Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.3.8
Nirodha· Winding upBeyond Creation and Destruction
“When the annihilation of the material elements is imminent, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of eternal time withdraws the manifest cosmos, consisting of gross and subtle features, and the entire universe vanishes into nonmanifestation.”
What the purport teaches
- Material nature originally rests in an inert state of equilibrium called pradhāna. Lord Viṣṇu’s glance, in the form of time, sets material interactions in motion.
- At annihilation, the same time potency withdraws the gross and subtle cosmos into nonmanifestation. The time potency itself then merges into the Supreme Soul.
- These cycles of creation and destruction do not exist in God’s eternal spiritual kingdom. There, the spiritual enjoyment of the Lord and His devotees is not interrupted by birth and death.
Try this today
Spend one minute reflecting on the uninterrupted spiritual enjoyment of the Lord and His devotees.
Ask yourself
What draws me toward the Lord’s spiritual kingdom rather than temporary material arrangements?
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.