Å›rÄ«-rÄjovÄca
nÄrÄyaṇÄbhidhÄnasya
brahmaṇaḥ paramÄtmanaḥ
niá¹£á¹hÄm arhatha no vaktuá¹
yÅ«yaá¹ hi brahma-vittamÄḥ
Å›rÄ«-rÄjÄ uvÄca - the King said; nÄrÄyaṇa-abhidhÄnasya - of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, named NÄrÄyaṇa; brahmaṇaḥ - of the Absolute Truth; parama-Ätmanaḥ - of the Supersoul; niá¹£á¹hÄm - the transcendental situation; arhatha - you may kindly; naḥ - to us; vaktum - speak; yÅ«yam - all of you; hi - indeed; brahma-vit-tamÄḥ - the most expert knowers of the Supreme.
King Nimi inquired: Please explain to me the transcendental situation of the Supreme Lord, NÄrÄyaṇa, who is Himself the Absolute Truth and the Supersoul of everyone. You can explain this to me, because you are all most expert in transcendental knowledge.
According to ÅšrÄ«la ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«, in the previous verse the sages informed the King, nÄrÄyaṇa-paro mÄyÄm añjas tarati dustarÄm: simply by unalloyed devotion to Lord NÄrÄyaṇa, one can very easily cross over the ocean of material illusion. Therefore, in this verse the King is requesting specific information about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, NÄrÄyaṇa. It is significant in this verse that the King refers to the Supreme Lord as NÄrÄyaṇa, Brahman and ParamÄtmÄ. Although King Nimi is already understood to be a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by his question he wants to clarify that the Personality of Godhead is the highest transcendental truth. In the BhÄgavatam (1.2.11):
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaá¹ yaj jñÄnam advayam
brahmeti paramÄtmeti
bhagavÄn iti Å›abdyate
“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, ParamÄtmÄ or BhagavÄn.†Therefore it is to be understood that the word nÄrÄyaṇa in this verse refers to the BhagavÄn feature of the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world.
Generally the speculative philosophers become attracted to the impersonal Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, whereas the mystic yogÄ«s meditate upon the ParamÄtmÄ, the Supersoul within everyone’s heart. On the other hand, those who have achieved mature transcendental knowledge surrender directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, BhagavÄn, who is eternally situated in His own abode, called Vaikuṇá¹ha-dhÄma. In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly says, brahmaṇo hi pratiá¹£á¹hÄham: “I am the source of the impersonal Brahman.†Similarly, it is described in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam that the Supersoul, KṣīrodakaÅ›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu, is a secondary plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. King Nimi wants the sages to make clear that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original feature of the Absolute Truth, and therefore he places his question before the next of the nine Yogendras, PippalÄyana.
According to ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« ṬhÄkura the word niá¹£á¹hÄ can also be translated as “firm faith.†In this sense, Nimi MahÄrÄja is inquiring about the process of developing perfect faith in the Supreme Lord (bhagavan-niá¹£á¹hÄ).
