Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.28.22
Āśraya· The supreme shelterMaterial Variety Depends on the Supreme Lord
“Although thus not existing in reality, this manifestation of transformations created from the mode of passion appears real because the self-manifested, self-luminous Absolute Truth exhibits Himself in the form of the material variety of the senses, the sense objects, the mind and the elements of physical nature.”
What the purport teaches
- Material nature is originally undifferentiated and inert. The Supreme Lord activates the mode of passion through His time agent, bringing about material transformation.
- Material transformations display the Lord’s inferior energy. His personal abode has eternal, self-luminous variety, untouched by creation, transformation or annihilation.
- The material world is simultaneously one with and different from the Absolute Truth. Its apparent reality depends on the self-luminous Lord.
Try this today
Notice one changing material object today and recall that the Lord’s personal abode is free from such transformation.
Ask yourself
How does remembering the Lord’s eternal abode change my view of temporary material variety?
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.