God's personal form is revealed only through devotion; impersonalism is merely the incomplete first step toward truth.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.1–8 — April 25, 1972, Tokyo 720425SB-TOKYO [59:17 Minutes] SB-02.09.01–08_720425SB-TOKYO Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verses] śrī-śuka uvāca ātma-māyām ṛte rājan parasyānubhavātmanaḥ na ghaṭetārtha-sambandhaḥ svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā [SB 2.9.1] bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā mamāham iti manyate [SB 2.9.2] yarhi vāva mahimni sve parasmin kāla-māyayoḥ rameta gata-sammohas tyaktvodāste tadobhayam [SB 2.9.3] ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-arthaṁ yad āha bhagavān ṛtam brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ [SB 2.9.4] [01:52] Prabhupāda: Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ [SB 2.9.4]. He manifested His form to Brahmā. That means God is not formless.
If He is formless, then how He could show His form? Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka. Without... Avyalīka means without any cheating?
Where is avyalīkam? "Without any deceptive motive." So those who realize impersonal form—not form; impersonal feature—they are cheated. They do not know actually what is God, what is the Absolute Truth. It is...
Avyalīka-vrata. And why Brahmā was favored to see the form of the Lord? Because he underwent severe tapasya, vow, worship. So God, or the Absolute Truth, is not formless. He has His form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1].
But that can be seen only by persons who underwent severe austerities, penances, or engaged in devotion. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg. 18.55]. Otherwise, they will remain impersonal. The conclusion is, those who are impersonalists, their knowledge is imperfect.
They have still to go forward. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]: after many, many births of continued impersonal views, when he actually comes to the right platform of knowledge, he surrenders to Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19]: "That mahātmā, that saintly person, is very rare." All the so-called svāmīs or yogīs, they are all impersonalists. Therefore our svāmīs, they are very rare. They are not ordinary, these so-called svāmīs and yogīs, because they know the personal feature of God. Go on. Pradyumna: [leads chanting of SB verses 5-8] sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guruḥ svadhiṣṇyam āsthāya sisṛkṣayaikṣata tāṁ nādhyagacchad dṛśam atra sammatāṁ prapañca-nirmāṇa-vidhir yayā bhavet [SB 2.9.5] sa cintayan dvy-akṣaram ekadāmbhasy upāśṛṇod dvir-gaditaṁ vaco vibhuḥ sparśeṣu yat ṣoḍaśam ekaviṁśaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ nṛpa yad dhanaṁ viduḥ [SB 2.9.6] niśamya tad-vaktṛ-didṛkṣayā diśo vilokya tatrānyad apaśyamānaḥ svadhiṣṇyam āsthāya vimṛśya tad-dhitaṁ tapasy upādiṣṭa ivādadhe manaḥ [SB 2.9.7] divyaṁ sahasrābdam amogha-darśano... Prabhupāda: Word by word first.
Pradyumna: [chants each word individually first, Prabhupāda correcting some pronunciation, then line by line] divyaṁ sahasrābdam amogha-darśano jitānilātmā vijitobhayendriyaḥ atapyata smākhila-loka-tāpanaṁ tapas tapīyāṁs tapatāṁ samāhitaḥ [SB 2.9.8] [break] [10:59]