Chapter 5
This chapter is chiefly devoted to describing the essential nature and glories of Śrī
Nityānanda Prabhu. Lord Śrī
Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Personality of Godhead, and His first expansion in a form for pastimes is Śrī
Balarāma.
Beyond the limitation of this material world is the spiritual sky,
paravyoma, which has many spiritual planets, the supreme of which is called Kṛṣṇaloka. Kṛṣṇaloka, the abode of
Kṛṣṇa, has three divisions, which are known as
Dvārakā,
Mathurā and
Gokula. In that abode the Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four plenary portions-
Kṛṣṇa,
Balarāma,
Pradyumna (the transcendental Cupid) and
Aniruddha. They are known as the original quadruple forms.
In Kṛṣṇaloka is a transcendental place known as Śvetadvīpa or
Vṛndāvana. Below Kṛṣṇaloka in the spiritual sky are the
Vaikuṇṭha planets. On each
Vaikuṇṭha planet a four-handed
Nārāyaṇa, expanded from the first quadruple manifestation, is present. The Personality of Godhead known as Śrī
Balarāma in Kṛṣṇaloka is the original
Saṅkarṣaṇa (attracting Deity), and from this
Saṅkarṣaṇa expands another
Saṅkarṣaṇa, called
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa, who resides in one of the
Vaikuṇṭha planets. By His internal potency,
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa maintains the transcendental existence of all the planets in the spiritual sky, where all the living beings are eternally liberated souls. The influence of the material energy is conspicuous there by its absence. On those planets the second quadruple manifestation is present.
Outside of the
Vaikuṇṭha planets is the impersonal manifestation of Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, which is known as the Brahmaloka. On the other side of the Brahmaloka is the spiritual
kāraṇa-samudra, or Causal Ocean. The material energy exists on the other side of the Causal Ocean, without touching it. In the Causal Ocean is
Mahā-
Viṣṇu, the original
puruṣa expansion from
Saṅkarṣaṇa. This
Mahā-
Viṣṇu places His glance over the material energy, and by a reflection of His transcendental body He amalgamates Himself within the material elements.
As the source of the material elements, the material energy is known as
pradhāna, and as the source of the manifestations of the material energy it is known as
māyā. But material nature is inert in that she has no independent power to do anything. She is empowered to make the cosmic manifestation by the glance of
Mahā-
Viṣṇu. Therefore the material energy is not the original cause of the material manifestation. Rather, the transcendental glance of
Mahā-
Viṣṇu over material nature produces that cosmic manifestation.
Mahā-
Viṣṇu again enters every universe as the reservoir of all living entities, Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu expands Kṣīrodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, the Supersoul of every living entity. Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu also has His own
Vaikuṇṭha planet in every universe, where He lives as the Supersoul or supreme controller of the universe. Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu reclines in the midst of the watery portion of the universe and generates the first living creature of the universe,
Brahmā. The imaginary universal form is a partial manifestation of Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu.
In the
Vaikuṇṭha planet in every universe is an ocean of milk, and within that ocean is an island called Śvetadvīpa, where Lord
Viṣṇu lives. Therefore this chapter describes two Śvetadvīpas-one in the abode of
Kṛṣṇa and the other in the ocean of milk in every universe. The Śvetadvīpa in the abode of
Kṛṣṇa is identical with
Vṛndāvana-
dhāma, which is the place where
Kṛṣṇa appears Himself to display His loving pastimes. In the Śvetadvīpa within every universe is a Śeṣa form of Godhead who serves
Viṣṇu by assuming the form of His umbrella, slippers, couch, pillows, garments, residence, sacred thread, throne and so on.
In this chapter the author has described the history of his leaving home for a personal pilgrimage to
Vṛndāvana and his achieving all success there. In this description it is revealed that the author's original paternal home and birthplace were in the district of Katwa, in the village of
Jhāmaṭapura, which is near
Naihāṭī.
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja's brother invited Śrī
Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa, a great devotee of Lord
Nityānanda, to his home, but a priest named
Guṇārṇava Miśra did not receive him well, and
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī's brother, not recognizing the glories of Lord
Nityānanda, also took sides with the priest. Therefore
Rāmadāsa became sorry, broke his flute and went away. This was a great disaster for the brother of
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. But on that very night Lord
Nityānanda Prabhu Himself graced
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī in a dream and ordered him to leave on the next day for
Vṛndāvana.
vande 'nantādbhutaiśvaryaṁ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Let me offer my obeisances to Lord Śrī Nityānanda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose opulence is wonderful and unlimited. By His will, even a fool can understand His identity. jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
ei ṣaṭ-śloke kahila kṛṣṇa-caitanya-mahimā
pa�ca-śloke kahi nityānanda-tattva-sīmā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I have described the glory of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya in six verses. Now, in five verses, I shall describe the glory of Lord Nityānanda. sarva-avatārī kṛṣṇa svayaṁ bhagavān
tāṅhāra dvitīya deha śrī-balarāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarāma is His second body. PURPORT
Lord Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is the primeval Lord, the original form of Godhead, and His first expansion is Śrī
Balarāma. The Personality of Godhead can expand Himself in innumerable forms. The forms that have unlimited potency are called
svāṁśa, and forms that have limited potencies (the living entities) are called
vibhinnāṁśa.eka-i svarūpa doṅhe, bhinna-mātra kāya
ādya kāya-vyūha, kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
They are both one and the same identity. They differ only in form. He is the first bodily expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and He assists in Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental pastimes. PURPORT
Balarāma is a
svāṁśa expansion of the Lord, and therefore there is no difference in potency between
Kṛṣṇa and
Balarāma. The only difference is in Their bodily structure. As the first expansion of Godhead,
Balarāma is the chief Deity among the first quadruple forms, and He is the foremost assistant of Śrī
Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental activities.
sei kṛṣṇa--navadvīpe śrī-caitanya-candra
sei balarāma--saṅge śrī-nityānanda
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
saṅkarṣaṇaḥ kāraṇa-toya-śāyī
garbhoda-śāyī ca payobdhi-śāyī
śeṣaś ca yasyāṁśa-kalāḥ sa nityā-
nandākhya-rāmaḥ śaraṇaṁ mamāstu
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
May Śrī Nityānanda Rāma be the object of my constant remembrance. Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śeṣa Nāga and the Viṣṇus who lie on the Kāraṇa Ocean, Garbha Ocean and ocean of milk are His plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions. PURPORT
śrī-balarāma gosā�i mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa
pa�ca-rūpa dhari' karena kṛṣṇera sevana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
āpane karena kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya
sṛṣṭi-līlā-kārya kare dhari' cāri kāya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
He Himself helps in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and He does the work of creation in four other forms. sṛṣṭy-ādika sevā,--tāṅra āj�āra pālana
'śeṣa'-rūpe kare kṛṣṇera vividha sevana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
He executes the orders of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the work of creation, and in the form of Lord Śeṣa He serves Kṛṣṇa in various ways. PURPORT
According to expert opinion,
Balarāma, as the chief of the original quadruple forms, is also the original
Saṅkarṣaṇa.
Balarāma, the first expansion of
Kṛṣṇa, expands Himself in five forms: (1)
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa, (2) Kāraṇābdhiśāyī, (3) Garbhodakaśāyī, (4) Kṣīrodakaśāyī, and (5) Śeṣa. These five plenary portions are responsible for both the spiritual and material cosmic manifestations. In these five forms Lord
Balarāma assists Lord
Kṛṣṇa in His activities. The first four of these forms are responsible for the cosmic manifestations, whereas Śeṣa is responsible for personal service to the Lord. Śeṣa is called
Ananta, or unlimited, because He assists the Personality of Godhead in His unlimited expansions by performing an unlimited variety of services. Śrī
Balarāma is the servitor Godhead who serves Lord
Kṛṣṇa in all affairs of existence and knowledge. Lord
Nityānanda Prabhu, who is the same servitor Godhead,
Balarāma, performs the same service to Lord
Gaurāṅga by constant association.
sarva-rūpe āsvādaye kṛṣṇa-sevānanda
sei balarāma--gaura-saṅge nityānanda
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In all the forms He tastes the transcendental bliss of serving Kṛṣṇa. That same Balarāma is Lord Nityānanda, the companion of Lord Gaurasundara. saptama ślokera artha kari cāri-śloke
yāte nityānanda-tattva jāne sarva-loke
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I have explained this seventh verse in four subsequent verses. By these verses all the world can know the truth about Lord Nityānanda. māyātīte vyāpi-vaikuṇṭha-loke
pūrṇaiśvarye śrī-catur-vyūha-madhye
rūpaṁ yasyodbhāti saṅkarṣaṇākhyaṁ
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
prakṛtira pāra 'paravyoma'-nāme dhāma
kṛṣṇa-vigraha yaiche vibhūty-ādi-guṇavān
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Beyond the material nature lies the realm known as paravyoma, the spiritual sky. Like Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, it possesses all transcendental attributes, such as the six opulences. PURPORT
According to
Sāṅkhya philosophy, the material cosmos is composed of twenty-four elements: the five gross material elements, the three subtle material elements, the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five active senses, the five objects of sense pleasure, and the
mahat-tattva (the total material energy). Empiric philosophers, unable to go beyond these elements, speculate that anything beyond them must be
avyakta, or inexplicable. But the world beyond the twenty-four elements is not inexplicable, for it is explained in the
Bhagavad-gītā as the eternal (
sanātana) nature. Beyond the manifested and unmanifested existence of material nature (
vyaktāvyakta) is the
sanātana nature, which is called the
paravyoma, or the spiritual sky. Since that nature is spiritual in quality, there are no qualitative differences there; everything there is spiritual, everything is good, and everything possesses the spiritual form of Śrī
Kṛṣṇa Himself. That spiritual sky is the manifested internal potency of Śrī
Kṛṣṇa; it is distinct from the material sky manifested by His external potency.
The all-pervading
Brahman, the impersonal glowing ray of Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, exists in the spiritual world with the
Vaikuṇṭha planets. We can get some idea of that spiritual sky by a comparison to the material sky, for the rays of the sun in the material sky can be compared to the
brahmajyoti, the glowing rays of the Personality of Godhead. In the
brahmajyoti there are unlimited
Vaikuṇṭha planets, which are spiritual and therefore self-luminous, with a glow many times greater than that of the sun. The Personality of Godhead Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, His innumerable plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions dominate each
Vaikuṇṭha planet. In the highest region of the spiritual sky is the planet called Kṛṣṇaloka, which has three divisions, namely
Dvārakā,
Mathurā and
Goloka.
To a gross materialist this kingdom of God,
Vaikuṇṭha, is certainly a mystery. But to an ignorant man everything is a mystery for want of sufficient knowledge. The kingdom of God is not a myth. Even the material planets, which float over our heads in the millions and billions, are still a mystery to the ignorant. Material scientists are now attempting to penetrate this mystery, and a day may come when the people of this earth will be able to travel in outer space and see the variegatedness of these millions of planets with their own eyes. In every planet there is as much material variegatedness as we find in our own planet.
This planet earth is but an insignificant spot in the cosmic structure. Yet foolish men, puffed up by a false sense of scientific advancement, have concentrated their energy in a pursuit of so-called economic development on this planet, not knowing of the variegated economic facilities available on other planets. According to modern astronomy, the gravity of the moon is different from that of earth. Therefore one who goes to the moon will be able to pick up large weights and jump vast distances. In the
Rāmāyaṇa, Hanumān is described as being able to lift huge weights as heavy as hills and jump over the ocean. Modern astronomy has confirmed that this is indeed possible.
The disease of the modern civilized man is his disbelief of everything in the revealed scriptures. Faithless nonbelievers cannot make progress in spiritual realization, for they cannot understand the spiritual potency. The small fruit of a banyan contains hundreds of seeds, and in each seed is the potency to produce another banyan tree with the potency to produce millions more of such fruits. This law of nature is visible before us, although how it works is beyond our understanding. This is but an insignificant example of the potency of Godhead; there are many similar phenomena that no scientist can explain.
Everything, in fact, is inconceivable, for the truth is revealed only to the proper persons. Although there are varieties of personalities, from
Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, all of whom are living beings, their development of knowledge is different. Therefore we have to gather knowledge from the right source. Indeed, in reality we can get knowledge only from the Vedic sources. The four
Vedas, with their supplementary
Purāṇas, the
Mahābhārata, the
Rāmāyaṇa and their corollaries, which are known as
smṛtis, are all authorized sources of knowledge. If we are at all to gather knowledge, we must gather it from these sources without hesitation.
