Lord Śiva explains the nature of universe and how we come here (Srimad Bhagavatam #66)

All the activities of Nārāyaṇa are spiritual, when He said, ‘Let there be creation,’ that creation was all-spiritual. The ‘material’ only exists for those who have forgotten the Lord.

Jun 28, 2025

In the last part of his prayers, Lord Śiva reinforces that the Lord is the ultimate object of worship. What is the necessity of discussing this topic after the greatness and the personal qualities of the Lord have already been discussed? The point is that as conditioned souls, we always have a strong tendency to impersonalism. We can say that impersonalism is the default modus operandi for all conditioned souls. Unless we have a good philosophical foundation, we may eventually come to the idea that there is something else behind Krsna, and we are serving Him just to attain this impersonal unmanifest that is the ultimate origin. In the last verses, Lord Śiva clears this misconception, keeping us fixed in the proper understanding.

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The Lord is the only object of worship — Lord Śiva concludes his prayers (chapter 4.24)

Texts 60 to 68: The Lord is the only object of worship

The source of the Supreme Brahman (4.24.60)

The scriptures mention that everything is Brahman, and there is nothing apart from Brahman. One could thus argue that, beautiful as it is, the form of Krsna could be a byproduct of this impersonal Brahman, something that helps us to get out of material contamination, but has to be rejected later, when we realize our real nature as one with the supreme Brahman. Lord Śiva counters this argument by stating that it is precisely the opposite: the impersonal Brahman comes from Krsna and is just a partial manifestation of Him. In other words, the Brahman the scriptures mention as being everything is Krsna. The impersonal Brahman, powerful as it is, is nothing but the effulgence of His body.

Impersonalists can't understand how the entire cosmic manifestation can rest on a person, but this is exemplified in the example of the sun, which spreads everywhere in the form of heat and light, but at the same time has a form. The Lord has a form, but this form is not restricted by the limitations of time, space, and physical laws, like the form of an ordinary human being. The form of the Lord is fully transcendental and unlimited.

The transcendental potencies of the Lord (4.24.61)

An essential point in understanding how the Lord can be the source and maintainer of the whole cosmic creation and at the same time have a personal form is understanding the Lord's potencies, through which He performs all kinds of wonderful feats. Although the energies may be impersonal, just as the impersonal brahmajyoti, the Lord behind these different potencies has a transcendental personal form.

The Lord has unlimited potencies, but they are grouped into three groups: the external energy, the internal energy, and the marginal energy (the jīvas). The jīvas are also part of the internal potency, but they are called marginal because they are free to choose.

We are affected by all the difficulties of life in the material world, but the Lord is never disturbed. How? Because even though He is the creator and maintainer of this universe, He is beyond it. The cause of our suffering is to see the material manifestation as separate from Krsna, which puts us under the influence of Maya. When we come to the platform of Krsna consciousness, seeing everything as part of the Lord and fit to be used in His service, we can also live here without being disturbed by material miseries, just like the Lord.

As Prabhupada explains in his purport: "When the living entity forgets the Supreme Lord and wants to enjoy himself independently, imitating the Supreme Lord, he is captured by the false notion that he is the enjoyer and is separated from the Supreme Lord. This material energy is therefore very much troublesome to the spiritual energy, the living entity, but the material energy is never troublesome to the Supreme Lord. Indeed, for the Supreme Lord, both material and spiritual energy are the same. In this verse Lord Śiva explains that the material energy is never troublesome to the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is always independent, but because the living entities are not independent — due to their false idea of becoming independently happy — the material energy is troublesome. Consequently the material energy creates differentiation."

By "differentiation", Prabhupada refers to bheda-buddhi, the concept of seeing ourselves as independent of the Lord and trying to become happy independently of Him. Because each soul is a separate individual, we have a minute independence. However, when we misuse this independence and fall under the influence of the illusory potency, we see ourselves as the independent enjoyers of this material world. When this misconception is removed, we see ourselves again as the eternal servitors of the Lord. At this point, we see we were never separated from Him. As Prabhupada mentions, "For a devotee, the Lord is the supreme spirit soul. Since He is supremely powerful, His various powers are also spiritual. For a devotee, there is nothing material, for material existence only means forgetfulness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

In fact, everything that exists is connected with the Lord, be it through His internal or external potency. However, due to being caught under the influence of Maya, the conditioned soul develops bheda-buddhi, this false dualistic thinking, imagining that “I am separate from God.” or "I was never with the Lord." Bheda-buddhi is thus the disease of the conditioned soul, divorced from reality.

