204 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

there. In Bhagwatam also the subject matter is divided into three: to establish
the eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, how to act in that relationship,
and, lastly, how to achieve the highest benefit from it.

The four verses dealing with Ahameva asam agrey are the gist of the whole
Bhagwatam, and this is very nicely explained as follows: “I am the Supreme
Center of relationship of all living entities, and My knowledge is the Supreme
Knowledge, and the process by which I can be achieved by the living entity
is called Abhidheya. And, by the Abhidheya process, one attains to the highest
perfection of life, love of Godhead. When one attains that stage of life, love
of Godhead, then his life becomes perfect.” The explanation of these four
verses is given in the Srimad Bhagwatam.

In this connection Lord Chaitanya gave a short description of the principles
of the four slokas of Srimad Bhagwatam as follows: Nobody can understand the
consitutional position of the Supreme Lord—how He is situated, what are
His transcendental qualities, what are His transcendental activities, how He
is full with six kinds of opulences. These things cannot be understood by
mental speculators or by one’s academic education. These things are to be
understood by the mercy of the Lord, as has been stated in the Bhagavad
Gita: one who is fortunate enough to be favored by the Supreme Lord can
understand all these explanations by the mercy of the Lord.

The Lord existed before the material Creation; therefore the material
ingredients and Nature and the living entities all emanated from Him, and
again after dissolution they rest in Him. When the Creation is correct it is
maintained by Him; at the same time, whatever manifestation we see, that
is only a transformation of the external energy. When the external energy is
withdrawn by the Supreme Lord, then everything enters into Him. In the
first verse of Ahameva, the word, Aham, I, is mentioned three times. That is
to stress that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full with all opulences.
For anyone, therefore, who cannot understand or does not believe in the
transcendental Nature and Form of the Supreme Lord, and who says He is
without any Form—Aham is stated three times just to chastise him.

The Lord possesses His internal energy, besides His external, marginal and
relative energies, as well as the manifestation of His cosmic world and the
living entities. The external energy is manifested by the qualitative modes,
or gunas, of material Nature. One who can understand the nature of the living
entity in the Spiritual World can actually understand Vedyam, or perfect
knowledge. One cannot understand the Supreme Lord simply by seeing the
material energy and the conditioned soul. But when one is in perfect knowl-
