Text 19
kasmai yena vibhāsito ’yam atulo jñāna-pradīpaḥ purā
tad-rūpeṇa ca nāradāya munaye kṛṣṇāya tad-rūpiṇā
yogīndrāya tad-ātmanātha bhagavad-rātāya kāruṇyatas
tac chuddhaṁ vimalaṁ viśokam amṛtaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
kasmai — unto Brahmā; yena — by whom; vibhāsitaḥ — thoroughly revealed; ayam — this; atulaḥ — incomparable; jñāna — of transcendental knowledge; pradīpaḥ — the torchlight; purā — long ago; tat-rūpeṇa — in the form of Brahmā; ca — and; nāradāya — to Nārada; munaye — the great sage; kṛṣṇāya — to Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa; tat-rūpiṇā — in the form of Nārada; yogi-indrāya — to the best of yogīs, Śukadeva; tat-ātmanā — as Nārada; atha — then; bhagavat-rātāya — to Parīkṣit Mahārāja; kāruṇyataḥ — out of mercy; tat — that; śuddham — pure; vimalam — uncontaminated; viśokam — free from misery; amṛtam — immortal; satyam — upon the truth; param — supreme; dhīmahi — I meditate.
I meditate upon that pure and spotless Supreme Absolute Truth, who is free from suffering and death and who in the beginning personally revealed this incomparable torchlight of knowledge to Brahmā. Brahmā then spoke it to the sage Nārada, who narrated it to Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa. Śrīla Vyāsa revealed this Bhāgavatam to the greatest of sages, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śukadeva mercifully spoke it to Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
The first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi — “I meditate upon the Supreme Truth” — and now at the conclusion of this magnificent transcendental literature, the same auspicious sounds are vibrated. The words tad-rūpeṇa, tad-rūpiṇā and tad-ātmanā in this verse clearly indicate that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself originally spoke Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Brahmā and then continued to speak this literature through the agency of Nārada Muni, Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and other great sages. In other words, whenever saintly devotees vibrate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself is speaking the Absolute Truth through the agency of His pure representatives. Anyone who submissively hears this literature from the Lord’s bona fide devotees transcends his conditioned state and becomes qualified to meditate upon the Absolute Truth and serve Him.