Revealed knowledge may in the beginning be unbelievable because of our paradoxical desire to verify everything with our tiny brains, but the speculative means of attaining knowledge is always imperfect. The perfect knowledge propounded in the revealed scriptures is confirmed by the great ācāryas, who have left ample commentations upon them; none of these ācāryas has disbelieved in the śāstras. One who disbelieves in the śāstras is an atheist, and we should not consult an atheist, however great he may be. A staunch believer in the śāstras, with all their diversities, is the right person from whom to gather real knowledge. Such knowledge may seem inconceivable in the beginning, but when put forward by the proper authority its meaning is revealed, and then one no longer has any doubts about it.
sarvaga, ananta, vibhu--vaikuṇṭhādi dhāma
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-avatārera tāhā�i viśrāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That Vaikuṇṭha region is all-pervading, infinite and supreme. It is the residence of Lord Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations. tāhāra upari-bhāge 'kṛṣṇa-loka'-khyāti
dvārakā-mathurā-gokula--tri-vidhatve sthiti
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In the highest region of that spiritual sky is the spiritual planet called Kṛṣṇaloka. It has three divisions-Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula. sarvopari śrī-gokula--vrajaloka-dhāma
śrī-goloka, śvetadvīpa, vṛndāvana nāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
sarvaga, ananta, vibhu, kṛṣṇa-tanu-sama
upary-adho vyāpiyāche, nāhika niyama
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Like the transcendental body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Gokula is all-pervading, infinite and supreme. It expands both above and below, without any restriction. PURPORT
Śrīla
Jīva Gosvāmī, the great authority and philosopher in the line of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu, has discussed the abode of
Kṛṣṇa in his
Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha. In the
Bhagavad-gītā the Lord refers to "My abode." Śrīla
Jīva Gosvāmī, examining the nature of Kṛṣṇa's abode, refers to the
Skanda Purāṇa, which states:
yā yathā bhuvi vartante
puryo bhagavataḥ priyāḥ
tās tathā santi vaikuṇṭhe
tat-tal-līlārtham ādṛtāḥ
"The abodes of Godhead in the material world, such as
Dvārakā,
Mathurā and
Goloka, are facsimiles representing the abodes of Godhead in the kingdom of God,
Vaikuṇṭha-
dhāma." The unlimited spiritual atmosphere of that
Vaikuṇṭha-
dhāma is far above and beyond the material cosmos. This is confirmed in the
Svāyambhuva-tantra in a discussion between Lord Śiva and
Pārvatī regarding the effect of chanting the
mantra of fourteen syllables. There it is stated:
nānā-kalpa-latākīrṇaṁ
vaikuṇṭhaṁ vyāpakaṁ smaret
adhaḥ sāmyaṁ guṇānāṁ ca
prakṛtiḥ sarva-kāraṇam
"While chanting the
mantra, one should always remember the spiritual world, which is very extensive and full of desire trees that can yield anything one desires. Below that
Vaikuṇṭha region is the potential material energy, which causes the material manifestation." The places of the pastimes of Lord
Kṛṣṇa, such as
Dvārakā,
Mathurā and
Vṛndāvana, eternally and independently exist in Kṛṣṇaloka. They are the actual abode of Lord
Kṛṣṇa, and there is no doubt that they are situated above the material cosmic manifestation.
The abode known as
Vṛndāvana or
Gokula is also known as
Goloka. The
Brahma-saṁhitā states that
Gokula, the highest region of the kingdom of God, resembles a lotus flower with thousands of petals. The outer portion of that lotuslike planet is a square place known as Śvetadvīpa. In the inner portion of
Gokula there is an elaborate arrangement for Śrī Kṛṣṇa's residence with His eternal associates such as
Nanda and
Yaśodā. That transcendental abode exists by the energy of Śrī
Baladeva, who is the original whole of Śeṣa, or
Ananta. The
tantras also confirm this description by stating that the abode of Śrī Anantadeva, the plenary portion of
Baladeva, is called the kingdom of God.
Vṛndāvana-
dhāma is the innermost abode within the quadrangular realm of Śvetadvīpa, which lies outside of the boundary of
Gokula Vṛndāvana.
According to
Jīva Gosvāmī,
Vaikuṇṭha is also called Brahmaloka. The
Nārada-pa�carātra, in a statement concerning the mystery of
Vijaya, describes:
tat sarvopari goloke
tatra lokopari svayam
viharet paramānandī
govindo 'tula-nāyakaḥ
"The predominator of the
gopīs, Govinda, the principal Deity of
Gokula, always enjoys Himself in a place called
Goloka in the topmost part of the spiritual sky."
From the authoritative evidence cited by
Jīva Gosvāmī we may conclude that Kṛṣṇaloka is the supreme planet in the spiritual sky, which is far beyond the material cosmos. For the enjoyment of transcendental variety, the pastimes of
Kṛṣṇa there have three divisions, and these pastimes are performed in the three abodes
Dvārakā,
Mathurā and
Gokula. When
Kṛṣṇa descends to this universe, He enjoys the pastimes in places of the same name. These places on earth are nondifferent from those original abodes, for they are facsimiles of those original holy places in the transcendental world. They are as good as Śrī
Kṛṣṇa Himself and are equally worshipable. Lord
Caitanya declared that Lord
Kṛṣṇa, who presents Himself as the son of the King of
Vraja, is worshipable, and
Vṛndāvana-
dhāma is equally worshipable.
brahmāṇḍe prakāśa tāra kṛṣṇera icchāya
eka-i svarūpa tāra, nāhi dui kāya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That abode is manifested within the material world by the will of Lord Kṛṣṇa. It is identical to that original Gokula; they are not two different bodies. PURPORT
The above-mentioned
dhāmas are movable, by the omnipotent will of Lord
Kṛṣṇa. When Śrī
Kṛṣṇa appears on the face of the earth, He can also make His
dhāmas appear, without changing their original structure. One should not discriminate between the
dhāmas on the earth and those in the spiritual sky, thinking those on earth to be material and the original abodes to be spiritual. All of them are spiritual. Only for us, who cannot experience anything beyond matter in our present conditioned state, do the
dhāmas and the Lord Himself, in His
arcā form, appear before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see spirit with material eyes. In the beginning this may be difficult for a neophyte to understand, but in due course, when one is advanced in devotional service, it will be easier, and he will appreciate the Lord's presence in these tangible forms.
cintāmaṇi-bhūmi, kalpa-vṛkṣa-maya vana
carma-cakṣe dekhe tāre prapa�cera sama
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The land there is touchstone [cintāmaṇi], and the forests abound with desire trees. Material eyes see it as an ordinary place. PURPORT
By the grace of the Lord His dhāmas and He Himself can all be present simultaneously, without losing their original importance. Only when one fully develops in affection and love of Godhead can one see those dhāmas in their original appearance.
Śrīla Narottama
dāsa Ṭhākura, a great
ācārya in the preceptorial line of Lord Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu, has said for our benefit that one can perfectly see the
dhāmas only when one completely gives up the mentality of lording it over material nature. One's spiritual vision develops proportionately to one's giving up the debased mentality of unnecessarily enjoying matter. A diseased person who has become diseased because of a certain bad habit must be ready to follow the advice of the physician, and as a natural sequence he must attempt to give up the cause of the disease. The patient cannot indulge in the bad habit and at the same time expect to be cured by the physician. Modern material civilization, however, is maintaining a diseased atmosphere. The living being is a spiritual spark, as spiritual as the Lord Himself. The only difference is that the Lord is great and the living being is small. Qualitatively they are one, but quantitatively they are different. Therefore, since the living being is spiritual in constitution, he can be happy only in the spiritual sky, where there are unlimited spiritual spheres called Vaikuṇṭhas. A spiritual being conditioned by a material body must therefore try to get rid of his disease instead of developing the cause of the disease.
Foolish persons engrossed in their material assets are unnecessarily proud of being leaders of the people, but they ignore the spiritual value of man. Such illusioned leaders make plans covering any number of years, but they can hardly make humanity happy in a state conditioned by the threefold miseries inflicted by material nature. One cannot control the laws of nature by any amount of struggling. One must at last be subject to death, nature's ultimate law. Death, birth, old age and illness are symptoms of the diseased condition of the living being. The highest aim of human life should therefore be to get free from these miseries and go back home, back to Godhead.
prema-netre dekhe tāra svarūpa-prakāśa
gopa-gopī-saṅge yāṅhā kṛṣṇera vilāsa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
But with the eyes of love of Godhead one can see its real identity as the place where Lord Kṛṣṇa performs His pastimes with the cowherd boys and cowherd girls. cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending cows yielding all desires in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune." PURPORT
This is a verse from the
Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29). This description of the abode of
Kṛṣṇa gives us definite information of the transcendental place where not only is life eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, but there are ample vegetables, milk, jewels, and beautiful homes and gardens tended by lovely damsels who are all goddesses of fortune. Kṛṣṇaloka is the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, and below it are innumerable spheres, a description of which can be found in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the beginning of Lord Brahmā's self-realization he was shown a transcendental vision of the
Vaikuṇṭha spheres by the grace of
Nārāyaṇa. Later, by the grace of
Kṛṣṇa, he was shown a transcendental vision of Kṛṣṇaloka. This transcendental vision is like the reception of television from the moon via a mechanical system for receiving modulated waves, but it is achieved by penance and meditation within oneself.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Second Canto) states that in Vaikuṇṭhaloka the material modes of nature, represented by the qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, have no influence. In the material world the highest qualitative manifestation is goodness, which is characterized by truthfulness, mental equilibrium, cleanliness, control of the senses, simplicity, essential knowledge, faith in God, scientific knowledge and so on. Nevertheless, all these qualities are mixed with passion and imperfection. But the qualities in Vaikuṇṭha are a manifestation of God's internal potency, and therefore they are purely spiritual and transcendental, with no trace of material infection. No material planet, even Satyaloka, is comparable in quality to the spiritual planets, where the five inherent qualities of the material world-namely, ignorance, misery, egoism, anger and envy-are completely absent.
In the material world, everything is a creation. Anything we can think of within our experience, including even our own bodies and minds, was created. This process of creation began with the life of
Brahmā, and the creative principle is prevalent all over the material universe because of the quality of passion. But since the quality of passion is conspicuous by its absence in the
Vaikuṇṭha planets, nothing there is created: everything there is eternally existent. And because there is no mode of ignorance, there is also no question of annihilation or destruction. In the material world one may try to make everything permanent by developing the above-mentioned qualities of goodness, but because the goodness in the material world is mixed with passion and ignorance, nothing here can exist permanently, despite all the good plans of the best scientific brains. Therefore in the material world we have no experience of eternity, bliss and fullness of knowledge. But in the spiritual world, because of the complete absence of the qualitative modes, everything is eternal, blissful and cognizant. Everything can speak, everything can move, everything can hear, and everything can see in fully blessed existence for eternity. The situation being so, naturally space and time, in the forms of past, present and future, have no influence there. In the spiritual sky there is no change because time has no influence. Consequently, the influence of
māyā, the total external energy, which induces us to become more and more materialistic and forget our relationship with God, is also absent there.
As spiritual sparks of the beams emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord, we are all permanently related with Him and equal to Him in quality. The material energy is a covering of the spiritual spark, but in the absence of that material covering, the living beings in Vaikuṇṭhaloka are never forgetful of their identities: they are eternally cognizant of their relationship with God in their constitutional position of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord. Because they constantly engage in the transcendental service of the Lord, it is natural to conclude that their senses are also transcendental, for one cannot serve the Lord with material senses. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭhaloka do not possess material senses with which to lord it over material nature.
Persons with a poor fund of knowledge conclude that a place void of material qualities must be some sort of formless nothingness. In reality, however, there are qualities in the spiritual world, but they are different from the material qualities because everything there is eternal, unlimited and pure. The atmosphere there is self-illuminating, and thus there is no need of a sun, a moon, fire electricity and so on. One who can reach that abode does not come back to the material world with a material body. There is no difference between atheists and the faithful in the
Vaikuṇṭha planets because all who settle there are freed from the material qualities, and thus
suras and
asuras become equally obedient loving servitors of the Lord.
The residents of
Vaikuṇṭha have brilliantly black complexions much more fascinating and attractive than the dull white and black complexions found in the material world. Their bodies, being spiritual, have no equals in the material world. The beauty of a bright cloud when lightning flashes on it merely hints at their beauty. Generally the inhabitants of
Vaikuṇṭha dress in yellow clothing. Their bodies are delicate and attractively built, and their eyes are like the petals of lotus flowers. Like Lord
Viṣṇu, the residents of
Vaikuṇṭha have four hands decorated with a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower. Their chests are beautifully broad and fully decorated with necklaces of a brilliant diamondlike metal surrounded by costly jewels never to be found in the material world. The residents of
Vaikuṇṭha are always powerful and effulgent. Some of them have complexions like red coral cat's eyes and lotus flowers, and each of them has earrings of costly jewels. On their heads they wear flowery crowns resembling garlands.
In the Vaikuṇṭhas there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only, and the residents of
Vaikuṇṭha fly in them with their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore these airplanes, full of residents of
Vaikuṇṭha, both male and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky. We cannot imagine how beautiful they are, but their beauty may be compared to the clouds in the sky accompanied by silver branches of electric lightning. The spiritual sky of Vaikuṇṭhaloka is always decorated in this way.
The full opulence of the internal potency of Godhead is always resplendent in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, where goddesses of fortune are ever-increasingly attached to serving the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead. These goddesses of fortune, accompanied by their friends, always create a festive atmosphere of transcendental mirth. Always singing the glories of the Lord, they are not silent even for a moment.
There are unlimited
Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky, and the ratio of these planets to the material planets in the material sky is three to one. Thus the poor materialist is busy making political adjustments on a planet that is most insignificant in God's creation. To say nothing of this planet earth, the whole universe, with innumerable planets throughout the galaxies, is comparable to a single mustard seed in a bag full of mustard seeds. But the poor materialist makes plans to live comfortably here and thus wastes his valuable human energy in something that is doomed to frustration. Instead of wasting his time with business speculations, he might have sought the life of plain living and high spiritual thinking and thus saved himself from perpetual materialistic unrest.
Even if a materialist wants to enjoy developed material facilities, he can transfer himself to planets where he can experience material pleasures much more advanced than those available on earth. The best plan is to prepare oneself to return to the spiritual sky after leaving the body. However, if one is intent on enjoying material facilities, one can transfer himself to other planets in the material sky by utilizing yogic powers. The playful spaceships of the astronauts are but childish entertainments and are of no use for this purpose. The
aṣṭāṅga-yoga system is a materialistic art of controlling air by transferring it from the stomach to the navel, from the navel to the heart, from the heart to the collarbone, from there to the eyeballs, from there to the cerebellum and from there to any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he has no information of the velocity of the mind and intelligence. We have some limited experience of the velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away. Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul travels by its own strength and not with the help of any kind of material vehicle.
