"Therefore bhakti is the best process, easily executed. On the other hand, knowledge of you, who are the object of worship in bhakti, is always difficult to perform. O Lord! In the world, who with recent births and deaths fully knows you, who are born before all? For it is from you that the Vedas (rsih), which to some small extent informs us about you, first arose. Even the Vedas seek out you, "veda guhyani hrt pateh" (you are hidden in the Vedas. sb 1.3.35.) and after the Vedas, the devatas of the senses, like the directions, vayu and the sun, and the devatas of the planets like Brahma appeared. Those who are more recent than them certainly do not know you. When you destroy everything and lie down, the gross elements like akasa, the subtle elements like mahat tattva, the body generated by them, even the subtle disturbance of time which is the cause of those bodies, and senses, prana and even scriptures cease to exist." This is the intention: at the time of creation, because of the existence of scriptures, and the possibility of sadhana, even if there are many obstructions created by the coverings of material bodies, a little knowledge of you is possible. But at the time of destruction, though there are no longer numerous obstructions, because of absence of scripture, absence of sadhana, there no knowledge of you at all. Therefore giving up the quest of knowledge of you, it is better to practice bhakti towards you.

The srutis speak the same subject. Ko’ ddha veda ka iha pravocat kuta ayatah kuta iyam visrstah Arvag deva asya visarjanenatha ko veda yata a babhuva Who knows directly (addha) where this world has come from? There is no one to give the knowledge. Who spoke it? After he created everything, the devas arose. Who knows him from who this universe arose? Rig Veda 3.54.5

Some śrutis, delighted by what was said, excuse their fault in being ignorant of the matter. Who in the universe knows this (understood from previous verse)? The śrutis who made the statement know. Nu indicates conjecture. Frowning they say this “No one else knows.” It is beyond everyone’s birth and knowledge (agrasaram) because Mahā-viṣṇu (ṛṣih), who manifests the Vedas through his breathing, rose up. Ādyo ’vatāraḥ puruṣaḥ parasya: Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu is the first incarnation of the Supreme Lord. (SB 2.6.42) But ultimately Kṛṣṇa is indicated. Yasyāṁśāṁśāṁśa-bhāgena viśvotpatti-layodayāḥ: O Soul of all that be, the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe are all carried out by a fraction of an expansion of an expansion of your expansion. (SB 10.85.31) After him, the two types of devatās—deities of the senses (directions, sun, wind etc.) and deities of the planets (Brahmā etc) appeared. Eko nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā neśāna, tasmād evaite vyajāyante: first there was only Nārāyaṇa, not Brahmā or Śiva and from him they all arose. Thee living entieis are born and die. So who can know him? No one knows him. The scriptures exist during maintenance, but because of absence of ability to hear and no scriptures at destruction, there is ignorance about you. At the time of universal destruction, the Lord takes the scriptures which praise him to his spiritual abode and pays no attention to the activities of the universe. The jīvas are thus without knowledge of you. At that time there is no gross or subtle matter. There is no sense of time, since there is no creation. The śrutis also say the same thing. Śrīdhara Svāmī quotes this: ko ’ddhā veda ka iha pravocat kuta āyātāḥ kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ arvāg devā visarjanenā- thā ko veda yata ā babhūva \Who in this world actually knows, and who can explain, whence this creation has come? The demigods, after all, are younger than the creation. Who, then, can tell whence this world has come into being? Ṛg Veda 3.54.5

Having described the astonishing glories of hearing, chanting and remembering the Lord, the śrutis point out that giving respect to jñāna is not proper. How can any person who is born and dies know this topic of the Lord? No one can, because they are all low (avara). Nu indicates conjecture. Even Brahmā, who lives a long time but must die (laya), is considered low, since it is impossible for him or others to understand. They cannot know because the Lord existed previously (agrasaram) or because the Lord is beyond (agrasaram) the senses. Or no one can know the Lord because Brahma appeared along with the senses (deva-ganāḥ) and the sages inclined to enjoyment or renunciation (ubhaye), and then disappear at night, with no possibility of getting knowledge. When Brahmā lies down in the lotus in the Navel of Viṣṇu, there are no gross actions of sacrifice (sat) or subtle processes like meditation (asat) or processes which mix these two (ubhayam) or the daily passage of day and night (kāla-javah), and no Vedas (śāstram). They do not function in the three worlds since they are destroyed. Janaloka and other planets above however exist during the night. (Thus there is no means of knowledge). Or who knows Kṛṣṇa? First the puruṣa arises from him. In the puruṣaḥ arises mahat and other elements which produce a universe. The Lord enters as antaryāmī and lies on the water. From his navel Brahmā is born. Both the ingredients and the devatās like Brahmā (ubhaye) arose. They are all recent. Time was present, indicated by the words tarhi and yadā (when). But its force (javaḥ) was not present. The Vedas were present as the breathing of the Lord, but were not manifested externally. Thus the great Upaniṣads were not manifested externally. But because of this the śrutis began reciting these verses. When the Lord lay down and withdrew (avakṛṣya) all the universes, nothing was manifested. anantāni tavoktāni yāny aṇḍāni mayā purā sarvāṇi tāni saṁhṛtya sama-kālaṁ jagat-patiḥ prakṛtau tiṣṭhati tadā sa rātris tasya kīrtitā As I have already explained to you, the Lord destroys all the numberless material universes at the same time. Then the universes remain in their unmanifest state within the Supreme Lord (prakṛtau). This is known as the Lord's night. Viṣṇu-dharmottara