Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.87.30
Āśraya· The supreme shelterTake Shelter of the Supreme Controller
“If the countless living entities were all-pervading and possessed forms that never changed, You could not possibly be their absolute ruler, O immutable one. But since they are Your localized expansions and their forms are subject to change, You do control them. Indeed, that which supplies the ingredients for the generation of something is necessarily its controller because a product never exists apart from its ingredient cause. It is simply illusion for someone to think that he knows the Supreme Lord, who is equally present in each of His expansions, since whatever knowledge one gains by material means must be imperfect.”
What the purport teaches
- The living souls are many and localized, not all-pervading rivals of God. Their material embodiments change, while the Supreme Lord remains unchanged and controls them.
- Knowledge gained by material means is imperfect. A true philosopher accepts the Vedic statements as reliable authority rather than claiming to know the Supreme through personal opinions.
- Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī takes shelter in his heart of Lord Nṛsiṁha, the inner controller of all worlds. The Lord is omniscient and omnipotent.
Try this today
Pause for one minute today and inwardly pray to Lord Nṛsiṁha for shelter, remembering Him as the inner controller.
Ask yourself
How might accepting the limits of my own understanding help me take shelter of 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.