Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.33.31
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutyFollow Instructions, Not Exceptional Acts
“The statements of the Lord’s empowered servants are always true, and the acts they perform are exemplary when consistent with those statements. Therefore one who is intelligent should carry out their instructions.”
What the purport teaches
- The statements of the Lord’s empowered servants are true. Their actions are exemplary when consistent with those statements, so an intelligent person follows their instructions.
- Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller, the cause of all causes. Reality is personal and divine, centered on the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His relationships with living beings.
- Those directly empowered by the Lord are devoted to Him and spread goodness by representing His will. Yet the Lord remains unique: His servants may experience remnants of karma, while He is eternally free from it.
Try this today
Choose one instruction from this verse—follow their teachings rather than imitate exceptional acts—and write how you will apply it today.
Ask yourself
How can following the instructions of the Lord’s empowered servants guide your devotional service?
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.