Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.24.17
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Ingredient Remains Within Its Forms
“Gold and earth are originally existing as ingredients. From gold one may fashion golden ornaments such as bracelets and earrings, and from earth one may fashion clay pots and saucers. The original ingredients gold and earth exist before the products made from them, and when the products are eventually destroyed, the original ingredients, gold and earth, will remain. Thus, since the ingredients are present in the beginning and at the end, they must also be present in the middle phase, taking the form of a particular product to which we assign for convenience a particular name, such as bracelet, earring, pot or saucer. We can therefore understand that since the ingredient cause exists before the creation of a product and after the product’s destruction, the same ingredient cause must be present during the manifest phase, supporting the product as the basis of its reality.”
What the purport teaches
- Gold remains present in golden ornaments, just as earth remains present in clay pots and saucers. The original cause continues to exist in its effect.
- The ingredients exist before the products are made and remain after the products are destroyed. They must therefore also be present while the products exist.
- Names such as bracelet, earring or pot are assigned for convenience. The product’s essential nature remains that of its ingredient.
Try this today
Consider a clay pot or golden ornament today, and distinguish its temporary name and shape from its ingredient.
Ask yourself
How do the names I give objects draw my attention away from their underlying ingredients?
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.