1102 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 24
backside of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita the
Lord clearly says: * Rew :
maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tegv avasthitah
“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All
beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Bg. 9.4)

This verse explains that the Lord is spread everywhere by virtue of His
Brahman feature. Everything rests in Him, yet He is not there. The con-
clusion is that without bhakti-yoga, without rendering devotional service
to the Lord, even an impersonalist cannot understand the Brahma-tattva,
the Brahman feature. In the Vedanta-sutra it is stated: athato brahma-
jyfasa. This means that Brahman, Paramatma, or Parabrahman should be
understood. In Srimad-Bhagavatam also the Absolute Truth is described as
the one without a second, but He is realized in three features—impersonal
Brahman, localized Paramatma and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate issue, and in this verse
Lord Siva confirms that ultimately the Absolute Truth is a person. He
clearly says: tat tuam brahma param jyotir akasam iva vistrtam. Here is a
common example: a successful businessman may have many factories and
offices, and everything rests on his order. If someone says that the entire
business rests on such and such a person, it does not mean that the person
is bearing all the factories and offices on his head. Rather, it is understood
that by his brain or his energetic expansion, the business is running with-
out interruption. Similarly, it is the brain and energy of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead that carry on the complete manifestation of the
material and spiritual worlds. The philosophy of monism, explained here
very clearly, adjusts itself to the fact that the supreme source of all energy
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. This is described very
clearly. It is also stated how the impersonal feature of Krsna can be under-
stood: i

raso’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh
pranavah sarva-vedesu
Sabdah khe paurusam nrsu
“Oson.of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and
moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and
ability in man.” (Bg. 7.8)
In this way Krsna can be understood as the mystic power in everything.
