Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.5.7

sa bhavān acarad ghoraḿ

yat tapaḥ susamāhitaḥ

tena khedayase nas tvaḿ

parā-śańkāḿ ca yacchasi

SYNONYMS

saḥ — he; bhavān — your good self; acarat — undertook; ghoram — severe; yat tapaḥ — meditation; su-samāhitaḥ — in perfect discipline; tena — for that reason; khedayase — gives pain; naḥ — ourselves; tvam — your good self; parā — the ultimate truth; śańkām — doubts; ca — and; yacchasi — giving us a chance.

TRANSLATION

Yet we are moved to wonder about the existence of someone more powerful than you when we think of your great austerities in perfect discipline, although your good self is so powerful in the matter of creation.

PURPORT

Following in the footsteps of Śrī Nārada Muni, one should not blindly accept his spiritual master as God Himself. A spiritual master is duly respected on a par with God, but a spiritual master claiming to be God Himself should at once be rejected. Nārada Muni accepted Brahmā as the Supreme due to Lord Brahmā's wonderful acts in creation, but doubts arose in him when he saw that Lord Brahmā also worshiped some superior authority. The Supreme is supreme, and He has no worshipable superior. The ahańgrahopāsitā, or the one who worships himself with the idea of becoming God Himself, is misleading, but the intelligent disciple can at once detect that the Supreme God does not need to worship anyone, including Himself, in order to become God. Ahańgrahopāsanā may be one of the processes for transcendental realization, but the ahańgrahopāsitā can never be God Himself. No one becomes God by undergoing a process of transcendental realization. Nārada Muni thought of Brahmājī as the Supreme Person, but when he saw Brahmājī engaged in the process of transcendental realization, doubts arose in him. So he wanted to be clearly informed.

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