256
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 6]
TEXT 38
अत्मनोऽवसितो वत्स महिमा कविनाऽऽदिना । 
  संवत्सरसहस्रान्ते धिया योगविपक्कया ॥३८॥
ātmano' vasito vatsa 
  mahimā kavinā 'dinā 
  saṁvatsara-sahasrānte 
  dhiyā yoga-vipakkayā
ātmanaḥ—of the Supreme Soul; avasitaḥ—known; vatsa—O my dear sons; mahimā—glories; kavinā—by the poet Brahmā; ādinā—original; saṁvatsara—celestial year; sahasra-ante—at the end of one thousand; dhiyā—by intelligence; yoga-vipakkayā—by matured meditation.
TRANSLATION
The original poet, Brahmā, after mature meditation for one thousand celestial years, could know only that the glories of the Supreme Soul are inconceivable.
PURPORT
There are some froggish philosophers who want to know the Supreme Soul by means of philosophy and mental speculation. And when the devotees, who are, to some extent, in knowledge of the Supreme Lord, admit that the glories of the Lord are inestimable or inconceivable, the froggish philosophers adversely criticize them. These philosophers, like the frog in the well who tried to estimate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean, like to take trouble over fruitless mental speculation instead of taking instructions from devotees like the original poet, namely, Brahmā. Lord Brahmā underwent a severe type of meditation for one thousand celestial years, yet he said that the glories of the Lord are inconceivable. Therefore what can the froggish philosophers hope to gain from their mental speculations?
It is said in the  Brahma-saṁhitā  that the mental speculator may fly through the sky of speculation with the velocity of the mind or the wind for thousands of millions of years, and still he will find it inconceivable. The devotees, however, do not waste time in such vain searching after knowledge of the Supreme, but they submittedly hear the glories of the Lord from bona fide devotees. Thus they transcendentally enjoy the process of hearing and chanting. The Lord approves of the devotional activities of the devotees or  mahātmās , and He says: