śrī-uddhava uvāca
tvaḿ brahma paramaḿ sākṣād
anādy-antam apāvṛtam
sarveṣām api bhāvānāḿ
trāṇa-sthity-apyayodbhavaḥ
sri-uddhavah uvaca -- Sri Uddhava said; tvam -- You are; brahma -- the greatest; paramam -- the supreme; sakshat -- Himself; anadi -- without beginning; antam -- without end; apavritam -- unlimited by anything else; sarvesham -- of all; api -- indeed; bhavanam -- things which exist; trana -- the protector; sthiti -- the life-giver; apyaya -- the destruction; udbhavah -- and the creation.
Sri 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 Bhagavan 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 anady-antam, without beginning or end, and apavritam, 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, Sri 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 Vishnu, the ultimate creator of the material world, is an expansion of Lord Krishna, and thus Sri Uddhava wishes to fully appreciate the unique status of his personal friend.
