SB 8.5.26
sri-brahmovaca
avikriyam satyam anantam adyam
guha-sayam niskalam apratarkyam
mano-’grayanam vacasaniruktam
namamahe deva-varam varenyam
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Lord Brahma said: O Supreme Lord, O changeless, unlimited supreme truth. You are the origin of everything. Being all-pervading, You are in everyone’s heart and also in the atom. You have no material qualities. Indeed, You are inconceivable. The mind cannot catch You by speculation, and words fail to describe You. You are the supreme master of everyone, and therefore You are worshipable for everyone. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not anything of material creation. Everything material must change from one form to another — for example, from earth to earthen pot and from earthen pot to earth again. All our creations are temporary, impermanent. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, is eternal, and similarly the living entities, who are parts of Him, are also eternal (mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah). The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sanatana, eternal, and the individual living entities are also eternal. The difference is that Krsna, or God, is the supreme eternal, whereas the individual souls are minute, fragmental eternals. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (13.3), ksetra-jñam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata. Although the Lord is a living being and the individual souls are living beings, the Supreme Lord, unlike the individual souls, is vibhu, all-pervading, and ananta, unlimited. The Lord is the cause of everything. The living entities are innumerable, but the Lord is one. No one is greater than Him, and no one is equal to Him. Thus the Lord is the supreme worshipable object, as understood from the Vedic mantras (na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate). The Lord is supreme because no one can evaluate Him by mental speculation or jugglery of words. The Lord can travel more quickly than the mind. In the sruti-mantras of Isopanisad it is said:
anejad ekam manaso javiyo
nainad deva apnuvan purvam arsat
tad dhavato ’nyan atyeti tisthat
tasminn apo matarisva dadhati
“Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.” (Isopanisad 4) Thus the Supreme is never to be equaled by the subordinate living entities.
Because the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart and the individual living entity is not, never should the individual living entity be equated with the Supreme Lord. In Bhagavad-gita (15.15) the Lord says, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah: “I am situated in everyone’s heart.” This does not mean, however, that everyone is equal to the Lord. In the sruti-mantras it is also said, hrdi hy ayam atma pratisthitah. In the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, satyam param dhimahi. The Vedic mantras say, satyam jñanam anantam and niskalam niskriyam santam niravadyam. God is supreme. Although naturally He does not do anything, He is doing everything. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita:
maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah
“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Bg. 9.4)
mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sacaracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
“This material nature, working under My direction, O son of Kunti, is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.” (Bg. 9.10) Thus although the Lord is silent in His abode, He is doing everything through His different energies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate).
All the Vedic mantras, or sruti-mantras, are included in this verse spoken by Lord Brahma, for Brahma and his followers, the Brahma sampradaya, understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the parampara system. We have to gain understanding through the words of our predecessors. There are twelve mahajanas, or authorities, of whom Brahma is one.
svayambhur naradah sambhuh
kumarah kapilo manuh
prahlado janako bhismo
balir vaiyasakir vayam
(Bhag. 6.3.20)
We belong to the disciplic succession of Brahma, and therefore we are known as the Brahma sampradaya. As the demigods follow Lord Brahma to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we also have to follow the authorities of the parampara system to understand the Lord.