Devanagari
श्रीउद्धव उवाच
त्वं ब्रह्म परमं साक्षादनाद्यन्तमपावृतम् ।
सर्वेषामपि भावानां त्राणस्थित्यप्ययोद्भव: ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
śrī-uddhava uvāca
tvaṁ brahma paramaṁ sākṣād
anādy-antam apāvṛtam
sarveṣām api bhāvānāṁ
trāṇa-sthity-apyayodbhavaḥ
Synonyms
śrī
—
uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said
;
tvam
—
You are
;
brahma
—
the greatest
;
paramam
—
the supreme
;
sākṣāt
—
Himself
;
anādi
—
without beginning
;
antam
—
without end
;
apāvṛtam
—
unlimited by anything else
;
sarveṣām
—
of all
;
api
—
indeed
;
bhāvānām
—
things which exist
;
trāṇa
—
the protector
;
sthiti
—
the life-giver
;
apyaya
—
the destruction
;
udbhavaḥ
—
and the creation .
Translation
Śrī Uddhava said: My dear Lord, You are beginningless and endless, the Absolute Truth Himself, unlimited by anything else. You are the protector and life-giver, the destruction and creation of all things that exist.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Uddhava said: You are without beginning or end, superior to Brahman. You are Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, unlimited by anything. You are the protection from danger, the giver of maintenance, the destroyer and the creator.
The Sixteenth Chapter describes those objects called vibhūtis because of their influence, knowledge or energy. The Lord said in the previous chapter:
sarvāsām api siddhīnāṁ hetuḥ patir ahaṁ prabhuḥ
ahaṁ yogasya sāṅkhyasya dharmasya brahma-vādinām
I am the cause, the protector and the master of all siddhis, of the yoga system, of jṣāna, dharma, and of the searchers for Brahman. SB 11.15.3
Thus all powers arise from the Lord. Having heard that, Uddhava became curious about the various material and spiritual places where the Lord exhibits his powers. He first explains how the Lord is the shelter of everything. You are superior to Brahman because you are Bhagavān. And you, Kṛṣṇa, are Svayam Bhagavān (sākṣāt). Though you have a limited human form as Kṛṣṇa, you pervade all time and space, being without beginning or end and unrestrained by anything. Viṣṇu, the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the universe, is your aṁśa. Thus it can be said that you are the protection from disaster, the maintainer of life, the destruction and creation for all beings in existence.
Purport
Brahma
means the greatest of all and the cause of everything. Uddhava here addresses the Lord as the
paramam,
or supreme
brahma,
because in His feature as Bhagavān the Lord is the highest feature of the Absolute Truth and the shelter of unlimited spiritual opulences. Unlike those of ordinary living entities, the Lord’s opulences cannot be restricted by time, and thus the Lord is
anādy-antam,
without beginning or end, and
apāvṛtam,
unhindered by any superior or equal potency. The opulence of the material world is also resting within the Lord, who alone can protect, maintain, create and destroy the material world. In this chapter, Śrī Uddhava inquires from the Lord about His spiritual and material opulences in order to refine his appreciation of the Lord’s position as the Absolute Truth. Even Lord Viṣṇu, the ultimate creator of the material world, is an expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus Śrī Uddhava wishes to fully appreciate the unique status of his personal friend.