hands of the Lord for the creation, maintenance, or destruction of He never gives the nondevotee instructions for going back to the material world. Godhead. That is the difference in dealings by the Lord with

different living beings, both the devotee and the nondevotee. He There are innumerable powerful demigods who look over the is leader of all the living beings, as the king of the state rules both external management of the material world. Even Lord Śiva and the prisoners and the citizens, but His dealings are different in Lord Brahmā are included in the list of demigods, but Lord Viṣṇu, terms of devotee and nondevotee. Nondevotees never care to take or Vasudeva, is always transcendentally situated. Even though He any instruction from the Lord, and therefore, the Lord is silent in accepts the quality of goodness in the material world, He is still their case, although He witnesses all their activities and awards transcendental to all the material modes. A classic Vedic example them the necessary results, good or bad. The devotees are above illustrates this: In the prison there are the prisoners and the this material goodness and badness. They are progressive on the managers of the prison. Both the managers and the prisoners are path of transcendence, and therefore they have no desire of bound by the laws of the king. But even though the king sometimes anything material. The Lord also desires the association of Hispure enters the prison, he is not bound by the laws of the prison. The devotees, and for them only, the Lord descends on earth and king is therefore always transcendental to the laws of the prison, as enlivens them. Pure devotees of the Lord have no desire other than the Lord is always transcendental to the laws of the material world to render service to the Lord, and therefore they are called sat vatas. The position of the Lord is always transcendental because the The Lord is the chief amongst such satvatas. Unless one is purified causal and effectual energies required for the creation of the from all sorts of material desires, the Lord does not become one's material world were also created by Him. He is unaffected, therefore, leader. Desires cannot be wiped out, but they have only to be by the qualities of the material modes. His existence, form, activities, purified, it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita by the Lord Himself and paraphernalia all existed before the material creation. He is all that He gives His instruction from within the heart of a pure spiritual and has nothing to do with the qualities of the material devotee who is constantly engaged in His service. Such instruction world, which are qualitatively distinct from the spiritual qualities is given not for any material purpose but only for going back home of the Lord. back to Godhead (B.G.-10.10).

Thus, the Lord of the universes maintains all planets inhabited Rendering devotional service to the Lord, which is the spirit of by demigods, men, and lower animals. Assuming the roles of the Bhāgavatam, awakensone's dormant love for Kṛṣṇa. To the incarnations, He performs pastimes to reclaim those in the mode surrendered soul, Śrī Kṛṣṇa becomes the perfect subject on which of pure goodness. There are innumerable material universes, and in to concentrate the loving propensities, since He is the perfect each and every universe, there are innumerable planets inhabited person to meditate upon, the best friend with which to relate, the by different grades of living entities in different modes of nature. irreproachable son to protect, or the ideal husband to depend The Lord incarnates Himself in each and every one of them and in wholeheartedly on. When one is acquainted with his-her spiritual each and every type of living society. He manifests His transcen- identity as an eternal loving assistant of those confidential com- dental pastimes among them, just to create the desire to go back to panions of the Divine couple Śrī Rādhā and Śrī Krona, the com- Godhead. The Lord does not change His original transcendental plete meaning of one's existence can thus be manifested. Such position, but He appears to be differently manifested according to realization cannot be achieved under a mundane conception, and the particular time, circumstances, and society. Sometimes He therefore the soul's eternal relationship with Krona cannot be incarnates Himself or empowers a suitable living being to act for compared to any temporary mundane relationship. The tran- Him, but in either case, the purpose is the same: the Lord wants the scendental loving service rendered in one of the five principal suffering living being to go back home, back to Godhead. relations, namely, śānta, dasya, sakhya, vātsalya, and mādhurya,

i.e., neutrality, servitorship, fraternity, filial, and conjugal love, The happiness which the living beings are hankering for is not is graciously accepted by the Lord when offered by the devotee to be found within any corner of the innumerable universes and in genuine love and affection. material planets. The eternal happiness which the living being wants is obtainable in the kingdom of God, but the forgetful living Kṛṣṇa has appeared on this earth in His transcendental body beings under the influence of the material modes have no informa- which resembles the bluish color of the tamāla tree. His breath- tion of the kingdom of God. The Lord therefore, comes to propagate taking beauty attracts everyone in the upper, middle, and lower the message of the kingdom of God either personally as an incar- planetary systems. May His glittering yellow dress and His lotus nation or through His bonafide representative as the good son of face, covered with paintings of sandalwood pulp, be the object af God. Such incarnations or sons of God are not making propaganda my attraction, and may I not desire fruitive results. Kṛṣṇa is the for going back to Godhead only within the human society. Their origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never work is also going on in all types of societies, amongst the demigods forgotten at any time. The highest perfection of human life, and those other than human beings. achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by

practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational For the ordinary man who wants to lord it over material nature duty, is to remember Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead the Lord not only sanctions and becomes a witness of activities, but at the end of this life.