Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.77.31
Āśraya· The supreme shelterHumanlike Pastimes Without Material Ignorance
“How can lamentation, bewilderment, material affection or fear, all born out of ignorance, be ascribed to the infinite Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are all similarly infinite?”
What the purport teaches
- Lamentation, bewilderment, material affection and fear arise from ignorance. They cannot affect the Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are infinite.
- Kṛṣṇa was not misled by Śālva’s mystic jugglery. He was displaying His pastime of playing the role of a human being.
- The Lord plays an ordinary human role to relish transcendental pastimes with His devotees. One should never think the Personality of Godhead is an ordinary person.
Try this today
Read the verse once more, then briefly reflect on the difference between a humanlike pastime and material ignorance.
Ask yourself
How can you appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s humanlike pastimes without considering Him an ordinary person?
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.