'brahma'-Å›abde kahe 'á¹£aá¸-aiÅ›varya-pÅ«rṇa bhagavÄn'
tÄá¹…re 'nirviÅ›eá¹£a' sthÄpi, 'pÅ«rṇatÄ' haya hÄna

 brahma-Å›abde - by the word brahma; kahe - is meant; á¹£aá¹­-aiÅ›varya-pÅ«rṇa bhagavÄn - the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all six opulences; tÄá¹…re - Him; nirviÅ›eá¹£a sthÄpi - if we make impersonal; pÅ«rṇatÄ haya hÄna - His completeness becomes damaged.


Text

“The word ‘Brahman’ [‘the greatest’] indicates the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all six opulences. But if we take the onesided impersonalist view, His fullness is diminished.

Purport

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is originally the Supreme Person, and He expands Himself impersonally through His potency. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.4):

mayÄ tatam idaá¹ sarvaá¹ jagad avyakta-mÅ«rtinÄ
mat-sthÄni sarva-bhÅ«tÄni na cÄhaá¹ teá¹£v avasthitaḥ

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.†The potency of Kṛṣṇa that is spread everywhere is impersonal, just as the sunlight is the impersonal expansion of the sun globe and the sun-god. If we simply take one side of the Supreme Personality of Godhead — His impersonal effulgence — that one side does not fully explain the Absolute Truth. Impersonal appreciation of the Absolute Truth is one-sided and incomplete. One should also accept the other side, the personal side — BhagavÄn. Brahmeti paramÄtmeti bhagavÄn iti Å›abdyate. One should not be satisfied simply by understanding the Brahman feature of the Personality of Godhead. One must also know the Lord’s personal feature. That is complete understanding of the Absolute Truth.