Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 12.4.23
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Absolute Truth Underlies Material Manifestation
“It is the Absolute Truth alone who manifests in the forms of intelligence, the senses and the objects of sense perception, and who is their ultimate basis. Whatever has a beginning and an end is insubstantial because of being an object perceived by limited senses and because of being nondifferent from its own cause.”
What the purport teaches
- The Absolute Truth manifests as intelligence, the senses and the objects of perception, and is their ultimate basis.
- Subtle and gross material manifestations become visible by the Supreme Lord's potency. At annihilation, they become invisible or unmanifest again.
- Whatever has a beginning and an end is insubstantial. These manifestations are not separate in essence from the source of their expansion and withdrawal.
Try this today
Choose one visible object and reflect briefly that its manifestation depends on the Supreme Lord's potency.
Ask yourself
Do I usually notice only visible things, or also consider their dependence on the Supreme 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.