Å›rÄ«-uddhava uvÄca
tvaá¹ brahma paramaá¹ sÄká¹£Äd
anÄdy-antam apÄvá¹›tam
sarveá¹£Äm api bhÄvÄnÄá¹
trÄṇa-sthity-apyayodbhavaḥ
Å›rÄ«-uddhavaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Uddhava said; tvam - You are; brahma - the greatest; paramam - the supreme; sÄká¹£Ät - Himself; anÄdi - without beginning; antam - without end; apÄvá¹›tam - unlimited by anything else; sarveá¹£Äm - of all; api - indeed; bhÄvÄnÄm - things which exist; trÄṇa - the protector; sthiti - the life-giver; apyaya - the destruction; udbhavaḥ - and the creation.
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.
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 BhagavÄn 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 anÄdy-antam, without beginning or end, and apÄvá¹›tam, 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, ÅšrÄ« 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 ÅšrÄ« Uddhava wishes to fully appreciate the unique status of his personal friend.
