof that the Lord is not like one of us in the material world. In the Vedic literatures also, it is confirmed that the Supreme Lord is one, but that He is engaged in His transcendental pastimes in the company of His unalloyed devotees and that simultaneously He is present as the Supersoul, an expansion of Baladeva, in the heart of all living entities. Therefore, the highest perfection of transcendental realization is to take pleasure in hearing and describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord and not in merging into His impersonal Brahman existence, as the impersonalist monist aspires. Real transcendental pleasure is realized in the glorification of the transcendental Lord, and not in the feeling of being situated in His impersonal feature. But there are also others who are not the topmost transcendentalists, but are in the lower status, and who do not take pleasure in describing the transcendental activities of the Lord. Rather, they discuss such activities of the Lord formally with the aim of merging into His existence.
TEXT 8
इदं भागवतं नाम पुराणं ब्रह्ममस्मितम् । अधीतवान् द्वापरादौ पितुर्द्वैपायनादहम् ॥ ८ ॥
idam bhāgavatam nāma purāṇam brahma-sammitam adhītavān dvāparādau pitur dvaipāyanād aham
idam—this; bhāgavatam—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; nāma—f the name; purāṇam—Vedic supplimentary; brahma-sammitam—approved as the essence of the Vedas; adhītavān—studied; dvāparādau—at the end of the Dvāpara-yuga; pituḥ—from my father; dvaipāyanāt—Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva aham—myself.
TRANSLATION
At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga, I studied this great supplement of Vedic literature of the name Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is equal to all the Vedas, from my father, Śrīla Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva.