FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.20.9

విదుర ఉవాచ ప్రజాపతిపతి: సృష్ట్వా ప్రజాసర్గే ప్రజాపతీన్ । కిమారభత మే బ్రహ్మన్ ప్రబ్రూహ్యవ్యక్తమార్గవిత్ ॥ ౯ ॥
vidura uvāca
[vidura uvaacha]
prajāpati-patiḥ sṛṣṭvā
[prajaapati-patih srishtvaa]
prajā-sarge prajāpatīn
[prajaa-sarge prajaapateen]
kim ārabhata me brahman
[kim aarabhata me brahman]
prabrūhy avyakta-mārga-vit
[prabroohy avyakta-maarga-vit]
viduraḥ uvāca — Vidura said prajāpati-patiḥ — Lord Brahmā sṛṣṭvā — after creating prajā-sarge — for the purpose of creating living beings prajāpatīn — the Prajāpatis kim — what ārabhata — started me — to me brahman — O holy sage prabrūhi — tell avyakta-mārga-vit — knower of that which we do not know.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
vidura uvāca
viduraḥ uvāca
Vidura said
prajāpati-patiḥ sṛṣṭvā
prajāpati-patiḥ
Lord Brahmā
sṛṣṭvā
after creating
prajā-sarge prajāpatīn
prajā-sarge
for the purpose of creating living beings
prajāpatīn
the Prajāpatis
kim ārabhata me brahman
kim
what
ārabhata
started
me
to me
brahman
O holy sage
prabrūhy avyakta-mārga-vit
prabrūhi
tell
avyakta-mārga-vit
knower of that which we do not know.
Vidura said: Since you know of matters inconceivable to us, tell me, O holy sage, what did Brahmā do to create living beings after evolving the Prajāpatis, the progenitors of living beings?

Significant here is the word avyakta-mārga-vit, “one who knows that which is beyond our perception.” To know matters beyond one’s perception, one has to learn from a superior authority in the line of disciplic succession. Just to know who is our father is beyond our perception. For that, the mother is the authority. Similarly, we have to understand everything beyond our perception from the authority who actually knows. The first avyakta-mārga-vit, or authority, is Brahmā, and the next authority in disciplic succession is Nārada. Maitreya Ṛṣi belongs to that disciplic succession, so he also is avyakta-mārga-vit. Anyone in the bona fide line of disciplic succession is avyakta-mārga-vit, a personality who knows that which is beyond ordinary perception.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Vidura said: O brāhmaṇa! Knower of the truth about the Lord! Please tell me what Brahmā did after creating the Prajāpatis.
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