The bestial civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing and sense-gratifying has misled modern man into forgetting how powerful a soul he has. As we have already described, the soul is a spiritual spark many, many times more illuminating, dazzling and powerful than the sun, moon or electricity. Human life is spoiled when man does not realize his real identity with his soul. Lord
Caitanya appeared with Lord
Nityānanda to save man from this type of misleading civilization.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also describes how yogīs can travel to all the planets in the universe. When the vital force is lifted to the cerebellum, there is every chance that this force will burst out from the eyes, nose, ears, etc., as these are places that are known as the seventh orbit of the vital force. But the yogīs can block these holes by complete suspension of air. The yogī then concentrates the vital force in the middle position, that is, between the eyebrows. At this position, the yogī can think of the planet into which he wants to enter after leaving the body. He can then decide whether he wants to go to the abode of Kṛṣṇa in the transcendental Vaikuṇṭhas, from which he will not be required to descend into the material world, or to travel to higher planets in the material universe. The perfect yogī is at liberty to do either.
For the perfect
yogī who has attained success in the method of leaving his body in perfect consciousness, transferring from one planet to another is as easy as an ordinary man's walking to the grocery store. As already discussed, the material body is just a covering of the spiritual soul. Mind and intelligence are the undercoverings, and the gross body of earth, water, air and so on is the overcoating of the soul. As such, any advanced soul who has realized himself by the yogic process, who knows the relationship between matter and spirit, can leave the gross dress of the soul in perfect order and as he desires. By the grace of God, we have complete freedom. Because the Lord is kind to us, we can live anywhere-either in the spiritual sky or in the material sky, upon whichever planet we desire. However, misuse of this freedom causes one to fall down into the material world and suffer the threefold miseries of conditioned life. The living of a miserable life in the material world by dint of the soul's choice is nicely illustrated by Milton in
Paradise Lost. Similarly, by choice the soul can regain paradise and return home, back to Godhead.
At the critical time of death, one can place the vital force between the two eyebrows and decide where he wants to go. If he is reluctant to maintain any connection with the material world, he can, in less than a second, reach the transcendental
Vaikuṇṭha and appear there completely in his spiritual body, which will be suitable for him in the spiritual atmosphere. He has simply to desire to leave the material world both in finer and in grosser forms and then move the vital force to the topmost part of the skull and leave the body from the hole in the skull called the
brahma-randhra. This is easy for one perfect in the practice of
yoga.Of course, man is endowed with free will, and as such if he does not want to free himself from the material world he may enjoy the life of
brahma-pada (occupation of the post of
Brahmā) and visit Siddhaloka, the planet of materially perfect beings who have full capacities to control gravity, space and time. To visit such higher planets in the material universe, one need not give up his mind and intelligence (finer matter), but need only give up grosser matter (the material body).
Each and every planet has its particular atmosphere, and if one wants to travel to any particular planet within the material universe, one has to adapt his material body to the climatic condition of that planet. For instance, if one wants to go from India to Europe, where the climatic condition is different, one has to change his dress accordingly. Similarly, a complete change of body is necessary if one wants to go to the transcendental planets of
Vaikuṇṭha. However, if one wants to go to the higher material planets, he can keep his finer dress of mind, intelligence and ego, but has to leave his gross dress (body) made of earth, water, fire, etc.
When one goes to a transcendental planet, it is necessary to change both the finer and gross bodies, for one has to reach the spiritual sky completely in a spiritual form. This change of dress will take place automatically at the time of death if one so desires.
The
Bhagavad-gītā confirms that one will attain his next material body according to his desires at the time he leaves his body. The desire of the mind carries the soul to a suitable atmosphere as the wind carries aromas from one place to another. Unfortunately, those who are not
yogīs but gross materialists, who throughout their lives indulge in sense gratification, are puzzled by the disarrangement of the bodily and mental condition at the time of death. Such gross sensualists, encumbered by the main ideas, desires and associations of the lives they have led, desire something against their interest and thus foolishly take on new bodies that perpetuate their material miseries.
Systematic training of the mind and intelligence is therefore needed so that at the time of death one may consciously desire a suitable body, either on this planet or another material planet or even a transcendental planet. A civilization that does not consider the progressive advancement of the immortal soul merely fosters a bestial life of ignorance.
It is foolish to think that every soul that passes away goes to the same place. Either the soul goes to a place he desires at the time of death, or upon leaving his body he is forced to accept a position according to his acts in his previous life. The difference between the materialist and the
yogī is that a materialist cannot determine his next body, whereas a
yogī can consciously attain a suitable body for enjoyment in the higher planets. Throughout his life, the gross materialist who is constantly after sense gratification spends all day earning his livelihood to maintain his family, and at night he wastes his energy in sex enjoyment or else goes to sleep thinking about all he has done in the daytime. That is the monotonous life of the materialist. Although differently graded as businessmen, lawyers, politicians, professors, judges, coolies, pickpockets, laborers and so on, materialists all simply engage in eating, sleeping, fearing and sense gratification and thus spoil their valuable lives pursuing luxury and neglecting to perfect their lives through spiritual realization.
Yogīs, however, try to perfect their lives, and therefore the Bhagavad-gītā enjoins that everyone should become a yogī. Yoga is the system for linking the soul in the service of the Lord. Only under superior guidance can one practice such yoga in his life without changing his social position. As already described, a yogī can go anywhere he desires without mechanical help, for a yogī can place his mind and intelligence within the air circulating inside his body, and by practicing the art of breath control he can mix that air with the air that blows all over the universe outside his body. With the help of this universal air, a yogī can travel to any planet and get a body suitable for its atmosphere. We can understand this process by comparing it to the electronic transmission of radio messages. With radio transmitters, sound waves produced at a certain station can travel all over the earth in seconds. But sound is produced from the ethereal sky, and as already explained, subtler than the ethereal sky is the mind, and finer than the mind is the intelligence. Spirit is still finer than the intelligence, and by nature it is completely different from matter. Thus we can just imagine how quickly the spirit soul can travel through the universal atmosphere.
To come to the stage of manipulating finer elements like mind, intelligence and spirit, one needs appropriate training, an appropriate mode of life and appropriate association. Such training depends upon sincere prayers, devotional service, achievement of success in mystic perfection, and the successful merging of oneself in the activities of the soul and Supersoul. A gross materialist, whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success through blunt efforts and word jugglery.
Materialists who perform
yaj�as, or great sacrifices, are comparatively better than grosser materialists who do not know anything beyond laboratories and test tubes. The advanced materialists who perform such sacrifices can reach the planet called
Vaiśvānara, a fiery planet similar to the sun. On this planet, which is situated on the way to Brahmaloka, the topmost planet in the universe, such an advanced materialist can free himself from all traces of vice and its effects. When such a materialist is purified, he can rise to the orbit of the pole star (Dhruvaloka). Within this orbit, which is called the Śiśumāra-
cakra, are situated the Āditya-lokas and the
Vaikuṇṭha planet within this universe.
A purified materialist who has performed many sacrifices, undergone severe penances and given the major portion of his wealth in charity can reach such planets as Dhruvaloka, and if he becomes still more qualified there, he can penetrate still higher orbits and pass through the navel of the universe to reach the planet Maharloka, where sages like
Bhṛgu Muni live. In Maharloka one can live even to the time of the partial annihilation of the universe. This annihilation begins when Anantadeva, from the lowest position in the universe, produces a great blazing fire. The heat of this fire reaches even Maharloka, and then the residents of Maharloka travel to Brahmaloka, which exists for twice the duration of
parārdha time.
In Brahmaloka there is an unlimited number of airplanes that are controlled not by
yantra (machine) but
mantra (psychic action). Because of the existence of the mind and intelligence on Brahmaloka, its residents have feelings of happiness and distress, but there is no cause of lamentation from old age, death, fear or distress. They feel sympathy, however, for the suffering living beings who are consumed in the fire of annihilation. The residents of Brahmaloka do not have gross material bodies to change at death, but they transform their subtle bodies into spiritual bodies and thus enter the spiritual sky. The residents of Brahmaloka can attain perfection in three different ways. Virtuous persons who reach Brahmaloka by dint of their pious work become masters of various planets after the resurrection of
Brahmā, those who have worshiped Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu are liberated with
Brahmā, and those who are pure devotees of the Personality of Godhead at once push through the covering of the universe and enter the spiritual sky.
The numberless universes exist together in foamlike clusters, and so only some of them are surrounded by the water of the Causal Ocean. When agitated by the glance of Kāraṇodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, material nature produces the total elements, which are eight in number and which gradually evolve from finer to gross. A part of ego is the sky, a part of which is air, a part of which is fire, a part of which is water, a part of which is earth. Thus one universe inflates to an area of four billion miles in diameter. A
yogī who desires gradual liberation must penetrate all the different coverings of the universe, including the subtle coverings of the three qualitative modes of material nature. One who does this never has to return to this mortal world.
According to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the above description of the material and spiritual skies is neither imaginary nor utopian. The actual facts are recorded in the Vedic hymns, and Lord
Vāsudeva disclosed them to Lord
Brahmā when
Brahmā satisfied Him. One can achieve the perfection of life only when he has a definite idea of
Vaikuṇṭha and the Supreme Godhead. One should always think about and describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for this is recommended in both the
Bhagavad-gītā and the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa, which are two authorized commentaries upon the
Vedas. Lord
Caitanya has made all these subject matters easier for the fallen people of this age to accept, and
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta has therefore presented them for the easy understanding of all concerned.
mathurā-dvārakāya nija-rūpa prakāśiyā
nānā-rūpe vilasaye catur-vyūha hai�ā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
He manifests His own, form in Mathurā and Dvārakā. He enjoys pastimes in various ways by expanding into the quadruple forms. vāsudeva-saṅkarṣaṇa-pradyumnāniruddha
sarva-catur-vyūha-aṁśī, turīya, viśuddha
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
ei tina loke kṛṣṇa kevala-līlā-maya
nija-gaṇa la�ā khele ananta samaya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Only in these three places [Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula] does the all-sporting Lord Kṛṣṇa perform His endless pastimes with His personal associates. para-vyoma-madhye kari' svarūpa prakāśa
nārāyaṇa-rūpe karena vividha vilāsa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In the Vaikuṇṭha planets of the spiritual sky the Lord manifests His identity as Nārāyaṇa and performs pastimes in various ways. svarūpa-vigraha kṛṣṇera kevala dvi-bhuja
nārāyaṇa-rūpe sei tanu catur-bhuja
śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-padma, mahaiśvarya-maya
śrī-bhū-nīlā-śakti yāṅra caraṇa sevaya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Kṛṣṇa's own form has only two hands, but in the form of Lord Nārāyaṇa He has four hands. Lord Nārāyaṇa holds a conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower, and He is full of great opulence. The śrī, bhū and nīlā energies serve at His lotus feet. PURPORT
tārkṣyādhirūḍhaṁ taḍid-ambudābhaṁ
lakṣmī-dharaṁ vakṣasi paṅkajākṣam
hasta-dvaye śobhita-śaṅkha-cakraṁ
viṣṇuṁ dadṛśur bhagavantam ādyam
ā-jānu-bāhuṁ kamanīya-gātraṁ
pārśva-dvaye śobhita-bhūmi-nīlam
pītāmbaraṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣitāṅgaṁ
catur-bhujaṁ candana-ruṣitāṅgam
"They saw the lotus-eyed Lord
Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mounted on
Garuḍa and holding
Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, to His chest. He resembled a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of His four hands He held a conchshell and disc. His arms stretched down to His knees, and all His beautiful limbs were smeared with sandalwood and decorated with glittering ornaments. He wore yellow clothes, and by either side stood His energies
Bhūmi and
Nīlā."
Quoting from the revealed scriptures in his commentary on the
Bhagavad-gītā (
4.6), Madhvācārya has stated that mother material nature, which is conceived of as the illusory energy,
Durgā, has three divisions, namely
śrī, bhū and
nīlā. She is the illusory energy for those who are weak in spiritual strength because such energies are created energies of Lord
Viṣṇu. Although each energy has no direct relationship with the unlimited, they are subordinate to the Lord because the Lord is the master of all energies.
In his
Bhagavat-sandarbha (Part 23, Texts 8-9), Śrīla
Jīva Gosvāmī
Prabhu states: "The
Padma Purāṇa refers to the eternally auspicious abode of Godhead, which is full in all opulences, including the energies
śrī, bhū and
nīlā. The
Mahā-saṁhitā, which discusses the transcendental name and form of Godhead, also mentions
Durgā as the potency of the Supersoul in relationship with the living entities. The internal potency acts in relation with His personal affairs, and the material potency manifests the three modes." Quoting elsewhere from the revealed scriptures, he states that
śrī is the energy of Godhead that maintains the cosmic manifestation,
bhū is the energy that creates the cosmic manifestation, and
nīlā, Durgā, is the energy that destroys the creation. All these energies act in relation with the living beings, and thus they are together called
jīva-māyā.yadyapi kevala tāṅra krīḍā-mātra dharma
tathāpi jīvere kṛpāya kare eka karma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Although His pastimes are His only characteristic functions, by His causeless mercy He performs one activity for the fallen souls.
sālokya-sāmīpya-sārṣṭi-sārūpya-prakāra
cāri mukti diyā kare jīvera nistāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
There are two kinds of liberated souls-those who are liberated by the favor of the Lord and those who are liberated by their own effort. One who gets liberation by his own effort is called an impersonalist, and he merges in the glaring effulgence of the Lord, the
brahmajyoti. But devotees of the Lord who qualify themselves for liberation by devotional service are offered four kinds of liberation, namely
sālokya (status equal to that of the Lord),
sāmīpya (constant association with the Lord),
sārṣṭi (opulence equal to that of the Lord) and
sārūpya (features like those of the Lord).
brahma-sāyujya-muktera tāhā nāhi gati
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire haya tā'-sabāra sthiti
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire eka jyotir-maya maṇḍala
kṛṣṇera aṅgera prabhā, parama ujjvala
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the atmosphere of the glowing effulgence, which consists of the supremely bright rays of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. 'siddha-loka' nāma tāra prakṛtira pāra
cit-svarūpa, tāṅhā nāhi cic-chakti vikāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That region is called Siddhaloka, and it is beyond the material nature. Its essence is spiritual, but it does not have spiritual varieties.
sūrya-maṇḍala yena bāhire nirviśeṣa
bhitare sūryera ratha-ādi saviśeṣa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
It is like the homogeneous effulgence around the sun. But inside the sun are the chariots, horses and other opulences of the sun-god.
PURPORT
Outside of
Vaikuṇṭha, the abode of
Kṛṣṇa, which is called
paravyoma, is the glaring effulgence of Kṛṣṇa's bodily rays. This is called the
brahmajyoti. The transcendental region of that effulgence is called Siddhaloka or Brahmaloka. When impersonalists achieve liberation, they merge into that Brahmaloka effulgence. This transcendental region is undoubtedly spiritual, but it contains no manifestations of spiritual activities or variegatedness. It is compared to the glow of the sun. Within the sun's glow is the sphere of the sun, where one can experience all sorts of varieties.
kāmād dveṣād bhayāt snehād
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"As through devotion to the Lord one can attain His abode, many have attained that goal by abandoning their sinful activities and absorbing their minds in the Lord through lust, envy, fear or affection."
PURPORT
As the powerful sun, by its glowing rays, can purify all kinds of impurities, so the all-spiritual Personality of Godhead can purify all material qualities in a person He attracts. Even if one is attracted by Godhead in the mode of material lust, such attraction is converted into spiritual love of Godhead by His grace. Similarly, if one is related to the Lord in fear and animosity, he also becomes purified by the spiritual attraction of the Lord. Although God is great and the living entity small, they are spiritual individuals, and therefore as soon as there is a reciprocal exchange by the living entity's free will, at once the great spiritual being attracts the small living entity, thus freeing him from all material bondage. This is a verse from
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
7.1.30).
tad brahma-kṛṣṇayor aikyāt
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Where it has been stated that the Lord's enemies and devotees attain the same destination, this refers to the ultimate oneness of Brahman and Lord Kṛṣṇa. This may be understood by the example of the sun and the sunshine, in which Brahman is like the sunshine and Kṛṣṇa Himself is like the sun." PURPORT
This verse is from the
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.278) of Śrīla
Rūpa Gosvāmī, who further discusses this same topic in his
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (
Pūrva 5.41). There he refers to the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa (4.15.1), where Maitreya
Muni asked
Parāśara, in regard to
Jaya and
Vijaya, how it was that Hiraṇyakaśipu next became
Rāvaṇa and enjoyed more material happiness than the demigods but did not attain salvation, although when he became Śiśupāla, quarreled with
Kṛṣṇa and was killed, he attained salvation and merged into the body of Lord
Kṛṣṇa.
Parāśara replied that Hiraṇyakaśipu failed to recognize Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva as Lord
Viṣṇu. He thought that Nṛsiṁhadeva was some living entity who had acquired such opulence by various pious activities. Being overcome by the mode of passion, he considered Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva an ordinary living entity, not understanding His form. Nevertheless, because Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed by the hands of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, in his next life he became
Rāvaṇa and had proprietorship of unlimited opulence. As
Rāvaṇa, with unlimited material enjoyment, he could not accept Lord
Rāma as the Personality of Godhead. Therefore even though he was killed by
Rāma, he did not attain
sāyujya, or oneness with the body of the Lord. In his
Rāvaṇa body he was too much attracted to Rāma's wife, Jānakī, and because of that attraction he was able to see Lord
Rāma. But instead of accepting Lord
Rāma as an incarnation of
Viṣṇu,
Rāvaṇa thought Him an ordinary living being. When killed by the hands of
Rāma, therefore, he got the privilege of taking birth as Śiśupāla, who had such immense opulence that he could think himself a competitor to
Kṛṣṇa. Although Śiśupāla was always envious of
Kṛṣṇa, he frequently uttered the name of
Kṛṣṇa and always thought of the beautiful features of
Kṛṣṇa. Thus by constantly thinking and chanting of
Kṛṣṇa, even unfavorably, he was cleansed of the contamination of his sinful activities. When Śiśupāla was killed by the
Sudarśana cakra of
Kṛṣṇa as an enemy, his constant remembrance of
Kṛṣṇa dissolved the reactions of his vices, and he attained salvation by becoming one with the body of the Lord.
From this incident one can understand that even a person who thinks of
Kṛṣṇa as an enemy and is killed by Him may be liberated by becoming one with the body of
Kṛṣṇa. What then must be the destination of devotees who always think favorably of
Kṛṣṇa as their master or friend? These devotees must attain a situation better than Brahmaloka, the impersonal bodily effulgence of
Kṛṣṇa. Devotees cannot be situated in the impersonal
Brahman effulgence, into which impersonalists desire to merge. The devotees are placed in Vaikuṇṭhaloka or Kṛṣṇaloka.
This discussion between Maitreya
Muni and
Parāśara Muni centered on whether devotees come down into the material world in every millennium like
Jaya and
Vijaya, who were cursed by the Kumāras to that effect. In the course of these instructions to Maitreya about Hiraṇyakaśipu,
Rāvaṇa and Śiśupāla,
Parāśara did not say that these demons were formerly
Jaya and
Vijaya. He simply described the transmigration through three lives. It is not necessary for the
Vaikuṇṭha associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to come to take the roles of His enemies in all the millenniums in which He appears. The "falldown" of
Jaya and
Vijaya occurred in a particular millennium;
Jaya and
Vijaya do not come down in every millennium to act as demons. To think that some associates of the Lord fall down from
Vaikuṇṭha in every millennium to become demons is totally incorrect.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all the tendencies that may be found in the living entity, for He is the chief living entity. Therefore it is natural that sometimes Lord
Viṣṇu wants to fight. Just as He has the tendencies to create, to enjoy, to be a friend, to accept a mother and father, and so on, He also has the tendency to fight. Sometimes important landlords and kings keep wrestlers with whom they practice mock fighting, and
Viṣṇu makes similar arrangements. The demons who fight with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the material world are sometimes His associates. When there is a scarcity of demons and the Lord wants to fight, He instigates some of His associates of
Vaikuṇṭha to come and play as demons. When it is said that Śiśupāla merged into the body of
Kṛṣṇa, it should be noted that in this case he was not
Jaya or
Vijaya; he was actually a demon.
In his
Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrīla
Sanātana Gosvāmī has explained that the attainment of salvation by merging into the
Brahman effulgence of the Lord cannot be accepted as the highest success in life, because demons like
Kaṁsa, who were famous for killing
brāhmaṇas and cows, attained that salvation. For devotees such salvation is abominable. Devotees are actually in a transcendental position, whereas nondevotees are candidates for hellish conditions of life. There is always a difference between the life of a devotee and the life of a demon, and their realizations are as different as heaven and hell.
Demons are always accustomed to be malicious toward devotees and to kill
brāhmaṇas and cows. For demons, merging in the
Brahman effulgence may be very glorious, but for devotees it is hellish. A devotee's aim in life is to attain perfection in loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who aspire to merge into the
Brahman effulgence are as abominable as demons. Devotees who aspire to associate with the Supreme Lord to render Him transcendental loving service are far superior.
taiche para-vyome nānā cic-chakti-vilāsa
nirviśeṣa jyotir-bimba bāhire prakāśa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Thus in the spiritual sky there are varieties of pastimes within the spiritual energy. Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets appears the impersonal reflection of light. nirviśeṣa-brahma sei kevala jyotir-maya
sāyujyera adhikārī tāṅhā pāya laya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That impersonal Brahman effulgence consists only of the effulgent rays of the Lord. Those fit for sāyujya liberation merge into that effulgence. siddhā brahma-sukhe magnā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Beyond the region of ignorance [the material cosmic manifestation] lies the realm of Siddhaloka. The Siddhas reside there, absorbed in the bliss of Brahman. Demons killed by the Lord also attain that realm." PURPORT
Tamas means darkness. The material world is dark, and beyond the material world is light. In other words, after passing through the entire material atmosphere, one can come to the luminous spiritual sky, whose impersonal effulgence is known as Siddhaloka.
Māyāvādī philosophers who aspire to merge with the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as well as demoniac persons who are killed by
Kṛṣṇa, such as
Kaṁsa and Śiśupāla, enter that
Brahman effulgence.
Yogīs who attain oneness through meditation according to the Pata�jali
yoga system also reach Siddhaloka. This is a verse from the
Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa. sei para-vyome nārāyaṇera cāri pāśe
dvārakā-catur-vyūhera dvitīya prakāśe
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In that spiritual sky, on the four sides of Nārāyaṇa, are the second expansions of the quadruple expansions of Dvārakā. PURPORT
Within the spiritual sky is a second manifestation of the quadruple forms of
Dvārakā from the abode of
Kṛṣṇa. Among these forms, which are all spiritual and immune to the material modes, Śrī
Baladeva is represented as
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa.
The actions in the spiritual sky are manifested by the internal potency in pure spiritual existence. They expand in six transcendental opulences, which are all manifestations of
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the ultimate reservoir and objective of all living entities. Although belonging to the marginal potency known as
jīva-śakti, the spiritual sparks known as the living entities are subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is because these sparks are related with both the internal and external potencies of the Lord that they are known as belonging to the marginal potency.
In considering the quadruple forms of the absolute Personality of Godhead, known as
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha, the impersonalists, headed by Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, have interpreted the aphorisms of the
Vedānta-sūtra in a way suitable for the impersonalist school. To provide the intrinsic import of such aphorisms, however, Śrīla
Rūpa Gosvāmī, the leader of the six Gosvāmīs of
Vṛndāvana, has properly replied to the impersonalists in his
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, which is a natural commentary on the aphorisms of the
Vedānta-sūtra.The
Padma Purāṇa, as quoted by Śrīla
Rūpa Gosvāmī in his
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, describes that in the spiritual sky there are four directions, corresponding to east, west, north and south, in which
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Aniruddha and
Pradyumna are situated. The same forms are also situated in the material sky. The
Padma Purāṇa also describes a place in the spiritual sky known as Vedavatī-
pura, where
Vāsudeva resides. In Viṣṇuloka, which is above Satyaloka,
Saṅkarṣaṇa resides.
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa is another name of
Saṅkarṣaṇa.
Pradyumna lives in
Dvārakā-
pura, and
Aniruddha lies on the eternal bed of Śeṣa, generally known as
ananta-śayyā, on the island called Śvetadvīpa, in the ocean of milk.
vāsudeva-saṅkarṣaṇa-pradyumnāniruddha
'dvitīya catur-vyūha' ei--turīya, viśuddha
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has misleadingly explained the quadruple form (
catur-vyūha) in his interpretation of the forty-second aphorism of Chapter Two of the second
khaṇḍa of the
Vedānta-sūtra (
utpatty-asambhavāt). In verses 41 through 47 of this chapter of
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī answers Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya's misleading objections to the personal feature of the Absolute Truth.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is not like a material object that can be known by experimental knowledge or sense perception. In the
Nārada-pa�carātra this fact has been explained by
Nārāyaṇa Himself to Lord Śiva. But Śaṅkarācārya, the incarnation of Śiva, under the order of
Nārāyaṇa, his master, had to mislead the monists, who favor ultimate extinction. In the conditioned stage of existence, all living entities have four basic defects, of which one is the cheating propensity. Śaṅkarācārya has carried this cheating propensity to the extreme to mislead the monists.
Actually, the quadruple forms explained in the Vedic literature cannot be understood by the speculation of a conditioned soul. The quadruple forms should therefore be accepted just as They are described. The authority of the
Vedas is such that even if one does not understand something by his limited perception, he should accept the Vedic injunction and not create interpretations to suit his imperfect understanding. In his
Śārīraka-bhāṣya, however, Śaṅkarācārya has increased the misunderstanding of the monists.
The quadruple forms have a spiritual existence that can be realized in
vāsudeva-sattva (
śuddha-sattva), or unqualified goodness, which accompanies complete absorption in the understanding of
Vāsudeva. The quadruple forms, who are full of the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are the enjoyers of the internal potency. Thinking the absolute Personality of Godhead to be poverty-stricken or to have no potency-or, in other words, to be impotent-is simply rascaldom. This rascaldom is the profession of the conditioned soul, and it increases his bewilderment. One who cannot understand the distinctions between the spiritual world and the material world has no qualification to examine or know the situation of the transcendental quadruple forms. In his commentary on
Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.42-45, His Holiness Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has made a futile attempt to nullify the existence of these quadruple forms in the spiritual world.
Śaṅkarācārya says (
sūtra 42) that devotees think the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Vāsudeva, Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, to be one, to be free from material qualities and to have a transcendental body full of bliss and eternal existence. He is the ultimate goal of the devotees, who believe that the Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four other eternal transcendental forms-
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha. From
Vāsudeva, who is the primary expansion, come
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha in that order. Another name of
Vāsudeva is
Paramātmā, another name of
Saṅkarṣaṇa is
jīva (the living entity), another name of
Pradyumna is mind, and another name of
Aniruddha is
ahaṅkāra (false ego). Among these expansions,
Vāsudeva is considered the origin of material nature. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya says that
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha must be creations of that original cause.
Great souls assert that
Nārāyaṇa, who is known as
Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is beyond material nature, and this is in accordance with the statements of the Vedic literature. Māyāvādīs also agree that
Nārāyaṇa can expand Himself in various forms. Śaṅkara says that he does not attempt to argue that portion of the devotees' understanding, but he must protest the idea that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is produced from
Vāsudeva,
Pradyumna is produced from
Saṅkarṣaṇa, and
Aniruddha is produced from
Pradyumna, for if
Saṅkarṣaṇa is understood to represent the living entities created from the body of
Vāsudeva, the living entities would have to be noneternal. The living entities are supposed to be freed from material contamination by engaging in prolonged temple worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, reading Vedic literature and performing
yoga and pious activities to attain the Supreme Lord. But if the living entities had been created from material nature at a certain point, they would be noneternal and would have no chance to be liberated and associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a cause is nullified, its results are nullified. In the second chapter of the
Vedānta-sūtra's second
khaṇḍa, Ācārya Vedavyāsa has also refuted the conception that the living beings were ever born (
nātmā śruter nityatvāc ca tābhyaḥ). Because there is no creation for the living entities, they must be eternal.
