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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.9.36
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 36
- jñāto 'haṁ bhavatā tv adya
- durvijñeyo 'pi dehinām
- yan māṁ tvaṁ manyase 'yuktaṁ
- bhūtendriya-guṇātmabhiḥ
jñātaḥknown — known; ahamMyself — Myself; bhavatāby you — by you; tubut — but; adyatoday — today; duḥdifficult — difficult; vijñeyaḥto be known — to be known; apiin spite of — in spite of; dehināmfor the conditioned soul — for the conditioned soul; yatbecause — because; māmMe — Me; tvamyou — you; manyaseunderstand — understand; ayuktamwithout being made of — without being made of; bhūtamaterial elements — material elements; indriyamaterial senses — material senses; guṇamaterial modes — material modes; ātmabhiḥand false ego like the conditioned soul — and false ego like the conditioned soul.
Although I am not easily knowable by the conditioned soul, you have known Me today because you know that My personality is not constituted of anything material, and specifically not of the five gross and three subtle elements.
Knowledge of the Supreme Absolute Truth does not necessitate negation of the material manifestation but understanding of spiritual existence as it is. To think that because material existence is realized in forms therefore spiritual existence must be formless is only a negative material conception of spirit. The real spiritual conception is that spiritual form is not material form. Brahmā appreciated the eternal form of the Lord in that way, and the Personality of Godhead approved of Brahmā's spiritual conception. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord condemned the material conception of Kṛṣṇa's body which arises because He is apparently present like a man. The Lord may appear in any of His many, many spiritual forms, but He is not materially composed, nor has He any difference between body and self. That is the way of conceiving the spiritual form of the Lord.