The only object of worship (4.24.62)

Everything that exists is part of the universal form of the Lord. In this way, demigods and other powerful beings are also forms of the Lord in a sense, being limbs of the universal form. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Krsna mentions that even powerful animals such as the lion and shark are partial manifestations of His opulences. Why then should we worship only Krsna? Why not worship different powerful demigods who are also manifestations of His power?

In fact, karmis worship the Lord through different demigods, but they do so out of ignorance. They still worship the Lord indirectly, but this worship is ineffective due to their lack of knowledge. Although the scriptures appear to recommend the worship of demigods in different passages, the true goal of such performances is to please Lord Viṣnu. As Prabhupada mentions, "even when different demigods are worshiped in the Vedic and Tantric sacrifices, the actual goal of sacrifice is Lord Viṣṇu."

In these ceremonies, the demigods are invited to take their seats, but the beneficiary of all offerings is the Supreme Lord. The demigods attend such ceremonies so they can get the prasāda of the Lord.

When one directly worships demigods, one does so in ignorance, acting against the regulative principles. As Krsna mentions in the Gītā: "Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O son of Kuntī, is really meant for Me alone, but is offered without true understanding."

When the scriptures are studied under the proper guidance, the message becomes clear: all passages of the scriptures recommend the worship of the Supreme Lord, and no one else. This is confirmed by Lord Śiva in this verse: "It is stated both in the Vedas and in the śāstras that are corollaries of the Vedas, and indeed everywhere, that it is only You who are to be worshiped. That is the expert version of all the Vedas."

The Lord is the source of the material creation (4.24.63)

Everything that exists comes from the Lord, including this cosmic manifestation, as declared in both the Vedanta-sutra (janmādy asya yataḥ) and the Bhagavad-gītā (ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo). Therefore, the Lord is the cause of all causes. Before the current cycle of creation, the Lord (as Mahā-Viṣnu) was sleeping on the causal ocean, and the material potency was dormant. Then, when the energy is agitated by the glance of the Lord, the three material modes manifest, and from them all the material elements, culminating with the creation of Brahma and the appearance of all demigods and other living beings. As Prabhupada explains in his purport:

"It is by the glance of the Lord that the material energy is activated. At that time the three material qualities are set into motion, and the material energy is manifested first in the form of the mahat-tattva, then egotism, then ether, then air, fire, water and earth. After the creation, the living entities are impregnated in the cosmic manifestation, and they emerge as Lord Brahmā and the seven great ṛṣis, then as different demigods. From the demigods come human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts and everything else. The original cause, however, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,"

Since the Lord is self-satisfied and untouched by the material modes, what is the need for the material creation? What is the force that impels the Lord to act in such a way? This is also explained by Prabhupada:

"The distinction between matter and spirit is created by the sleeping energy of the Lord when the Lord wants to give some facility to those living entities who want to imitate the Lord in His enjoyment. It is only for them that this material world is created by the dormant energy of the Lord. For instance, sometimes children want to imitate their mother and cook in the kitchen, and at such a time the mother supplies them with some toys so that the children can imitate her cooking. Similarly, when some of the living entities want to imitate the activities of the Lord, this material cosmic manifestation is created for them by the Lord."

The Lord is also the foundation of the spiritual world and all spiritual manifestations. While sometimes it is said that the Lord is the "creator" of the spiritual realm, this is just to make us understand that He is the foundation, since there is no creation in the spiritual world. There are thus two separate realities, the spiritual realm and the material cosmos, and both are manifestations of the Lord. The spiritual realm is destined for the pure souls engaged in the service of the Lord, while the material cosmos is reserved for the rebellious souls who want to act as competitors of the Lord.

