Having offered respects to guru, Sūta offers respects to devatā, presiding deity, etc. Nara-nārāyaṇa are designated as the presiding deities of this work since they have authority over the place. [Note: Vyāsa first wrote the work in Badarikāśrama, where Nara-nārāyaṇa preside.]The devatā or subject of the Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa (narottamam). Sarasvatī is the śakti. [Note: This is not the material deity. In the spiritual world exist counterparts to the devatās of the material world who assist the Lord in his pastimes there. For instance divyā Sarasvatī gives Kṛṣṇa mantra to Brahmā in Brahma-saṁhitā.] The word ca indicates the ṛṣi (sage) of the work, Vyāsa. [Note: Before reciting a mantra or a scripture, it is customary to utter the name of the sage who revealed the mantra (in this case Vyāsa), the meter (gāyatrī), the form of the Lord who is the subject of the mantra (Kṛṣṇa), the bīja of the work or mantra (oṁ), the śakti of the work or mantra (Sarasvatī), the adhiṣṭhātṛ-devatā (Nara-nārāyaṇa) and the purpose of uttering the mantra. ] Some editions have the word vyāsam instead of caiva. That makes the meaning clear. The bīja is oṁ and the meter is predominantly gāyatrī, since the first verse of Bhāgavatam begins with oṁ and reference to gāyatrī. Having offered respects to these persons, one should utter “Jaya.” This is a verb form, calling out to Kṛṣṇa with raised hands. (Jaya Śrī-kṛṣṇa! Victory to Kṛṣṇa!) By using the potential case, Sūta teaches other sages of the Purāṇas to do the same. Jaya also refers to this scripture because one can conquer saṁsāra by studying it. So the meaning would be “One should then speak the Bhāgavatam (jayam). In this verse, since the verb form namaskṛtya indicates that another action immediately follows, the word tataḥ with the meaning of “next, then” would be superfluous. Therefore tataḥ describes the subject of the sentence. Tataḥ is a past participle of tan (to spread words, to speak). Thus tato jayam udīrayet means “the speaker should utter jaya.” This is the opinion of some.