SB 4.31.17 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यथा नभस्यभ्रतम:प्रकाशा भवन्ति भूपा न भवन्त्यनुक्रमात् । एवं परे ब्रह्मणि शक्तयस्त्वमू रजस्तम:सत्त्वमिति प्रवाह: ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

yathā nabhasy abhra-tamaḥ-prakāśā bhavanti bhūpā na bhavanty anukramāt evaṁ pare brahmaṇi śaktayas tv amū rajas tamaḥ sattvam iti pravāhaḥ

Synonyms

yathā — as ; nabhasi — in the sky ; abhra — clouds ; tamaḥ — darkness ; prakāśāḥ — and illumination ; bhavanti — exist ; bhū — pāḥ — O Kings ; na bhavanti — do not appear ; anukramāt — consecutively ; evam — thus ; pare — supreme ; brahmaṇi — in the Absolute ; śaktayaḥ — energies ; tu — then ; amūḥ — those ; rajaḥ — passion ; tamaḥ — darkness ; sattvam — goodness ; iti — thus ; pravāhaḥ — emanation .

Translation

My dear Kings, sometimes in the sky there are clouds, sometimes there is darkness, and sometimes there is illumination. The appearance of all these takes place consecutively. Similarly, in the Supreme Absolute, the modes of passion, darkness and goodness appear as consecutive energies. Sometimes they appear, and sometimes they disappear.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O King! Just as clouds, darkness, and light appear and disappear in the sky in succession, the energies of rajas, tamas and sattva appear and disappear in the Supreme Lord. “How can the Lord who is beyond the guṇas of the universe be the cause of the universe made of guṇas? The material cause of the pot is cannot be something which is not earth. And how can the Lord be without change as the material cause of the universe?” Clouds, darkness and light appear and disappear in the sky by the power of the sun. “From the sun” should be understood from verse 15. In another verse, snow is used as an example. Snow also appears because of the sun. Prāṇādibhiḥ sva-bhavair upagūḍha-manyo manyeta sūryam iva megha-himoparāgaiḥ: ordinary persons think that the Lord is covered by his own creations of prāṇa and other material elements, just as one may think that the sun is covered by clouds, snow or an eclipse.( SB 10.84.33) The word uparāga (eclipse) refers to the covering of ignorance on the sinful jīva. O King! Though the sun is beyond the clouds and the snow, it is their material cause, and remains unchanged. Similarly, the Lord, though beyond the guṇas, is the cause of the universe and unchanging. And just as the sun, though different from the clouds and snow, is also the clouds and snow because of being their cause, so the Lord also, though different from the world, is also the world. In this manner, the world appears and disappears. Just as clouds and darkness, and even the contaminated light situated far from the sun, are not the svarūpa of the pure, shining sun, so rajas, tamas and even sattva are not the svarūpa of the Lord who is pure knowledge. According the Nārada, the Supreme Lord is the material cause of the universe made of guṇas and is also unchanging. duravabodha iva tavāyaṁ vihāra-yogo yad aśaraṇo 'śarīra idam anavekṣitāsmat-samavāya ātmanaivāvikriyamāṇena saguṇam aguṇaḥ sṛjasi pāsi harasi. It is difficult to understand that you, though engaged in pastimes in the spiritual world, without a material shelter, without actions in a material body, without the assistance of the devatās, without material guṇas, create, maintain and destroy the universe made of guṇas, without transformation of your svarūpa, though you are the material elements. SB 6.9.34 The personified Vedas says: bṛhad upalabdham etad avayanty avaśeṣatayā yata udayāstam-ayau vikṛter mṛdi vāvikṛtāt ata ṛṣayo dadhus tvayi mano-vacanācaritaṁ katham ayathā bhavanti bhuvi datta-padāni nṛṇām This perceivable world is identified with the Supreme because the Supreme Brahman is the ultimate foundation of all existence, remaining unchanged as all created things are generated from it and at last dissolved into it, just as clay remains unchanged by the products made from it and again merged with it. Thus it is toward you alone that the Vedic sages direct all their thoughts, words and acts. After all, how can the footsteps of men fail to touch the earth on which they live? SB 10.87.15 namo namas te 'khila-kāraṇāya niṣkāraṇāyādbhuta-kāraṇāya sarvāgamāmnāya-mahārṇavāya namo 'pavargāya parāyaṇāya I offer repeated respects to the cause of everything, who has no cause, who is the astonishing cause without change, who is the great ocean of Paṣcarātra and Vedas proving his nature, who is the very form of liberation and the shelter of the greatest devotees. SB 8.3.15 According to Gajendra, the astonishing nature of the Lord as creator is that though he is the material cause, he remains unchanged. If one accepts that he does change, then it would not be astonishing, since it would a logical condition. Śrīdhara Svāmī, commenting on the words adbhūta-karaṇāya says that though the Lord is the cause, he does not accept transformations such as earth.

Purport

Darkness, illumination and clouds sometimes appear and sometimes disappear, but even when they have disappeared, the potency is still there, always existing. In the sky sometimes we see clouds, sometimes rainfall and sometimes snow. Sometimes we see night, sometimes day, sometimes illumination and sometimes darkness. All these exist due to the sun, but the sun is unaffected by all these changes. Similarly, although the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of the total cosmic manifestation, He is unaffected by the material existence. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.4) : bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight comprise My separated material energies.” Although the material, or physical, elements are the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are separate. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is therefore not affected by material conditions. The Vedānta-sūtra confirms, janmādy asya yataḥ: the creation, maintenance and dissolution of this cosmic manifestation are due to the existence of the Supreme Lord. Nonetheless, the Lord is unaffected by all these changes in the material elements. This is indicated by the word pravāha, “emanation.” The sun always shines brilliantly and is not affected by clouds or darkness. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always present in His spiritual energy and is not affected by the material emanations. Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1) confirms: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam “Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes.” Although He is the supreme cause, the cause of all causes, He is still parama, transcendental, and His form is sac-cid-ānanda, eternal, spiritual bliss. Kṛṣṇa is the shelter of everything, and this is the verdict of all scripture. Kṛṣṇa is the remote cause, and material nature is the immediate cause of the cosmic manifestation. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that understanding prakṛti, or nature, to be the cause of everything is like understanding the nipples on the neck of a goat to be the cause of milk. Material nature is the immediate cause of the cosmic manifestation, but the original cause is Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes people think that the cause of an earthen pot is the earth. We see on a potter’s wheel a sufficient amount of earth to produce many pots, and although unintelligent men will say that the earth on the wheel is the cause of the pot, those who are actually advanced will find that the original cause is the potter, who supplies the earth and moves the wheel. Material nature may be a helping factor in the creation of this cosmic manifestation, but it is not the ultimate cause. In Bhagavad-gītā (9.10) the Lord therefore says: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram “This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and producing all moving and unmoving beings.” The Supreme Lord casts His glance over material energy, and His glance agitates the three modes of nature. Creation then takes place. The conclusion is that nature is not the cause of the material manifestation. The Supreme Lord is the cause of all causes.