Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.18.31
Āśraya· The supreme shelterDevotion Reveals the Lord’s Actual Form
“My dear Lord, this visible cosmic manifestation is a demonstration of Your own creative energy. Since the countless varieties of forms within this cosmic manifestation are simply a display of Your external energy, this virāṭ-rūpa [universal body] is not Your real form. Except for a devotee in transcendental consciousness, no one can perceive Your actual form. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”
What the purport teaches
- The visible universe displays the Lord’s external energy. The universal body is not His actual personal form.
- As heat and light expand from fire, the Lord’s energies expand from Him. The entire creation rests on Kṛṣṇa’s energy, but that expansion is not His personal form.
- This inconceivable expansion of His energy is called acintya-śakti. No one can understand the Lord’s real form without becoming His devotee.
Try this today
Offer a short prayer expressing your wish to understand the Lord through devotional service.
Ask yourself
Am I seeking to know the Lord through devotion, rather than speculation alone?
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.