Causelessmercy - Ebook - Srimad-Bhagavatam - Canto 2 - 1.2

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter One

SB2.1.21

TEXT 21

yasyam sandharyamanayam

yogino bhakti-laksanah

asu sampadyate yoga

asrayam bhadram iksatah

SYNONYMS

yasyam—by such systematic remembrance; sandharyamanayam—and thus being fixed in the habit of; yoginah—the mystics; bhakti-laksanah—being practiced to the devotional system; asu—very soon; sampadyate—attains success; yogah—connection by devotional service; asrayam—under the shelter of; bhadram—the all-good; iksatah—which seeing that.

TRANSLATION

O King, by this system of remembrance and by being fixed in the habit of seeing the all-good personal conception of the Lord, one can very soon attain devotional service to the Lord, under His direct shelter.

PURPORT

Success of mystic performances is achieved only by the help of the devotional attitude. Pantheism, or the system of feeling the presence of the Almighty everywhere, is a sort of training of the mind to become accustomed to the devotional conception, and it is this devotional attitude of the mystic that makes possible the successful termination of such mystic attempts. One is not, however, elevated to such a successful status without the tinge of mixture in devotional service. The devotional atmosphere created by pantheistic vision develops into devotional service in later days, and that is the only benefit for the impersonalist. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (12.5) that the impersonal way of self-realization is more troublesome because it reaches the goal in an indirect way, although the impersonalist also becomes obsessed with the personal feature of the Lord after a long time.

yatha sandharyate brahman

dharana yatra sammata

yadrsi va hared asu

purusasya mano-malam

raja uvaca—the fortunate King said; yatha—as it is; sandharyate—the conception is made; brahman—O brahmana; dharana—conception; yatra—where and how; sammata—in a summary; yadrsi—the way by which; va—or; haret—extricated; asu—without delay; purusasya—of a person; manah—of the mind; malam—dirty things.

The fortunate King Pariksit, inquiring further, said: O brahmana, please describe in full detail how and where the mind has to be applied and how the conception can be fixed so that the dirty things in a person’s mind can be removed.

The dirty things in the heart of a conditioned soul are the root cause of all troubles for him. A conditioned soul is surrounded by the manifold miseries of material existence, but on account of his gross ignorance he is unable to remove the troubles due to dirty things in the heart, accumulated during the long prison life in the material world. He is actually meant to serve the will of the Supreme Lord, but on account of the dirty things in the heart, he likes to serve his concocted desires. These desires, instead of giving him any peace of mind, create new problems and thus bind him to the cycle of repeated birth and death. These dirty things of fruitive work and empiric philosophy can be removed only by association with the Supreme Lord. The Lord, being omnipotent, can offer His association by His inconceivable potencies. Thus persons who are unable to pin their faith on the personal feature of the Absolute are given a chance to associate with His virat-rupa, or the cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord. The cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord is a feature of His unlimited potencies. Since the potent and potencies are identical, even the conception of His impersonal cosmic feature helps the conditioned soul to associate with the Lord indirectly and thus gradually rise to the stage of personal contact.

Maharaja Pariksit was already directly connected with the personal feature of the Lord Sri Krsna, and as such he had no need to inquire from Sukadeva Gosvami about where and how to apply the mind in the impersonal virat-rupa of the Lord. But he inquired after a detailed description of the matter for the benefit of others, who are unable to conceive of the transcendental personal feature of the Lord as the form of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The nondevotee class of men cannot think of the personal feature of the Lord. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, the personal form of the Lord, like Rama or Krsna, is completely revolting to them. They have a poor estimation of the potency of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.11) it is explained by the Lord Himself that people with a poor fund of knowledge deride the supreme personality of the Lord, taking Him to be a common man. Such men are ignorant of the inconceivable potency of the Lord. By the inconceivable potency of the Lord, He can move in human society or any other society of living beings and yet remain the same omnipotent Lord, without deviating in the slightest from His transcendental position. So, for the benefit of men who are unable to accept the Lord in His personal eternal form, Maharaja Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami how to fix the mind on Him in the beginning, and the Gosvami replied in detail as follows.

jitasano jita-svaso

jita-sango jitendriyah

sthule bhagavato rupe

manah sandharayed dhiya

sri-sukah uvaca—Sukadeva Gosvami said; jita-asanah—controlled sitting posture; jita-svasah—controlled breathing process; jita-sangah—controlled association; jita-indriyah—controlled senses; sthule—in the gross matter; bhagavatah—unto the Personality of Godhead; rupe—in the feature of; manah—the mind; sandharayet—must apply; dhiya—by intelligence.

Sukadeva Gosvami answered: One should control the sitting posture, regulate the breathing process by the yogic pranayama and thus control the mind and senses and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virat-rupa].

The materially absorbed mind of the conditioned soul does not allow him to transcend the limit of the bodily conception of self, and thus the yoga system for meditation (controlling the sitting posture and breathing process and fixing the mind upon the Supreme) is prescribed in order to mold the character of the gross materialist. Unless such materialists are able to cleanse the materially absorbed mind, it is impossible for them to concentrate upon thoughts of transcendence. And to do so one may fix one’s mind on the gross material or external feature of the Lord. The different parts of the gigantic form of the Lord are described in the following verses. The materialistic men are very anxious to have some mystic powers as a result of such a controlling process, but the real purpose of yogic regulations is to eradicate the accumulated dirty things like lust, anger, avarice and all such material contaminations. If the mystic yogi is diverted by the accompanying feats of mystic control, then his mission of yogic success is a failure, because the ultimate aim is God realization. He is therefore recommended to fix his gross materialistic mind by a different conception and thus realize the potency of the Lord. As soon as the potencies are understood to be instrumental manifestations of the transcendence, one automatically advances to the next step, and gradually the stage of full realization becomes possible for him.

visesas tasya deho ’yam

sthavisthas ca sthaviyasam

yatredam vyajyate visvam

bhutam bhavyam bhavac ca sat

visesah—personal; tasya—His; dehah—body; ayam—this; sthavisthah—grossly material; ca—and; sthaviyasam—of all matter; yatra—wherein; idam—all these phenomena; vyajyate—is experienced; visvam—universe; bhutam—past; bhavyam—future; bhavat—present; ca—and; sat—resultant.

This gigantic manifestation of the phenomenal material world as a whole is the personal body of the Absolute Truth, wherein the universal resultant past, present and future of material time is experienced.

Anything, either material or spiritual, is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (13.13), the omnipotent Lord has His transcendental eyes, heads and other bodily parts distributed everywhere. He can see, hear, touch or manifest Himself anywhere and everywhere, for He is present everywhere as the Supersoul of all infinitesimal souls, although He has His particular abode in the absolute world. The relative world is also His phenomenal representation because it is nothing but an expansion of His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode, His energy is distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded everywhere, since the rays of the sun, being nondifferent from the sun, are accepted as expansions of the sun disc. In the Visnu Purana (1.22.52) it is said that as fire expands its rays and heat from one place, similarly the Supreme Spirit, the Personality of Godhead, expands Himself by His manifold energy everywhere and anywhere. The phenomenal manifestation of the gigantic universe is only a part of His virat body. Less intelligent men cannot conceive of the transcendental all-spiritual form of the Lord, but they are astounded by His different energies, just as the aborigines are struck with wonder by the manifestation of lightning, a gigantic mountain or a hugely expanded banyan tree. The aborigines praise the strength of the tiger and the elephant because of their superior energy and strength. The asuras cannot recognize the existence of the Lord, although there are vivid descriptions of the Lord in the revealed scriptures, although the Lord incarnates and exhibits His uncommon strength and energy, and although He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by learned scholars and saints like Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita and Devala in the past and by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita, as also by the acaryas like Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva and Lord Sri Caitanya in the modern age. The asuras do not accept any evidential proof from the revealed scriptures, nor do they recognize the authority of the great acaryas. They want to see with their own eyes at once. Therefore they can see the gigantic body of the Lord as virat, which will answer their challenge, and since they are accustomed to paying homage to superior material strength like that of the tiger, elephant and lightning, they can offer respect to the virat-rupa. Lord Krsna, by the request of Arjuna, exhibited His virat-rupa for the asuras. A pure devotee of the Lord, being unaccustomed to looking into such a mundane gigantic form of the Lord, requires special vision for the purpose. The Lord, therefore, favored Arjuna with special vision for looking into His virat-rupa, which is described in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. This virat-rupa of the Lord was especially manifested, not for the benefit of Arjuna, but for that unintelligent class of men who accept anyone and everyone as an incarnation of the Lord and so mislead the general mass of people. For them, the indication is that one should ask the cheap incarnation to exhibit his virat-rupa and thus be established as an incarnation. The virat-rupa manifestation of the Lord is simultaneously a challenge to the atheist and a favor for the asuras, who can think of the Lord as virat and thus gradually cleanse the dirty things from their hearts in order to become qualified to actually see the transcendental form of the Lord in the near future. This is a favor of the all-merciful Lord to the atheists and the gross materialists.

anda-kose sarire ’smin

saptavarana-samyute

vairajah puruso yo ’sau

bhagavan dharanasrayah

anda-kose—within the universal shell; sarire—in the body of; asmin—this; sapta—sevenfold; avarana—coverings; samyute—having so done; vairajah—the gigantic universal; purusah—form of the Lord; yah—that; asau—He; bhagavan—the Personality of Godhead; dharana—conception; asrayah—object of.