Śaṅkarācārya says (
sūtra 43) that devotees think that
Pradyumna, who is considered to represent the senses, has sprung from
Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is considered to represent the living entities. But we cannot actually experience that a person can produce senses. Devotees also say that from
Pradyumna has sprung
Aniruddha, who is considered to represent the ego. But Śaṅkarācārya says that unless the devotees can show how ego and the means of knowledge can generate from a person, such an explanation of the
Vedānta-sūtra cannot be accepted, for no other philosophers accept the
sūtras in that way.
Śaṅkarācārya also says (
sūtra 44) that he cannot accept the devotees' idea that
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are equally as powerful as the absolute Personality of Godhead, full in the six opulences of knowledge, wealth, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation, and free from the flaw of generation at a certain point. Even if They are full expansions, the flaw of generation remains.
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha, being distinct individual persons, cannot be one. Therefore if They are accepted as absolute, full and equal, there would have to be many Personalities of Godhead. But there is no need to accept that there are many Personalities of Godhead, because acceptance of one omnipotent God is sufficient for all purposes. The acceptance of more than one God is contradictory to the conclusion that Lord
Vāsudeva, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. Even if we agree to accept that the quadruple forms of Godhead are all identical, we cannot avoid the incongruous flaw of noneternity. Unless we accept that there are some differences among the personalities, there is no meaning to the idea that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is an expansion of
Vāsudeva,
Pradyumna is an expansion of
Saṅkarṣaṇa, and
Aniruddha is an expansion of
Pradyumna. There must be a distinction between cause and effect. For example, a pot is distinct from the earth from which it is made, and therefore we can ascertain that the earth is the cause and the pot is the effect. Without such distinctions, there is no meaning to cause and effect. Furthermore, the followers of the Pa�carātric principles do not accept any differences in knowledge and qualities between
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha. The devotees accept all these expansions to be one, but why should they restrict oneness to these quadruple expansions? Certainly we should not do so, for all living entities, from
Brahmā to the insignificant ant, are expansions of
Vāsudeva, as accepted in all the
śrutis and
smṛtis.Śaṅkarācārya also says (
sūtra 45) that the devotees who follow the
Pa�carātra state that God's qualities and God Himself, as the owner of the qualities, are the same. But how can the
Bhāgavata school state that the six opulences-wisdom, wealth, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation-are identical with Lord
Vāsudeva? This is impossible.
In his
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (
Pūrva 5.165-193), Śrīla
Rūpa Gosvāmī has refuted the charges directed against the devotees by Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya regarding their explanation of the quadruple forms
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha. He says that these four expansions of
Nārāyaṇa are present in the spiritual sky, where They are famous as Mahāvastha. Among Them,
Vāsudeva is worshiped within the heart by meditation because He is the predominating Deity of the heart, as explained in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
4.3.23).
Saṅkarṣaṇa, the second expansion, is Vāsudeva's personal expansion for pastimes, and since He is the reservoir of all living entities, He is sometimes called
jīva. The beauty of
Saṅkarṣaṇa is more than that of innumerable full moons radiating light beams. He is worshipable as the principle of ego. He has invested Anantadeva with all the potencies of sustenance. For the dissolution of the creation, He also exhibits Himself as the Supersoul in
Rudra, irreligiosity,
sarpa (the snake),
antaka (death) and the demons.
Pradyumna, the third manifestation, appears from
Saṅkarṣaṇa. Those who are especially intelligent worship this
Pradyumna expansion of
Saṅkarṣaṇa as the principle of the intelligence. The goddess of fortune always chants the glories of
Pradyumna in the place known as
Ilāvṛta-varṣa, and she always serves Him with great devotion. His complexion appears sometimes golden and sometimes bluish like new monsoon clouds in the sky. He is the origin of the creation of the material world, and He has invested His creative principle in Cupid. It is by His direction only that all men and demigods and other living entities function with energy for regeneration.
Aniruddha, the fourth of the quadruple expansions, is worshiped by great sages and psychologists as the principle of the mind. His complexion is similar to the bluish hue of a blue cloud. He engages in the maintenance of the cosmic manifestation and is the Supersoul of
Dharma (the deity of religiosity), the Manus (the progenitors of mankind) and the
devatās (demigods). The
Mokṣa-dharma Vedic scripture indicates that
Pradyumna is the Deity of the total mind, whereas
Aniruddha is the Deity of the total ego, but previous statements regarding the quadruple forms are confirmed in the
Pa�carātra tantras in all respects.
In the
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (
Pūrva 5.86-100), there is a lucid explanation of the inconceivable potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Negating Śaṅkarācārya's statements, the
Mahā-varāha Purāṇa declares:
sarve nityāḥ śāśvatāś ca
dehās tasya parātmanaḥ
hānopādāna-rahitā
naiva prakṛti-jāḥ kvacit
"All the varied expansions of the Personality of Godhead are transcendental and eternal, and all of them repeatedly descend to all the different universes of the material creation. Their bodies, composed of eternity, bliss and knowledge, are everlasting; there is no chance of their decaying, for they are not creations of the material world. Their forms are concentrated spiritual existence, always complete with all spiritual qualities and devoid of material contamination."
Confirming these statements, the
Nārada-pa�carātra asserts:
maṇir yathā vibhāgena
nīla-pītādibhir yutaḥ
rūpa-bhedam avāpnoti
dhyāna-bhedāt tathācyutaḥ
"The infallible Personality of Godhead can manifest His body in different ways according to different modes of worship, just as the
vaidūrya gem can manifest itself in various colors, such as blue and yellow." Each incarnation is distinct from all the others. This is possible by the Lord's inconceivable potency, by which He can simultaneously represent Himself as one, as various partial forms and as the origin of these partial forms. Nothing is impossible for His inconceivable potencies.
Kṛṣṇa is one without a second, but He manifests Himself in different bodies, as stated by
Nārada in the Tenth Canto of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: citraṁ bataitad ekena
vapuṣā yugapat pṛthak
gṛheṣu dvy-aṣṭa-sāhasraṁ
striya eka udāvahat
"It is wonderful indeed that one
Kṛṣṇa has simultaneously become different Kṛṣṇas in 16,000 palaces to accept 16,000 queens as His wives." (
Bhāg. 10.69.2) The
Padma Purāṇa also explains:
sa devo bahudhā bhūtvā
nirguṇaḥ puruṣottamaḥ
ekī-bhūya punaḥ śete
nirdoṣo harir ādi-kṛt
"The same Personality of Godhead,
Puruṣottama, the original person, who is always devoid of material qualities and contamination, can exhibit Himself in various forms and at the same time lie down in one form."
In the Tenth Canto of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said,
yajanti tvan-mayās tvāṁ vai bahu-mūrty-eka-mūrtikam: "O my Lord, although You manifest Yourself in varieties of forms, You are one without a second. Therefore pure devotees concentrate upon You and worship only You." (
Bhāg. 10.40.7) In the
Kūrma Purāṇa it is said:
asthūlaś cānaṇuś caiva
sthūlo 'ṇuś caiva sarvataḥ
avarṇaḥ sarvataḥ proktaḥ
śyāmo raktānta-locanaḥ
"The Lord is personal although impersonal, He is atomic although great, and He is blackish and has red eyes although He is colorless." By material calculation all this may appear contradictory, but if we understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has inconceivable potencies, we can accept these facts as eternally possible in Him. In our present condition we cannot understand the spiritual activities and how they occur, but although they are inconceivable in the material context, we should not disregard such contradictory conceptions.
Although it is apparently inconceivable, it is quite possible for the Absolute to reconcile all opposing elements.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam establishes this in the Sixth Canto (6.9.34-37):
"O my Lord, Your transcendental pastimes and enjoyments all appear inconceivable because they are not limited by the causal and effective actions of material thought. You can do everything without performing bodily work. The Vedas say that the Absolute Truth has multifarious potencies and does not need to do anything personally. My dear Lord, You are entirely devoid of material qualities. Without anyone's help, You can create, maintain and dissolve the entire qualitative material manifestation, yet in all such activities You do not change. You do not accept the results of Your activities, unlike ordinary demons and demigods, who suffer or enjoy the reactions of their activities in the material world. Unaffected by the reactions of work, You eternally exist with Your full spiritual potency. This we cannot fully understand.
"Because You are unlimited in Your six opulences, no one can count Your transcendental qualities. Philosophers and other thoughtful persons are overwhelmed by the contradictory manifestations of the physical world and the propositions of logical arguments and judgments. Because they are bewildered by word jugglery and disturbed by the different calculations of the scriptures, their theories cannot touch You, who are the ruler and controller of everyone and whose glories are beyond conception.
"Your inconceivable potency keeps You unattached to the mundane qualities. Surpassing all conceptions of material contemplation, Your pure transcendental knowledge keeps You beyond all speculative processes. By Your inconceivable potency, there is nothing contradictory in You.
"People may sometimes think of You as impersonal or personal, but You are one. For persons who are confused or bewildered, a rope may manifest itself as different kinds of snakes. For similar confused persons who are uncertain about You, You create various philosophical methods in pursuance of their uncertain positions."
We should always remember the differences between spiritual and material actions. The Supreme Lord, being all-spiritual, can perform any act without extraneous help. In the material world, if we want to manufacture an earthen pot, we need the ingredients, a machine and also a laborer. But we should not extend this idea to the actions of the Supreme Lord, for He can create anything in a moment without that which appears necessary in our own conception. When the Lord appears as an incarnation to fulfill a particular purpose, this does not indicate that He is unable to fulfill it without appearing. He can do anything simply by His will, but by His causeless mercy He appears to be dependent upon His devotees. He appears as the son of Yaśodāmātā not because He is dependent on her care but because He accepts such a role by His causeless mercy. When He appears for the protection of His devotees, He naturally accepts trials and tribulations on their behalf.
In the
Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the Lord, being equally disposed toward every living being, has no enemies and no friends but He has special affection for a devotee who always thinks of Him in love. Therefore neutrality and partiality are both among the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and they are properly adjusted by His inconceivable energy. The Lord is Parabrahman, or the source of the impersonal
Brahma, which is His all-pervading feature of neutrality. In His personal feature, however, as the owner of all transcendental opulences, the Lord displays His partiality by taking the side of His devotees. Partiality, neutrality and all such qualities are present in God; otherwise they could not be experienced in the creation. Since He is the total existence, all things are properly adjusted in the Absolute. In the relative world such qualities are displayed in a perverted manner, and therefore we experience nonduality as a perverted reflection. Because there is no logic to explain how things happen in the realm of spirit, the Lord is sometimes described as being beyond the range of experience. But if we simply accept the Lord's inconceivability, we can then adjust all things in Him. Nondevotees cannot understand the Lord's inconceivable energy, and consequently for them it is said that He is beyond the range of conceivable expression. The author of the
Brahma-sūtras accepts this fact and says,
śrutes tu śabda-mūlatvāt: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, being inconceivable to an ordinary man, can be understood only through the evidence of the Vedic injunctions. The
Skanda Purāṇa confirms,
acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet: "Matters inconceivable to a common man should not be a subject for argument." We find very wonderful qualities even in material jewels and drugs. Indeed, their qualities often appear inconceivable. Therefore if we do not attribute inconceivable potencies to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot establish His supremacy. It is because of these inconceivable potencies that the glories of the Lord have always been accepted as difficult to understand.
Ignorance and the jugglery of words are very common in human society, but they do not help one understand the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we accept such ignorance and word jugglery, we cannot accept the Supreme Lord's perfection in six opulences. For example, one of the opulences of the Supreme Lord is complete knowledge. Therefore, how could ignorance be conceivable in Him? Vedic instructions and sensible arguments establish that the Lord's maintaining the cosmic manifestation and simultaneously being indifferent to the activities of its maintenance cannot be contradictory, because of His inconceivable energies. To a person who is always absorbed in the thought of snakes, a rope always appears to be a snake, and similarly to a person bewildered by material qualities and devoid of knowledge of the Absolute, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears according to diverse bewildered conclusions.
Someone might argue that the Absolute would be affected by duality if He were both all-cognizance (
Brahman) and the Personality of Godhead with six opulences in full (
Bhagavān). To refute such an argument, the aphorism
svarūpa-dvayam īkṣyate declares that in spite of appearances, there is no chance of duality in the Absolute, for He is but one in diverse manifestations. Understanding that the Absolute displays varied pastimes by the influence of His energies at once removes the apparent incongruity of His inconceivably opposite energies.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
3.4.16) gives the following description of the inconceivable potency of the Lord:
karmāṇy anīhasya bhavo 'bhavasya te
durgāśrayo 'thāri-bhayāt palāyanam
kālātmano yat pramadā-yutāśrayaḥ
svātman-rateḥ khidyati dhīr vidām iha
"Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do, He nevertheless acts; although He is always unborn, He nevertheless takes birth; although He is time, fearful to everyone, He flees
Mathurā in fear of His enemy to take shelter in a fort; and although He is self-sufficient, He marries 16,000 women. These pastimes seem like bewildering contradictions, even to the most intelligent." Had these activities of the Lord not been a reality, sages would not have been puzzled by them. Therefore such activities should never be considered imaginary. Whenever the Lord desires, His inconceivable energy (
yogamāyā) serves Him in creating and performing such pastimes.
The scriptures known as the
Pa�carātra-śāstras are recognized Vedic scriptures that have been accepted by the great
ācāryas. These scriptures are not products of the modes of passion and ignorance. Learned scholars and
brāhmaṇas therefore always refer to them as
sātvata-saṁhitās. The original speaker of these scriptures is
Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is especially mentioned in the
Mokṣa-dharma (349.68), which is part of the
Śānti-parva of the
Mahābhārata. Liberated sages like
Nārada and
Vyāsa, who are free from the four defects of conditioned souls, are the propagators of these scriptures. Śrī
Nārada Muni is the original speaker of the
Pa�carātra-śāstra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is also considered a
sātvata-saṁhitā. Indeed, Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu declared,
śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalam: "
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a spotless
Purāṇa." Malicious editors and scholars who attempt to misrepresent the
Pa�carātra-śāstras to refute their regulations are most abominable. In the modern age, such malicious scholars have even commented misleadingly upon the
Bhagavad-gītā, which was spoken by
Kṛṣṇa, to prove that there is no
Kṛṣṇa. How the Māyāvādīs have misrepresented the
pā�carātrika-vidhi will be shown below.
(1) In commenting on
Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.42, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has claimed that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is a
jīva, an ordinary living entity, but there is no evidence in any Vedic scripture that devotees of the Lord have ever said that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is an ordinary living entity. He is an infallible plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the
Viṣṇu category, and He is beyond the creation of material nature. He is the original source of the living entities. The
Upaniṣads declare,
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām: "He is the supreme living entity among all the living entities." Therefore He is
vibhu-caitanya, the greatest. He is directly the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the infinitesimal living beings. He is the infinite living entity, and ordinary living entities are infinitesimal. Therefore He is never to be considered an ordinary living being, for that would be against the conclusion of the authorized scriptures. The living entities are also beyond the limitations of birth and death. This is the version of the
Vedas, and it is accepted by those who follow scriptural injunctions and who have actually descended in the disciplic succession.
(2) In answer to Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on
Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.43, it must be said that the original
Viṣṇu of all the
Viṣṇu categories, which are distributed in several ways, is
Mūla-
saṅkarṣaṇa.
Mūla means "the original."
Saṅkarṣaṇa is also
Viṣṇu, but from Him all other Viṣṇus expand. This is confirmed in the
Brahma-saṁhitā, wherein it is said that just as a flame transferred from another flame acts like the original, so the Viṣṇus who emanate from Mūlasaṅkarṣaṇa are as good as the original
Viṣṇu. One should worship that Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Govinda, who thus expands Himself.
(3) In reply to the commentary of Śaṅkarācārya on the forty-fourth aphorism, it may be said that no pure devotees strictly following the principles of
Pa�carātra will ever accept the statement that all the expansions of
Viṣṇu are different identities, for this idea is completely false. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, in his commentary on the forty-second aphorism, has accepted that the Personality of Godhead can automatically expand Himself variously. Therefore his commentary on the forty-second aphorism and his commentary on the forty-fourth aphorism are contradictory. It is a defect of
Māyāvāda commentaries that they make one statement in one place and a contradictory statement in another place as a tactic to refute the
Bhāgavata school. Thus
Māyāvādī commentators do not even follow regulative principles. It should be noted that the
Bhāgavata school accepts the quadruple forms of
Nārāyaṇa, but that does not mean that it accepts many Gods. Devotees know perfectly well that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. They are never pantheists, worshipers of many Gods, for this is against the injunction of the
Vedas. Devotees completely believe, with strong faith, that
Nārāyaṇa is transcendental and has inconceivable proprietorship of various transcendental potencies. We therefore recommend that scholars consult the
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta of Śrīla
Rūpa Gosvāmī, where these ideas are explicitly stated. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has tried to prove that
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha expand through cause and effect. He has compared Them with earth and earthen pots. That is completely ignorant, however, for there is no such thing as cause and effect in Their expansions (
nānyad yat sad-asat-param). The
Kūrma Purāṇa also confirms,
deha-dehi-vibhedo 'yaṁ neśvare vidyate kvacit: "There is no difference between body and soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Cause and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences we find in cause and effect. Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of material nature. Standing on the fourth dimension, They are predominating figures on the transcendental platform. There is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions because material laws cannot influence Them. There is no such rule as cause and effect outside of the material world. Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature proves this:
oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete by itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance." (
Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.1) It is most apparent that nondevotees violate the rules and regulations of devotional service to equate the whole cosmic manifestation, which is the external feature of
Viṣṇu, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the controller of
māyā, or with His quadruple expansions. The equalization of
māyā and spirit, or
māyā and the Lord, is a sign of atheism. The cosmic creation, which manifests life in forms from
Brahmā to the ant, is the external feature of the Supreme Lord. It comprises one fourth of the Lord's energy, as confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gītā (
ekāṁśena sthito jagat). The cosmic manifestation of the illusory energy is material nature, and everything within material nature is made of matter. Therefore, one should not try to compare the expansions of material nature to the
catur-vyūha, the quadruple expansions of the Personality of Godhead, but unfortunately the
Māyāvādī school unreasonably attempts to do this.
(4) To answer Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on
Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.45, the substance of the transcendental qualities and their spiritual nature is described in the
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (
Pūrva 5.208-214) as follows: "Some say that transcendence must be void of all qualities because qualities are manifested only in matter. According to them, all qualities are like temporary, flickering mirages. But this is not acceptable. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, His qualities are nondifferent from Him. His form, name, qualities and everything else pertaining to Him are as spiritual as He is. Every qualitative expansion of the absolute Personality of Godhead is identical with Him. Since the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all pleasure, all the transcendental qualities that expand from Him are also reservoirs of pleasure. This is confirmed in the scripture known as
Brahma-tarka, which states that the Supreme Lord
Hari is qualified by Himself, and therefore
Viṣṇu and His pure devotees and their transcendental qualities cannot be different from their persons. In the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa Lord
Viṣṇu is worshiped in the following words: 'Let the Supreme Personality of Godhead be merciful toward us. His existence is never infected by material qualities.' In the same
Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is also said that all the qualities attributed to the Supreme Lord, such as knowledge, opulence, beauty, strength and influence, are known to be nondifferent from Him. This is also confirmed in the
Padma Purāṇa, which explains that whenever the Supreme Lord is described as having no qualities, this should be understood to indicate that He is devoid of material qualities. In the First Chapter of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
1.16.29) it is said: 'O
Dharma, protector of religious principles, all noble and sublime qualities are eternally manifested in the person of
Kṛṣṇa, and devotees and transcendentalists who aspire to become faithful also desire to possess such transcendental qualities.' " It is therefore to be understood that Lord Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental form of absolute bliss, is the fountainhead of all pleasurable transcendental qualities and inconceivable potencies. In this connection we may recommend references to
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, Chapter Twenty-Six, verses 21, 25, 27 and 28.
Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya has also refuted the arguments of Śaṅkara in his own commentary on the
Vedānta-sūtra, which is known as the
Śrī-bhāṣya: "Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has tried to equate the
Pa�carātras with the philosophy of the atheist
Kapila, and thus he has tried to prove that the
Pa�carātras contradict the Vedic injunctions. The
Pa�carātras state that the personality of
jīva called
Saṅkarṣaṇa has emerged from
Vāsudeva, the supreme cause of all causes, that
Pradyumna, the mind, has come from
Saṅkarṣaṇa, and that
Aniruddha, the ego, has come from
Pradyumna. But one cannot say that the living entity (
jīva) takes birth or is created, for such a statement is against the injunction of the
Vedas. As stated in the
Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.18), living entities, as individual spiritual souls, can have neither birth nor death. All Vedic literature declares that the living entities are eternal. Therefore when it is said that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is
jīva, this indicates that He is the predominating Deity of the living entities. Similarly,
Pradyumna is the predominating Deity of the mind, and
Aniruddha is the predominating Deity of the ego.
"It has been said that
Pradyumna, the mind, was produced from
Saṅkarṣaṇa. But if
Saṅkarṣaṇa were a living entity, this could not be accepted, because a living entity cannot be the cause of the mind. The Vedic injunctions state that everything-including life, mind and the senses-comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is impossible for the mind to be produced by a living entity, for the
Vedas state that everything comes from the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord.
"Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha have all the potent features of the absolute Personality of Godhead, according to the revealed scriptures, which contain undeniable facts that no one can refute. Therefore these quadruple forms are never to be considered ordinary living beings. Each of Them is a plenary expansion of the Absolute Godhead, and thus each is identical with the Supreme Lord in knowledge, opulence, energy, influence, prowess and potencies. The evidence of
Pa�carātra cannot be neglected. Only untrained persons who have not genuinely studied the
Pa�carātras think that the
Pa�carātras contradict the
śrutis regarding the birth or beginning of the living entity. In this connection, we must accept the verdict of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which says: 'The absolute Personality of Godhead, who is known as
Vāsudeva and who is very affectionate toward His surrendered devotees, expands Himself in quadruple forms who are subordinate to Him and at the same time identical with Him in all respects.' The
Pauṣkara-saṁhitā states: 'The scriptures that recommend that
brāhmaṇas worship the quadruple forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are called
āgamas [authorized works of Vedic literature].' In all
Vaiṣṇava literature it is said that worshiping these quadruple forms is as good as worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Vāsudeva, who in His different expansions, complete in six opulences, can accept offerings from His devotees of the results of their prescribed duties. Worshiping the expansions for pastimes, such as
Nṛsiṁha,
Rāma, Śeṣa and
Kūrma, promotes one to the worship of the
Saṅkarṣaṇa quadruple. From that position one is raised to the platform of worshiping
Vāsudeva, the Supreme
Brahman. In the
Pauṣkara-saṁhitā it is said: 'If one fully worships according to the regulative principles, one can attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Vāsudeva.' It is to be accepted that
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are as good as Lord
Vāsudeva, for They all have inconceivable power and can accept transcendental forms like
Vāsudeva.
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are never born, but They can manifest Themselves in various incarnations before the eyes of pure devotees. This is the conclusion of all Vedic literature. That the Lord can manifest Himself before His devotees by His inconceivable power is not against the teaching of the
Pa�carātra. Since
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are actually the predominating Deities of all living entities, the total mind and the total ego, the descriptions of
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha as
jīva, mind and ego are never contradictory to the statements of the scriptures. These names identify these Deities, just as the terms 'sky' and 'light' sometimes identify the Absolute
Brahman.
"The scriptures completely deny the birth or production of the living entity. In the
Parama-saṁhitā it is described that material nature, which is used for others' purposes, is factually inert and always subject to transformation. The field of material nature is the arena of the activities of fruitive actors, and since the material field is externally related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is also eternal. In every
saṁhitā, the
jīva (living entity) has been accepted as eternal, and in the
Pa�carātra the birth of the
jīva is completely denied. Anything that is produced must also be annihilated. Therefore if we accept the birth of the living entity, we also have to accept his annihilation. But since the Vedic literature says that the living entity is eternal, one should not think the living being to be produced at a certain time. In the beginning of the
Parama-saṁhitā it is definitely stated that the face of material nature is constantly changeable. Therefore 'beginning,' 'annihilation' and all such terms are applicable only in the material nature.
"Considering all these points, one should understand that Śaṅkarācārya's statement that
Saṅkarṣaṇa is born as a
jīva is completely against the Vedic statements. His assertions are completely refuted by the above arguments. In this connection the commentary of Śrīdhara
Svāmī on
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
3.1.34) is very helpful."
For a detailed refutation of Śaṅkarācārya's arguments to prove
Saṅkarṣaṇa an ordinary living being, one may refer to Śrīmat Sudarśanācārya's commentary on
Śrī-bhāṣya, which is known as the
Śruta-prakāśikā.The original quadruple forms
Kṛṣṇa,
Baladeva,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha expand into another quadruple, which is present in the
Vaikuṇṭha planets of the spiritual sky. Therefore the quadruple forms in the spiritual sky are the second manifestation of the original quadruple in
Dvārakā. As explained above,
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are all changeless, transcendental plenary expansions of the Supreme Lord who have no relation to the material modes. The
Saṅkarṣaṇa form in the second quadruple is not only a representation of
Balarāma but also the original cause of the Causal Ocean, where Kāraṇodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu lies asleep, breathing out the seeds of innumerable universes.
In the spiritual sky there is a spiritual creative energy technically called
śuddha-sattva, which is a pure spiritual energy that sustains all the
Vaikuṇṭha planets with the full opulences of knowledge, wealth, prowess, etc. All these actions of
śuddha-sattva display the potencies of
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the ultimate reservoir of all individual living entities who are suffering in the material world. When the cosmic creation is annihilated, the living entities, who are indestructible by nature, rest in the body of
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa.
Saṅkarṣaṇa is therefore sometimes called the total
jīva. As spiritual sparks, the living entities have the tendency to be inactive in the association of material energy, just as sparks of a fire have the tendency to be extinguished as soon as they leave the fire. The spiritual nature of the living being can be rekindled, however, in association with the Supreme Being. Because the living being can appear either in matter or in spirit, the
jīva is called the marginal potency.
tāṅhā ye rāmera rūpa--mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa
cic-chakti-āśraya tiṅho, kāraṇera kāraṇa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
There the personal feature of Balarāma called Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa is the shelter of the spiritual energy. He is the primary cause, the cause of all causes. cic-chakti-vilāsa eka--'śuddha-sattva' nāma
śuddha-sattva-maya yata vaikuṇṭhādi-dhāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
One variety of the pastimes of the spiritual energy is described as pure goodness [viśuddha-sattva]. It comprises all the abodes of Vaikuṇṭha. ṣaḍ-vidhaiśvarya tāṅhā sakala cinmaya
saṅkarṣaṇera vibhūti saba, jāniha niścaya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The six attributes are all spiritual. Know for certain that they are all manifestations of the opulence of Saṅkarṣaṇa. 'jīva'-nāma taṭasthākhya eka śakti haya
mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa--saba jīvera āśraya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
There is one marginal potency, known as the jīva. Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa is the shelter of all jīvas. yāṅhā haite viśvotpatti, yāṅhāte pralaya
sei puruṣera saṅkarṣaṇa samāśraya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original shelter of the puruṣa, from whom this world is created and in whom it is dissolved. sarvāśraya, sarvādbhuta, aiśvarya apāra
'ananta' kahite nāre mahimā yāṅhāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
He [Saṅkarṣaṇa] is the shelter of everything. He is wonderful in every respect, and His opulences are infinite. Even Ananta cannot describe His glory. turīya, viśuddha-sattva, 'saṅkarṣaṇa' nāma
tiṅho yāṅra aṁśa, sei nityānanda-rāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
aṣṭama ślokera kaila saṅkṣepe vivaraṇa
navama ślokera artha śuna diyā mana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I have briefly explained the eighth verse. Now please listen with attention as I explain the ninth verse.
māyā-bhartājāṇḍa-saṅghāśrayāṅgaḥ
śete sākṣāt kāraṇāmbhodhi-madhye
yasyaikāṁśaḥ śrī-pumān ādi-devas
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, whose partial representation called Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean, is the original puruṣa, the master of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all the universes. vaikuṇṭha-bāhire yei jyotir-maya dhāma
tāhāra bāhire 'kāraṇārṇava' nāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and beyond that effulgence is the Kāraṇa Ocean, or Causal Ocean. PURPORT
The impersonal glowing effulgence known as impersonal
Brahman is the outer space of the
Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky. Beyond that impersonal
Brahman is the great Causal Ocean, which lies between the material and spiritual skies. The material nature is a by-product of this Causal Ocean.
Kāraṇodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, who lies on the Causal Ocean, creates the universes merely by glancing upon material nature. Therefore
Kṛṣṇa personally has nothing to do with the material creation. The
Bhagavad-gītā confirms that the Lord glances over material nature and thus she produces the many material universes. Neither
Kṛṣṇa in
Goloka nor
Nārāyaṇa in
Vaikuṇṭha comes directly in contact with the material creation. They are completely aloof from the material energy.
It is the function of
Mahā-
saṅkarṣaṇa in the form of Kāraṇodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu to glance over the material creation, which is situated beyond the limits of the Causal Ocean. Material nature is connected with the Personality of Godhead by His glance over her and nothing more. It is said that she is impregnated by the energy of His glance. The material energy,
māyā, never even touches the Causal Ocean, for the Lord's glance focuses upon her from a great distance away.
The glancing power of the Lord agitates the entire cosmic energy, and thus its actions begin at once. This indicates that matter, however powerful she may be, has no power by herself. Her activity begins by the grace of the Lord, and then the entire cosmic creation is manifested in a systematic way. The example of a woman's conception can help us understand this subject to a certain extent. The mother is passive, but the father puts his energy within the mother, and thus she conceives. She supplies the ingredients for the birth of the child in her womb. Similarly, the Lord activates material nature, which then supplies the ingredients for cosmic development.
Material nature has two different phases. The aspect called
pradhāna supplies the material ingredients for cosmic development, and the aspect called
māyā causes the manifestation of her ingredients, which are temporary, like foam in the ocean. In reality, the temporary manifestations of material nature are originally caused by the spiritual glance of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead is the direct, or remote, cause of creation, and material nature is the indirect, or immediate, cause. Materialistic scientists, puffed-up by the magical changes their so-called inventions have brought about, cannot see the real potency of Godhead behind matter. Therefore the jugglery of science is gradually leading people to a godless civilization at the cost of the goal of human life. Having missed the goal of life, materialists run after self-sufficiency, not knowing that material nature is already self-sufficient by the grace of God. Thus creating a colossal hoax in the name of civilization, they create an imbalance in the natural self-sufficiency of material nature.
To think of material nature as all in all, not knowing the original cause, is ignorance. Lord
Caitanya appeared in order to dissipate this darkness of ignorance by igniting the spark of spiritual life that can, by His causeless mercy, enlighten the entire world.
To explain how
māyā acts by Kṛṣṇa's power, the author of
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta gives the example that an iron rod in a fire, although it is not fire, becomes red-hot and acts like fire itself. Similarly, all the actions and reactions of material nature are not actually the work of material nature but are actions and reactions of the energy of the Supreme Lord manifested through matter. The power of electricity is transmitted through the medium of copper, but this does not mean that the copper is electricity. The power is generated at a powerhouse under the control of an expert living being. Similarly, behind all the jugglery of the natural laws is a great living being, who is a person like the mechanical engineer in the powerhouse. It is by His intelligence that the entire cosmic creation moves in a systematic way.
The modes of nature that directly cause material actions are also originally activated by
Nārāyaṇa. A simple example will explain how this is so: When a potter manufactures a pot from clay, the potter's wheel, his tools and the clay are the immediate causes of the pot, but the potter is the chief cause. Similarly,
Nārāyaṇa is the chief cause of all material creations, and the material energy supplies the ingredients of matter. Therefore without
Nārāyaṇa, all other causes are useless, just as the potter's wheel and tools are useless without the potter himself. Since materialistic scientists ignore the Personality of Godhead, it is as if they were concerned with the potter's wheel and its rotation, the potter's tools and the ingredients for the pots, but had no knowledge of the potter himself. Therefore modern science has created an imperfect, godless civilization that is in gross ignorance of the ultimate cause. Scientific advancement should have a great goal to attain, and that great goal should be the Personality of Godhead. In the
Bhagavad-gītā it is said that after conducting research for many, many births, great men of knowledge who stress the importance of experimental thought can know the Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes. When one knows Him perfectly, one surrenders unto Him and then becomes a
mahātmā.vaikuṇṭha beḍiyā eka āche jala-nidhi
ananta, apāra--tāra nāhika avadhi
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Surrounding Vaikuṇṭha is a mass of water that is endless, unfathomed and unlimited. vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy-ādi sakala cinmaya
māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there. cinmaya-jala sei parama kāraṇa
yāra eka kaṇā gaṅgā patita-pāvana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The water of the Kāraṇa Ocean, which is the original cause, is therefore spiritual. The sacred Ganges, which is but a drop of it, purifies the fallen souls. sei ta' kāraṇārṇave sei saṅkarṣaṇa
āpanāra eka aṁśe karena śayana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In that ocean lies one plenary portion of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. mahat-sraṣṭā puruṣa, tiṅho jagat-kāraṇa
ādya-avatāra kare māyāya īkṣaṇa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
He is known as the first puruṣa, the creator of the total material energy. He, the cause of the universes, the first incarnation, casts His glance over māyā. māyā-śakti rahe kāraṇābdhira bāhire
kāraṇa-samudra māyā paraśite nāre
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Māyā-śakti resides outside the Causal Ocean. Māyā cannot touch its waters. sei ta' māyāra dui-vidha avasthiti
jagatera upādāna 'pradhāna', prakṛti
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Māyā has two varieties of existence. One is called pradhāna or prakṛti. It supplies the ingredients of the material world. PURPORT
Māyā, the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is divided into two parts.
Māyā is the cause and the ingredient of the cosmic manifestation. As the cause of the cosmic manifestation she is known as
māyā, and as the agent supplying the ingredients of the cosmic manifestation she is known as
pradhāna. An explicit description of these divisions of external energy is given in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.24.1-4). Elsewhere in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.63.26) the ingredients and cause of the material cosmic manifestation are described as follows:
kālo daivaṁ karma jīvaḥ svabhāvo
dravyaṁ kṣetraṁ prāṇa ātmā vikāraḥ
tat-saṅghāto bīja-roha-pravāhas
tvan-māyaiṣā tan-niṣedhaṁ prapadye
"O my Lord! Time, activity, providence and nature are four parts of the causal aspect [
māyā] of the external energy. The conditioned vital force, the subtle material ingredients called the
dravya, and material nature (which is the field of activity where the false ego acts as the soul), as well as the eleven senses and five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether), which are the sixteen ingredients of the body-these are the ingredient aspect of
māyā. The body is generated from activity, and activity is generated from the body, just as a tree is generated from a seed that is generated from a tree. This reciprocal cause and effect is called
māyā. My dear Lord, You can save me from this cycle of cause and effect. I worship Your lotus feet."
Although the living entity is primarily related to the causal portion of
māyā, he is nevertheless conducted by the ingredients of
māyā. Three forces work in the causal portion of
māyā: knowledge, desire and activity. The material ingredients are a manifestation of
māyā as
pradhāna. In other words, when the three qualities of
māyā are in a dormant stage, they exist as
prakṛti, avyakta or
pradhāna. The word
avyakta, referring to the nonmanifest, is another name of
pradhāna. In the
avyakta stage, material nature is without varieties. Varieties are manifested by the
pradhāna portion of
māyā. The word
pradhāna is therefore more important than
avyakta or
prakṛti.jagat-kāraṇa nahe prakṛti jaḍa-rūpā
śakti sa�cāriyā tāre kṛṣṇa kare kṛpā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Because prakṛti is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. But Lord Kṛṣṇa shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature. kṛṣṇa-śaktye prakṛti haya gauṇa kāraṇa
agni-śaktye lauha yaiche karaye jāraṇa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Thus prakṛti, by the energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red-hot by the energy of fire. ataeva kṛṣṇa mūla-jagat-kāraṇa
prakṛti--kāraṇa yaiche ajā-gala-stana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. Prakṛti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk. PURPORT
The external energy, composed of
pradhāna or
prakṛti as the ingredient-supplying portion and
māyā as the causal portion, is known as
māyā-śakti. Inert material nature is not the actual cause of the material manifestation, for Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī,
Mahā-
Viṣṇu, the plenary expansion of
Kṛṣṇa, activates all the ingredients. It is in this way that material nature has the power to supply the ingredients. The example given is that iron has no power to heat or burn, but after coming in contact with fire the iron becomes red-hot and can then diffuse heat and burn other things. Material nature is like iron, for it has no independence to act without the touch of
Viṣṇu, who is compared to fire. Lord
Viṣṇu activates material nature by the power of His glance, and then the ironlike material nature becomes a material-supplying agent just as iron made red-hot becomes a burning agent. Material nature cannot independently become an agent for supplying the material ingredients. This is more clearly explained by Śrī Kapiladeva, an incarnation of Godhead, in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
3.28.40):
yatholmukād visphuliṅgād
dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt
apy ātmatvenābhimatād
yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt
"Although smoke, flaming wood, and sparks are all considered together as ingredients of a fire, the flaming wood is nevertheless different from the fire, and the smoke is different from the flaming wood." The material elements (earth, water, fire, etc.) are like smoke, the living entities are like sparks, and material nature as
pradhāna is like the flaming wood. But all of them together are recipients of power from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus able to manifest their individual capacities. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of all manifestations. Material nature can supply only when it is activated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Just as a woman can deliver a child after being impregnated by the semen of a man, so material nature can supply the material elements after being glanced upon by
Mahā-
Viṣṇu. Therefore
pradhāna cannot be independent of the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gītā (
9.10):
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. Prakṛti, the total material energy, works under the superintendence of the Lord. The original source of the material elements is
Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the attempt of the atheistic
Sāṅkhya philosophers to consider material nature the source of these elements, forgetting
Kṛṣṇa, is useless, like trying to get milk from the nipplelike bumps of skin hanging on the neck of a goat.
māyā-aṁśe kahi tāre nimitta-kāraṇa
seha nahe, yāte kartā-hetu--nārāyaṇa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The māyā aspect of material nature is the immediate cause of the cosmic manifestation. But it also cannot be the real cause, for the original cause is Lord Nārāyaṇa. ghaṭera nimitta-hetu yaiche kumbhakāra
taiche jagatera kartā--puruṣāvatāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Just as the original cause of an earthen pot is the potter, so the creator of the material world is the first puruṣa incarnation [Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu]. kṛṣṇa--kartā, māyā tāṅra karena sahāya
ghaṭera kāraṇa--cakra-daṇḍādi upāya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Lord Kṛṣṇa is the creator, and māyā only helps Him as an instrument, just like the potter's wheel and other instruments, which are the instrumental causes of a pot. dūra haite puruṣa kare māyāte avadhāna
jīva-rūpa vīrya tāte karena ādhāna
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The first puruṣa casts His glance at māyā from a distance, and thus He impregnates her with the seed of life in the form of the living entities. eka aṅgābhāse kare māyāte milana
māyā haite janme tabe brahmāṇḍera gaṇa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The reflected rays of His body mix with māyā, and thus māyā gives birth to myriads of universes. PURPORT
The Vedic conclusion is that the cosmic manifestation visible to the eyes of the conditioned soul is caused by the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, through the exertion of His specific energies, although in the conclusion of atheistic deliberations this manifested cosmic exhibition is attributed to material nature. The energy of the Absolute Truth is exhibited in three ways: spiritual, material and marginal. The Absolute Truth is identical with His spiritual energy. Only when contacted by the spiritual energy can the material energy work and the temporary material manifestations thus appear active. In the conditioned state the living entities of the marginal energy are a mixture of spiritual and material energies. The marginal energy is originally under the control of the spiritual energy, but, under the control of the material energy, the living entities have been wandering in forgetfulness within the material world since time immemorial.
The conditioned state is caused by misuse of the individual independence of the spiritual platform, for this separates the living entity from the association of the spiritual energy. But when the living entity is enlightened by the grace of the Supreme Lord or His pure devotee and becomes inclined to revive his original state of loving service, he is on the most auspicious platform of eternal bliss and knowledge. The marginal
jīva, or living entity, misuses his independence and becomes averse to the eternal service attitude when he independently thinks he is not energy but the energetic. This misconception of his own existence leads him to the attitude of lording it over material nature.
