The Greatness of Lord Damodara - Part 2

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled "The Greatness of Lord Damodara" wherein we were trying meditate on the meaning of the below shloka of Srimad Bhagavatam 10.9.13:

na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam
pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-pervading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything.

1) He has no inside and outside (na cāntar na bahir):- These words show that the Lord is unlimited by space as the sloka states. For binding an object, the object should be of a finite size so that the rope used can cover it bind it. For all substances, there is inside or outside or both. But the Lord does not have inside or outside as He is smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest. For example, space is unlimited and it has no outside. But it has an inside and inside space, only everything is situated. Similarly, as per Vedas the ultimate smallest particle is atom or anu and it is partless i.e. it has no inside. But it has outside as it is limited in its size. But the Lord has no inside or outside since He is inside of everything as well outside of everything as confirmed in the sruti mantras (Mundaka Upanishad – 2.1.2) as below.

divyo hy amūrtaḥ puruṣah sa bāhyābhyantaro hy ajaḥ
aprāṇo hy amanāḥ śubhro akṣarāt parataḥ paraḥ

The Supreme person has unlimited spiritual form. He has no inside and outside but He is inside and outside everything. He is unborn. He has neither material breath nor material mind. He is effulgent and glorious. He is superior to the material nature and all living entities.

Srila Prabhupada raises this question in the purport, "In Bhagavad-gita (), Krishna is described as the Supreme Brahman (paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma). The word Brahma means "the greatest." Krishna is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound?"

Krishna willing, we will meditate more on this shloka in the subsequent offerings. 

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Narahari Krishna das
Ipswich.