444
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 8]
a feather, getting anything and everything he desires, going anywhere and everywhere he likes, creating even a planet in the sky, etc. There are many  yogeśvaras  having different proficiencies in these wonderful powers, and the topmost of all of them is Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva is the greatest  yogī , and he can perform such wonderful things, far beyond the ordinary living beings. The devotees of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, do not directly practice the process of mystic powers, but, by the grace of the Lord, His devotee can defeat even a great  yogeśvara  like Durvāsā Muni, who picked up a quarrel with Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and wanted to show the wonderful achievements of his mystic powers. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa was a pure devotee of the Lord, and thus without any effort on his part the Lord saved him from the wrath of Yogeśvara Durvāsā Muni, and the latter was obliged to beg pardon from the King. Similarly, at the time of Draupadī's precarious position, when she was attacked by the Kurus who wanted to see her naked in the open assembly of the royal order, the Lord saved her from being stripped by supplying an unlimited length of  sari  to cover her. And Draupadī knew nothing of mystic powers. Therefore the devotees are also  yogeśvara  by the unlimited power of the Lord, just as a child is powerful by the strength of the parents. They do not try to protect themselves by any artificial means, but are saved by the mercy of the parents.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from the learned  brāhmaṇa  Śukadeva Gosvāmī about the ultimate destination of such great mystics or how they attain such extraordinary powers by their own efforts or by the grace of the Lord. He inquired also about their detachment from the subtle and gross material bodies. He inquired also about the purports of the Vedic knowledge, and, as is stated in the  Bhagavad-gītā  (Bg. 15.15), the whole purport of all the  Vedas  is to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become a transcendental loving servant of the Lord.
TEXT 21
सम्पुवः सर्वभूतानां विक्रमः प्रतिसंक्रमः ।
इष्टापूर्तस्य काम्यानां त्रिवर्गस्य च यो विधिः ॥२१॥
samplavaḥ sarva-bhūtānām vikramaḥ pratisaṅkramaḥ iṣṭāpūrtasya kāmyānām tri-vargasya ca yo vidhiḥ