CC Madhya 25.113
TEXT 113
aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat-param
paścād ahaṁ yad etac ca
yo ‘vaśiṣyeta so ‘smy aham
SYNONYMS
aham—I, the Personality of Godhead; eva—certainly; āsam—existed; eva—only; agre—before the creation; na—never; anyat—anything else; yat—which; sat—the effect; asat—the cause; param—the supreme; paścāt—after; aham—I, the Personality of Godhead; yat—which; etat—this creation; ca—also; yaḥ—who; avaśiṣyeta—remains; saḥ—that; asmi—am; aham—I, the Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
“‘Prior to the cosmic manifestation, only I exist, and no phenomena exist, either gross, subtle or primordial. After creation, only I exist in everything, and after annihilation, only I remain eternally.’
PURPORT
This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 2.9.33). It is the first verse of the catuḥ-ślokī. For an explanation see Adi-līlā, Chapter One, text 53.