Text 13
purā mayā proktam ajāya nābhye
padme niṣaṇṇāya mamādi-sarge
jñānaṁ paraṁ man-mahimāvabhāsaṁ
yat sūrayo bhāgavataṁ vadanti
purā — in the days of yore; mayā — by Me; proktam — was said; ajāya — unto Brahmā; nābhye — out of the navel; padme — on the lotus; niṣaṇṇāya — unto the one situated on; mama — My; ādi-sarge — in the beginning of creation; jñānam — knowledge; param — sublime; mat-mahimā — My transcendental glories; avabhāsam — that which clarifies; yat — which; sūrayaḥ — the great learned sages; bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; vadanti — do say.
O Uddhava, in the lotus millennium in the days of yore, at the beginning of the creation, I spoke unto Brahmā, who is situated on the lotus that grows out of My navel, about My transcendental glories, which the great sages describe as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The explanation of the Supreme Self, as given to Brahmā and already explained in the Second Canto of this great literature, is further clarified herein. The Lord said that the concise form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as explained to Brahmā was meant to elucidate His personality. The impersonal explanation of those four verses in the Second Canto is nullified herewith. Śrīdhara Svāmī also explains in this connection that the same concise form of the Bhāgavatam concerned the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa and was never meant for impersonal indulgence.