Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 16
Avadhūta’s Further Teachers: Detachment, Solitude, One-Pointed Meditation, and the Lord as Āśraya
एको नारायणो देव: पूर्वसृष्टं स्वमायया । संहृत्य कालकलया कल्पान्त इदमीश्वर: । एक एवाद्वितीयोऽभूदात्माधारोऽखिलाश्रय: ॥ १६ ॥
eko nārāyaṇo devaḥ pūrva-sṛṣṭaṁ sva-māyayā saṁhṛtya kāla-kalayā kalpānta idam īśvaraḥ eka evādvitīyo ’bhūd ātmādhāro ’khilāśrayaḥ
พระนารายณ์เพียงองค์เดียวทรงเป็นเทพผู้ควรบูชาของสรรพชีวิต พระองค์ทรงสร้างจักรวาลด้วยมายาของพระองค์เอง และเมื่อสิ้นกัลป์ทรงอาศัยพระองค์ขยายเป็นกาลเวลาเพื่อทำลาย แล้วทรงรวบรวมสรรพจักรวาลพร้อมหมู่ชีวะกลับเข้าสู่พระองค์ ดังนั้นพระองค์จึงดำรงอยู่เพียงผู้เดียว ไร้ที่สอง เป็นที่พึ่งและที่รองรับแห่งสรรพสิ่ง
As will be explained in verse 21 of this chapter, the Lord’s independent creation and annihilation of the universe can be compared to the spider’s creating and withdrawing his web. The word eka, or “one alone,” is mentioned twice in this verse to emphasize that there is only one Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all universal affairs, as well as spiritual pastimes, are conducted by His potency alone. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, this verse refers to Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, or Mahā-Viṣṇu lying in the Causal Ocean. The words ātmādhāra and akhilāśraya both indicate that Nārāyaṇa is the reservoir or shelter of all existence. Ātmādhāra indicates that the Lord’s personal body is the shelter of everything. Mahā-Viṣṇu is a plenary portion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whose body expand the innumerable potencies that manifest the material and spiritual worlds. According to the Brahma-saṁhitā these innumerable worlds rest within the brahmajyoti, or spiritual effulgence, also emanating from the Lord’s body. Thus Kṛṣṇa is īśvara, the supreme controller.
FAQs
This verse states that at the end of the kalpa the Lord withdraws the manifested universe through time, and Nārāyaṇa alone remains—one without a second, the shelter of all.
To establish the Bhagavata conclusion that the Supreme Lord is the ultimate, independent reality—everything else is manifested and withdrawn by His potency, while He remains unchanged and supreme.
It trains one to rely on the eternal shelter—God—rather than temporary conditions, cultivating detachment from fleeting change and steadiness in bhakti.