Text 38] The Appearance of the Demon Vṛtrāsura
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not see contradictions in Him, but nondevotees regard Him as the snakelike source of all fear. For example, when Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared. Prahlāda Mahārāja saw the Lord as the supreme solace, whereas his father, a demon, saw Him as the ultimate death. As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (11.2.37),  bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt : fear results from being absorbed in duality. When one is in knowledge of duality, one knows both fear and bliss. The same Supreme Lord is a source of bliss to devotees and fear to nondevotees who have a poor fund of knowledge. God is one, but people understand the Absolute Truth from different angles of vision. The unintelligent see contradictions in Him, but sober devotees find no contradictions.
TEXT 38
स एव हि पुनः सर्ववस्तुनि वस्तुस्वरूपः सर्वेश्वरः सकृतजगत्कारणकारणभूतः सर्वप्रत्यगात्मत्वात् सर्वगुणाभासोपलक्षित एक एव पर्यवशेषितः ॥ ३८ ॥
sa eva hi punaḥ sarva-vastuni vastu-svarūpaḥ sarveśvaraḥ sakala-jagat-kāraṇa-kāraṇa-bhūtaḥ sarva-pratyag-ātmatvāt sarva-guṇābhāsopalakṣita eka eva paryavaśeṣitaḥ.
saḥ—He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); eva—indeed; hi—certainly; punaḥ—again; sarva-vastuni—in everything, material and spiritual; vastu-svarūpaḥ—the substance; sarva-īśvaraḥ—the controller of everything; sakala-jagat—of the whole universe; kāraṇa—of the causes; kāraṇa-bhūtaḥ—existing as the cause; sarva-pratyak-ātmatvāt—because of being the Supersoul of every living being, or being present in everything, even the atom; sarva-guṇa—of all the effects of the material modes of nature (such as intelligence and the senses); ābhāsa—by the manifestations; upalakṣitaḥ—perceived; ekaḥ—alone; eva—indeed; paryavaśeṣitaḥ—left remaining.
TRANSLATION
With deliberation, one will see that the Supreme Soul, although manifested in different ways, is actually the basic principle of everything. The total material energy is the cause of the material manifestation, but the material energy is caused by Him.