Shloka 23
Vidura’s Questions on Devotion and Sarga; Maitreya Begins the Account of Creation
भगवानेक आसेदमग्र आत्मात्मनां विभु: । आत्मेच्छानुगतावात्मा नानामत्युपलक्षण: ॥ २३ ॥
bhagavān eka āsedam agra ātmātmanāṁ vibhuḥ ātmecchānugatāv ātmā nānā-maty-upalakṣaṇaḥ
Before creation, the Bhagavān alone existed, without a second, the Lord of all living beings. By His will creation becomes possible, and in the end everything merges back into Him; that Supreme Self is known by many names.
The great sage here begins to explain the purpose of the four original verses of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Although they have no access to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the followers of the Māyāvāda (impersonalist) school sometimes screw out an imaginary explanation of the original four verses, but we must accept the actual explanation given herein by Maitreya Muni because he, along with Uddhava, personally heard it directly from the Lord. The first line of the original four verses runs, aham evāsam evāgre. The word aham is misinterpreted by the Māyāvāda school into meanings which no one but the interpreter can understand. Here aham is explained as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not the individual living entities. Before the creation, there was only the Personality of Godhead; there were no puruṣa incarnations and certainly no living entities, nor was there the material energy, by which the manifested creation is effected. The puruṣa incarnations and all the different energies of the Supreme Lord were merged in Him only.
FAQs
It states that only Bhagavān existed in the beginning—unlimited and all-pervading—being the Supreme Self of all living beings.
To establish that the individual souls are sustained and known through the Supreme Lord (Paramātmā), who is the inner reality behind all selves.
It encourages seeing one divine source behind diverse opinions and identities, cultivating humility, unity, and God-centered understanding amid differences.