View source for One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service. There is no other way. We have to hear from the authorities and from the sastras and consider the Supreme Lord in terms of their statements

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{{terms|"one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service. There is no other way. We have to hear from the authorities and from the śāstras and consider the Supreme Lord in terms of their statements"}}
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[[Category:One Can]]
[[Category:Understanding God]]
[[Category:Supreme Personality of Godhead]]
[[Category:Through Devotional Service to God]]
[[Category:There Is No]]
[[Category:No Other Way]]
[[Category:Have To]]
[[Category:Hearing from Authorities]]
[[Category:Hearing from Authoritative Sources]]
[[Category:Sastra]]
[[Category:Considering God]]
[[Category:Supreme Lord]]
[[Category:In Terms Of]]
[[Category:Their]]
[[Category:Statement]]
[[Category:Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 05 Chapter 03 Purports - Rsabhadeva's Appearance in the Womb of Merudevi, the Wife of King Nabhi]]
[[Category:Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 05 Purports]]
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<h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<h3>SB Canto 5</h3>
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Out of His causeless mercy upon His devotees, the Lord appeared before Mahārāja Nābhi. Similarly, when we are engaged in the Lord's devotional service, the Lord reveals Himself to us. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. This is the only way to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: (BG 18.55) one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service. There is no other way. We have to hear from the authorities and from the śāstras and consider the Supreme Lord in terms of their statements.
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[[Vanisource:SB 5.3.4-5|SB 5.3.4-5, Translation and Purport]]
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The priests began to offer prayers to the Lord, saying: O most worshipable one, we are simply Your servants. Although You are full in Yourself, please, out of Your causeless mercy, accept a little service from us, Your eternal servants. We are not actually aware of Your transcendental form, but we can simply offer our respectful obeisances again and again, as instructed by the Vedic literatures and authorized ācāryas. Materialistic living entities are very much attracted to the modes of material nature, and therefore they are never perfect, but You are above the jurisdiction of all material conceptions. Your name, form and qualities are all transcendental and beyond the conception of experimental knowledge. Indeed, who can conceive of You? In the material world we can perceive only material names and qualities. We have no other power than to offer our respectful obeisances and prayers unto You, the transcendental person. The chanting of Your auspicious transcendental qualities will wipe out the sins of all mankind. That is the most auspicious activity for us, and we can thus partially understand Your supernatural position.
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The Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with material perception. Even the impersonalist Śaṅkarācārya says. nārāyaṇaḥ paro 'vyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa. the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material conception." We cannot concoct the form and attributes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We must simply accept the description given in Vedic literatures about the Lord's form and activities. As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā (BS 5.38):

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:cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
:lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
:lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
:govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
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"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows, yielding all desires, in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune." We can have some conception of the Absolute Truth, His form and His attributes simply by reading the descriptions given in Vedic literatures and authoritative statements given by exalted personalities like Brahmā, Nārada, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and others. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ: ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 17.136|CC Madhya 17.136]]) "We cannot conceive the name, form and qualities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through our material senses." Because of this, other names for the Lord are adhokṣaja and aprākṛta, which indicate that He is beyond any material senses. Out of His causeless mercy upon His devotees, the Lord appeared before Mahārāja Nābhi. Similarly, when we are engaged in the Lord's devotional service, the Lord reveals Himself to us. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. This is the only way to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.55|BG 18.55]]) one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service. There is no other way. We have to hear from the authorities and from the śāstras and consider the Supreme Lord in terms of their statements. We cannot imagine or concoct forms and attributes of the Lord.

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