Material nature appears to be just the opposite of the spiritual energy. The fact is that the material energy can work only when in contact with the spiritual energy. Originally the energy of
Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, but it works in diverse ways, like electrical energy, which can exhibit the functions of refrigerating or heating through its manifestations in different ways. The material energy is spiritual energy covered by a cloud of illusion, or
māyā. Therefore, the material energy is not self-sufficient in working.
Kṛṣṇa invests His spiritual energy into material energy, and then it can act, just as iron can act like fire after being heated by fire. The material energy can act only when empowered by the spiritual energy.
When covered by the cloud of material energy, the living entity, who is also a spiritual energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, forgets about the activities of the spiritual energy and considers all that happens in the material manifestation to be wonderful. But a person who is engaged in devotional service in full
Kṛṣṇa consciousness and who is therefore already situated in the spiritual energy can understand that the material energy has no independent powers: whatever actions are going on are due to the help of the spiritual energy. The material energy, which is a perverted form of the spiritual energy, presents everything pervertedly, thus causing misconceptions and duality. Material scientists and philosophers conditioned by the spell of material nature suppose that material energy acts automatically, and therefore they are frustrated, like an illusioned person who tries to get milk from the nipplelike bunches of skin on the neck of a goat. As there is no possibility of getting milk from these bunches of skin, there is similarly no possibility that anyone will be successful in understanding the original cause of creation by forwarding theories produced by the material energy. Such an attempt is a manifestation of ignorance.
The material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called
māyā, or illusion, because in two capacities (by supplying the material elements and by causing the material manifestation) it makes the conditioned soul unable to understand the real truth of creation. When a living entity is liberated, however, from the conditioned life of matter, he can understand the two different activities of material nature, namely covering and bewildering.
The origin of creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gītā (
9.10), the cosmic manifestation is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who invests the material energy with three material qualities. Agitated by these qualities, the elements supplied by the material energy produce varieties of things, just as an artist produces varieties of pictures by mixing the three colors red, yellow and blue. Yellow represents the quality of goodness, red represents passion, and blue represents ignorance. Therefore the colorful material creation is but an interaction of these three qualities, represented in eighty-one varieties of mixtures (3
x 3 equaling 9, 9 x 9 thus equaling 81). Deluded by material energy, the conditioned soul, enamored by these eighty-one varieties of manifestation, wants to lord it over material energy, just as a moth wants to enjoy a fire. This illusion is the net result of the conditioned soul's forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with the Supreme personality of Godhead. When conditioned, the soul is impelled by the material energy to engage in sense gratification, whereas one enlightened by the spiritual energy engages himself in the service of the Supreme Lord in his eternal relationship.Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the spiritual world, and He is the covered cause of the material manifestation. He is also the original cause of the marginal potency, the living entities. He is both the leader and maintainer of the living entities, who are called the marginal potency because they can act under the protection of the spiritual energy or under the cover of the material energy. With the help of the spiritual energy we can understand that independence is visible only in
Kṛṣṇa, who by His inconceivable energy is able to act in any way He likes.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Absolute Whole, and the living entities are parts of the Absolute Whole. This relationship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities is eternal. One should never mistakenly think that the spiritual whole can be divided into small parts by the small material energy. The
Bhagavad-gītā does not support this
Māyāvāda theory. Rather, it clearly states that the living entities are eternally small fragments of the supreme spiritual whole. As a part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole, the absolute Personality of Godhead. Although the Supreme Lord and the living entities are quantitatively related as the whole and the parts, the parts are nevertheless qualitatively one with the whole. Thus the living entities, although always qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, are in a relative position. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the controller of everything, and the living entities are always controlled, either by the spiritual energy or by the material energy. Therefore a living entity can never become the controller of material or spiritual energies. The natural position of the living being is always as a subordinate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one agrees to act in such a position, he attains perfection in life, but if one rebels against this principle, he is in the conditioned state.
agaṇya, ananta yata aṇḍa-sanniveśa
tata-rūpe puruṣa kare sabāte prakāśa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The puruṣa enters each and every one of the countless universes. He manifests Himself in as many separate forms as there are universes. puruṣa-nāsāte yabe bāhirāya śvāsa
niśvāsa sahite haya brahmāṇḍa-prakāśa
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
When the puruṣa exhales, the universes become manifest with each outward breath. punarapi śvāsa yabe praveśe antare
śvāsa-saha brahmāṇḍa paiśe puruṣa-śarīre
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, when He inhales, all the universes again enter His body.
PURPORT
In His form as Kāraṇodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu the Lord impregnates material nature by His glance. The transcendental molecules of that glance are particles of spirit, or spiritual atoms, which appear in different species of life according to the seeds of their individual
karma from the previous cosmic manifestation. And the Lord Himself, by His partial representation, creates a body of innumerable universes and again enters each of those universes as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. His coming in contact with māyā is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā by a comparison between air and the sky. The sky enters everything material, yet it is far away from us.gavākṣera randhre yena trasareṇu cale
puruṣera loma-kūpe brahmāṇḍera jāle
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Just as atomic particles of dust pass through the openings of a window, so the networks of universes pass through the pores of the skin of the puruṣa. yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
jīvanti loma-vila-jā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"The Brahmās and other lords of the mundane worlds appear from the pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu and remain alive for the duration of His one exhalation. I adore the primeval Lord, Govinda, of whom Mahā-Viṣṇu is a portion of a plenary portion." PURPORT
This description of the Lord's creative energy is from the
Brahma-saṁhitā (5.48), which Lord
Brahmā compiled after his personal realization. When
Mahā-
Viṣṇu exhales, the spiritual seeds of the universes emanate from Him in the form of molecular particles like those that are visible, three times the size of an atom, when sunlight is diffused through a small hole. In these days of atomic research it will be a worthwhile engagement for atomic scientists to learn from this statement how the entire creation develops from the spiritual atoms emanating from the body of the Lord.
kvāhaṁ tamo-mahad-ahaṁ-kha-carāgni-vār-bhū-
saṁveṣṭitāṇḍa-ghaṭa-sapta-vitasti-kāyaḥ
kvedṛg-vidhāvigaṇitāṇḍa-parāṇu-caryā-
vātādhva-roma-vivarasya ca te mahitvam
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Where am I, a small creature of seven spans the measure of my own hand? I am enclosed in the universe composed of material nature, the total material energy, false ego, ether, air, water and earth. And what is Your glory? Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just like particles of dust passing through the opening of a window."
PURPORT
When Lord
Brahmā, after having stolen all Kṛṣṇa's cows and cowherd boys, returned and saw that the cows and boys were still roaming with
Kṛṣṇa, he offered this prayer (
Bhāg. 10.14.11) in his defeat. A conditioned soul, even one so great as
Brahmā, who manages the affairs of the entire universe, cannot compare to the Personality of Godhead, for He can produce numberless universes simply by the spiritual rays emanating from the pores of His body. Material scientists should take lessons from the utterances of Śrī
Brahmā regarding our insignificance in comparison to God. In these prayers of
Brahmā there is much to learn for those who are falsely puffed up by the accumulation of power.
aṁśera aṁśa yei, 'kalā' tāra nāma
govindera pratimūrti śrī-balarāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
tāṅra eka svarūpa--śrī-mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa
tāṅra aṁśa 'puruṣa' haya kalāte gaṇana
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Balarāma's own expansion is called Mahā-Saṅkarṣaṇa, and His fragment, the puruṣa, is counted as a kalā, or a part of a plenary portion. yāṅhāke ta' kalā kahi, tiṅho mahā-viṣṇu
mahā-puruṣāvatārī teṅho sarva-jiṣṇu
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I say that this kalā is Mahā-Viṣṇu. He is the Mahā-puruṣa, who is the source of the other puruṣas and who is all-pervading. garbhoda-kṣīroda-śāyī doṅhe 'puruṣa' nāma
sei dui, yāṅra aṁśa,--viṣṇu, viśva-dhāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Garbhodaśāyī and Kṣīrodaśāyī are both called puruṣas. They are plenary portions of Kāraṇodaśāyī Viṣṇu, the first puruṣa, who is the abode of all the universes. PURPORT
The symptoms of the
puruṣa are described in
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta. While describing the incarnations of the Supreme personality of Godhead, the author has quoted from the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.8.59), where it is said: "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto
Puruṣottama, Lord
Kṛṣṇa, who is always free from the contamination of the six material dualities; whose plenary expansion,
Mahā-
Viṣṇu, glances over matter to create the cosmic manifestation; who expands Himself in various transcendental forms, all of which are one and the same; who is the master of all living entities; who is always free and liberated from the contamination of material energy; and who, when He appears in this material world, seems one of us, although He has an eternally spiritual, blissful, transcendental form." In summarizing this statement,
Rūpa Gosvāmī has concluded that the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who acts in cooperation with the material energy is called the
puruṣa.dvitīyaṁ tv aṇḍa-saṁsthitam
tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-sthaṁ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Viṣṇu has three forms called puruṣas. The first, Mahā-Viṣṇu, is the creator of the total material energy [mahat], the second is Garbhodaśāyī, who is situated within each universe, and the third is Kṣīrodaśāyī, who lives in the heart of every living being. He who knows these three becomes liberated from the clutches of māyā. PURPORT
yadyapi kahiye tāṅre kṛṣṇera 'kalā' kari
matsya-kūrmādy-avatārera tiṅho avatārī
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"All these incarnations of Godhead are either plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions of the puruṣa-avatāras. But Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In every age He protects the world through His different features when the world is disturbed by the enemies of Indra." PURPORT
sei puruṣa sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralayera kartā
nānā avatāra kare, jagatera bhartā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That puruṣa [Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] is the performer of creation, maintenance and destruction. He manifests Himself in many incarnations, for He is the maintainer of the world. sṛṣṭy-ādi-nimitte yei aṁśera avadhāna
sei ta' aṁśere kahi 'avatāra' nāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That fragment of the Mahā-puruṣa who appears for the purpose of creation, maintenance and annihilation is called an incarnation. ādyāvatāra, mahā-puruṣa, bhagavān
sarva-avatāra-bīja, sarvāśraya-dhāma
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
That Mahā-puruṣa is identical with the Personality of Godhead. He is the original incarnation, the seed of all others, and the shelter of everything. ādyo 'vatāraḥ puruṣaḥ parasya
kālaḥ svabhāvaḥ sad-asan manaś ca
dravyaṁ vikāro guṇa indriyāṇi
virāṭ svarāṭ sthāsnu cariṣṇu bhūmnaḥ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"The puruṣa is the primary incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Time, nature, prakṛti (as cause and effect), the mind, the material elements, false ego, the modes of nature, the senses, the universal form, complete independence and the moving and nonmoving beings appear subsequently as His opulences." PURPORT
Describing the incarnations and their symptoms, the
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta has stated that when Lord
Kṛṣṇa descends to conduct the creative affairs of the material manifestation, He is an
avatāra, or incarnation. The two categories of
avatāras are empowered devotees and
tad-ekātma-rūpa (the Lord Himself). An example of
tad-ekātma-rūpa is Śeṣa, and an example of a devotee is
Vasudeva, the father of Lord
Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has commented that the material cosmic manifestation is a partial kingdom of God where God must sometimes come to execute a specific function. The plenary portion of the Lord through whom Lord
Kṛṣṇa executes such actions is called
Mahā-
Viṣṇu, who is the primal beginning of all incarnations. Inexperienced observers presume that the material energy provides both the cause and the elements of the cosmic manifestation and that the living entities are the enjoyers of material nature. But the devotees of the
Bhāgavata school, which has scrutinizingly examined the entire situation, can understand that material nature can independently be neither the supplier of the material elements nor the cause of the material manifestation. Material nature gets the power to supply the material elements from the glance of the supreme
puruṣa, Mahā-
Viṣṇu, and when empowered by Him she is called the cause of the material manifestation. Both features of material nature, as the cause of the material creation and as the source of its elements, exist due to the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The various expansions of the Supreme Lord who act to empower the material energy are known as plenary expansions or incarnations. As illustrated by the example of many flames
lit from one flame, all these plenary expansions and incarnations are as good as
Viṣṇu Himself; nevertheless, because of their activities in controlling
māyā, sometimes they are known as
māyika, or having a relationship with
māyā. This is a verse from
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
2.6.42).
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes." PURPORT
This is a verse from
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (
1.3.1). The commentary of
Madhva on
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mentions that the following sixteen spiritual energies are present in the spiritual world: (1)
śrī, (2)
bhū, (3)
līlā, (4)
kānti, (5)
kīrti, (6)
tuṣṭi, (7)
gīr, (8)
puṣṭi, (9)
satyā (10)
j�ānāj�ānā, (11)
jayā utkarṣiṇī, (12)
vimalā, (13)
yogamāyā, (14)
prahvī, (15)
īśānā and (16)
anugrahā. In his commentary on the
Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrī
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has said that the above energies are also known by nine names: (1)
vimalā, (2)
utkarṣiṇī (3)
j�ānā, (4)
kriyā, (5)
yogā, (6)
prahvī, (7)
satyā, (8)
īśānā and (9)
anugrahā. In the
Bhagavat-sandarbha of Śrīla
Jīva Gosvāmī (
Anuccheda 103) they are described as
śrī, puṣṭi, gīr, kānti, kīrti, tuṣṭi, ilā, jaya; vidyāvidyā, māyā, samvit, sandhinī, hlādinī, bhakti, mūrti, vimalā, yogā, prahvī, īśānā, anugrahā, etc. All these energies act in different spheres of the Lord's supremacy.
yadyapi sarvāśraya tiṅho, tāṅhāte saṁsāra
antarātmā-rūpe tiṅho jagat-ādhāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Although the Lord is the shelter of everything and although all the universes rest in Him, He, as the Supersoul, is also the support of everything.
prakṛti-sahite tāṅra ubhaya sambandha
tathāpi prakṛti-saha nāhi sparśa-gandha
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Although He is thus connected with the material energy in two ways, He does not have the slightest contact with it.
PURPORT
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