Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 04, Chapter 11, Text 27

SB 4.11.27

tam eva mrtyum amrtam tata daivam
sarvatmanopehi jagat-parayanam
yasmai balim visva-srjo haranti
gavo yatha vai nasi dama-yantritah
 
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 
 
My dear boy Dhruva, please surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the ultimate goal of the progress of the world. Everyone, including the demigods headed by Lord Brahma, is working under His control, just as a bull, prompted by a rope in its nose, is controlled by its owner.
 
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 
 
The material disease is to declare independence from the supreme controller. Factually, our material existence begins when we forget the supreme controller and wish to lord it over material nature. Everyone in the material world is trying his best to become the supreme controller — individually, nationally, socially and in many other ways. Dhruva Maharaja was advised to stop fighting by his grandfather, who was concerned that Dhruva was adhering to a personal ambition to fight to annihilate the whole race of Yaksas. In this verse, therefore, Svayambhuva Manu seeks to eradicate the last tinge of false ambition in Dhruva by explaining the position of the supreme controller. The words mrtyum amrtam, “death and immortality,” are significant. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, “I am ultimate death, who takes away everything from the demons.” The demons’ business is to continually struggle for existence as lords over material nature. The demons repeatedly meet death after death and create a network of involvement in the material world. The Lord is death for the demons, but for devotees He is amrta, eternal life. Devotees who render continuous service to the Lord have already attained immortality, for whatever they are doing in this life they will continue to do in the next. They will simply change their material bodies for spiritual bodies. Unlike the demons, they no longer have to change material bodies. The Lord, therefore, is simultaneously death and immortality. He is death for demons and immortality for devotees. He is the ultimate goal of everyone because He is the cause of all causes. Dhruva Maharaja was advised to surrender unto Him in all respects, without keeping any personal ambition. One may put forward the argument, “Why are the demigods worshiped?” The answer is given here that demigods are worshiped by less intelligent men. The demigods themselves accept sacrifices for the ultimate satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 04, Chapter 11, Text 26
Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 04, Chapter 11, Text 28