On the other hand, however, all potencies of the Lord are spiritual. The cosmic manifestation is the combination of the external potency of the Lord, the glance of Mahā-Viṣnu (personified in the form of Lord Sadaśiva), the souls who want to take part in the material creation, and the time energy of the Lord. All these ingredients are spiritual; therefore, where is the material world?

The Lord gives us the clue in the second verse of the catuḥ-ślokī (SB 2.9.34): "O Brahmā, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality. Know it as My illusory energy, that reflection which appears to be in darkness."

Since the Lord is spiritual, all His potencies are also spiritual. What makes it appear to be material for us is our idea of this world being separate from the Lord, a place for our enjoyment.

As Prabhupada explains: "There is only a material world for those who want to imitate the Lord and become enjoyers. Indeed, the material world is nothing but forgetfulness of the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the creator of everything."

Later, in still the same purport, he confirms: "Since all the activities of Nārāyaṇa are spiritual, when Nārāyaṇa said, ‘Let there be creation,’ that creation was all-spiritual. The ‘material’ only exists for those who have forgotten that Nārāyaṇa is the original cause."

The purpose of creation (4.24.64)

The purpose of the creation of the cosmic manifestation is to give the jīvas the possibility of satisfying their desires and gradually coming to the platform of devotional service to the Lord. For this purpose, after creating the universe the Lord enters it as Paramātmā, and accompanies the souls in four types of bodies (born from a womb, like humans and mammals; born from eggs, like birds and reptiles; born from sweat, like germs and insects; and born from seeds, like trees and plants). Not only does the Lord follow the soul, but He also gives the conditions for them to enjoy their senses.

However, enjoyment in this material world is never free from suffering. Both are already present, and therefore, to enjoy materially, one also has to accept suffering. This idea is explained by Lord Śiva with the example of the bee trying to enjoy the honey collected in the honeycomb and being bitten by the other bees in the process. Prabhupada explains this analogy in his purport:

"The example of the bees is appropriate because when bees try to enjoy their honeycomb, they have to suffer the bites of other bees. Because bees bite one another when they enjoy honey, they are not exclusively enjoying the sweetness of the honey, for there is also suffering. In other words, the living entities are subjected to the pains and pleasures of material enjoyment, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, knowing their plans for sense enjoyment, is aloof from them."
"Human society is exactly like a beehive, for everyone is engaged in collecting honey from various flowers, or collecting money from various sources, and creating large empires for common enjoyment. However, after these empires are created, the bites of other nations have to be suffered. Sometimes nations declare war upon one another, and the human beehives become sources of misery."

Happiness is available all over the creation, in all the spiritual planets. It is not easily available to us simply because we are looking for it in the wrong place. Real happiness is spiritual enjoyment, and spiritual enjoyment means pure enjoyment under the protection of the Lord.

The inescapable power of the Lord (4.24.65)

Ordinarily, we can't directly see the Lord in this material world, but we can see and experience His power through unstoppable time, or kāla, which moves swiftly, like winds scattering clouds, destroying everything, both individually and collectively. Time worms out and eventually destroys everything, even the greatest empires.

Time is the energy of the Lord that puts the material energy in motion, creating a temporary reality where everything has a beginning and an end. Because of time, nothing within this material world can be permanent; everything moves, grows, decays, and perishes. Another feature of time is death, which comes for everyone without exception, taking away everything. This death is also a manifestation of Krsna: mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham: “I am all-devouring death.” Therefore, if one is not ready to accept God in His beautiful personal form, he can't avoid submitting to the authority of God in the form of time and death.

As Prabhupada explains in his purport: "Although we do not see the hand of the Supreme Lord directly, we can feel the presence of that hand through the Lord’s process of destruction. We can see the clouds scattered by the wind, although we cannot see how this is being done because it is not possible to see the wind. Similarly, although we do not directly see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we can see that He controls the process of destruction. The destructive process is going on fiercely under the control of the Lord, but the atheists cannot see it."

The insanity of material life (4.24.66)

Because of greed and desire for material enjoyment, people are madly making plans. "Mad" implies being in an abnormal state of consciousness, and that's precisely our situation in this material world, forgotten of our real nature as eternal servants of the Lord. The Lord, however, is never affected by material duality and remains sober in His transcendental position.

