182 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 2

Only by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can one
understand Him. Those who are in the modes of material nature, al-
though speculating for thousands of years, cannot understand Him. The
Lord has innumerable forms (rémddi-mirtisu kald-niyamena tisthan),
and unless these forms, such as Lord Ramacandra, Nrsirnhadeva, Krsna
and Balarama, were transcendental, how could they be worshiped by
devotees since time immemorial? Bhaktyé mam abhijdnati yavan yas
cdsmi tattvatah (Bg. 18.55). Devotees who awaken their transcendental
nature in the presence of the Lord and who follow the rules and regula-
tions of devotional service can understand Lord Krsna, Lord Ramacandra
and other incarnations, who are not of this material world but who come
from the spiritual world for the benefit of people in general. If one does
not take to this process, one imagines or manufactures some form of God
according to material qualities and can never awaken a real understand-
ing of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The words bhaktya4 mam
abhijanati yavan yas cdsmi tattvatah signify that unless one worships
the Lord according to the regulative devotional principles, one cannot
awaken the transcendental nature. Deity worship, even in the absence of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, awakens the transcendental nature
of the devotee, who thus becomes increasingly attached to the Lord’s
lotus feet.

The appearance of Krsna is the answer to all imaginative iconography
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone imagines the form of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to his mode of material
nature. In the Brahma-samhita it is said that the Lord is the oldest per-
son. Therefore a section of religionists imagine that God must be very
old, and therefore they depict a form of the Lord like a very old man. But
in the same Brahma-sarhitd, that is contradicted; although He is the
oldest of all living entities, He has His eternal form as a fresh youth.
The exact words used in this connection in the Srimad-Bhdgavatam
are vijfidnam ajfdna-bhidépamarjanam. Vijfidna means transcendental
knowledge of the Supreme Personality; vijfidna is also experienced
knowledge. Transcendental knowledge has to be accepted by the de-
scending process of disciplic succession as Brahma presents the knowl-
edge of Krsna in the Brahma-samhita. Brahma-samhitd is vijfidna as
realized by Brahma’s transcendental experience, and in that way he pre-
sented the form and the pastimes of Krsna in the transcendental abode.