The gigantic universal form of the Personality of Godhead, within the body of the universal shell, which is covered by sevenfold material elements, is the subject for the virat conception.

Simultaneously, the Lord has multifarious other forms, and all of them are identical with the original fountainhead form of the Lord, Sri Krsna. In the Bhagavad-gita, it has been proven that the original transcendental and eternal form of the Lord is Sri Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, but by His inconceivable internal potency, atma-maya, He can expand Himself by multifarious forms and incarnations simultaneously, without being diminished in His full potency. He is complete, and although innumerable complete forms emanate from Him, He is still complete, without any loss. That is His spiritual or internal potency. In the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, manifested His virat-rupa just to convince the less intelligent class of men, who cannot conceive of the Lord as appearing just like a human being, that He factually has the potency of His claim to be the Supreme Absolute person without any rival or superior. Materialistic men can think, although very imperfectly, of the huge universal space, comprehending an innumerable number of planets as big as the sun. They can see only the circular sky overhead, without any information that this universe, as well as many other hundreds of thousands of universes, are each covered by sevenfold material coverings of water, fire, air, sky, ego, noumenon and material nature, just like a huge football, pumped and covered, floating on the water of the Causal Ocean, wherein the Lord is lying as Maha-Visnu. All the universes in seed are emanating from the breathing of the Maha-Visnu, who is but part of a partial expansion of the Lord, and all the universes presided over by the Brahmas vanish when the Maha-Visnu withdraws His great breath. In this way, the material worlds are being created and vanished by the supreme will of the Lord. The poor foolish materialist can just imagine how ignorantly he puts forward an insignificant creature to become His rival incarnation, simply on the allegations of a dying man. The virat-rupa was particularly exhibited by the Lord just to give lessons to such foolish men, so that one can accept a person as the incarnation of Godhead only if such a person is able to exhibit such a virat-rupa as Lord Krsna did. The materialistic person may concentrate his mind upon the virat or gigantic form of the Lord in his own interest and as recommended by Sukadeva Gosvami, but he must be on his guard not to be misled by pretenders who claim to be the identical person as Lord Krsna but are not able to act like Him or exhibit the virat-rupa, comprehending the whole of the universe.

patalam etasya hi pada-mulam

pathanti parsni-prapade rasatalam

mahatalam visva-srjo ’tha gulphau

talatalam vai purusasya janghe

patalam—the planets at the bottom of the universe; etasya—of His; hi—exactly; pada-mulam—soles of the feet; pathanti—they study it; parsni—the heels; prapade—the toes; rasatalam—the planets named Rasatala; mahatalam—the planets named Mahatala; visva-srjah—of the creator of the universe; atha—thus; gulphau—the ankles; talatalam—the planets named Talatala; vai—as they are; purusasya—of the gigantic person; janghe—the shanks.

Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Patala constitute the bottoms of the feet of the universal Lord, and the heels and the toes are the Rasatala planets. The ankles are the Mahatala planets, and His shanks constitute the Talatala planets.

Outside the bodily existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the manifested cosmic existence has no reality. Everything and anything of the manifested world rests on Him, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.4), but that does not imply that everything and anything in the vision of a materialist is the Supreme Personality. The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization. The materialistic view of exploitation of the material resources is occasioned by the illusion of the external energy of the Lord, and as such, if anyone wants to realize the Supreme Truth by conceiving of the universal form of the Lord, he must cultivate the service attitude. Unless the service attitude is revived, the conception of virat realization will have very little effect on the seer. The transcendental Lord, in any conception of His form, is never a part of the material creation. He keeps His identity as Supreme Spirit in all circumstances and is never affected by the three material qualities, for everything material is contaminated. The Lord always exists by His internal energy.

The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems. Seven planetary systems, called Bhur, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janas, Tapas and Satya, are upward planetary systems, one above the other. There are also seven planetary systems downward, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala, gradually, one below the other. In this verse, the description begins from the bottom because it is in the line of devotion that the Lord’s bodily description should begin from His feet. Sukadeva Gosvami is a recognized devotee of the Lord, and he is exactly correct in the description.

dve januni sutalam visva-murter

uru-dvayam vitalam catalam ca

mahitalam taj-jaghanam mahipate

nabhastalam nabhi-saro grnanti

dve—two; januni—two knees; sutalam—the planetary system named Sutala; visva-murteh—of the universal form; uru-dvayam—the two thighs; vitalam—the planetary system named Vitala; ca—also; atalam—the planets named Atala; ca—and; mahitalam—the planetary system named Mahitala; tat—of that; jaghanam—the hips; mahipate—O King; nabhastalam—outer space; nabhi-sarah—the depression of the navel; grnanti—they take it so.

The knees of the universal form are the planetary system of the name Sutala, and the two thighs are the Vitala and Atala planetary systems. The hips are Mahitala, and outer space is the depression of His navel.

SB2.1.28

TEXT 28

urah-sthalam jyotir-anikam asya

griva mahar vadanam vai jano ’sya

tapo varatim vidur adi-pumsah

satyam tu sirsani sahasra-sirsnah

SYNONYMS

urah—high; sthalam—place (the chest); jyotih-anikam—the luminary planets; asya—of Him; griva—the neck; mahah—the planetary system above the luminaries; vadanam—mouth; vai—exactly; janah—the planetary system above Mahar; asya—of Him; tapah—the planetary system above the Janas; varatim—forehead; viduh—is known; adi—the original; pumsah—personality; satyam—the topmost planetary system; tu—but; sirsani—the head; sahasra—one thousand; sirsnah—one with heads.

TRANSLATION

The chest of the Original Personality of the gigantic form is the luminary planetary system, His neck is the Mahar planets, His mouth is the Janas planets, and His forehead is the Tapas planetary system. The topmost planetary system, known as Satyaloka, is the head of He who has one thousand heads.

PURPORT

The effulgent luminary planets like the sun and the moon are situated almost in the midplace of the universe, and as such they are to be known as the chest of the original gigantic form of the Lord. And above the luminary planets, called also the heavenly places of the universal directorate demigods, are the Mahar, Janas and Tapas planetary systems, and, above all, the Satyaloka planetary system, where the chief directors of the modes of material nature reside, namely Visnu, Brahma and Siva. This Visnu is known as the Ksirodakasayi Visnu, and He acts as the Supersoul in every living being. There are innumerable universes floating on the Causal Ocean, and in each of them the representation of the virat form of the Lord is there along with innumerable suns, moons, heavenly demigods, Brahmas, Visnus and Sivas, all of them situated in one part of the inconceivable potency of Lord Krsna, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (10.42).

indradayo bahava ahur usrah

karnau disah srotram amusya sabdah

nasatya-dasrau paramasya nase

ghrano ’sya gandho mukham agnir iddhah

indra-adayah—demigods headed by the heavenly king, Indra; bahavah—arms; ahuh—are called; usrah—the demigods; karnau—the ears; disah—the four directions; srotram—the sense of hearing; amusya—of the Lord; sabdah—sound; nasatya-dasrau—the demigods known as the Asvini-kumaras; paramasya—of the Supreme; nase—nostrils; ghranah—the sense of smell; asya—of Him; gandhah—fragrance; mukham—the mouth; agnih—fire; iddhah—blazing.

His arms are the demigods headed by Indra, the ten directional sides are His ears, and physical sound is His sense of hearing. His nostrils are the two Asvini-kumaras, and material fragrance is His sense of smell. His mouth is the blazing fire.

The description of the gigantic form of the Personality of Godhead made in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita is further explained here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The description in the Bhagavad-gita (11.30) runs as follows: “O Visnu, I see You devouring all people in Your blazing mouths and covering all the universe by Your immeasurable rays. Scorching the worlds, You are manifest.” In that way, Srimad-Bhagavatam is the postgraduate study for the student of the Bhagavad-gita. Both of them are the science of Krsna, the Absolute Truth, and so they are interdependent.

The conception of the virat-purusa, or the gigantic form of the Supreme Lord, is said to include all the dominating demigods as well as the dominated living beings. Even the minutest part of a living being is controlled by the empowered agency of the Lord. Since the demigods are included in the gigantic form of the Lord, worship of the Lord, whether in His gigantic material conception or in His eternal transcendental form as Lord Sri Krsna, also appeases the demigods and all the other parts and parcels, as much as watering the root of a tree distributes energy to all of the tree’s other parts. Consequently, for a materialist also, worship of the universal gigantic form of the Lord leads one to the right path. One need not risk being misled by approaching many demigods for fulfillment of different desires. The real entity is the Lord Himself, and all others are imaginary, for everything is included in Him only.

dyaur aksini caksur abhut patangah

paksmani visnor ahani ubhe ca

tad-bhru-vijrmbhah paramesthi-dhisnyam

apo ’sya talu rasa eva jihva

dyauh—the sphere of outer space; aksini—the eyeballs; caksuh—of eyes (senses); abhut—it so became; patangah—the sun; paksmani—eyelids; visnoh—of the personality of Godhead, Sri Visnu; ahani—day and night; ubhe—both; ca—and; tat—His; bhru—eyebrows; vijrmbhah—movements; paramesthi—the supreme entity (Brahma); dhisnyam—post; apah—Varuna, the director of water; asya—His; talu—palate; rasah—juice; eva—certainly; jihva—the tongue.

