यत् तद् ब्रह्म परं सूक्ष्ममशून्यं शून्यकल्पितम् ।
भगवान् वासुदेवेति यं गृणन्ति हि सात्वताः ॥४९॥

yat tad brahma paraṠsūkṣmam
aśūnyaṠśūnya-kalpitam
bhagavÄn vÄsudeveti
yaá¹ gṛṇanti hi sÄtvatÄḥ

 yat - that which; tat - such; brahma param - Parabrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa; sÅ«ká¹£mam - spiritual, beyond all material conceptions; aśūnyam - not impersonal or void; Å›Å«nya-kalpitam - imagined to be void by less intelligent men; bhagavÄn - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vÄsudeva - Kṛṣṇa; iti - thus; yam - whom; gṛṇanti - sing about; hi - indeed; sÄtvatÄḥ - pure devotees.


Text

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is extremely difficult to understand for unintelligent men who accept Him as impersonal or void, which He is not. The Lord is therefore understood and sung about by pure devotees.

Purport

As stated in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.2.11):

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
 tattvaá¹ yaj jñÄnam advayam
brahmeti paramÄtmeti
 bhagavÄn iti Å›abdyate

The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases — as Brahman, ParamÄtmÄ and BhagavÄn. BhagavÄn is the origin of everything. Brahman is a partial representation of BhagavÄn, and VÄsudeva, the Supersoul living everywhere and in everyone’s heart, is also an advanced realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But when one comes to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead (vÄsudevaḥ sarvam iti), when one realizes that VÄsudeva is both ParamÄtmÄ and the impersonal Brahman, he is then in perfect knowledge. Kṛṣṇa is therefore described by Arjuna as paraá¹ brahma paraá¹ dhÄma pavitraá¹ paramaá¹ bhavÄn. The words paraá¹ brahma refer to the shelter of the impersonal Brahman and also of the all-pervading Supersoul. When Kṛṣṇa says tyaktvÄ dehaá¹ punar janma naiti mÄm eti, this means that the perfect devotee, after perfect realization, returns home, back to Godhead. MahÄrÄja Khaá¹­vÄá¹…ga accepted the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because of his full surrender he achieved perfection.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Ninth Canto, Ninth Chapter, of the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, entitled “The Dynasty of Aá¹Å›umÄn.â€