SB 6.16.52

SB 6.16.52

Devanagari

लोके विततमात्मानं लोकं चात्मनि सन्ततम् । उभयं च मया व्याप्तं मयि चैवोभयं कृतम् ॥ ५२ ॥

Verse text

loke vitatam ātmānaṁ lokaṁ cātmani santatam ubhayaṁ ca mayā vyāptaṁ mayi caivobhayaṁ kṛtam

Synonyms

loke in this material world ; vitatam expanded (in the spirit of material enjoyment) ; ātmānam the living entity ; lokam the material world ; ca also ; ātmani in the living entity ; santatam spread ; ubhayam both (the material world of material elements and the living entity) ; ca and ; mayā by Me ; vyāptam pervaded ; mayi in Me ; ca also ; eva indeed ; ubhayam both of them ; kṛtam created .

Translation

In this world of matter, which the conditioned soul accepts as consisting of enjoyable resources, the conditioned soul expands, thinking that he is the enjoyer of the material world. Similarly, the material world expands in the living entity as a source of enjoyment. In this way they both expand, but because they are My energies, they are both pervaded by Me. As the Supreme Lord, I am the cause of these effects, and one should know that both of them rest in Me.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The jīva takes the position of an enjoyer in this world and the world is situated as the object of enjoyment for the jīva. Both are pervaded by me, since I am their cause, and both are produced within me. “If you are everything, then the devotees should meditate on all living entities as the object of worship and they would be the antaryāmī.” In the material world, the jīva has the status of the enjoyer (vitatam). The world is situated as the object of enjoyment for the jīva (ātmani). Both the jīva and the world are pervaded by me, the cause. Both exist as products in me, the adhiṣṭhāna-kāraṇa (cause by being the support). The verb of the sentence smaret is in verse 54. All beings, are products of my śaktis, are temporary and do not arise from my svarūpa. Therefore they should not be the object of meditation in worship.

Purport

The Māyāvāda philosophy sees everything as being equal in quality with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Supreme Brahman, and therefore sees everything as worshipable. This dangerous theory of the Māyāvāda school has turned people in general toward atheism. On the strength of this theory, one thinks that he is God, but this is not a fact. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā ( mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā ), the fact is that the entire cosmic manifestation is an expansion of the Supreme Lord’s energies, which are manifested in the physical elements and the living entities. The living entities wrongly consider the physical elements to be resources meant for their enjoyment, and they think themselves to be the enjoyers. However, neither of them is independent; they are both energies of the Lord. The original cause for the material energy and spiritual energy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, although the expansion of the Lord’s energies is the original cause, one should not think that the Lord Himself has expanded in different ways. To condemn the theories of the Māyāvādīs, the Lord clearly says in Bhagavad-gītā, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ: “All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” Everything rests upon Him, and everything is but an expansion of His energies, but this does not mean that everything is as worshipable as the Lord Himself. The material expansion is temporary, but the Lord is not temporary. The living entities are parts of the Lord, but they are not the Lord Himself. The living entities in this material world are not inconceivable, but the Lord is. The theory that the Lord’s energies, being expansions of the Lord, are as good as the Lord is mistaken.