Text 49
sa vā ayaṁ brahma mahad-vimṛgya-
kaivalya-nirvāṇa-sukhānubhūtiḥ
priyaḥ suhṛd vaḥ khalu mātuleya
ātmārhaṇīyo vidhi-kṛd guruś ca
saḥ — that (Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa); vā — also; ayam — this; brahma — the impersonal Brahman (which is an emanation from Kṛṣṇa); mahat — by great personalities; vimṛgya — searched for; kaivalya — oneness; nirvāṇa-sukha — of transcendental happiness; anubhūtiḥ — the source of practical experience; priyaḥ — very, very dear; suhṛt — well-wisher; vaḥ — of you; khalu — indeed; mātuleyaḥ — the son of a maternal uncle; ātmā — exactly like body and soul together; arhaṇīyaḥ — worshipable (because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead); vidhi-kṛt — (yet He serves you as) an order carrier; guruḥ — your supreme advisor; ca — as well.
The impersonal Brahman is Kṛṣṇa Himself because Kṛṣṇa is the source of the impersonal Brahman. He is the origin of the transcendental bliss sought by great saintly persons, yet He, the Supreme Person, is your most dear friend and constant well-wisher and is intimately related to you as the son of your maternal uncle. Indeed, He is always like your body and soul. He is worshipable, yet He acts as your servant and sometimes as your spiritual master.
There is always a difference of opinion about the Absolute Truth. One class of transcendentalists concludes that the Absolute Truth is impersonal, and another class concludes that the Absolute Truth is a person. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Absolute Truth is accepted as the Supreme Person. Indeed, that Supreme Person Himself, Lord Kṛṣṇa, instructs in Bhagavad-gītā, brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. “The impersonal Brahman is My partial manifestation, and there is no truth superior to Me.” That same Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, acted as the supreme friend and relative of the Pāṇḍavas, and sometimes He even acted as their servant by carrying a letter from the Pāṇḍavas to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Duryodhana. Because Kṛṣṇa was the well-wisher of the Pāṇḍavas, He also acted as guru by becoming the spiritual master of Arjuna. Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master (śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam), and Kṛṣṇa sometimes chastised him. For example, the Lord said, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: “While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief.” The Lord also said, kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam: “My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you?” Such was the intimate relationship between the Pāṇḍavas and Kṛṣṇa. In the same way, a pure devotee of the Lord is always with Kṛṣṇa through thick and thin; his way of life is Kṛṣṇa. This is the statement of the authority Śrī Nārada Muni.