74 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 8, Ch. 3

knows that the Deity in the temple is made of stone, but to think that the
Deity is merely stone is an offense. Similarly, to think that the body of
the spiritual master consists of material ingredients is offensive. Atheists
think that devotees foolishly worship a stone statue as God and an ordi-
nary man as the guru. The fact is, however, that by the grace of Krsna’s
omnipotence, the so-called stone statue of the Deity is directly the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the body of the spiritual master is
directly spiritual. A pure devotee who is engaged in unalloyed devotional
service should be understood to be situated on the transcendental plat-
form (sa gundn samatityaitan brahma-bhiiyaya kalpate). Let us
therefore offer our obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
by whose mercy so-called material things also become spiritual when
they are engaged in spiritual activity.

Ornkéra (pranava) is the symbolic sound representation of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Orn tat sad iti nirdeso brahmanas tri-
vidhah smrtah: the three words om tat sat immediately invoke the
Supreme Person. Therefore Krsna says that He is orkara in all the Vedic
mantras (pranavah sarva-vedesu). The Vedic mantras are pronounced
beginning with omkara to indicate immediately the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Srimad-Bhagavatam, for example, begins with the words
orm namo bhagavate vdsudevaya. There is no difference between the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, and ornkara (pranava). We
should be careful to understand that omkdra does not indicate anything
nirdkdra, or formless. Indeed, this verse immediately says, orm namo
bhagavate. Bhagavan is a person. Thus omkara is the representation of
the Supreme Person. Omkdra is not meant to be impersonal, as the
Mayavadi philosophers consider it to be. This is distinctly expressed here
by the word purusdya. The supreme truth addressed by omkara is
purusa, the Supreme Person; He is not impersonal. Unless He is a per-
son, how can He control the great, stalwart controllers of this universe?
Lord Visnu, Lord Brahma and Lord Siva are the supreme controllers of
this universe, but Lord Visnu is offered obeisances even by Lord Siva
and Lord Brahma. Therefore this verse uses the word paresdya, which
indicates that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped by ex-
alted demigods. Paresdya means paramesvara. Lord Brahma and Lord
Siva are isvaras, great controllers, but Lord Visnu is paramesvara, the
supreme controller.
