Text 32] The Demigods Appeal to the Lord 179

they understand the Lord? Let us offer our respectful obeisances
unto Him.

PURPORT

Atheists and demons cannot understand the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, although He is situated within everyone. For them the Lord
finally appears in the form of death, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita
(mrtyuh sarva-haras cdham). Atheists think that they are independent,
and therefore they do not care about the supremacy of the Lord, yet the
Lord asserts His supremacy when He overcomes them as death. At the
time of death, their attempts to use their so-called scientific knowledge
and philosophical speculation to deny the supremacy of the Lord cannot
work. Hiranyakasipu, for example, was an exalted representative of the
atheistic class of men. He always challenged the existence of God, and
thus he became inimical even toward his own son. Everyone was afraid
of Hiranyakasipu’s atheistic principles. Nonetheless, when Lord
Nrsimmhadeva appeared in order to kill him, Hiranyakasipu’s atheistic
principles could not save him. Lord Nrsirnhadeva killed Hiranyakasipu
and took away all his power, influence and pride. Atheistic men,
however, never understand how everything they create is annihilated.
The Supersoul is situated within them, but because of the predominance
of the modes of passion and ignorance, they cannot understand the
supremacy of the Lord. Even the demigods, the devotees, who are tran-
scendentally situated or situated on the platform of goodness, are not
fully aware of the qualities and position of the Lord. How then can the
demons and atheists understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead? It
is not possible. Therefore, to gain this understanding, the demigods,
headed by Lord Brahma, offered their respectful obeisances to the Lord.

TEXT 32
at ati aeda | TE
aaftat ax fe gaa: |
a & AITeT ARH
matcat wa Aatfrgfa: 1221
