Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 6.16.9
Mukti· LiberationSmall Soul, Supreme Lord, Willing Surrender
“The living entity is eternal and imperishable because he actually has no beginning and no end. He never takes birth or dies. He is the basic principle of all types of bodies, yet he does not belong to the bodily category. The living being is so sublime that he is equal in quality to the Supreme Lord. Nonetheless, because he is extremely small, he is prone to be illusioned by the external energy, and thus he creates various bodies for himself according to his different desires.”
What the purport teaches
- The living entity is eternal like the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet extremely small, whereas the Lord is the greatest. This is simultaneous oneness and difference, acintya-bhedābheda.
- Unlike the Supreme Lord, the living entity can be covered by māyā. Desiring material enjoyment, he receives a material body through the Lord’s material energy.
- The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart and directs the wanderings of living entities. He desires that they give up material aspirations, fully surrender to Him and return home, back to Godhead.
Try this today
Identify one material aspiration and offer a brief prayer for willingness to surrender it to the Supreme Lord.
Ask yourself
Which material aspiration makes it harder for me to surrender to the Supreme Lord?
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.