Talks with Sarbabhouma Battacharya 225
Brahman. The conceptions of the impersonal Brahman and the localized
Supersoul are contained within the understanding of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.

Whenever we speak of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we add the
word “Sri”: this means that He is full with six opulences, and, in other words,
He is eternally a Person. Otherwise the six opulences cannot be present in
fullness. Therefore, if we say that the Supreme Absolute Truth is impersonal,
it means that He is not a Person of this material world. To distinguish His
transcendental Body from the material body, some have explained Him as
materially impersonal. In other words, material personality has been denied
and Spiritual Personality has been established. In the Svetasvatara Upanishad,
Third Chapter, 19th verse, it has been clearly explained that the Absolute
Truth has no material legs and hands, but still He has spiritual hands by which
He accepts everything which we offer to Him. He has no material eyes, but
He has spiritual eyes by which He can see everything and anything. He has
no material ears but He can hear everything and anything. He has perfect
senses—therefore He knows past, future and present. He knows everything,
but nobody can understand Him, because by material senses He cannot be
understood. He is the Origin of all emanations and therefore He is the Supreme,
the greatest, the Personality of Godhead.

There are many such Vedic hymns which definitely establish that the
Supreme Absolute Truth is a Person, but that He is not a Person of this material
world. In the Hayasirsa Pancharatra there is a nice verse which explains that,
in each and every Upanishad the Supreme Brahman is first viewed as imper-
sonal, but at the end there is acceptance of the Personal Form of the Supreme
Lord. Another example, in the Isa Upanishad—the 15th Mantra—runs as
follows:

Hiranmayena patrena satysya apihitam mukhm

Jat tvam pusan, apavrinu satya dharmaya dri staye
This verse indicates that everyone should be engaged in devotional service
to the Supreme Lord; “O my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
You are the Maintainer of the whole Universe. Everyone is sustained by Your
mercy. Therefore, devotional service unto You is the true religion of life.
Iam therefore engaged in such devotional service, and I expect that You will
please maintain me, and ever increasingly engage me in Your transcendental
service. For the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the eternal Form of Sat-
Chit-Ananda, and Your effulgence is spread all over the Creation, just like the
