All Live lessons

Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 2.7.50

Āśraya· The supreme shelter

Hari Is the Cause of All Causes

“My dear son, I have now explained in brief the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is creator of the manifested worlds. Without Him (Hari, the Lord), there are no other causes of the phenomenal and noumenal existences.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda · Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.7.50, translation

What the purport teaches

  • The temporary material world is the Lord’s external potency, and the conditioned souls are His marginal potency. Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the original cause of both.
  • Everything rests on the Lord’s potencies, yet He remains aloof from their interactions. The potency and the possessor of potency are simultaneously one and different.
  • The miserable material world is a temporary arrangement for those who have forgotten the Lord and seek to dominate it. He wants them to return to Him and offers opportunities through authoritative scriptures, His representatives and His incarnations.

Try this today

Read this verse’s translation once more, then identify one opportunity today to learn from authoritative scripture.

Ask yourself

How can I respond to the Lord’s opportunities to return to Him rather than try to dominate His creation?

Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.

The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.

One of the 108 chosen lessons, close to this verseHear Regularly With Serious DevotionSB 2.8.4Next · LeadTeach what you are livingTurn this chapter into a timed class plan or a short reel script.Open Lecture Studio