Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.26.4
Sarga· CreationMaterial Energy Cannot Cover the Supreme Lord
“As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu.”
What the purport teaches
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts material energy for His pastimes of creation, maintenance and dissolution. This energy belongs to Him and is invested with the three modes of material nature.
- A cloud covers our vision of the sun, not the sun itself. Similarly, māyā covers the conditioned soul’s vision but cannot cover the Supreme Lord.
- The Lord remains beyond His material energy. The conditioned soul, being covered, cannot understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond that energy and is the cause of all causes.
Try this today
Write down the cloud-and-sun comparison today, noting that the covering affects the observer’s vision, not the Supreme Lord.
Ask yourself
What does the cloud example teach me about the limits of my own vision of the Lord?
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.