The sphere of outer space constitutes His eyepits, and the eyeball is the sun as the power of seeing. His eyelids are both the day and night, and in the movements of His eyebrows, the Brahma and similar supreme personalities reside. His palate is the director of water, Varuna, and the juice or essence of everything is His tongue.

To common sense the description in this verse appears to be somewhat contradictory because sometimes the sun has been described as the eyeball and sometimes as the outer space sphere. But there is no room for common sense in the injunctions of the sastras. We must accept the description of the sastras and concentrate more on the form of the virat-rupa than on common sense. Common sense is always imperfect, whereas the description in the sastras is always perfect and complete. If there is any incongruity, it is due to our imperfection and not the sastras’. That is the method of approaching Vedic wisdom.

chandamsy anantasya siro grnanti

damstra yamah sneha-kala dvijani

haso janonmada-kari ca maya

duranta-sargo yad-apanga-moksah

chandamsi—the Vedic hymns; anantasya—of the Supreme; sirah—the cerebral passage; grnanti—they say; damstrah—the jaws of teeth; yamah—Yamaraja, the director of sinners; sneha-kalah—the art of affection; dvijani—the set of teeth; hasah—smile; jana-unmada-kari—the most alluring; ca—also; maya—illusory energy; duranta—unsurpassable; sargah—the material creation; yat-apanga—whose glance; moksah—casting over.

They say that the Vedic hymns are the cerebral passage of the Lord, and His jaws of teeth are Yama, god of death, who punishes the sinners. The art of affection is His set of teeth, and the most alluring illusory material energy is His smile. This great ocean of material creation is but the casting of His glance over us.

According to Vedic assertion, this material creation is the result of the Lord’s casting a glance over the material energy, which is described herein as the most alluring illusory energy. The conditioned souls who are allured by such materialism should know that the material temporary creation is simply an imitation of the reality and that those who are captivated by such alluring glances of the Lord are put under the direction of the controller of sinners called Yamaraja. The Lord smiles affectionately, displaying His teeth. The intelligent person who can grasp these truths about the Lord becomes a soul fully surrendered unto Him.

vridottaraustho ’dhara eva lobho

dharmah stano ’dharma-patho ’sya prstham

kas tasya medhram vrsanau ca mitrau

kuksih samudra girayo ’sthi-sanghah

vrida—modesty; uttara—upper; osthah—lip; adharah—chin; eva—certainly; lobhah—hankering; dharmah—religion; stanah—breast; adharma—irreligion; pathah—way; asya—His; prstham—back; kah—Brahma; tasya—His; medhram—genitals; vrsanau—testicles; ca—also; mitrau—the Mitra-varunas; kuksih—waist; samudrah—the oceans; girayah—the hills; asthi—bones; sanghah—stack.

Modesty is the upper portion of His lips, hankering is His chin, religion is the breast of the Lord, and irreligion is His back. Brahmaji, who generates all living beings in the material world, is His genitals, and the Mitra-varunas are His two testicles. The ocean is His waist, and the hills and mountains are the stacks of His bones.

The Supreme Lord is not impersonal, as misconceived by less intelligent thinkers. Rather, He is the Supreme person, as confirmed in all authentic Vedic literatures. But His personality is different from what we can conceive. It is stated here that Brahmaji acts as His genitals and that the Mitra-varunas are His two testicles. This means that as a person He is complete with all bodily organs, but they are of different types with different potencies. When the Lord is described as impersonal, therefore, it should be understood that His personality is not exactly the type of personality found within our imperfect speculation. One can, however, worship the Lord even by seeing the hills and mountains or the ocean and the sky as different parts and parcels of the gigantic body of the Lord, the virat-purusa. The virat-rupa, as exhibited by Lord Krsna to Arjuna, is a challenge to the unbelievers.

nadyo ’sya nadyo ’tha tanu-ruhani

mahi-ruha visva-tanor nrpendra

ananta-viryah svasitam matarisva

gatir vayah karma guna-pravahah

nadyah—the rivers; asya—of Him; nadyah—veins; atha—and thereafter; tanu-ruhani—hairs on the body; mahi-ruhah—the plants and trees; visva-tanoh—of the universal form; nrpa-indra—O King; ananta-viryah—of the omnipotent; svasitam—breathing; matarisva—air; gatih—movement; vayah—passing ages; karma—activity; guna-pravahah—reactions of the modes of nature.

