Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.3.34
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Lord and His Three Potencies
“Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme, who in his unlimited, unmanifested form has expanded the cosmic manifestation, the form of the totality of the universe. He possesses external and internal energies and the mixed energy called the marginal potency, which consists of all the living entities.”
What the purport teaches
- The Lord has unlimited potencies, summarized as external, internal and marginal. The external potency manifests the material world, and the internal potency manifests the spiritual world.
- The living entities belong to the marginal potency. Each living entity is actually part of the internal potency, but contact with material energy brings a mixture of material and spiritual energies.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is above material energy and is engaged in spiritual pastimes. Material energy is only an external manifestation of His pastimes.
Try this today
Offer respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, remembering that He is above material energy.
Ask yourself
How does knowing that you are part and parcel of the Supreme change the way you see yourself?
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.