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om—O my Lord; namah—respectful obeisances; bhagavate—unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; akuparaya—in the form of a tortoise; sarva-sattva-guna-visesanaya—whose form consists of suddha-sattva, transcendental goodness; anupalaksita-sthanaya—unto You, whose position is not discernible; namah—my respectful obeisances; varsmane—unto You who, although the oldest, are unaffected by time; namah—my respectful obeisances; bhumne—to the great one who can go everywhere; namah namah—repeated obeisances; avasthanaya—the shelter of everything; namah—respectful obeisances; te—unto You.

O my Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who have assumed the form of a tortoise. You are the reservoir of all transcendental qualities, and being entirely untinged by matter, You are perfectly situated in pure goodness. You move here and there in the water, but no one can discern Your position. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Because of Your transcendental position, You are not limited by past, present and future. You are present everywhere as the shelter of all things, and therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You again and again.

yad-rupam etan nija-mayayarpitam

In the Brahma-samhita it is said, goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutah: [Bs. 5.37] the Lord always remains in Goloka, the topmost planet in the spiritual world. At the same time, He is all-pervading. This paradox is only possible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of all opulences. The Lord’s all-pervasiveness is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (18.61) where Krsna states, isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati: “The Supreme Lord is seated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna.” Elsewhere in Bhagavad-gita (15.15) the Lord says, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.” Therefore, although the Lord is present everywhere, He cannot be seen with ordinary eyes. As Aryama says, the Lord is anupalaksita-sthana: no one can locate Him. This is the greatness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB5.18.31

TEXT 31

artha-svarupam bahu-rupa-rupitam

sankhya na yasyasty ayathopalambhanat

tasmai namas te ’vyapadesa-rupine

yat—of whom; rupam—the form; etat—this; nija-mayaya arpitam—manifested by Your personal potency; artha-svarupam—this entire visible cosmic manifestation; bahu-rupa-rupitam—manifested in various forms; sankhya—the measurement; na—not; yasya—of which; asti—there is; ayatha—falsely; upalambhanat—from perceiving; tasmai—unto Him (the Supreme Lord); namah—my respectful obeisances; te—unto You; avyapadesa—cannot be ascertained by mental speculation; rupine—whose real form.

My dear Lord, this visible cosmic manifestation is a demonstration of Your own creative energy. Since the countless varieties of forms within this cosmic manifestation are simply a display of Your external energy, this virat-rupa [universal body] is not Your real form. Except for a devotee in transcendental consciousness, no one can perceive Your actual form. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

jarayujam svedajam andajodbhidam

Mayavadi philosophers think the universal form of the Lord to be real and His personal form illusory. We can understand their mistake by a simple example. A fire consists of three elements: heat and light, which are the energy of the fire, and the fire itself. Anyone can understand that the original fire is the reality and that the heat and light are simply the fire’s energy. Heat and light are the formless energies of fire, and in that sense they are unreal. Only the fire has form, and therefore it is the real form of the heat and light. As Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita (9.4), maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina: “By Me, in My unmanifested form. this entire universe is pervaded.” Thus the impersonal conception of the Lord is like the expansion of heat and light from a fire. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord also says, mat-sthani sarva-bhutani na caham tesv avasthitah: the entire material creation is resting on Krsna’s energy, either material, spiritual or marginal, but because His form is absent from the expansion of His energy, He is not personally present. This inconceivable expansion of the Supreme Lord’s energy is called acintya-sakti. Therefore no one can understand the real form of the Lord without becoming His devotee.

SB5.18.32

TEXT 32

caracaram devarsi-pitr-bhutam aindriyam

dyauh kham ksitih saila-sarit-samudra-

dvipa-graharksety abhidheya ekah

jarayu-jam—one born from a womb; sveda-jam—one born from perspiration; anda-ja—one born from an egg; udbhidam—one born of the earth; cara-acaram—the moving and the stationary; deva—the demigods; rsi—the great sages; pitr—the inhabitants of Pitrloka; bhutam—the material elements air, fire, water and earth; aindriyam—all the senses; dyauh—the higher planetary systems; kham—the sky; ksitih—the earthly planets; saila—the hills and mountains; sarit—the rivers; samudra—the oceans; dvipa—the islands; graha-rksa—the stars and planets; iti—thus; abhidheyah—to be variously named; ekah—one.

My dear Lord, You manifest Your different energies in countless forms: as living entities born from wombs, from eggs and from perspiration; as plants and trees that grow out of the earth; as all living entities, both moving and standing, including the demigods, the learned sages and the pitas; as outer space, as the higher planetary system containing the heavenly planets, and as the planet earth with its hills, rivers, seas, oceans and islands. Indeed, all the stars and planets are simply manifestations of Your different energies, but originally You are one without a second. Therefore there is nothing beyond You. This entire cosmic manifestation is therefore not false but is simply a temporary manifestation of Your inconceivable energy.

