the powers of Narayana will melt in Him, in other words, all these devas will die, their vital breath will be withdrawn from them, and they will merge into Narayana."

It must therefore be concluded that Visnu alone is God, the Supreme Person, and not Brahma or Siva. Just as a member of the government is sometimes considered as if he were the government as a whole when he is in charge of a ministry, the devas, being based on powers by Visnu, Act in His Name even though they are not as powerful as Him. They must all act under the direction of Sri Visnu. The only master is Krsna, or Visnu, and all the others are His obedient servants, who only follow His orders exactly. Those who devote their worship to the devas reach the planets of the devas, while those who worship Krsna and Visnu join the Vaikunthas planets.

Planets are living beings

It is also interesting to note that the master divinities, even the greatest planets, have been offered their important positions because of the remarkable acts of virtue they have performed in their past lives. The Moon, for example, as we have already seen, is called jiva, which means that it is a living being like us. But because of his acts of virtue, the latter was attributed the function of the deva of the moon. In the same way, all devas are living beings who have been entrusted with the direction of different planets, such as the Earth, Venus, etc., because of their exceptional services and exemplary acts of virtue. Only the deva-master of the Sun, Surya-Narayana, is a manifestation of God, the Supreme Person. As for Maharaja Dhruva, the deva-master of Dhruvaloka, he is also a distinct being. There are thus two kinds of living beings. The Supreme Being, and ordinary distinct beings. All the devas work to serve the Lord, and it is only in this way that the universe continues to function.

Only the practice of devotional service allows us to know all that concerns the Supreme Lord.

If anyone is happy enough to grasp the Lord in this way, he will not have to be reborn in this world after he has left his carnal envelope. He then returns to God, in his original home. Such is the ultimate perfection. That is why Krsna says:

"When they reached Me, yogis full of devotion, these noble souls, having raised to supreme perfection, never return to this ephemeral world full of suffering."