HH Satsvarupa Das Goswami: This sloka appears in the First Canto at the end of a string of verses identifying the incarnations. Krsna is also mentioned on schedule. But in this text Vyasa says,
“All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.” (S B 1.3.28)
Some devotees say this is the most important verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam because it distinguishes Krsna from all the other Visnu avataras and establishes Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When I first read this verse, I was impressed with the heaviness of the conclusion. I was pleased and relieved to find such a conclusive proof about Krsna being the cause of all causes and the origin of all the avataras. This verse defeats the notion that Krsna is an avatara of Visnu. The proper understanding (as described in this verse) is that Visnu is an expansion of Krsna. The Brahma-samhita states that Krsna is sarva-karana-karanam, the cause of all causes. (BS 5.1) In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that before anything existed, Krsna was there, and when everything is annihilated, Krsna will exist. This is revealed in the four “nutshell” verses of Srimad-Bhagavatam. (SB 2.9.33-36) But krsnas tu bhagavan svayam is the “emperor verse” revealing Krsna as the origin of all the other expansions. It didn’t take long to understand that sastra was itself the ultimate conclusion. Above all speculation, we have to turn to sastra for knowledge of the absolute truth. Here it is in krsnas tu bhagavan svayam, and Prabhupada pointed it out to us aside from writing it in his purport. Thus we became fixed in essential knowledge of Krsna.
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