Reserved (Books)

Expressions researched:
"reserve" |"reserved" |"reserves" |"reserving"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 3.42, Purport:

The senses are different outlets for the activities of lust. Lust is reserved within the body, but it is given vent through the senses. Therefore, the senses are superior to the body as a whole. These outlets are not in use when there is superior consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness the soul makes direct connection with the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore the hierarchy of bodily functions, as described here, ultimately ends in the Supreme Soul. Bodily action means the functions of the senses, and stopping the senses means stopping all bodily actions. But since the mind is active, then even though the body may be silent and at rest, the mind will act—as it does during dreaming. But above the mind is the determination of the intelligence, and above the intelligence is the soul proper.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.21, Purport:

One cannot challenge the authority of the Supreme and know Him also at the same time. He reserves the right of not being exposed to such a challenging spirit of an insignificant spark of the whole, a spark subjected to the control of illusory energy. The devotees are submissive, and therefore the transcendental knowledge descends from the Personality of Godhead to Brahmā and from Brahmā to his sons and disciples in succession. This process is helped by the Supersoul within such devotees. That is the perfect way of learning transcendental knowledge.

SB 1.8.18, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) the Lord says, "I am situated in everyone's heart, and only due to Me one remembers, forgets and is cognizant, etc. Through all the Vedas I am to be known because I am the compiler of the Vedas, and I am the teacher of the Vedānta." Queen Kuntī affirms that the Lord, although both within and without all living beings, is still invisible. The Lord is, so to speak, a puzzle for the common man. Queen Kuntī experienced personally that Lord Kṛṣṇa was present before her, yet He entered within the womb of Uttarā to save her embryo from the attack of Aśvatthāmā's brahmāstra. Kuntī herself was puzzled about whether Śrī Kṛṣṇa is all-pervasive or localized. In fact, He is both, but He reserves the right of not being exposed to persons who are not surrendered souls. This checking curtain is called the māyā energy of the Supreme Lord, and it controls the limited vision of the rebellious soul. It is explained as follows.

SB 1.9.27, Purport:

The king had to see that the reserved energy of humanity was properly utilized. Human energy is meant not exactly for fulfilling animal propensities, but for self-realization. The whole government was specifically designed to fulfill this particular purpose. As such, the king had to select properly the cabinet ministers, but not on the strength of voting background. The ministers, the military commanders and even the ordinary soldiers were all selected by personal qualification, and the king had to supervise them properly before they were appointed to their respective posts. The king was especially vigilant to see that the tapasvīs, or persons who sacrificed everything for disseminating spiritual knowledge, were never disregarded. The king knew well that the Supreme Personality of Godhead never tolerates any insult to His unalloyed devotees. Such tapasvīs were trusted leaders even of the rogues and thieves, who would never disobey the orders of tapasvīs. The king would give special protection to illiterates, the helpless and widows of the state. Defense measures were arranged previous to any attack by the enemies. The taxing process was easy, and it was not meant for squandering, but was for strengthening the reserve fund. The soldiers were recruited from all parts of the world, and they were trained for special duties.

SB 1.9.45, Purport:

The body of Bhīṣmadeva lost its material effects due to being surcharged with spiritual realization, and thus the body was spiritualized as when iron becomes red-hot when in contact with fire. The body of a fully self-realized soul is not, therefore, accepted as material. Special ceremonies are observed for such spiritual bodies. The respect and recognition of Bhīṣmadeva are never to be imitated by artificial means, as it has become a fashion to observe the so-called jayantī ceremony for any and every common man. According to authorized śāstras, such a jayantī ceremony for an ordinary man, however exalted he may be materially, is an offense to the Lord because jayantī is reserved for the day when the Lord appears on the earth. Bhīṣmadeva was unique in his activities, and his passing away to the kingdom of God is also unique.

SB 1.10.5, Purport:

The control of the Lord is everywhere, and if the Lord is pleased, every part of nature will be pleased. The river will flow profusely to fertilize the land; the oceans will supply sufficient quantities of minerals, pearls and jewels; the forest will supply sufficient wood, drugs and vegetables, and the seasonal changes will effectively help produce fruits and flowers in profuse quantity. The artificial way of living depending on factories and tools can render so-called happiness only to a limited number at the cost of millions. Since the energy of the mass of people is engaged in factory production, the natural products are being hampered, and for this the mass is unhappy. Without being educated properly, the mass of people are following in the footsteps of the vested interests by exploiting natural reserves, and therefore there is acute competition between individual and individual and nation and nation. There is no control by the trained agent of the Lord. We must look into the defects of modern civilization by comparison here, and should follow in the footsteps of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to cleanse man and wipe out anachronisms.

SB 1.15.35, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.24-25) the Lord says, "The impersonalists think that I have no form, that I am formless, but that at present I have accepted a form to serve a purpose, and now I am manifested. But such speculators are factually without sharp intelligence. Though they may be good scholars in the Vedic literatures, they are practically ignorant of My inconceivable energies and My eternal forms of personality. The reason is that I reserve the power of not being exposed to the nondevotees by My mystic curtain. The less intelligent fools are therefore unaware of My eternal form, which is never to be vanquished and is unborn." In the Padma Purāṇa it is said that those who are envious and always angry at the Lord are unfit to know the actual and eternal form of the Lord.

SB 1.17.39, Purport:

According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, gold encourages falsity, intoxication, prostitution, envy and enmity. Even a gold-standard exchange and currency is bad. Gold-standard currency is based on falsehood because the currency is not on a par with the reserved gold. The basic principle is falsity because currency notes are issued in value beyond that of the actual reserved gold. This artificial inflation of currency by the authorities encourages prostitution of the state economy. The price of commodities becomes artificially inflated because of bad money, or artificial currency notes. Bad money drives away good money. Instead of paper currency, actual gold coins should be used for exchange, and this will stop prostitution of gold.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.2.4, Purport:

An intelligent human cannot live the life of an animal; rather, man should try to utilize his intelligence in arts and science, poetry and philosophy. In such a way he can further the progressive march of human civilization. But here the idea given by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is that the reserve energy of human life, which is far superior to that of animals, should simply he utilized for self-realization. Advancement of human civilization must be towards the goal of establishing our lost relationship with God, which is not possible in any form of life other than the human. One must realize the nullity of the material phenomenon, considering it a passing phantasmagoria, and must endeavor to make a solution to the miseries of life.

SB 2.4.21, Purport:

As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, the mental speculators, even by dint of learned scholarship, cannot even dream of the Absolute Truth by speculating over it for eternity. The Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to such mental speculators. And because they cannot enter into network stem of the lotus stem of the Lord, all material speculators differ in conclusions, and at the end they make a useless compromise by saying, "as many conclusions, as many ways," according to one's own inclination.

SB 2.5.24, Purport:

This ignorance of the personal feature of the Lord is due simply to ignorance of the mixture of different modes. The impersonalist thus cannot conceive of the Lord's eternal spiritual form of eternal knowledge, bliss and existence. The reason is that the Lord reserves the right of not exposing Himself to the nondevotee who, even after a thorough study of literature like the Bhagavad-gītā, remains an impersonalist simply by obstinacy. This obstinacy is due to the action of yogamāyā, a personal energy of the Lord that acts like an aide-de-camp by covering the vision of the obstinate impersonalist. Such a bewildered human being is described as mūḍha, or grossly ignorant, because he is unable to understand the transcendental form of the Lord as being unborn and unchangeable.

SB 2.6.11, Purport:

Avyakta, mentioned here in this verse, means the night of Brahmā, when partial annihilation takes place and the living entities of that particular brahmāṇḍa, up to the planets of Brahmaloka, along with the big oceans, etc., all repose in the belly of the virāṭ-puruṣa. At the end of a Brahmā's night, the creation again takes place, and the living entities, reserved within the belly of the Lord, are let loose to play their respective parts as if being awakened from a deep slumber. Since the living entities are never destroyed, the annihilation of the material world does not annihilate the existence of the living entities, but until liberation is attained one has to accept one material body after another, again and again.

SB 2.6.13-16, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His partial representation, measuring not more than nine inches as Supersoul, expands by His potential energy in the shape of the universal form, which includes everything manifested in different varieties of organic and inorganic materials. The manifested varieties of the universe are therefore not different from the Lord, just as golden ornaments of different shapes and forms are nondifferent from the original stock reserve of gold. In other words, the Lord is the Supreme Person who controls everything within the creation, and still He remains the supreme separate identity, distinct from all manifested material creation.

SB 2.7.26, Purport:

The Lord is called anupalakṣya-mārgaḥ or, in still more technical Vedic terms, avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ: one who is never to be seen or realized by the limited sense perception of the people in general. In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.25) it is said by the Lord, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. In other words, He reserves the right of not being exposed to anyone and everyone. Only the bona fide devotees can know Him by His specific symptoms, and out of many, many such symptoms, one symptom is mentioned here in this verse, that the Lord is sita-kṛṣṇa-keśaḥ, or one who is observed always with beautiful black hair. Both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Baladeva have such hair on Their heads, and thus even in advanced age They appeared like young boys sixteen years old. That is the particular symptom of the Personality of Godhead.

SB 2.9.32, Purport:

In the Vedas also it is said that a person cannot know the Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead simply by dint of mundane education or intellectual gymnastics. One can know the Supreme Truth if one has unflinching faith in the bona fide spiritual master as well as in the Lord. Such a faithful person, even though illiterate in the mundane sense, can know the Lord automatically by the mercy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said that the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone, and He keeps Himself concealed from the faithless by His yoga-māyā potency.

SB 2.10.33, Purport:

Actually the conditioned souls are covered by the illusory creative cloud of matter, and the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to their eyes. Because they have no eyes of transcendental vision and because they cannot see the Personality of Godhead, they therefore deny the existence of the Lord and the transcendental form of the Lord. The covering of the gigantic material feature is accepted by such men with a poor fund of knowledge, and how this is so is explained in the following verse.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.4.29, Purport:

By practical experience also, it is seen, up to the present day, that the Lord's transcendental form is worshiped by devotees in different temples, and all the devotees of the Lord factually realize that the form of the Deity in the temple is nondifferent from the form of the Lord. This inconceivable performance of the internal potency of the Lord is described in Bhagavad-gītā (7.25): nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ. The Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. In the Padma Purāṇa it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). The name and form of the Lord cannot be perceived by the material senses, but when He appears within the vision of the mundane people He assumes the form of the virāṭ-rūpa.

SB 3.4.29, Purport:

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura have very elaborately explained this incident of the Lord's disappearance in their commentaries, quoting various authentic versions of Vedic literatures. We purposely do not include them all here to avoid an increase in the volume of this book. The entire matter is explained in Bhagavad-gītā, as quoted above: the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. He always keeps Himself out of the vision of the nondevotees, who are devoid of love and devotion, and thus He puts them still further away from the Lord. The Lord appeared on the invitation of Brahmā, who prayed before the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and therefore when the Lord appeared, all the forms of Viṣṇu amalgamated with Him, and when the mission was fulfilled, all of them disintegrated from Him in the usual course.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.11.23, Purport:

The Lord is equipped with varieties of energies, as stated in the Vedic literature (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). He is equipped with the energy of eternal time. Not only does He have the material energy which we see and experience, but He has also many reserve energies that He can manifest in due course of time when necessary. The material scientist can simply study the partial understanding of the varieties of energies; he can take up one of the energies and try to understand it with limited knowledge, but still it is not possible to understand the Absolute Truth in full by dint of material science.

SB 4.18.8, Purport:

We may adopt various means, but it is essential to know that the planet earth will stop producing grains if sacrifices are not performed. The earth has already explained that because nondevotees are enjoying the production of food, she has reserved food seeds for the performance of sacrifice. Now, of course, atheists will not believe in this spiritual method of producing grains, but whether they believe or not, the fact remains that we are not independent to produce grain by mechanical means. As far as the approved method is concerned, it is enjoined in the śāstras that intelligent men in this age will take to the saṅkīrtana movement, and by so doing they shall worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Caitanya, whose bodily complexion is golden and who is always accompanied by His confidential devotees to preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world.

SB 4.24.67, Purport:

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī also says that when one becomes an advanced devotee, he understands that he should be reserved and perseverant (kṣāntiḥ) and that he should engage in the service of the Lord and not waste time (avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19)). He should also be detached from all material attraction (viraktiḥ), and he should not long for any material respect in return for his activities (māna-śūnyatā). He should be certain that Kṛṣṇa will bestow His mercy upon him (āśā-bandhaḥ), and he should always be very eager to serve the Lord faithfully (samutkaṇṭhā). The wise man is always very eager to glorify the Lord by chanting and hearing (nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ), and he is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord (āsaktis tad-guṇākhyāne). He should also be attracted to those places where the Lord had His pastimes (prītis tad-vasati-sthaleprītis tad vasati sthāle). These are symptoms of an advanced devotee.

SB 4.29.73, Purport:

It is sometimes said that because a child is innocent he is completely pure. Actually this is not the fact. The effects of fruitive activities reserved in the subtle body appear in three concurrent stages. One is called bīja (the root), another is called kūṭa-stha (the desire), and another is called phalonmukha (about to fructify). The manifest stage is called prārabdha (already in action). In a conscious or unconscious state, the actions of the subtle or gross bodies may not be manifest, but such states cannot be called the liberated state.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.14.16, Translation:

Government men are always like carnivorous demons called Rākṣasas (man-eaters). Sometimes these government men turn against the conditioned soul and take away all his accumulated wealth. Being bereft of his life's reserved wealth, the conditioned soul loses all enthusiasm. Indeed, it is as though he loses his life.

SB 5.16.20-21, Purport:

Unfortunately, on earth there is such a scarcity of gold that the governments of the world try to keep it in reserve and issue paper currency. Because that currency is not backed up by gold, the paper they distribute as money is worthless, but nevertheless the people on earth are very proud of material advancement. In modern times, girls and ladies have ornaments made of plastic instead of gold, and plastic utensils are used instead of golden ones, yet people are very proud of their material wealth. Therefore the people of this age are described as mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). In other words, they are extremely bad and slow to understand the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.50, Purport:

Without bhakti, simply following the Vedic injunctions to understand the Absolute Truth will not be helpful at all. The process of bhakti is understood by the paramahaṁsa, one who has accepted the essence of everything. The results of bhakti are reserved for such a paramahaṁsa, and this stage cannot be obtained by any Vedic process other than devotional service. Other processes, such as jñāna and yoga, can be successful only when mixed with bhakti. When we speak of jñāna-yoga, karma-yoga and dhyāna-yoga the word yoga indicates bhakti. Bhakti-yoga, or buddhi-yoga, executed with intelligence and full knowledge, is the only successful method for going back home, back to Godhead. If one wants to be liberated from the pangs of material existence, he should take to devotional service for quick attainment of this goal.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.10.25, Translation:

Sitting on Airāvata, an elephant who can go anywhere and who holds water and wine in reserve for showering, Lord Indra looked just like the sun rising from Udayagiri, where there are reservoirs of water.

SB 8.10.25, Purport:

On the top of the mountain called Udayagiri are large lakes from which water continuously pours in waterfalls. Similarly, Indra's carrier, Airāvata, holds water and wine in reserve and showers it in the direction of Lord Indra. Thus Indra, King of heaven, sitting on the back of Airāvata, appeared like the brilliant sun rising above Udayagiri.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 4.1, Purport:

One can ascertain the meaning of this Sanskrit śloka only when one is endowed with the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the absolute Personality of Godhead, cannot be exposed to the mundane instruments of vision. He reserves the right not to be exposed by the intellectual feats of nondevotees. Notwithstanding this truth, even a small child can easily understand Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental pastimes in the land of Vṛndāvana by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

CC Adi 4.30, Purport:

In the spiritual loving sentiment induced by the yogamāyā potency, both Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the damsels of Vraja forget themselves in spiritual rapture. By the influence of such forgetfulness, the attractive beauty of the gopīs plays a prominent part in the transcendental satisfaction of the Lord, who has nothing to do with mundane sex. Because spiritual love of Godhead is above everything mundane, the gopīs superficially seem to transgress the codes of mundane morality. This perpetually puzzles mundane moralists. Therefore yogamāyā acts to cover the Lord and His pastimes from the eyes of mundaners, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.25), where the Lord says that He reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone.

CC Adi 13.42, Purport:

Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments in this connection that such feelings of separation as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed from the books of Vidyāpati, Caṇḍīdāsa and Jayadeva are especially reserved for persons like Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara, who were paramahaṁsas, men of the topmost perfection, because of their advanced spiritual consciousness. Such topics are not to be discussed by ordinary persons imitating the activities of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. For critical students of mundane poetry and literary men without God consciousness who are after bodily sense gratification, there is no need to read such a high standard of transcendental literature.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 5.32, Purport:

In India it is still the custom for a daughter to be offered to someone simply by word. This is called vāg-datta. This means that the father, brother or guardian of a girl has given his word that she will be married to a certain man. Consequently, that daughter cannot be married to anyone else. She is reserved by virtue of the honest words of the father or guardian. There are many instances in which the parents of a female child have given someone a verbal promise that their daughter will be married to his son. Both parties agree to wait until the boy and girl are grown up, and then the marriage takes place.

CC Madhya 6.81, Purport:

"I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency (yogamāyā); and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible." The Supreme Personality of Godhead reserves the right of not being exposed to nondevotees. He can only be understood by bona fide devotees. Lord Kṛṣṇa says elsewhere in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: "One can understand Me only by the devotional process."

CC Madhya 6.89, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.25) it is said, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya: the Supreme Personality of Godhead reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ: (Brs. 1.2.234) “The Lord reveals Himself to a devotee when He is completely satisfied by the devotee's service.” Thus one cannot understand the Supreme Lord without His mercy. The Absolute Truth cannot be understood by speculation, and this is the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā.

CC Madhya 8.285, Purport:

The Lord always reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. The devotees, however, are always engaged in the service of the Lord, serving with the tongue by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and tasting mahā-prasādam. Gradually the sincere devotee pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Lord reveals Himself. One cannot see the Supreme Lord by making personal efforts. Rather, when the Lord is pleased by the service of a devotee, He reveals Himself.

CC Madhya 15.180, Translation:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, ""O my Lord, O unconquerable one, O master of all potencies, please exhibit Your internal potency to conquer the nescience of all moving and inert living entities. Due to nescience, they accept all kinds of faulty things, thus provoking a fearful situation. O Lord, please show Your glories! You can do this very easily, for Your internal potency is beyond the external potency, and You are the reservoir of all opulence. You are also the demonstrator of the material potency. You are also always engaged in Your pastimes in the spiritual world, where You exhibit Your reserved, internal potency, and sometimes You exhibit the external potency by glancing over it. Thus You manifest Your pastimes. The Vedas confirm Your two potencies and accept both types of pastimes due to them.""

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 18:

Rūpa Gosvāmī next describes the characteristics of a person who has actually developed his ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. The characteristics are as follows:

(1) He is always anxious to utilize his time in the devotional service of the Lord. He does not like to be idle. He wants service always, twenty-four hours a day, without deviation.

(2) He is always reserved and perseverant.

(3) He is always detached from all material attraction.

(4) He does not long for any material respect in return for his activities.

(5) He is always certain that Kṛṣṇa will bestow His mercy upon him.

(6) He is always very eager to serve the Lord faithfully.

(7) He is very much attached to the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

(8) He is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord.

(9) He is very pleased to live in a place where the Lord's pastimes are performed, e.g., Mathurā, Vṛndāvana or Dvārakā.

Nectar of Devotion 18:

When a person is undisturbed even in the presence of various causes of disturbance, he is called reserved and perseverant. An example of this perseverance and reservation is found in the behavior of King Parīkṣit, as described in the First Canto, Nineteenth Chapter, verse 15, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The King says there to all the sages present before him at the time of his death, "My dear brāhmaṇas, you should always accept me as your surrendered servant. I have come to the bank of the Ganges just to devote my heart and soul unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So please bless me, that mother Ganges may also be pleased with me. Let the curse of the brāhmaṇa's son fall upon me—I do not mind. I only request that at the last moment of my life all of you will kindly chant the holy name of Viṣṇu, so that I may realize His transcendental qualities."

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 42:

The wrestling arena was nicely cleansed and decorated with flags, festoons and flowers, and the match was announced by the beating of kettledrums. The platform appeared very beautiful due to streamers and flags. Different types of galleries were arranged for respectable persons—kings, brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. The various kings had reserved thrones, and others had arranged seats also. Kaṁsa finally arrived, accompanied by various ministers and secretaries, and he sat on the raised platform especially meant for him. Unfortunately, although he was sitting in the center of all his governing executive heads, his heart was palpitating in fear of death. Cruel death evidently does not care even for a person as powerful as Kaṁsa. When death comes, it does not care for anyone's exalted position.

Krsna Book 87:

There are many arguments about the existence of this material world, but the Vaiṣṇava philosophical conclusion is the best. The example of the earthen pot is very suitable: the form of the earthen pot may be temporary, but it has a specific purpose. The purpose of the earthen pot is to carry water from one place to another. Similarly, this material body, although temporary, has a special use. The living entity is given a chance from the beginning of the creation to evolve different kinds of material bodies according to the reserve desires he has accumulated from time immemorial. The human form of body is a special chance in which the developed form of consciousness can be utilized.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead Introduction:

The real knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His relationship with us can be revealed only by this transcendental method. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, He reserves the right of not being exposed to the mundaners. He can be known by one absolute process, and the relative process of sense perception cannot reach Him ever. If Godhead were subject to being revealed by our relative sense perception, then our sense perception, and not Godhead, would be absolute. The process is therefore fallacious in all its manifold stages.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 5, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.11) the Lord says that how He treats His devotee depends on the devotee's degree of surrender. The Lord reserves the right not to reveal Himself to anyone and everyone but to show Himself only to those souls who surrender unto Him. Thus for the surrendered soul He is always within reach, whereas for the unsurrendered soul He is far, far away and cannot be approached.