Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 4.17.35
Poṣaṇa· The Lord's protectionThe Lord’s Acts May Seem Contradictory
“My dear Lord, in this way You once protected me by rescuing me from the water, and consequently Your name has been famous as Dharādhara — He who holds the planet earth. Yet at the present moment, in the form of a great hero, You are about to kill me with sharpened arrows. I am, however, just like a boat on the water, keeping everything afloat.”
What the purport teaches
- The Lord is known as Dharādhara, He who holds the planet earth. As the boar incarnation, He kept the earth on His tusks.
- The earth, in the shape of a cow, recalls that He once rescued her but now threatens her with sharpened arrows. She compares herself to a boat on water, keeping living beings afloat.
- The Lord’s activities cannot be understood by our limited knowledge. Because of this limitation, human beings sometimes think His activities contradictory.
Try this today
Reread the earth’s prayer once, pausing to acknowledge that your present understanding of the Lord’s activities is limited.
Ask yourself
When the Lord’s activities seem contradictory to me, can I acknowledge the limits of my understanding?
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.