SB 11.16.1 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.16.1

శ్రీఉద్ధవ ఉవాచ త్వం బ్రహ్మ పరమం సాక్షాదనాద్యన్తమపావృతమ్ । సర్వేషామపి భావానాం త్రాణస్థిత్యప్యయోద్భ‍వ: ॥ ౧ ॥

śrī-uddhava uvāca

[shree-uddhava uvaacha]

tvaṁ brahma paramaṁ sākṣād

[tvam brahma paramam saakshaad]

anādy-antam apāvṛtam

[anaady-antam apaavritam]

sarveṣām api bhāvānāṁ

[sarveshaam api bhaavaanaam]

trāṇa-sthity-apyayodbhavaḥ

[traana-sthity-apyayodbhavah]

Word-for-word

śrī-uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said tvam — You are brahma — the greatest paramam — the supreme sākṣāt — Himself anādi — without beginning antam — without end apāvṛtam — unlimited by anything else sarveṣām — of all api — indeed bhāvānām — things which exist trāṇa — the protector sthiti — the life-giver apyaya — the destruction udbhavaḥ — and the creation.

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

śrī-uddhava uvāca

śrī-uddhavaḥ uvāca

Śrī Uddhava said

tvaṁ brahma paramaṁ sākṣād

tvam

You are

brahma

the greatest

paramam

the supreme

sākṣāt

Himself

anādy-antam apāvṛtam

anādi

without beginning

antam

without end

apāvṛtam

unlimited by anything else

sarveṣām api bhāvānāṁ

sarveṣām

of all

api

indeed

bhāvānām

things which exist

trāṇa-sthity-apyayodbhavaḥ

trāṇa

the protector

sthiti

the life-giver

apyaya

the destruction

udbhavaḥ

and the creation.

Śrī 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.

Purport

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 Bhagavān 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 anādy-antam, without beginning or end, and apāvṛtam, 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, Śrī 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 Viṣṇu, the ultimate creator of the material world, is an expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and thus Śrī Uddhava wishes to fully appreciate the unique status of his personal friend.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

Uddhava said: You are without beginning or end, superior to Brahman. You are Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, unlimited by anything. You are the protection from danger, the giver of maintenance, the destroyer and the creator. The Sixteenth Chapter describes those objects called vibhūtis because of their influence, knowledge or energy. The Lord said in the previous chapter: sarvāsām api siddhīnāṁ hetuḥ patir ahaṁ prabhuḥ ahaṁ yogasya sāṅkhyasya dharmasya brahma-vādinām I am the cause, the protector and the master of all siddhis, of the yoga system, of jṣāna, dharma, and of the searchers for Brahman. SB 11.15.3 Thus all powers arise from the Lord. Having heard that, Uddhava became curious about the various material and spiritual places where the Lord exhibits his powers. He first explains how the Lord is the shelter of everything. You are superior to Brahman because you are Bhagavān. And you, Kṛṣṇa, are Svayam Bhagavān (sākṣāt). Though you have a limited human form as Kṛṣṇa, you pervade all time and space, being without beginning or end and unrestrained by anything. Viṣṇu, the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the universe, is your aṁśa. Thus it can be said that you are the protection from disaster, the maintainer of life, the destruction and creation for all beings in existence.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io