Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.8.40
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Lord’s Potencies Are Beyond Calculation
“Lord Brahmā prayed: My Lord, You are unlimited, and You possess unending potencies. No one can estimate or calculate Your prowess and wonderful influence, for Your actions are never polluted by the material energy. Through the material qualities, You very easily create the universe, maintain it and again annihilate it, yet You remain the same, without deterioration. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”
What the purport teaches
- Lord Brahmā praises the Lord’s unlimited potencies. The Lord creates, maintains and annihilates the universe, yet remains unchanged and untouched by material contamination.
- The Lord’s activities are always wonderful. His servants accepted demoniac bodies, Prahlāda Mahārāja appeared as an exalted devotee, and the Lord appeared as Nṛsiṁhadeva.
- No one can fully understand even the activities of the Lord’s servants, much less those of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa benefits the entire world in ways beyond our understanding.
Try this today
Repeat Lord Brahmā’s acknowledgment, “My Lord, You are unlimited,” and offer respectful obeisances.
Ask yourself
Can I offer respect to the Lord even when I cannot understand His activities?
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.