Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.13.42
Āśraya· The supreme shelterHonor Mother Earth and the Supreme Father
“O Lord, for the residential purposes of all inhabitants, both moving and nonmoving, this earth is Your wife, and You are the supreme father. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, along with mother earth, in whom You have invested Your own potency, just as an expert sacrificer puts fire in the araṇi wood.”
What the purport teaches
- The potency that sustains the planets is invested by the Lord. By His arrangement, the earth becomes habitable for moving and nonmoving creatures.
- Material nature cannot produce living creatures without contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme father.
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches us to offer obeisances to mother earth along with the Supreme Lord. He supplies all energies for the sustenance and maintenance of living beings.
Try this today
Offer respectful obeisances to the Supreme Lord along with mother earth, remembering His sustaining potency.
Ask yourself
When I appreciate mother earth, do I also remember the Supreme Father who sustains her?
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.