Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.13.61
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesRecognize the Supreme in the Cowherd Boy
“Then Lord Brahmā saw the Absolute Truth — who is one without a second, who possesses full knowledge and who is unlimited — assuming the role of a child in a family of cowherd men and standing all alone, just as before, with a morsel of food in His hand, searching everywhere for the calves and His cowherd friends.”
What the purport teaches
- Brahmā saw Kṛṣṇa standing alone with a morsel of food, searching for His calves and friends. Although appearing as an innocent cowherd child, He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of the whole creation.
- Kṛṣṇa’s knowledge is unlimited, like an ocean whose extent we cannot measure. The best course is to surrender to Him rather than try to measure Him with our intelligence.
- Brahmā gave up his pride and understood that he was only an insignificant agent of the Supreme Lord. Kṛṣṇa cannot be reached merely through Vedic knowledge, but He can be realized through devotion.
Try this today
Pause today and offer Brahmā’s prayer with attention: “You are the original person, the cause of everything. I bow down to You.”
Ask yourself
What pride in my own understanding might be keeping me from approaching Kṛṣṇa with devotion?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.