This verse completely rejects the theory of brahma satyam jagan mithya, which states that spirit, or Brahman, is real, whereas the manifested material world, with its great variety of things, is false. Nothing is false. One thing may be permanent and another temporary, but both the permanent and the temporary are facts. For example, if someone becomes angry for a certain period, no one can say that his anger is false. It is simply temporary. Everything we experience in our daily lives is of this same character; it is temporary but real.

The different kinds of living entities coming from various sources are very clearly described in this verse. Some are born from a womb and some (like certain insects) from human perspiration. Others hatch from eggs, and still others sprout from the earth. A living entity takes birth under different circumstances according to his past activities (karma). Although the body of the living entity is material, it is never false. No one will accept the argument that since a person’s material body is false, murder has no repercussions. Our temporary bodies are given to us according to our karma, and we must remain in our given bodies to enjoy the pains and pleasures of life. Our bodies cannot be called false; they are only temporary. In other words, the energy of the Supreme Lord is as permanent as the Lord Himself, although His energy is sometimes manifest and sometimes not. As summarized in the Vedas, sarvam khalv idam brahma: “Everything is Brahman.”

SB5.18.33

TEXT 33

yasminn asankhyeya-visesa-nama-

rupakrtau kavibhih kalpiteyam

sankhya yaya tattva-drsapaniyate

tasmai namah sankhya-nidarsanaya te iti

yasmin—in You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); asankhyeya—innumerable; visesa—particular; nama—names; rupa—forms; akrtau—possessing bodily features; kavibhih—by great learned persons; kalpita—imagined; iyam—this; sankhya—number; yaya—by whom; tattva—of the truth; drsa—by knowledge; apaniyate—is extracted; tasmai—unto Him; namah—respectful obeisances; sankhya-nidarsanaya—who is the revealer of this numerical knowledge; te—unto You; iti—thus.

O my Lord, Your name, form and bodily features are expanded in countless forms. No one can determine exactly how many forms exist, yet You Yourself, in Your incarnation as the learned scholar Kapiladeva, have analyzed the cosmic manifestation as containing twenty-four elements. Therefore if one is interested in Sankhya philosophy, by which one can enumerate the different truths, he must hear it from You. Unfortunately, nondevotees simply count the different elements and remain ignorant of Your actual form. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years. However, the speculative research work of a so-called scientist or philosopher is always interrupted when he dies, and the laws of nature go on without regard for his work.

For billions of years changes take place in the material creation, until at last the whole universe is dissolved and remains in an unmanifested state. Constant change and destruction (bhutva bhutva praliyate) is perpetually going on in nature, yet the material scientists want to study natural laws without knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the background of nature. As Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita (9.10):

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

“This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.”

Now the material creation is manifest, eventually it will be annihilated and remain for many millions of years in a dormant state, and finally it will again be created. This is the law of nature.

SB5.18.34

TEXT 34

uttaresu ca kurusu bhagavan yajna-purusah krta-varaha-rupa aste tam tu devi haisa bhuh saha kurubhir askhalita-bhakti-yogenopadhavati imam ca paramam upanisadam avartayati.

uttaresu—on the northern side; ca—also; kurusu—in the tract of land known as Kuru; bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yajna-purusah—who accepts all results of sacrifices; krta-varaha-rupah—having accepted the form of a boar; aste—exists eternally; tam—Him; tu—certainly; devi—the goddess; ha—certainly; esa—this; bhuh—planet earth; saha—along with; kurubhih—the inhabitants of the land known as Kuru; askhalita—unfailing; bhakti-yogena—by devotional service; upadhavati—worship; imam—this; ca—also; paramam upanisadam—the supreme Upanisad (the process by which one can approach the Lord); avartayati—chants again and again for the purpose of practice.

Sukadeva Gosvami said: Dear King, the Supreme Lord in His boar incarnation, who accepts all sacrificial offerings, lives in the northern part of Jambudvipa. There, in the tract of land known as Uttarakuru-varsa, mother earth and all the other inhabitants worship Him with unfailing devotional service by repeatedly chanting the following Upanisad mantra.

SB5.18.35

TEXT 35

om namo bhagavate mantra-tattva-lingaya yajna-kratave maha-dhvaravayavaya maha-purusaya namah karma-suklaya tri-yugaya namas te.

