Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.20.16
Sarga· CreationLiving Entities Share the Lord’s Spiritual Quality
“From the navel of the Personality of Godhead Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu sprouted a lotus flower effulgent like a thousand blazing suns. This lotus flower is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, and the first living entity who came out of the lotus flower was the omnipotent Brahmā”
What the purport teaches
- A lotus as brilliant as a thousand suns sprouted from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu’s navel. The conditioned souls who had rested within the Lord after dissolution emerged in this collective form, called hiraṇyagarbha.
- Brahmā was the first living entity to emerge from the lotus. He was able to create the rest of the manifested universe.
- The lotus’s brilliance indicates that living entities, as parts and parcels of the Lord, share His quality. In Vaikuṇṭha, every planet is self-effulgent, with no need of sunshine, moonshine, electricity or fire.
Try this today
Reflect for one minute on this teaching: the living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord.
Ask yourself
How does being a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord shape my understanding of myself?
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.