yad-darÅ›anaá¹ nigama Ätma-rahaḥ-prakÄÅ›aá¹
muhyanti yatra kavayo 'ja-parÄ yatantaḥ
taá¹ sarva-vÄda-viá¹£aya-pratirÅ«pa-śīlaá¹
vande mahÄ-puruá¹£am Ätma-nigÅ«á¸ha-bodham
yat - of whom; darÅ›anam - the vision; nigame - in the Vedas; Ätma - of the Supreme Soul; rahaḥ - the mystery; prakÄÅ›am - which reveals; muhyanti - become bewildered; yatra - about which; kavayaḥ - great learned authorities; aja-parÄḥ - headed by BrahmÄ; yatantaḥ - endeavoring; tam - to Him; sarva-vÄda - of all different philosophies; viá¹£aya - the subject matter; pratirÅ«pa - adjusting itself as suitable; śīlam - whose personal nature; vande - I offer my homage; mahÄ-puruá¹£am - to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; Ätma - from the spirit soul; nigÅ«á¸ha - hidden; bodham - understanding.
My dear Lord, the Vedic literatures alone reveal confidential knowledge of Your supreme personality, and thus even such great scholars as Lord BrahmÄ himself are bewildered in their attempt to understand You through empirical methods. Each philosopher understands You according to his particular speculative conclusions. I worship that Supreme Person, knowledge of whom is hidden by the bodily designations covering the conditioned soul’s spiritual identity.
Even great demigods like BrahmÄ are bewildered in their speculative attempts to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Each philosopher is covered by a unique combination of the modes of nature and thus describes the Supreme Truth according to his own material conditioning. Therefore even strenuous empirical endeavor will never bring one to the conclusion of all knowledge. The highest knowledge is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and one can understand Him only by fully surrendering to Him and serving Him with love. This is why MÄrkaṇá¸eya Ṛṣi states here, vande mahÄ-puruá¹£am: “I simply worship that Supreme Personality.†Those who try to worship God but at the same time continue speculating or acting fruitively will attain only mixed and bewildering results. To be pure a devotee must give up all fruitive activity and mental speculation; in that way his loving service to the Lord will yield perfect knowledge of the Supreme. Only this perfection can satisfy the eternal soul.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupÄda to the Twelfth Canto, Eighth Chapter, of the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, entitled “MÄrkaṇá¸eya’s Prayers to Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi.â€
