Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 4.24.18
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesFollow Lord Śiva’s Teaching: Worship Kṛṣṇa
“Lord Śiva, the most powerful demigod, second only to Lord Viṣṇu, is self-sufficient. Although he has nothing to aspire for in the material world, for the benefit of those in the material world he is always busily engaged everywhere and is accompanied by his dangerous energies like the goddess Kālī and the goddess Durgā.”
What the purport teaches
- Lord Śiva is the greatest devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although self-satisfied, he works for the benefit of the material world and controls powerful material energies.
- The purport emphasizes Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya’s final instruction to worship Kṛṣṇa, or Govinda. Liberation cannot be achieved simply through word jugglery and grammatical puzzles.
- Material facilities are not the goal of devotion. Lord Viṣṇu gives those who worship Him with love the intelligence to progress back home, back to Godhead.
Try this today
Offer a brief prayer to Kṛṣṇa today, asking for understanding to serve Him rather than for material possessions.
Ask yourself
Do I measure spiritual progress by possessions or by growing devotion to Kṛṣṇa?
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.