Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 8.20.21
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesOffer With Devotion What Already Belongs to Him
“The unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead, who had assumed the form of Vāmana, then began increasing in size, acting in terms of the material energy, until everything in the universe was within His body, including the earth, the planetary systems, the sky, the directions, the various holes in the universe, the seas, the oceans, the birds, beasts, human beings, the demigods and the great saintly persons.”
What the purport teaches
- Vāmana expanded His body until everything in the universe was within Him. He showed Bali Mahārāja that everything already belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- An offering does not increase the Lord’s opulence, just as offering Ganges water back to the Ganges does not increase the river. Yet offering with devotion and faith makes one a recognized devotee.
- The Lord is the original source of everything, including ourselves. When He is decorated, His devotees and all living entities are decorated automatically, like a reflection following the original.
Try this today
Make one small offering to the Lord today with devotion and faith, remembering that it already belongs to Him.
Ask yourself
How might remembering that everything belongs to the Lord change the way you offer something?
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.