44 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 1

TRANSLATION

I offer my obeisances unto Lord Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, who is the
supreme all-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the
transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom
all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell and by whom they are
destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly
and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is
He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahma,
the first created being. Through Him this world, like a mirage, appears real
even to great sages and demigods. Because of Him, the material universes,
created by the three modes of nature, appear to be factual, although they
are unreal. I meditate therefore upon Him, the Absolute Truth, who is
eternally existent in His transcendental abode, and who is forever free of
illusion.

PURPORT

Obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, directly indicate
Lord Sri Krsna, who is the divine son of Vasudeva and Devaki. This fact
will be more explicitly explained in the text of this work. Sri Vyasadeva
asserts herein that Sri Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, and all
others are His direct or indirect plenary portions or portions of the
portion. Srila Jiva Gosvami has even more explicitly explained the subject
matter in his Krsna-sandarbha. And Brahmi, the original living being, has
explained the subject of Sri Krsna substantially in his treatise named
Brahma-sarthitd. In the Sama-veda Upanisad, it is also stated that Lord Sri
Krsna is the divine son of Devaki. Therefore, in this prayer, the first pro-
position holds that Lord Sri Krsna is the primeval Lord, and if any tran-
scendental nomenclature is to be understood as belonging to the Absolute
Personality of Godhead, it must be the name indicated by the word Krsna,
which means the all-attractive. In Bhagavad-gita, in many places, the Lord
asserts Himself to be the original Personality of Godhead, and this is
confirmed by Arjuna, and also by great sages like Narada, Vyasa, and many
others. In the Padma Purana, it is also stated that out of the innumerable
names of the Lord, the name of Krsna is the principal one. Vasudeva
indicates the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead, and all the
different forms of the Lord, being identical with Vasudeva, are indicated
in this text. The name Vasudeva particularly indicates the divine son of
Vasudeva and Devaki. Sri Krsna is always meditated upon by the
paramahamsas who are the perfected ones among those in the renounced
order of life.

Vasudeva, or Lord Sri Krsna, is the cause of all causes. Everything that
