62 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 2
eternal world. But for want of sufficient piety, the onlookers are not
attracted by such pastimes of the Lord. In Bhagavad-gita it is said that only
those who have completely surpassed the way of sinful reaction can engage
themselves in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The entire
Vedic way of ritualistic performances is to put every conditioned soul on
the path of piety. By strict adherence to the prescribed principles for all
orders of social life, one can attain the qualities of truthfulness, control of
the mind, control of the senses, forbearance, etc., and can be elevated to
the plane of rendering pure devotional service to the Lord. Only by such a
transcendental vision are one’s material hankerings fully satisfied.

When the Lord was present, persons who were able to satisfy their
material hankerings by seeing Him in true perspective were thus able to go
back with Him to His kingdom. But those persons who were unable to see
the Lord as He is remained attached to material hankerings and were not
able to go back home, back to Godhead. When the Lord passed beyond
the vision of all, He did so in His original eternal form, as stated in this
verse. The Lord left in His own body; He did not leave His body as is
generally misunderstood by the conditioned souls. This statement defeats
the false propaganda of the faithless nondevotees that the Lord passed
away like an ordinary conditioned soul. The Lord appeared in order to
release the world from the undue burden of the nonbelieving asuras, and
after doing this, He disappeared from the world’s eyes.

TEXT 12
TaN ANT
was saan Tq!
frat wa a ate:
qe Tk UMN 123
yan martya lilau-payikam sva-yoga-
maya-balam darsayata grhitam
vismapanam svasya ca saubhgarddheh
param padam bhusana-bhusanangam

yat—His eternal form; martya—mortal world; lilau-payikam—just suitable
for the pastimes; sva-yoga-maya-balam—potency of the internal energy;
darsayata—for manifestation; grhitam—discovered; vismapanam—wonder-
ful; svasya—of His own; ca—and; saubhagarddheh—of the opulent; param—
