252 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 4
innumerable eternals and the supreme living being among the innumer-
able living beings. The Lord is a person who also has impersonal
features. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.11):
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jridnam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti Sabdyate

“‘Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this non-
dual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan.” Consideration of
the Paramatma and impersonal Brahman arose after the creation; before
the creation, only the Supreme Personality of Godhead existed. As firmly
declared in Bhagavad-gita (18.55), the Lord can be understood only by
bhakti-yoga. The ultimate cause, the supreme cause of creation, is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can be understood only by bhakti-
yoga. He cannot be understood by speculative philosophical research or
by meditation, since all such processes came into existence after the ma-
terial creation. The impersonal and localized conceptions of the Supreme
Lord are more or less materially contaminated. The real spiritual process,
therefore, is bhakti-yoga. As the Lord says, bhaktya mam abhianati:
“Only by devotional service can I be understood.” Before the creation,
the Lord existed as a person, as indicated here by the word aham. When
Prajapati Daksa saw Him as a person, who was beautifully dressed and
ornamented, he actually experienced the meaning of this word aham
through devotional service.

Each person is eternal. Because the Lord says that He existed as a per-
son before the creation (agre) and will also exist after the annihilation,
the Lord is a person eternally. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura
therefore quotes these verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.9.13-14):

na cantar na bahir yasya
na pirvam napi caparam

purvaparam bahis cantar
Jagato yo jagac ca yah
