स्वयम्भूर्नारद: शम्भु: कुमार: कपिलो मनु: ।
प्रह्लादो जनको भीष्मो बलिर्वैयासकिर्वयम् ॥
द्वादशैते विजानीमो धर्मं भागवतं भटा: ।
गुह्यं विशुद्धं दुर्बोधं यं ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते ॥
svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ |
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo balir vaiyāsakir vayam ||
dvādaśaite vijānīmo dharmaṁ bhāgavataṁ bhaṭāḥ |
guhyaṁ viśuddhaṁ durbodhaṁ yaṁ jñātvāmṛtam aśnute ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.3.20–21; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 110)
[Yamarāja to his emissaries:] “O servants, Brahmā, Nārada, Śambhu [i.e., Śiva], [Sanat] Kumāra, Kapila, [Svāyambhuva] Manu, Prahlāda, Janaka, Bhīṣma, Bali, Vaiyāsaki [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī], and we [i.e., I myself]—these twelve understand Bhāgavata-dharma, which is confidential, completely pure [i.e., beyond the guṇas], and difficult to comprehend, and which, by understanding, one relishes amṛta [i.e., one attains the nectar of immortality].”
Commentary
guhyaṁ loka-maryādā-rakṣaṇāya gopyam | kiṁ ca, sādhāraṇa-janair durbodhaṁ ca | durbodhatve hetuḥ—viśuddhaṁ na hy aśuddhāḥ śuddhaṁ jñātum arhantīti guhyatve hetu-viśeṣaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā)
“‘Confidential’ (guhyam) means to be kept secret for the sake of maintaining respect [for it] in society, and ‘difficult to comprehend’ (durbodham) means [it is such] for common people. The cause of its [i.e., Bhāgavata-dharma’s] being difficult to comprehend is that it is ‘completely pure’ (viśuddham); the impure [i.e., persons of impure minds] are not at all capable of understanding that which is pure. Thus, this [i.e., its purity] is [also] a particular cause of its being confidential.”