O King, the rivers are the veins of the gigantic body, the trees are the hairs of His body, and the omnipotent air is His breath. The passing ages are His movements, and His activities are the reactions of the three modes of material nature.

The Personality of Godhead is not a dead stone, nor is He inactive, as is poorly thought by some schools. He moves with the progress of time, and therefore lie knows all about the past and future, along with His present activities. There is nothing unknown to Him. The conditioned souls are driven by the reactions of the modes of material nature, which are the activities of the Lord. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (7.12), the modes of nature act under His direction only, and as such no natural functions are blind or automatic. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived. The Vedas say that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally, as is always the case with superiors, but everything is done by His direction. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. In the Brahma-samhita (5.48), it is said that all the universes and the heads of them (the Brahmas) exist only for the duration of His breathing period. The same is confirmed here. The air on which the universes and the planets within the universes exist is nothing but a bit of the breath of the unchallengeable virat-purusa. So even by studying the rivers, trees, air and passing ages, one can conceive of the Personality of Godhead without being misled by the formless conception of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (12.5) it is stated that those who are much inclined to the formless conception of the Supreme Truth are more troubled than those who can intelligently conceive of the personal form.

isasya kesan vidur ambuvahan

vasas tu sandhyam kuru-varya bhumnah

avyaktam ahur hrdayam manas ca

sa candramah sarva-vikara-kosah

isasya—of the supreme controller; kesan—hairs on the head; viduh—you may know it from me; ambu-vahan—the clouds which carry water; vasah tu—the dress; sandhyam—termination of day and night; kuru-varya—O best of the Kurus; bhumnah—of the Almighty; avyaktam—the prime cause of material creation; ahuh—it is said; hrdayam—intelligence; manah ca—and the mind; sah—He; candramah—the moon; sarva-vikara-kosah—the reservoir of all changes.

O best amongst the Kurus, the clouds which carry water are the hairs on His head, the terminations of days or nights are His dress, and the supreme cause of material creation is His intelligence. His mind is the moon, the reservoir of all changes.

SB2.1.35

TEXT 35

vijnana-saktim mahim amananti

sarvatmano ’ntah-karanam giritram

asvasvatary-ustra-gaja nakhani

sarve mrgah pasavah sroni-dese

SYNONYMS

vijnana-saktim—consciousness; mahim—the principle of matter; amananti—they call it so; sarva-atmanah—of the omnipresent; antah-karanam—ego; giritram—Rudra (Siva); asva—horse; asvatari—mule; ustra—camel; gajah—elephant; nakhani—nails; sarve—all other; mrgah—stags; pasavah—quadrupeds; sroni-dese—on the region of the belt.

TRANSLATION

The principle of matter [mahat-tattva] is the consciousness of the omnipresent Lord, as asserted by the experts, and Rudradeva is His ego. The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails, and wild animals and all quadrupeds are situated in the belt zone of the Lord.

SB2.1.36

TEXT 36

vayamsi tad-vyakaranam vicitram

manur manisa manujo nivasah

gandharva-vidyadhara-caranapsarah

svara-smrtir asuranika-viryah

SYNONYMS

vayamsi—varieties of birds; tat-vyakaranam—vocables; vicitram—artistic; manuh—the father of mankind; manisa—thoughts; manujah—mankind (the sons of Manu); nivasah—residence; gandharva—the human beings named Gandharvas; vidyadhara—the Vidyadharas; carana—the Caranas; apsarah—the angels; svara—musical rhythm; smrtih—remembrance; asura-anika—the demoniac soldiers; viryah—prowess.

TRANSLATION

Varieties of birds are indications of His masterful artistic sense. Manu, the father of mankind, is the emblem of His standard intelligence, and humanity is His residence. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas, Vidyadharas, Caranas and angels, all represent His musical rhythm, and the demoniac soldiers are representations of His wonderful prowess.

