Devanagari
भगवानेक आसेदमग्र आत्मात्मनां विभु: ।
आत्मेच्छानुगतावात्मा नानामत्युपलक्षण: ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
bhagavān eka āsedam
agra ātmātmanāṁ vibhuḥ
ātmecchānugatāv ātmā
nānā-maty-upalakṣaṇaḥ
Synonyms
bhagavān
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
ekaḥ
—
one without a second
;
āsa
—
was there
;
idam
—
this creation
;
agre
—
prior to the creation
;
ātmā
—
in His own form
;
ātmanām
—
of the living entities
;
vibhuḥ
—
master
;
ātmā
—
Self
;
icchā
—
desire
;
anugatau
—
being merged in
;
ātmā
—
Self
;
nānā
—
mati — different vision
;
upalakṣaṇaḥ
—
symptoms .
Translation
The Personality of Godhead, the master of all living entities, existed prior to the creation as one without a second. It is by His will only that creation is made possible and again everything merges in Him. This Supreme Self is symptomized by different names.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Bhagavān, who exists in the form of Paramātmā and Brahman according to the viewpoint, alone existed before the creation of the universe, when the desire to create bodies of the jīvas was absent.
In order to describe creation, the prior state is first described. Before the creation of the universe (idam agre), Bhagavān, full of six powers, existed alone, since everything was merged in him. This means that the Lord acted as the adhiṣṭhana-kāraṇa, the basis of everything and that all his energies, which still existed at that time, are considered the effect. He is the Paramātmā, (ātmātmanām), worshipped by the yogīs, and he is the all-pervading Brahman worshipped by the jṣānīs (vihuḥ). He is thus described differently because of the differing views the differing worshippers—bhaktas, yogīs and jṣānīs. Even the śrutis describe this. Vāsudevo vā idamagra āsīnna brahmā na ca śaṅkara: in the beginning, before the creation of the universe Vāsudeva alone existed, and not Brahmā or Śiva. Eko nārāyaṇa evāsīnna brahmā neśāna: Only Nārāyaṇa exists, and not Brahmā or Śiva. Ātmaivedamagra āsīd: the Lord alone existed in the beginning. Sadevāsīt: the Lord always existed. Before the creation, for how long was he alone? It started from the previous destruction of matter, when there was disappearance (anugatau) of the desire to create (icchā) bodies for the jīvas (ātmā).
Purport
The great sage here begins to explain the purpose of the four original verses of the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Although they have no access to the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
the followers of the Māyāvāda (impersonalist) school sometimes screw out an imaginary explanation of the original four verses, but we must accept the actual explanation given herein by Maitreya Muni because he, along with Uddhava, personally heard it directly from the Lord. The first line of the original four verses runs,
aham evāsam evāgre.
The word
aham
is misinterpreted by the Māyāvāda school into meanings which no one but the interpreter can understand. Here
aham
is explained as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not the individual living entities. Before the creation, there was only the Personality of Godhead; there were no
puruṣa
incarnations and certainly no living entities, nor was there the material energy, by which the manifested creation is effected. The
puruṣa
incarnations and all the different energies of the Supreme Lord were merged in Him only.
The Personality of Godhead is described herein as the master of all other living entities. He is like the sun disc, and the living entities are like the molecules of the sun’s rays. This existence of the Lord before the creation is confirmed by the
śrutis:
vāsudevo vā idaṁ agra āsīt na brahmā na ca śaṅkaraḥ, eko vai nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā neśānāḥ.
Because everything that be is an emanation from the Personality of Godhead, He always exists alone without a second. He can so exist because He is all-perfect and omnipotent. Everything other than Him, including His plenary expansions, the
viṣṇu-tattvas,
is His part and parcel. Before the creation there were no Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī or Garbhodakaśāyī or Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇus, nor was there Brahmā or Śaṅkara. The Viṣṇu plenary expansion and the living entities beginning from Brahmā are separated parts and parcels. Although the spiritual existence was there with the Lord, the material existence was dormant in Him. By His will only is the material manifestation done and undone. The diversity of the Vaikuṇṭhaloka is one with the Lord, just as the diversity of soldiers is one with and the same as the king. As explained in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.7)
, the material creation takes place at intervals by the will of the Lord, and in the periods between dissolution and creation, the living entities and the material energy remain dormant in Him.