SB 10.74.21 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यदात्मकमिदं विश्वं क्रतवश्च यदात्मका: । अग्निराहुतयो मन्त्रा साङ्ख्यं योगश्च यत्पर: ॥ २० ॥ एक एवाद्वितीयोऽसावैतदात्म्यमिदं जगत् । आत्मनात्माश्रय: सभ्या: सृजत्यवति हन्त्यज: ॥ २१ ॥

Verse text

yad-ātmakam idaṁ viśvaṁ kratavaś ca yad-ātmakāḥ agnir āhutayo mantrā sāṅkhyaṁ yogaś ca yat-paraḥ eka evādvitīyo ’sāv aitad-ātmyam idaṁ jagat ātmanātmāśrayaḥ sabhyāḥ sṛjaty avati hanty ajaḥ

Synonyms

yat — ātmakam — founded upon whom ; idam — this ; viśvam — universe ; kratavaḥ — great sacrificial performances ; ca — and ; yat — ātmakāḥ — founded upon whom ; agniḥ — the sacred fire ; āhutayaḥ — the oblations ; mantrāḥ — the incantations ; sāṅkhyam — the doctrine of philosophic investigation ; yogaḥ — the art of meditation ; ca — and ; yat — at whom ; paraḥ — aimed ; ekaḥ — one ; eva — alone ; advitīyaḥ — without a second ; asau — He ; aitat — ātmyam — founded upon Him ; idam — this ; jagat — universe ; ātmanā — through Himself (i.e., His energies) ; ātma — Himself alone ; āśrayaḥ — having as His shelter ; sabhyāḥ — O members of the assembly ; sṛjati — He creates ; avati — maintains ; hanti — and destroys ; ajaḥ — the unborn .

Translation

This entire universe is founded upon Him, as are the great sacrificial performances, with their sacred fires, oblations and mantras. Sāṅkhya and yoga both aim toward Him, the one without a second. O assembly members, that unborn Lord, relying solely on Himself, creates, maintains and destroys this cosmos by His personal energies, and thus the existence of this universe depends on Him alone.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

This entire universe is founded upon Him, as are the great sacrificial performances, with their sacred fires, oblations and mantras. Sāṅkhya and yoga both aim toward Him, the one without a second. O assembly members, that unborn Lord, relying solely on Himself, creates, maintains and destroys this cosmos by His personal energies, and thus the existence of this universe depends on Him alone. KB 10.74.20-21 “As an individual soul is the basic principle of the growth of his material body, Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul of this cosmic manifestation. All Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, such as the performance of sacrifices, the offering of oblations into the fire, the chanting of the Vedic hymns and the practice of mystic yoga, are meant for realizing Kṛṣṇa. Whether one follows the path of fruitive activities or the path of philosophical speculation, the ultimate destination is Kṛṣṇa; all bona fide methods of self-realization are meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa. Ladies and gentlemen, it is superfluous to speak about Kṛṣṇa, because every one of you exalted personalities knows the Supreme Brahman, Lord Kṛṣṇa, for whom there are no material differences between body and soul, between energy and the energetic, or between one part of the body and another. Since everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, there is no qualitative difference between Kṛṣṇa and all living entities. Everything is an emanation of Kṛṣṇa’s energies, material and spiritual. Kṛṣṇa’s energies are like the heat and light of fire; there is no difference between the qualities of heat and light and the fire itself. “Also, Kṛṣṇa can do anything He likes with any part of His body. We can execute a particular action with the help of a particular part of our body, but He can do anything and everything with any part of His body. And because His transcendental body is full of knowledge and bliss in eternity, He doesn’t undergo the six kinds of material changes—birth, existence, growth, production, dwindling and vanishing. Unforced by any external energy, He is the supreme cause of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of everything that be.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Here he expands on his previous statement. He is the object (yat parah) of jnana ( sankhya) and astanga yoga. He explains further his previous statement. He is one, all other forms of God being non different. He is advitiya : nothing is different from him, since he is one with everything (etad atmyam). This is because of the actions of his saktis: By himself as material sakti, prakrti, he creates, maintains and destroys. He is the ultimate shelter of all (atmasraya). O assembled persons, if you have differing opinions then present them, and I will settle them.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

The reason for Kṛṣṇa being everything is given. The source of unlimited universes is Kṛṣṇa (yad ātmakam), just as the sun is source of rays. He is the source of sacrifice and its limbs—fire, oblations and mantras. The procedures for liberation, Sāṅkhya and yoga are for attaining him. He gives shelter to these processes (yat-paraḥ). The word ekaḥ indicates rejection of anything equal to him and the word advitīyaḥ indicates rejection of anything other than him. The word eva indicates anything else is impossible. Thus everything is one with him (etad-ātmyam). That is illustrated in the last line. He creates, maintains and destroys by śaktis derived from his svarūpa (ātmanā). Therefore he is not dependent on anything else (ajaḥ). The word ekaḥ can also describe his oneness with the universe.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

The reason for Kṛṣṇa being everything is given. The source of unlimited universes is Kṛṣṇa (yad ātmakam). The universe is non-different from him being his aṁśa. He is the source of sacrifice and its limbs—fire, oblations and mantras. The procedures for liberation, Sāṅkhya and yoga are for attaining him. Or yoga means samādhi or merging in Brahman. He is one alone (eva), without internal difference (of same forms) as the caturvyūha etc. and without external difference, as jīvas etc. Kṛṣṇa (asau) creates the universe by himself (ātmanā). There is no other cause. He is the shelter of himself. He is non-different from all means. He is not created like the universe (ajah), but manifests by himself. This indicates that he is the supreme Lord. O members of the assembly (sabhyāḥ)! All this is known to you qualified people. Or in the absence of all else, even jñāṇa and liberation are also dependent on him.