Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.19.16
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Supreme Lord Alone Remains
“Commencement, termination and maintenance are the stages of material causation. That which consistently accompanies all these material phases from one creation to another and remains alone when all material phases are annihilated is the one eternal.”
What the purport teaches
- Material activity forms a chain of causes and effects. Objects arise, remain for some time and eventually disappear.
- All material objects are created, maintained and annihilated by the Lord’s supreme potency. When material cause and effect are withdrawn, the Personality of Godhead remains in His own abode.
- Material things may function as causes, but only the Personality of Godhead is the absolute cause. Through knowledge, one should understand His supreme position and absolute existence.
Try this today
Choose one everyday object and consider its beginning and eventual end, then remember that the Supreme Lord remains.
Ask yourself
How does remembering the Lord’s eternal existence change my view of temporary things?
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.