The Absolute Truth reveals itself as Brahman, Paramātmā, and Kṛṣṇa; sincere seekers must purify themselves through pious living and genuine surrender.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.11–12 — August 10, 1972, London 720810SB-LONDON [45:42 Minutes] SB-01.02.11–12_720810SB-LONDON Prabhupāda: [leads singing of Jaya rādhā-mādhava] [prema-dvani prayers] Thank you very much.
Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. [devotees offer obeisances] Pradyumna: We didn't read the purport yesterday.
Prabhupāda: Hmm? Pradyumna: We didn't read the purport for eleven.
Prabhupāda: First of all read the verse. Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
[leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyat [SB 1.2.11] Prabhupāda: [corrects break of verse line] Tattva-vidas tattvaṁ. Pradyumna: Tattva-vidas tattvaṁ?
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ. Pradyumna: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyat [SB 1.2.11] Prabhupāda: Read purport. [08:40] Pradyumna: Purport: "The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. Therefore Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are qualitatively one and the same.
The same substance is realized as impersonal Brahman by the students of the Upaniṣads, as localized Paramātmā by the Hiraṇyagarbhas, or the yogīs, and as Bhagavān by the devotees. In other words, Bhagavān, or the Personality of Godhead, is the last word of the Absolute Truth, Paramātmā is the partial representation of the Personality of Godhead, and impersonal Brahman is the glowing effulgence of the Personality of Godhead, as the sun rays are to the sun-god. Less-intelligent students of either of the above schools sometimes argue in favor of their own respective realization, but those who are perfect seers of the Absolute Truth know well that the above three features of the one Absolute Truth are different perspective views seen from different angles of vision. "As it is explained in the first śloka of the First Chapter of the Bhāgavatam [SB 1.1.1], the Supreme Truth is self-sufficient, cognizant and free from the illusion of relativity. In the relative world the knower is different from the known, but in the Absolute Truth both the knower and the known are one and the same thing. In the relative world the knower is the living spirit, or superior energy, whereas the known is inert matter, or inferior energy.