The living entity has permission to pursue material enjoyment for some time, according to his desires, but because nothing can be eternal in this illusory world, one is eventually forced to move. The Lord Himself, in the form of time, strikes him. This bite of time comes without warning in the form of death, just like a snake attacking a mouse. In this way, materialists who are greedy and plan without Krsna consciousness find only defeat and death.

In the Gītā (3.27), the Lord declares: “The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities which are in actuality carried out by nature.” In his purport, Prabhupada confirms that everything is enacted by the laws of nature, and these laws are under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Material nature is moving everything, but foolish people think "I am the doer."

How does it work? In reality, the soul has no potency to act in the material world, nor does it have any relationship with matter. We become attached to a particular body and think that "this is me", and due to this affection, we desire to see this body performing different types of activities, which are carried out by the three modes of material nature, under the sanction of the Lord. We see thus the body growing, constituting a family, building an empire, and so on, and feel some satisfaction, even though we have no actual relationship with it. However, because we see ourselves as the enjoyers of the body and the performers of actions, we become implicated in the karmic consequences. Eventually, death comes and takes everything away, leaving us with just the accumulated karmic reactions, which in turn carry us to another body. We are saved from this unlimited chain of actions and reactions only when we accept the authority of the Lord and surrender unto Him.

The conclusion of all learned persons (4.24.67)

The real purpose of life is to know Krsna and worship Him. Without practicing it, our life is simply spoiled. Any learned person can understand this and will thus worship the Lord. Great personalities such as Brahma and the Manus worship Him, understanding their long duration of life to be finite. Everyone, therefore, should follow their example by simply chanting the holy name of the Lord constantly and teaching others about Krsna, as recommended by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Even though others may create problems for us, we should just tolerate them.

A devotee is not afraid (4.24.68)

Persons who are truly learned know Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who also manifests as Brahman and Paramātmā. Rudra is the principle of destruction; there are 11 Rudras, who are expansions of Lord Śiva, but different from him. Because the Rudras are so powerful, one Rudra fears the other, but devotees are not fearful of the Rudras, nor death, because he is always secure, being protected by the Lord. When death finally comes, a devotee remains peaceful and happy, understanding that death has come to take him to Krsna.

The conclusions of the teachings of Lord Śiva (4.24.69 to 79)

Lord Śiva concluded His prayers on text 69. Now, in the next verses, he will give instructions to the Pracetās on how to properly meditate on them and attain perfection in their devotional service. By studying these instructions, we will also be able to take advantage of these teachings and attain the ultimate goal.

"My dear sons of the King, just execute your occupational duty as kings with a pure heart. Just chant this prayer fixing your mind on the lotus feet of the Lord. That will bring you all good fortune, for the Lord will be very much pleased with you. Therefore, O sons of the King, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is situated in everyone’s heart. He is also within your hearts. Therefore chant the glories of the Lord and always meditate upon Him continuously. My dear princes, in the form of a prayer I have delineated the yoga system of chanting the holy name. All of you should take this important stotra within your minds and promise to keep it in order to become great sages. By acting silently like a great sage and by giving attention and reverence, you should practice this method." (SB 4.24.69-71)

Lord Śiva is the greatest Vaiṣnava and also one of the twelve Mahājanas; therefore, his conclusions carry enormous weight. He tells the Pracetās to continue performing their occupational duty as princes, but with a pure heart, constantly chanting the glories of the Lord and meditating on Him continuously. How should they do that? By the yoga system of chanting the holy name, as explained by Lord Śiva in his prayers. He makes the Pracetās promise that they will keep these prayers in their minds and recite them with great attention. As a result, they will become great sages.

As Prabhupada explains in his purport: "one can execute devotional service anywhere and everywhere in the material existence simply by offering prayers unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is also a prayer, for a prayer addresses the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His name and invokes good fortune by petitioning the Lord to allow one to engage in His devotional service."