SYNONYMS

om—O Lord; namah—respectful obeisances; bhagavate—unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; mantra-tattva-lingaya—who is understood in truth by different mantras; yajna—in the form of animal sacrifices; kratave—and animal sacrifice; maha-dhvara—great sacrifices; avayavaya—whose limbs and bodily parts; maha-purusaya—unto the Supreme Person; namah—respectful obeisances; karma-suklaya—who purifies the fruitive activities of the living entities; tri-yugaya—unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full with six opulences and who appears in three yugas (remaining concealed in the fourth yuga); namah—my respectful obeisances; te—unto You.

TRANSLATION

O Lord, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You as the gigantic person. Simply by chanting mantras, we shall be able to understand You fully. You are yajna [sacrifice], and You are the kratu [ritual]. Therefore all the ritualistic ceremonies of sacrifice are part of Your transcendental body, and You are the only enjoyer of all sacrifices. Your form is composed of transcendental goodness. You are known as tri-yuga because in Kali-yuga You appeared as a concealed incarnation and because You always fully possess the three pairs of opulences.

PURPORT

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the incarnation for this age of Kali, as confirmed in many places throughout the puranas, the Mahabharata, Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Upanisads. The summary of His appearance is given in Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 6.99) as follows:

kali-yuge lilavatara na kare bhagavan
ataeva ‘tri-yuga’ kari’ kahi tara nama

In this age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Bhagavan) does not appear as a lilavatara, an incarnation to display pastimes. Therefore He is known as tri-yuga. Unlike other incarnations, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears in this age of Kali as a devotee of the Lord. Therefore He is called a concealed incarnation (channavatara).

SB5.18.36

TEXT 36

yasya svarupam kavayo vipascito

gunesu darusv iva jata-vedasam

mathnanti mathna manasa didrksavo

gudham kriyarthair nama iritatmane

yasya—whose; sva-rupam—form; kavayah—the greatly learned sages; vipascitah—expert in ascertaining the Absolute Truth; gunesu—in the material manifestation, consisting of the three modes of nature; darusu—in wood; iva—like; jata—manifested; vedasam—fire; mathnanti—stir; mathna—with a piece of wood used for producing fire; manasa—by the mind; didrksavah—who are inquisitive; gudham—hidden; kriya-arthaih—by fruitive activities and their results; namah—respectful obeisances; irita-atmane—unto the Lord, who is manifested.

By manipulating a fire-generating stick, great saints and sages can bring forth the fire lying dormant within wood. In the same way, O Lord, those expert in understanding the Absolute Truth try to see You in everything—even in their own bodies. Yet you remain concealed. You are not to be understood by indirect processes involving mental or physical activities. Because You are self-manifested, only when You see that a person is wholeheartedly engaged in searching for You do You reveal Yourself. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

dravya-kriya-hetv-ayanesa-kartrbhir

The word kriyarthaih means “by performing ritualistic ceremonies to satisfy the demigods.” The word vipascitah is explained in the Taittiriya Upanisad as follows: satyam jnanam anantam brahma. yo veda nihitam guhayam parame vyoman. so ’snute sarvan kaman saha brahmana vipasciteti. As Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita (7.19), bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate: “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me.” When one understands that the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart and actually sees the Lord present everywhere, he has perfect knowledge. The word jata-vedah means “fire which is produced by rubbing wood.” In Vedic times, learned sages could bring forth fire from wood. Jata-vedah also indicates the fire in the stomach, which digests everything we eat and which produces an appetite. The word gudha is explained in the Svetasvatara Upanisad. Eko devah sarva-bhutesu gudhah: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is understood by chanting the Vedic mantras. Sarva-vyapi sarva-bhutantar-atma: He is all-pervading, and He is within the heart of living entities. Karmadhyaksah sarva-bhutadhivasah: He witnesses all activities of the living entity. Saksi ceta kevalo nirgunas ca: The Supreme Lord is the witness as well as the living force, yet He is transcendental to all material qualities.

SB5.18.37

TEXT 37

maya-gunair vastu-niriksitatmane

anviksayangatisayatma-buddhibhir

nirasta-mayakrtaye namo namah

dravya—by the objects of sense enjoyment; kriya—the activities of the senses; hetu—the predominating deities of sensory activities; ayana—the body; isa—the predominating time; kartrbhih—by false egotism; maya-gunaih—by the modes of material nature; vastu—as a fact; niriksita—being observed; atmane—unto the Supreme Soul; anviksaya—by careful consideration; anga—by the limbs of yogic practice; atisaya-atma-buddhibhih—by those whose intelligence has become fixed; nirasta—completely freed from; maya—the illusory energy; akrtaye—whose form; namah—all respectful obeisances; namah—respectful obeisances.

