40 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 1
PURPORT

Anything either material or spiritual is but the expansion of the energy
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as stated in the Bhagavad-gita
(Bg. 13.13), the omnipotent Lord has His transcendental eyes, heads and
other bodily parts distributed everywhere. He can see, hear, touch or
manifest Himself from anywhere and everywhere, for He is present every-
where as the Supersoul of all infinitesimal souls, although He has His
particular abode in the absolute world. This relative world is also His
phenomenal representation because it is nothing but the expansion of
His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode, still His energy is
distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded
everywhere and the rays of the sun, being nondifferent from the sun, are
accepted as expansions of the sun disc. In the Visnu Purana (V.P. 1.22.52)
it is said that as fire expands its rays and heat from one place, similarly the
Supreme Spirit, the Personality of Godhead, expands Himself by His mani-
fold energy everywhere and anywhere. The phenomenal manifestation of
the gigantic universe is only a part of His virata body. The less intelligent
class of men cannot conceive of the transcendental all-spiritual form of
the Lord, but they are astounded by His different energies just as the
aborigines are struck with wonder by the manifestation of lightning, a
gigantic mountain or a hugely expanded banyan tree. The aborigines praise
the strength of the tiger and the elephant because of their superior energy
and strength. The asuras also cannot recognize the existence of the Lord,
although there are vivid descriptions of the Lord in the revealed scriptures,
although the Lord incarnates and exhibits His uncommon strength and
energy, and although He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead
by learned scholars and saints like Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita and Bevala in
the past and by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita, as also by the dcaryas like
Safikara, Ramanuja, Madhva and Lord Sri Caitanya in the modern age. The
asuras do not accept any evidential proof from the revealed scriptures, nor
do they recognize the authority of the great a@earyas. They want to see eye
to eye at once. Therefore they can see the gigantic body of the Lord as
virata, which will answer their challenge, and as they are accustomed to pay
homage to superior material strength like that of the tiger, elephant,
lightning, etc., they can offer respect to the virdta répa. Lord Krsna, by the
request of Arjuna, exhibited His virdta riipa for the asuras. A pure devotee
of the Lord, being unaccustomed to look into such mundane gigantic form
cf the Lord, requires special vision for the purpose. The Lord, therefore,
favored Arjuna with special vision for looking into His virdta riipa,