Just as the Pracetās were practicing devotional service by meditating inside the water in the verses of the prayers of Lord Śiva, we can advance by constantly chanting the Mahā-mantra and meditating in the form, glories, and pastimes of the Lord. No matter what our birth is, what we did in the past, or how low we may fall in life, we can always be connected with the Lord by this method and receive His protection. No material position can prevent us from serving the Lord. Even if we don't have the possibility of performing any practical devotional service, we can still serve the Lord by chanting His holy name or simply by meditating on Him. This can always be performed, even in the most desperate conditions of life.

On the point of remaining in one's occupation mentioned by Lord Śiva, Prabhupada comments: "One may remain situated in his own place or in his own occupational duty and still lend his ear to receive the message of the Lord from realized souls. The Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is based on this principle, and we are opening centers all over the world to give everyone a chance to hear the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa in order to go back home, back to Godhead."

On text 70, he comments: "Because the living entities are parts and parcels of the Lord, He is the father of all of them. One can search out the Supreme Lord very easily within one’s heart, for He is situated in every living entity’s heart. In this verse the process of worshiping the Lord is considered to be very easy and complete, for anyone can sit down anywhere and in any condition of life and simply chant the holy names of the Lord. By chanting and hearing, one automatically engages in meditation."

How much, and how often, should we chant the glories of the Lord? Asakṛt: continuously. Restrictions and regulations apply only to inauspicious things. Ultimately, everything that is not connected with the devotional service of the Lord is inauspicious and needs to be regulated to a greater or lesser degree, but the chanting of the holy names is fully auspicious and should be chanted without limitation, if possible, continuously. To guarantee the stability of our chanting, we make a vow to chant a minimum number of rounds daily, but there is no maximum. Lord Śiva also recommends the Pracetās to be silent. Silence means talking only about Krsna. Just like "formless" applied to Krsna means without a material form, "silence" applied to a devotee means not speaking on mundane subjects.

As Prabhupada explains: "We should either talk of Kṛṣṇa or chant Hare Kṛṣṇa undeviatingly. This is called muni-vrata. The intelligence must be very sharp (samāhita-dhiyaḥ) and should always be acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The words etad abhyasatādṛtāḥ indicate that if one takes these instructions from a spiritual master with great reverence (ādṛta) and practices them accordingly, he will find this bhakti-yoga process to be very, very easy."

Lord Śiva reveals that the knowledge in these prayers was originally received from Brahma, who transmitted this knowledge to his sons to instruct them on the process of devotional service and caution them on the power of the material energy. At the same time, text 76 describes that the prayers were composed by Lord Śiva. This indicates that he expanded the knowledge received from Brahma into his prayers, just like Vyāsadeva expanded the four original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam into the whole book.

The purport by Srila Prabhupada on text 72 connects the purpose of the prayers with our practical life:

"The material creation means material engagement, but material engagements can be counteracted if we always remember our relationship with the Lord as that relationship is described in these prayers recited by Lord Śiva. In this way we can remain constantly in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus despite our engagement in the creation, we cannot be deviated from the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for this purpose. In this material world everyone is engaged in some particular occupational duty which is prescribed in the varṇāśrama-dharma. Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras and everyone are engaged in their occupational duty, but if one remembers his first duty — keeping in constant contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead — everything will be successful. If one simply executes the rules and regulations of the varṇāśrama-dharma in the role of a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra and keeps busy and does not remember one’s eternal relationship with the Lord, one’s business and activities as well as occupational duties will simply be a waste of time."

We are all involved with matter to a certain extent, performing some kind of creational work, be it in accordance with duties in the varṇāśrama system, or ordinary family or professional duties. This involvement with matter can be counteracted if we always remember the Lord and our relationship with Him, as described by Lord Śiva in his prayers. Otherwise, if we simply pass our time engaged in material duties, or worse, in base sense gratification, then our life is wasted.

