Smart Quote of the Day, April 21, 2020

“The Supreme Godhead is the supreme platform on which everything rests, the ingredient by which everything has been produced, and the person who has created and is the only cause of this cosmic manifestation. Nonetheless, He is different from the cause and the result.”

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This is from the Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.3.3

[This chapter of the Srimad-Bhagavatam is entitled “Gajendra’s Prayers of Surrender.” In this chapter, the King of the elephants, Gajendra, having been attacked by a crocodile, prayed to the Personality of Godhead for protection.]

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Godhead is the supreme platform on which everything rests, the ingredient by which everything has been produced, and the person who has created and is the only cause of this cosmic manifestation. Nonetheless, He is different from the cause and the result. I surrender unto Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is self-sufficient in everything.

PURPORT (excerpt):

In Bhagavad-gita (9.4) the Lord says, maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina: “I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but everything rests upon My energy, just as an earthen pot rests on the earth.”

The place where an earthen pot rests is also earth. Then again, the earthen pot is manufactured by a potter, whose body is a product of earth. The potter’s wheel with which the pot is made is an expansion of earth, and the ingredients from which the pot are made are also earth.

As confirmed in the sruti-mantra, yato va imani bhutani jayante; yena jatani jivanti yat prayanty abhisamvisanti. The original cause of everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and after being annihilated, everything enters into Him (prakrtim yanti mamikam). Thus the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead — Lord Ramachandra or Lord Krishna — is the original cause of everything.

Read the full Purport

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