kasmai yena vibhÄsito 'yam atulo jñÄna-pradÄ«paḥ purÄ
tad-rÅ«peṇa ca nÄradÄya munaye kṛṣṇÄya tad-rÅ«piṇÄ
yogÄ«ndrÄya tad-ÄtmanÄtha bhagavad-rÄtÄya kÄruṇyatas
tac chuddhaṠvimalaṠviśokam amṛtaṠsatyaṠparaṠdhīmahi
kasmai - unto BrahmÄ; yena - by whom; vibhÄsitaḥ - thoroughly revealed; ayam - this; atulaḥ - incomparable; jñÄna - of transcendental knowledge; pradÄ«paḥ - the torchlight; purÄ - long ago; tat-rÅ«peṇa - in the form of BrahmÄ; ca - and; nÄradÄya - to NÄrada; munaye - the great sage; kṛṣṇÄya - to Kṛṣṇa-dvaipÄyana VyÄsa; tat-rÅ«piá¹‡Ä - in the form of NÄrada; yogi-indrÄya - to the best of yogÄ«s, Åšukadeva; tat-ÄtmanÄ - as NÄrada; atha - then; bhagavat-rÄtÄya - to ParÄ«ká¹£it MahÄrÄja; kÄruṇyataḥ - out of mercy; tat - that; Å›uddham - pure; vimalam - uncontaminated; viÅ›okam - free from misery; amá¹›tam - immortal; satyam - upon the truth; param - supreme; dhÄ«mahi - I meditate.
I meditate upon that pure and spotless Supreme Absolute Truth, who is free from suffering and death and who in the beginning personally revealed this incomparable torchlight of knowledge to BrahmÄ. BrahmÄ then spoke it to the sage NÄrada, who narrated it to Kṛṣṇa-dvaipÄyana VyÄsa. ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsa revealed this BhÄgavatam to the greatest of sages, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«, and Åšukadeva mercifully spoke it to MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it.
The first verse of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam states, satyaá¹ paraá¹ dhÄ«mahi — “I meditate upon the Supreme Truth†— and now at the conclusion of this magnificent transcendental literature, the same auspicious sounds are vibrated. The words tad-rÅ«peṇa, tad-rÅ«piá¹‡Ä and tad-ÄtmanÄ in this verse clearly indicate that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself originally spoke ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam to BrahmÄ and then continued to speak this literature through the agency of NÄrada Muni, DvaipÄyana VyÄsa, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« and other great sages. In other words, whenever saintly devotees vibrate ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself is speaking the Absolute Truth through the agency of His pure representatives. Anyone who submissively hears this literature from the Lord’s bona fide devotees transcends his conditioned state and becomes qualified to meditate upon the Absolute Truth and serve Him.
