Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.18.23

aham hi prsto 'ryamano bhavadbhir

acaksa atmavagamo 'tra yavan

nabhah patanty atma-samam patattrinas

tatha samam visnu-gatim vipascitah

SYNONYMS

aham -- my humble self; hi -- certainly; prstah -- asked by you; aryamanah -- as powerful as the sun; bhavadbhih -- by you; acakse -- may describe; atma-avagamah -- as far as my knowledge is concerned; atra -- herein; yavan -- so far; nabhah -- sky; patanti -- fly; atma-samam -- as far as it can; patattrinah -- the birds; tatha -- thus; samam -- similarly; visnu-gatim -- knowledge of Visnu; vipascitah -- even though learned.

TRANSLATION

O rsis, who are as powerfully pure as the sun, I shall try to describe to you the transcendental pastimes of Visnu as far as my knowledge is concerned. As the birds fly in the sky as far as their capacity allows, so do the learned devotees describe the Lord as far as their realization allows.

PURPORT

The Supreme Absolute Truth is unlimited. No living being can know about the unlimited by his limited capacity. The Lord is impersonal, personal and localized. By His impersonal feature He is all-pervading Brahman, by His localized feature He is present in everyone's heart as the Supreme Soul, and by His ultimate personal feature He is the object of transcendental loving service by His fortunate associates the pure devotees. The pastimes of the Lord in different features can only be estimated partly by the great learned devotees. So Srila Suta Gosvami has rightly taken this position in describing the pastimes of the Lord as far as he has realized. Factually only the Lord Himself can describe Himself, and His learned devotee also can describe Him as far as the Lord gives him the power of description.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness