376 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 9

jiatah—known; aham—Myself; bhavata—by you; tu—but; adya—today;
duh—difficult; vijieyah—to be known; api—in spite of; dehinam—for the
conditioned soul; yat—because; mam—Me; tvuam—you; manyase—under-
stand; ayuktam—without being made of; bhiita—material elements; indriya
—material senses; guna—material modes; atmabhih—and false ego like the
conditioned soul. TRANSLATION

Although I am not easily knowable by the conditioned soul, you have
known Me today because you know that My personality is not constituted
of anything material, and specifically not of the five gross and three subtle
elements.

PURPORT

Knowledge of the Supreme Absolute Truth does not necessitate negation
of the material manifestation but understanding of spiritual existence as it
is. To think that because material existence is realized in forms spiritual
existence must therefore be formless is only a negative material concep-
tion of spirit. The real spiritual conception is that spiritual form is not
material form. Brahma appreciated the eternal form of the Lord in that
way, and the Personality of Godhead approved of Brahma’s spiritual
conception. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord condemned the material conception
of Krgna’s body which arises because He is apparently present like a man.
The Lord may appear in any of His many, many spiritual forms, but He is
neither materially composed nor has He any difference between body and
self. That is the way of conceiving the spiritual form of the Lord.

TEXT 37
aed afafarecararncar a afaraisata: |
Tet Aas Fe gare fafa: |v!
tubhyam mad-vicikitsayam
atma me darsito ’bahih
nalena salile mulam
puskarasya vicinvatah

tubhyam—unto you; mat—Me; vicikitsayam—on your trying to know;
atma—self; me—of Myself; darsitah—exhibited; abahih—from within; ndalena
—through the stem; salile—in the water; milam—root; puskarasya—of the
lotus, the primeval source; vicinvatah—contemplating.