Next, Lord Śiva explains the results of chanting his prayers:

"A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa whose mind is always absorbed in Him, who with great attention and reverence chants this stotra [prayer], will achieve the greatest perfection of life without delay. In this material world there are different types of achievement, but of all of them the achievement of knowledge is considered to be the highest because one can cross the ocean of nescience only on the boat of knowledge. Otherwise the ocean is impassable." (SB 4.24.74-75)

The root cause of our conditioned life is ignorance of our eternal spiritual nature and our original position as eternal servitors of the Lord. Because of this covering of ignorance, we become engaged in material activities, and over time, become sinful, pursuing sense gratification, which gradually brings us in the direction of the lower species. Spiritual knowledge is the opposite of ignorance and can push us in the opposite direction. That's why Lord Śiva mentions that "achievement of knowledge is considered to be the highest", because it brings us to the ultimate goal, which is the development of pure devotional service to Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura explained the attainment of spiritual realization as being divided into three phases: sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Transcendental knowledge is the first stage, sambandha, without which it's not possible to maintain proper spiritual practice, abhidheya, nor to reach the ultimate goal, prayojana. As he put it, transcendental knowledge is the highest because, equipped with it, one can cross the ocean of nescience.

In this way, the real benefit of transcendental knowledge is to give us proper understanding and offer a solid foundation to our spiritual practice. This brings us back to the chanting of the holy names, it by reciting the prayers of Lord Śiva or the Hare Krsna Mahā-mantra. Chanting is the foundation of our spiritual practice, which allows us to become purified of material contamination and become fixed in the service of the Lord. Because chanting is the foundation of our devotional service, it should never be stopped, even in the name of maintaining other services, as Prabhupada instructed on several occasions.

"Although rendering devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and worshiping Him are very difficult, if one vibrates or simply reads this stotra [prayer] composed and sung by me, he will very easily be able to invoke the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the dearmost objective of all auspicious benedictions. A human being who sings this song sung by me can please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee, being fixed in the Lord’s devotional service, can acquire whatever he wants from the Supreme Lord." (SB 4.24.76-77)

Lord Śiva concludes by offering a blessing to devotees who regularly recite his prayers:

"A devotee who rises early in the morning and with folded hands chants these prayers sung by Lord Śiva, and gives facility to others to hear them, certainly becomes free from all bondage to fruitive activities." (SB 4.24.78)

The narration is connected back to the history of the Pracetās on the last verse of the chapter, where Lord Śiva advised the princes to recite these prayers during their austerities in the water, promising that by doing that their lives will be successful:

"My dear sons of the King, the prayers I have recited to you are meant for pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul. I advise you to recite these prayers, which are as effective as great austerities. In this way, when you are mature, your life will be successful, and you will certainly achieve all your desired objectives without fail." (SB 4.24.79)

Connecting with the next passage

After the Pracetas set to start their meditation, the narration switches to the conversation between Nārada Muni and King Prācīnabarhi and the description of the allegory of Purañjana, which goes from chapter 4.25 to 4.28. The narration of the history of the Pracetās is thus broken into segments, following what happened chronologically. After Nārada instructs the King, Prācīnabarhi decides to abandon his kingdom and go to the forest, which leads to a long period where the Earth again remains without a king and everything is neglected, to the point of trees taking over the whole surface.

At the end of their 10,000 years of austerity, the Pracetās receive the mercy of Lord Viṣnu, who appeared to them in His eight-armed form. After receiving His blessings, the Pracetās returned to the surface with the idea of getting married and assuming the kingdom, but to their surprise, they saw the whole surface of Earth had become covered by trees, which led them to produce fire by their mystic power and burn the trees wholesale. They were then pacified first by Brahma and later by Candra, which was followed by their marriage to marriage to Māriṣā and the second birth of Daksa.

Having fulfilled their duties as kings, the Pracetās again left to practice austerities, entrusting their wife to Daksa. After meditating for some time on the seashore, they met with Nārada Muni, who instructed them on devotional service, as described in the last chapter. By practicing these instructions, they attained perfection and returned home, back to Godhead.

With this, the talks between Maitreya and Vidura come to an end, concluding the instructions of the fourth canto. The discussions between these two great sages, which encompass the 3rd and 4th cantos, give us much of the philosophical basis of the Srimad Bhagavatam, without which it is very difficult to understand the rest of the text. This makes these two cantos especially important. The 5th canto then starts with a question of Parīkṣit Maharaja and proceeds with a dialogue between him and Śukadeva Goswami.

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