As described in previous verses, many so-called students of spiritual understanding follow the ten different methods known as mauna-vrata-śruta-tapo-’dhyayana-sva-dharma-vyākhyā-raho-japa-samādhayaḥ. These may be very attractive, but by following such methods, one cannot actually understand the real cause and effect and the original cause of everything ( janmādy asya yataḥ ). The original source of everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself ( sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam ). This original source of everything is Kṛṣṇa, the supreme ruler. īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ . He has His eternal spiritual form. Indeed, He is the root of everything ( bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām ). Whatever manifestations exist, their cause is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This cannot be understood by so-called silence or by any other hodgepodge method. The supreme cause can be understood only by devotional service, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā ( bhaktyā mām abhijānāti ). Elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.21) , the Supreme Godhead personally says, bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ: one can understand the original cause of all causes, the Supreme Person, only by devotional service, not by show-bottle exhibitionism.