Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 6.16.36
Āśraya· The supreme shelterKṛṣṇa Is the Permanent Cause of Everything
“You exist in the beginning, middle and end of everything, from the most minute particle of the cosmic manifestation — the atom — to the gigantic universes and total material energy. Nonetheless, You are eternal, having no beginning, end or middle. You are perceived to exist in these three phases, and thus You are permanent. When the cosmic manifestation does not exist, You exist as the original potency.”
What the purport teaches
- Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the cause of everything but has no cause Himself. He exists eternally, beyond the workings of cause and effect.
- The Lord is present within both the universe and the atom; without His presence, nothing could exist. Material ingredients themselves arise from His energy.
- The permanent reality is Kṛṣṇa, not the cosmic manifestation. His eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms are manifest to pure devotees, though even great Vedic scholars cannot understand them through scholarship alone.
Try this today
Look at a tree or some water and spend a moment remembering Kṛṣṇa as the original cause of its existence.
Ask yourself
How does remembering Kṛṣṇa as the permanent reality change your view of temporary things?
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.