SB 11.19.15 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

एतदेव हि विज्ञानं न तथैकेन येन यत् । स्थित्युत्पत्त्यप्ययान् पश्येद् भावानां त्रिगुणात्मनाम् ॥ १५ ॥

Verse text

etad eva hi vijṣānaṁ na tathaikena yena yat sthity-utpatty-apyayān paśyed bhāvānāṁ tri-guṇātmanām

Synonyms

etat — this ; eva — indeed ; hi — actually ; vijṣānam — realized knowledge ; na — not ; tathā — in that way ; ekena — by the one (Personality of Godhead) ; yena — by whom ; yat — which (universe) ; sthiti — maintenance ; utpatti — creation ; apyayān — and annihilation ; paśyet — one should see ; bhāvānām — of all material elements ; tri — guṇa — of the three modes of nature ; ātmanām — composed .

Translation

When one no longer sees the twenty-eight separated material elements, which arise from a single cause, but rather sees the cause itself, the Personality of Godhead — at that time one’s direct experience is called vijṣāna, or self-realization.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

This jṣāna becomes vijṣāna when one does not see all the elements as one with Paramātmā but directly sees Paramātmā and nothing else. At the stage of jṣāna however one should see the temporary nature of all the material elements made of the three guṇas. Vijṣāna is defined in the first half of the verse. That jṣāna (etat eva) becomes vijṣānam. How? It is vijṣāna when one does not see the universe as one with Paramātmā as before. The meaning is this. At the stage of jṣāna one sees everything arising from Paramāṭmā who is not seen. At the stage of vijṣāna, one sees only Paramātmā directly. Because of the bliss of realizing Paramātmā, one has no opportunity to see his products. This is realization of oneness. In the previous verse it was explained that at the stage of jṣāna, one sees everything as Paramātmā because he is the supreme cause of all the effects. That is again repeated in the second part of this verse: one should see the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material products. This means one should see them as temporary.

Purport

The difference between jṣāna (ordinary Vedic knowledge) and vijṣāna (self-realization) can be understood as follows. A conditioned soul, although cultivating Vedic knowledge, continues to identify himself to some extent with the material body and mind and consequently with the material universe. In trying to understand the world he lives in, the conditioned soul learns through Vedic knowledge that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the one supreme cause of all material manifestations. He comes to understand the world around him, which he accepts more or less as his world. As he progresses in spiritual realization, breaking through the barrier of bodily identification, and realizes the existence of the eternal soul, he gradually identifies himself as part and parcel of the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha. At that time he is no longer interested in the Personality of Godhead merely as the supreme explanation of the material world; rather, he begins to reorient his entire mode of consciousness so that the central object of his attention is the Personality of Godhead. Such a reorientation is required, since the Supreme Lord is the factual center and cause of everything. A self-realized soul in the stage of vijṣāna thus experiences the Personality of Godhead not merely as the creator of the material world but as the supreme living entity existing blissfully in His own eternal context. As one progresses in one’s realization of the Supreme Lord in His own abode in the spiritual sky, one gradually becomes disinterested in the material universe and ceases to define the Supreme Lord in terms of His temporary manifestations. A self-realized soul in the stage of vijṣāna is not at all attracted by objects that are created, maintained and ultimately destroyed. The stage of jṣāna is the preliminary stage of knowledge for those still identifying themselves in terms of the material universe, whereas vijṣāna is the mature stage of knowledge for those who see themselves as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.