Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.20.8
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesThe Lord’s Form Is Beyond Material Control
“Sūta Gosvāmī continued: Vidura, the descendant of Bharata, was delighted to hear the story of the Lord, who, having assumed by His own divine potency the form of a boar, had enacted the sport of lifting the earth from the bottom of the ocean and indifferently killing the demon Hiraṇyākṣa. Vidura then spoke to the sage as follows.”
What the purport teaches
- Vidura was delighted to hear how the Lord assumed a boar form, lifted the earth from the ocean, and killed Hiraṇyākṣa.
- Unlike a conditioned soul, who receives a body under material laws, the Lord assumes His form by His own internal potency. His form is never made of material energy.
- Māyā is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cannot overcome Him. The idea that the Supreme becomes covered by māyā is therefore invalid.
Try this today
Reread the translation and pause to remember that the Lord acts by His own divine potency, not under material compulsion.
Ask yourself
Do I think of the Lord’s form as subject to the same limitations as my own body?
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.