Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.9.1
Āśraya· The supreme shelterKnowing the Supreme Cause Through Mercy
“Lord Brahmā said: O my Lord, today, after many, many years of penance, I have come to know about You. Oh, how unfortunate the embodied living entities are that they are unable to know Your personality! My Lord, You are the only knowable object because there is nothing supreme beyond You. If there is anything supposedly superior to You, it is not the Absolute. You exist as the Supreme by exhibiting the creative energy of matter.”
What the purport teaches
- Viṣṇu is the only supreme cause of the cosmic manifestation. The Lord’s illusory energy distracts conditioned souls from knowing Him.
- The Personality of Godhead becomes known by His causeless mercy, bestowed upon pure devotees like Brahmā and those in his disciplic succession.
- Through penance, Brahmā came to appreciate the Lord’s incomparable beauty and opulence. Knowing that beauty frees one from attraction to other things.
Try this today
Set aside one distraction today and spend five minutes rereading Brahmā’s prayer to know the Lord.
Ask yourself
What distractions keep me from seeking knowledge of the Lord’s beauty and opulence?
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.