156 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 2
and His pleasure is truth); tvam—unto You, O Lord; saranam—offering
our full surrender; prapannaéh—we are completely under Your
protection.
TRANSLATION

The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your
vow, which is always perfect because whatever You decide is per-
fectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in
the three phases of cosmic manifestation—creation, maintenance
and annihilation—You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one
is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favor, which
therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active
principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and
therefore you are known as antaryémi, the inner force. You are
equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for
all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering
our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection.

PURPORT

The demigods or devotees know perfectly well that the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead is the true substance, whether within this material
world or in the spiritual world. Srimad-Bhagavatam begins, therefore,
with the words om namo bhagavate vdsudevdya...satyam param
dhimahi. Vasudeva, Krsna, is the param satyam, the Supreme Truth.
The Supreme Truth can be approached or understood by the supreme
method, as declared by the Supreme Truth: bhaktya mam abhijanati
yavan yas cdsmi tattvatah (Bg. 18.55). Bhakti, devotional service, is the
only way to understand the Absolute Truth. For protection, therefore,
the demigods surrender to the Supreme Truth, not to the relative truth.
There are persons who worship various demigods, but the Supreme
Truth, Krsna, declares in Bhagavad-gita (7.23), antavat tu phalam
tesari tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam: “Men of small intelligence worship
the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary.” Worship of
demigods may be useful for a limited time, but the result is antavat,
perishable. This material world is impermanent, the demigods are im-
permanent, and the benedictions derived from the demigods are also im-
permanent, whereas the living entity is eternal (nityo nityanam cetanas