PURPORT

The aesthetic sense of the Lord is manifested in the artistic, colorful creation of varieties of birds like the peacock, parrot and cuckoo. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas and Vidyadharas, can sing wonderfully and can entice even the minds of the heavenly demigods. Their musical rhythm represents the musical sense of the Lord. How then can He be impersonal? His musical taste, artistic sense and standard intelligence, which is never fallible, are different signs of His supreme personality. The Manu-samhita is the standard lawbook for humanity, and every human being is advised to follow this great book of social knowledge. Human society is the residential quarters for the Lord. This means that the human being is meant for God realization and association with God. This life is a chance for the conditioned soul to regain his eternal God consciousness and thus fulfill the mission of life. Maharaja Prahlada is the right type of representative of the Lord in the family of asuras. None of the living beings is away from the Lord’s gigantic body. Each and every one has a particular duty in relation to the supreme body. Disruption in the matter of discharging the specific duty assigned to each and every living being is the cause of disharmony between one living being and another, but when the relation is reestablished in relation with the Supreme Lord, there is complete unity between all living beings, even up to the limit of the wild animals and human society. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu displayed this living unity in the jungle of Madhya Pradesh, where even the tigers, elephants and many other ferocious animals perfectly cooperated in glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is the way to peace and amity all over the world.

brahmananam ksatra-bhujo mahatma

vid urur anghri-srita-krsna-varnah

nanabhidhabhijya-ganopapanno

dravyatmakah karma vitana-yogah

brahma—the brahmanas; ananam—the face; ksatra—the ksatriyas; bhujah—the arms; mahatma—the virat-purusa; vit—the vaisyas; uruh—the thighs; anghri-srita—under the protection of His feet; krsna-varnah—the sudras; nana—various; abhidha—by names; abhijya-gana—the demigods; upapannah—being overtaken; dravya-atmakah—with feasible goods; karma—activities; vitana-yogah—performances of sacrifice.

The virat-purusa’s face is the brahmanas, His arms are the ksatriyas, His thighs are the vaisyas, and the sudras are under the protection of His feet. All the worshipable demigods are also overtaken by Him, and it is the duty of everyone to perform sacrifices with feasible goods to appease the Lord.

Monotheism is practically suggested here. Offering sacrifices to many demigods under different names is mentioned in the Vedic literatures, but the suggestion made in this verse is that all those varieties of demigods are included in the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; they are only the parts and parcels of the original whole. Similarly, the divisions of the orders of human society, namely the brahmanas (the intelligent class), the ksatriyas (the administrators), the vaisyas (the mercantile community) and the sudras (the laborer class), are all included in the body of the Supreme. As such, sacrifice by every one of them in terms of pleasing the Supreme by feasible goods is recommended. Generally, the sacrifice is offered with clarified butter and grains, but with the progress of time, human society has produced varieties of goods by transforming materials supplied by God’s material nature. Human society, therefore, must learn to offer sacrifices not only with clarified butter, but also with other manufactured goods in the propagation of the Lord’s glory, and that will bring about perfection in human society. The intelligent class of men, or brahmanas, may give direction for such sacrifices in consultation with the previous acaryas; the administrators may give all facilities to perform such sacrifices; the vaisya class or mercantile community, who produce such goods, may offer them for sacrifice; and the sudra class may offer their manual labor for the successful termination of such sacrifice. Thus by the cooperation of all classes of human beings, the sacrifice recommended in this age, namely the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, may be executed for the common welfare of all the people of the world.

iyan asav isvara-vigrahasya

yah sannivesah kathito maya te

sandharyate ’smin vapusi sthavisthe

manah sva-buddhya na yato ’sti kincit

iyan—all these; asau—that; isvara—Supreme Lord; vigrahasya—of the form; yah—whatsoever; sannivesah—as they are located; kathitah—explained; maya—by me; te—unto you; sandharyate—one may concentrate; asmin—in this; vapusi—form of virat; sthavisthe—in the gross; manah—mind; sva-buddhya—by one’s intelligence; na—not; yatah—beyond Him; asti—there is; kincit—anything else.

I have thus explained to you the gross material gigantic conception of the Personality of Godhead. One who seriously desires liberation concentrates his mind on this form of the Lord, because there is nothing more than this in the material world.

In the Bhagavad-gita (9.10), the Supreme Personality of Godhead has verily explained that the material nature is only an order-carrying agent of His. She is one of the different potencies of the Lord, and she acts under His direction only. As the supreme transcendental Lord, He simply casts a glance over the material principle, and thus the agitation of matter begins, and the resultant actions are manifested one after another by six kinds of gradual differentiations. All material creation is moving in that way, and thus it appears and disappears in due course.