The objects of material enjoyment [sound, form, taste, touch and smell], the activities of the senses, the controllers of sensory activities [the demigods], the body, eternal time and egotism are all creations of Your material energy. Those whose intelligence has become fixed by perfect execution of mystic yoga can see that all these elements result from the actions of Your external energy. They can also see Your transcendental form as Supersoul in the background of everything. Therefore I repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

The objects of material enjoyment, the sensory activities, attachment to sensual pleasure, the body, false egotism and so on are produced by the Lord’s external energy, maya. The background of all these activities is the living being, and the director of the living beings is the Supersoul. The living being is not the all in all. He is directed by the Supersoul. In Bhagavad-gita (15.15) Krsna confirms this:

sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca

“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.” The living entity depends on the Supersoul for directions. A person advanced in spiritual knowledge, or a person expert in the practice of mystic yoga (yama, niyama, asana and so on) can understand transcendence either as Paramatma or as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord is the original cause of all natural events. Therefore He is described as sarva-karana-karanam [Bs. 5.1], the cause of all causes. Behind everything visible to our material eyes is some cause, and one who can see the original cause of all causes, Lord Krsna, can actually see. Krsna, the sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], is the background of everything, as He Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gita (9.10):

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

SB5.18.38

TEXT 38

karoti visva-sthiti-samyamodayam

yasyepsitam nepsitam iksitur gunaih

maya yathayo bhramate tad-asrayam

gravno namas te guna-karma-saksine

karoti—performing; visva—of the universe; sthiti—the maintenance; samyama—winding up; udayam—creation; yasya—of whom; ipsitam—desired; na—not; ipsitam—desired; iksituh—of the one glancing over; gunaih—with the modes of material nature; maya—the material energy; yatha—as much as; ayah—iron; bhramate—moves; tat-asrayam—placed near that; gravnah—a magnetic stone; namah—my respectful obeisances; te—unto You; guna-karma-saksine—the witness of the actions and reactions of material nature.

O Lord, You do not desire the creation, maintenance or annihilation of this material world, but You perform these activities for the conditioned souls by Your creative energy. Exactly as a piece of iron moves under the influence of a lodestone, inert matter moves when You glance over the total material energy.

Sometimes the question arises why the Supreme Lord has created this material world, which is so full of suffering for the living entities entrapped in it. The answer given herein is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not wish to create this material world just to inflict suffering on the living entities. The Supreme Lord creates this world only because the conditioned souls want to enjoy it.

The workings of nature are not going on automatically. It is only because the Lord glances over the material energy that it acts in wonderful ways, just as a lodestone causes a piece of iron to move here and there. Because materialistic scientists and so-called Sankhya philosophers do not believe in God, they think that material nature is working without supervision. But that is not the fact. In Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 6.18–19) the creation of the material world is explained as follows:

yadyapi sankhya mane ‘pradhana’——karana
jada ha-ite kabhu nahe jagat-srjana

nija-srsti-sakti prabhu sancare pradhane
isvarera saktye tabe haye ta’ nirmane

“Atheistic Sankhya philosophers think that the total material energy causes the cosmic manifestation, but they are wrong. Dead matter has no moving power, and therefore it cannot act independently. The Lord infuses the material ingredients with His own creative potency. Then, by the power of the Lord, matter moves and interacts.” Sea waves are moved by the air, the air is created from ether, the-ether is produced by the agitation of the three modes of material nature, and the three modes of material nature interact due to the Supreme Lord’s glance over the total material energy. Therefore the background of all natural occurrences is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [Bg. 9.10]). This is also further explained in Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 5.59–61):

jagat-karana nahe prakrti jada-rupa
sakti sancariya tare krsna kare krpa

krsna-saktye prakrti haya gauna karana
agni-saktye lauha yaiche karaye jarana

ataeva krsna mula-jagat-karana
prakrti——karana yaiche aja-gala-stana

“Because prakrti [material nature] is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. Lord Krsna shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature. Thus prakrti, by the energy of Lord Krsna, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red-hot by the energy of fire. Therefore Lord Krsna is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. prakrti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.” Thus it is a great mistake on the part of the material scientists and philosophers to think that matter moves independently.

SB5.18.39

TEXT 39

pramathya daityam prativaranam mrdhe

yo mam rasaya jagad-adi-sukarah

krtvagra-damstre niragad udanvatah

kridann ivebhah pranatasmi tam vibhum iti

pramathya—after killing; daityam—the demon; prativaranam—most formidable opponent; mrdhe—in the fight; yah—He who; mam—me (the earth); rasayah—fallen to the bottom of the universe; jagat—in this material world; adi-sukarah—the original form of a boar; krtva—keeping it; agra-damstre—on the end of the tusk; niragat—came out of the water; udanvatah—from the Garbhodaka Ocean; kridan—playing; iva—like; ibhah—elephant; pranata asmi—I bow down; tam—to Him; vibhum—the Supreme Lord; iti—thus.