Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.8.19

sa ittham udvīkṣya tad-abja-nāla-

nāḍībhir antar-jalam āviveśa

nārvāg-gatas tat-khara-nāla-nāla-

nābhiḿ vicinvaḿs tad avindatājaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — he (Brahmā); ittham — in this way; udvīkṣya — contemplating; tat — that; abja — lotus; nāla — stem; nāḍībhiḥ — by the pipe; antaḥ-jalam — within the water; āviveśa — entered into; na — not; arvāk-gataḥ — in spite of going inside; tat-khara-nāla — the stem of the lotus; nāla — pipe; nābhim — of the navel; vicinvan — thinking much of it; tat — that; avindata — understood; ajaḥ — the self-born.

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahmā, thus contemplating, entered the water through the channel of the stem of the lotus. But in spite of entering the stem and going nearer to the navel of Viṣṇu, he could not trace out the root.

PURPORT

By dint of one's personal endeavor one may go nearer to the Lord, but without the Lord's mercy one cannot reach the ultimate point. Such understanding of the Lord is possible only by devotional service, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55): bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ.

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