ya eka-varṇaṠtamasaḥ paraṠtad
alokam avyaktam ananta-pÄram
ÄsÄá¹ cakÄropasuparṇam enam
upÄsate yoga-rathena dhÄ«rÄḥ
yaḥ - the Supreme Personality of Godhead who; eka-varṇam - absolute, situated in pure goodness; tamasaḥ - to the darkness of the material world; param - transcendental; tat - that; alokam - who cannot be seen; avyaktam - not manifested; ananta-pÄram - unlimited, beyond the measurement of material time and space; ÄsÄm cakÄra - situated; upa-suparṇam - on the back of Garuá¸a; enam - Him; upÄsate - worship; yoga-rathena - by the vehicle of mystic yoga; dhÄ«rÄḥ - persons who are sober, undisturbed by material agitation.
Sattvaá¹ viÅ›uddhaá¹ vasudeva-Å›abditam (BhÄg. 4.3.23). In this material world, the three modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — prevail. Among these three, goodness is the platform of knowledge, and passion brings about a mixture of knowledge and ignorance, but the mode of ignorance is full of darkness. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond darkness and passion. He is on the platform where goodness or knowledge is not disturbed by passion and ignorance. This is called the vasudeva platform. It is on this platform of vasudeva that VÄsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, can appear. Thus Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet as the son of Vasudeva. Because the Lord is situated beyond the three modes of material nature, He is unseen by those who are dominated by these three modes. One must therefore become dhÄ«ra, or undisturbed by the modes of material nature. The process of yoga may be practiced by one who is free from the agitation of these modes. Therefore yoga is defined in this way: yoga indriya-saá¹yamaḥ. As previously explained, we are disturbed by the indriyas, or senses. Moreover, we are agitated by the three modes of material nature, which are imposed upon us by the external energy. In conditional life, the living entity moves turbulently in the whirlpool of birth and death, but when one is situated on the transcendental platform of viÅ›uddha-sattva, pure goodness, he can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who sits on the back of Garuá¸a. Lord BrahmÄ offers his respectful obeisances unto that Supreme Lord.