Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.14.15
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesThe Lord’s Form Is Eternal and Spiritual
“My dear Lord, if Your transcendental body, which shelters the entire universe, is actually lying upon the water, then why were You not seen by me when I searched for You? And why, though I could not envision You properly within my heart, did You then suddenly reveal Yourself?”
What the purport teaches
- At the beginning of creation, Brahmā searched along the lotus stem for his source but could not find the Lord. He then followed the Lord’s unseen voice and performed severe austerities.
- After long meditation, Brahmā saw the Lord and then again lost sight of Him. This experience showed that the Lord’s body is not material.
- The Personality of Godhead has an eternal, spiritual form endowed with inconceivable mystic potencies. Brahmā recognizes that he should not have challenged the master of all mystic power.
Try this today
Read the translation slowly and pause to acknowledge that the Lord’s spiritual form is beyond your power to control.
Ask yourself
What does Brahmā’s experience teach me about the limits of my own attempts to understand the Lord?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.