SB 7.9.22

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Seventh Canto - Chapter 9: Prahlāda Pacifies Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva with Prayers

SB 7.9.21 - SB 7.9.23

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 22

sa tvaṁ hi nitya-vijitātma-guṇaḥ sva-dhāmnā

kālo vaśī-kṛta-visṛjya-visarga-śaktiḥ

cakre visṛṣṭam ajayeśvara ṣoḍaśāre

niṣpīḍyamānam upakarṣa vibho prapannam

SYNONYMS

saḥ — that one (the supreme independent person who, through His external energy, has created the material mind, which is the cause of all suffering in this material world); tvam — You (are); hi — indeed; nitya — eternally; vijita-ātma — conquered; guṇaḥ — whose property of the intelligence; sva-dhāmnā — by Your personal spiritual energy; kālaḥ — the time element (which creates and annihilates); vaśī-kṛta — brought under Your control; visṛjya — by which all effects; visarga — and causes; śaktiḥ — the energy; cakre — in the wheel of time (the repetition of birth and death); visṛṣṭam — being thrown; ajayā — by Your external energy, the mode of ignorance; īśvara — O supreme controller; ṣoḍaśa-are — with sixteen spokes (the five material elements, the ten senses, and the leader of the senses, namely the mind); niṣpīḍyamānam — being crushed (under that wheel); upakarṣa — kindly take me (to the shelter of Your lotus feet); vibho — O supreme great; prapannam — who am fully surrendered unto You.

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, O supreme great, You have created this material world of sixteen constituents, but You are transcendental to their material qualities. In other words, these material qualities are under Your full control, and You are never conquered by them. Therefore the time element is Your representation. My Lord, O Supreme, no one can conquer You. As for me, however, I am being crushed by the wheel of time, and therefore I surrender fully unto You. Now kindly take me under the protection of Your lotus feet.

PURPORT

The wheel of material miseries is also a creation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He is not under the control of the material energy. Rather, He is the controller of the material energy, whereas we, the living entities, are under its control. When we give up our constitutional position (jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' CC Madhya 20.108), the Supreme Personality of Godhead creates this material energy and her influence over the conditioned soul. Therefore He is the Supreme, and only He can deliver the conditioned soul from the onslaught of material nature (mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te BG 7.14). Māyā, the external energy, continuously imposes upon the conditioned souls the suffering of the threefold miseries of this material world. Therefore, in the previous verse, Prahlāda Mahārāja prayed to the Lord, "But for Your Lordship, no one can save me." Prahlāda Mahārāja has also explained that a child's protectors, his parents, cannot save the child from the onslaught of birth and death, nor can medicine and a physician save one from death, nor can a boat or similar means of protection save a person drowning in the water, for everything is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore suffering humanity must surrender to Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa Himself demands in the last instruction of Bhagavad-gītā (BG 18.66):

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." All of human society must take advantage of this offer and thus be saved by Kṛṣṇa from the danger of being crushed by the wheel of time, the wheel of past, present and future.

The word niṣpīḍyamānam ("being crushed") is very significant. Every living entity in the material condition is actually being crushed again and again, and to be saved from this position one must take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then one will be happy. The word prapannam is also very significant, for unless one fully surrenders to the Supreme Lord one cannot be saved from being crushed. A criminal is put in prison and punished by the government, but the same government, if it likes, can release the criminal from imprisoned life. Similarly, we must know conclusively that our material condition of suffering has been allotted to us by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we want to be saved from this suffering, we must appeal to the same controller. Thus one can be saved from this material condition.

SB 7.9.21 - SB 7.9.23