320
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 6]
na —neither;  aham —I;  yūyam —all you sons;  yat —whose;  ṛtām —factual;  gatim —movements;  viduḥ —do know;  na —nor;  vāmadevaḥ —Lord Śiva;  kim —what;  uta —else;  apare —others;  suraḥ —demigods;  tat —by His;  māyayā —by the illusory energy;  mohita —bewildered;  buddhayaḥ —with such intelligence;  tu —but;  idam —this;  vinirmitam —what is created;  ca —also;  ātma-samam —by dint of one's personal capacity;  vicakṣmahe —observe.
TRANSLATION
Since neither Lord Śiva nor you nor I could ascertain the limits of spiritual happiness, how can other demigods know it? And because all of us are bewildered by the illusory external energy of the Supreme Lord, we can see only this manifested cosmos according to our individual capacity.
PURPORT
We have many times mentioned the names of twelve selected authorities ( dvādaśa-mahājana ), of which Brahmā, Nārada and Lord Śiva head the list as the first, second and third in order of merit of those who know something of the Supreme Lord. Other demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, Cāraṇas, Vidyādharas, human beings, or  asuras  cannot possibly know fully about the potencies of the Absolute Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The demigods, semi-demigods, Gandharvas, etc., are all highly intelligent persons in the upper planets. The human beings are inhabitants of the intermediate planets, and the  asuras  are inhabitants of the lower planets. All of them have their respective conceptions and estimations of the Absolute Truth, as does the scientist or the empiric philosopher in the human society. All such living entities are creatures of the material nature, and consequently they are bewildered by the wonderful display of the three modes of material nature. Such bewilderment is mentioned in the  Gītā  (Bg. 7.13):  tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair ebhiḥ sarvam idam jagat , every entity, beginning from Brahmā down to the ant, is individually bewildered by the three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone thinks, in terms of individual capacity, that this universe, which is manifested before us, is all in all. And so the scientist in the human society of the twentieth century calculates the beginning and end of the universe in his own way. But what can the scientists know? Even Brahmā himself was once bewildered, thinking himself the only one Brahmā favored by the Lord, but later on, by the grace of the Lord, he came to know that there are innu-