Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 12.8.48
Mukti· LiberationVedic Knowledge Reveals the Ever-Present Lord
“A materialist, his intelligence perverted by the action of his deceptive senses, cannot recognize You at all, although You are always present within his own senses and heart and also among the objects of his perception. Yet even though one’s understanding has been covered by Your illusory potency, if one obtains Vedic knowledge from You, the supreme spiritual master of all, he can directly understand You.”
What the purport teaches
- The Lord is present within one’s senses and heart, and among the objects one perceives.
- Yet a materialist cannot recognize Him, because deceptive senses divert the intelligence and His illusory potency covers understanding.
- Even with understanding covered, one can directly understand the Lord by receiving Vedic knowledge from Him. He is the supreme spiritual master of all.
Try this today
Reread this translation slowly today, attending to what it teaches about the Lord’s presence and the need for Vedic knowledge.
Ask yourself
Am I willing to learn from the Lord rather than rely only on what my senses tell me?
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.