Less intelligent persons with a poor fund of knowledge cannot accommodate the thought of this inconceivable potency of the Lord Sri Krsna, by which He appears just like a human being (Bg. 9.11). His appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls. He is transcendental to all material conceptions, but by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the personality of Godhead. Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. The transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the jurisdiction of such materialistic activities, and it is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive, because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience. Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virat feature of His transcendental form, and herein Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has vividly described this form of the Lord. He concludes that there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception of the gigantic form. The minds of the materialistic men are flickering and constantly changing from one aspect to another. Therefore, one is advised to think of the Lord by thinking of any part of His gigantic body, and by one’s intelligence only one can think of Him in any manifestation of the material world—the forest, the hill, the ocean, the man, the animal, the demigod, the bird, the beast or anything else. Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else. This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord. Everything being a part and parcel of the Complete Whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Isopanisad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one’s pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body.

sa sarva-dhi-vrtty-anubhuta-sarva

atma yatha svapna-janeksitaikah

tam satyam ananda-nidhim bhajeta

nanyatra sajjed yata atma-patah

sah—He (the Supreme Person); sarva-dhi-vrtti—the process of realization by all sorts of intelligence; anubhuta—cognizant; sarve—everyone; atma—the Supersoul; yatha—as much as; svapna-jana—a person dreaming; iksita—seen by; ekah—one and the same; tam—unto Him; satyam—the Supreme Truth; ananda-nidhim—the ocean of bliss; bhajeta—must one worship; na—never; anyatra—anything else; sajjet—be attached; yatah—whereby; atma-patah—degradation of oneself.

One should concentrate his mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who alone distributes Himself in so many manifestations just as ordinary persons create thousands of manifestations in dreams. One must concentrate the mind on Him, the only all-blissful Absolute Truth. Otherwise one will be misled and will cause his own degradation.

In this verse, the process of devotional service is indicated by the great Gosvami, Srila Sukadeva. He tries to impress upon us that instead of diverting our attention to several branches of self-realization, we should concentrate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the supreme object of realization, worship and devotion. Self-realization is, as it were, offering a fight for eternal life against the material struggle for existence, and therefore by the illusory grace of the external energy, the yogi or the devotee is faced with many allurements which can entangle a great fighter again in the bondage of material existence. A yogi can attain miraculous successes in material achievements, such as anima and laghima, by which one can become more minute than the minutest or lighter than the lightest, or in the ordinary sense, one may achieve material benedictions in the shape of wealth and women. But one is warned against such allurements because entanglement again in such illusory pleasure means degradation of the self and further imprisonment in the material world. By this warning, one should follow one’s vigilant intelligence only.

The Supreme Lord is one, and His expansions are various. He is therefore the Supersoul of everything. When a man sees anything, he must know that his seeing is secondary and the Lord’s seeing is primary. One cannot see anything without the Lord’s having first seen it. That is the instruction of the Vedas and the Upanisads. So whatever we see or do, the Supersoul of all acts of seeing or doing is the Lord. This theory of simultaneous oneness and difference between the individual soul and the Supersoul is propounded by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. The virat-rupa, or the gigantic feature of the Supreme Lord, includes everything materially manifested, and therefore the virat or gigantic feature of the Lord is the Supersoul of all living and nonliving entities. But the virat-rupa is also the manifestation of Narayana or Visnu, and going further on and on one will eventually see that Lord Krsna is the ultimate Supersoul of everything that be. The conclusion is that one should unhesitatingly become a worshiper of Lord Krsna, or, for that matter, His plenary expansion Narayana, and none else. In the Vedic hymns, it is clearly said that first of all Narayana cast a glance over matter and thus there was creation. Before creation, there was neither Brahma nor Siva, and what to speak of others. Sripada Sankaracarya has definitely accepted this, that Narayana is beyond the material creation and that all others are within the material creation. The whole material creation, therefore, is one with and different from Narayana, simultaneously, and this supports the acintya-bhedabheda-tattva philosophy of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Being an emanation from the glancing potency of Narayana, the whole material creation is nondifferent from Him. But because it is the effect of His external energy (bahiranga maya) and is aloof from the internal potency (atma-maya), the whole material creation is different from Him at the same time. The example given in this verse very nicely is that of the dreaming man. The dreaming man creates many things in his dream, and thus he himself becomes the entangled seer of the dream and is also affected by the consequences. This material creation is also exactly a dreamlike creation of the Lord, but He, being the transcendental Supersoul, is neither entangled nor affected by the reactions of such a dreamlike creation. He is always in His transcendental position, but essentially He is everything, and nothing is apart from Him. As a part of Him, one should therefore concentrate on Him only, without deviation; otherwise one is sure to be overcome by the potencies of the material creation, one after another. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.7) as follows:

sarva-bhutani kaunteya
prakrtim yanti mamikam
kalpa-ksaye punas tani
kalpadau visrjamy aham

“O son of Kunti, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I again create.”

The human life, however, is an opportunity to get out of this repetition of creation and annihilation. It is a means whereby one may escape the Lord’s external potency and enter into His internal potency.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Canto, First Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “The First Step in God Realization.”

Next chapter (SB 2.2)