Verse 1.1.31

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.1.31:

চারি-বেদে গুপ্ত বলরামের চরিত আমি কি বলিব, সব—পুরাণে বিদিত ॥ ৩১ ॥

चारि-वेदे गुप्त बलरामेर चरित आमि कि बलिब, सब—पुराणे विदित ॥ ३१ ॥

cāri-vede gupta balarāmera carita āmi ki baliba, saba—purāṇe vidita || 31 ||

cari-vede gupta balaramera carita ami ki baliba, saba—purane vidita (31)

English translation:

(31) The characteristics of Lord Balarāma are confidential to the Vedas, but they are elaborated in the Purāṇas. What will I describe?

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Whatever is confidential to the Vedas is known to the Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas.

Regarding the glories of the Purāṇas, one may refer to verses 12-17 of the Tattva-sandarbha, one of Jīva Gosvāmī’s six Sandarbhas. In the Mahābhārata (Ādi 1.267) it is stated: “One should expand and accept the meaning of the Vedas with the help of the Itihāsas (histories) and Purāṇas. The Vedas are afraid of being mistreated by one who is ignorant of the Itihāsas and Purāṇas.” The Nāradīya Purāṇa says: “O beautiful one, I consider the message of the Purāṇas to be more important than that of the Vedas. All that is established in the Vedas is also in the Purāṇas without doubt. If a person rejects the Purāṇas, even if he is controlled in senses and mind, he will take birth as an animal. He can never attain the goal of life.” In the Skanda Purāṇa, Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa it is stated: “O best of the brāhmaṇas, I consider the Purāṇas as equal to the Vedas. All that is established in the Vedas is also in the Purāṇas without doubt. The Vedas feared that their purport would be distorted by inattentive listening, but their purport was established long before by the Itihāsas and Purāṇas. Moreover, O brāhmaṇas, what is not found in the Vedas is found in the smṛtis. And what is not found in either is described in the Purāṇas. A person who knows the four Vedas along with their aṅgas, the Upaniṣads, but does not know the Purāṇas is not very learned.”

The characteristics of Lord Baladeva are described in all Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas, especially in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Chapters 16 and 25, Sixth Canto, Chapter 16, Tenth Canto, Chapters 34 and 65, and also in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (5.9.22-31).