Text 30] Vidura Approaches Maitreya 149

Padma Purana it is said, atah §ri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam
indriyath. The name and form of the Lord cannot be perceived by the
material senses, but when He appears within the vision of the mundane
people He assumes the form of the virata-rupa. This is an additional ma-
terial exhibition of form and is supported by the logic of a subject and
its adjectives. In grammar, when an adjective is taken away from the
subject, the subject it modifies does not change. Similarly, when the Lord
quits His virata-rupa, His eternal form does not change, although there is no
material difference between Himself and any one of His innumerable forms.
In the Fifth Canto it will be seen how the Lord is worshiped in different
planets in His different forms, even now, and how He is worshiped in
different temples of this earth also.

Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Vigvanatha Cakravarti Thakur have very
elaborately explained this incidence of the Lord’s disappearance in their
commentaries, quoting various authentic versions of Vedic literatures. We
purposely do not include them all here to avoid an increase in the volume
of this book. The entire matter is explained in Bhagavad-gita, as quoted
above: the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. He
always keeps Himself out of the vision of the nondevotees, who are devoid
of love and devotion, and thus He puts them still further away from the
Lord. The Lord appeared on the invitation of Brahma, who prayed before
the Ksirodakagayi Visnu, and therefore when the Lord appeared, all the
forms of Visnu amalgamated with Him, and when the mission was fulfilled,
all of them disintegrated from Him in the usual course.

TEXT 30

meer aft ae azraTT |
WeISA TAS] APAAKRIAT az IIZoll

asmal lokad uparate
mayi jiianam mad-asrayam
arhaty uddhava evaddha
sampraty almavatam varah

asmat—from this (universe); lokat—carth; uparate—having disappeared;
mayi—of Myself; jfianam—knowledge; mat-asrayam—concerning Myself;
arhati— deserves; uddhavah—Uddhava; eva—certainly; addha—directly ;
samprali—at the present moment; almavalam—of the devotees; varah—
foremost.
