Devanagari
ज्योतिरादिरिवाभाति सङ्घातान्न विविच्यते ।
विदन्त्यात्मानमात्मस्थं मथित्वा कवयोऽन्तत: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
jyotir-ādir ivābhāti
saṅghātān na vivicyate
vidanty ātmānam ātma-sthaṁ
mathitvā kavayo ’ntataḥ
Synonyms
jyotiḥ
—
fire
;
ādiḥ
—
and other elements
;
iva
—
just as
;
ābhāti
—
appear
;
saṅghātāt
—
from the bodies of demigods and others
;
na
—
not
;
vivicyate
—
are distinguished
;
vidanti
—
perceive
;
ātmānam
—
the Supersoul
;
ātma
—
stham — situated in the heart
;
mathitvā
—
by discerning
;
kavayaḥ
—
expert thinkers
;
antataḥ
—
within .
Translation
The all-pervading Personality of Godhead exists within the heart of every living being, and an expert thinker can perceive how He is present there to a large or small extent. Just as one can understand the supply of fire in wood, the water in a waterpot, or the sky within a pot, one can understand whether a living entity is a demon or a demigod by understanding that living entity’s devotional performances. A thoughtful man can understand how much a person is favored by the Supreme Lord by seeing his actions.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Lord resides in all beings just as fire resides in wood, water in a cup or ether in a pot, but he is not perceived when one sees material bodies. The wise know the Paramātmā situated in all beings by inferring him through the effects, after discarding false doctrines.
An example is given to show how, with the increase or decrease of a guṇa, the bodies suitable to the guṇa increase or decrease. Fire is latent in wood, water is in a cup and ether is in a pot. When there is more wood there is more fire and when there is less wood there is less fire. One does not call this inequality. Similarly, when there is more sattva, encouraging to devatās, there are more forms of devatās. At that time, rajas favoring demons decreases and there are less demons. If the demons are suppressed and the devatās are the suppressors, one can say that the Lord favors the devatās and disfavors the demons. When rajas increases, then one can say the Lord favors the demons and disfavors the devatās. From the common viewpoint this may seem like favoritism but it is not, for when sattva becomes prominent the Lord favors the devatās and when sattva is not prominent, he does not favor them.
“In the example, we can understand by our intelligence that fire resides in wood. Do we perceive the Lord in the bodies of the devatās, demons and Rākṣasas?” By seeing the bodies of the devatās and others one cannot conclude the Lord’s existence. The Lord is not perceived like others. “Then how do we know that he favors some?” The skilful people (kavayaḥ) know the Paramātmā (ātma-stham) by inferring through the effects (mathitvā). They know at the end (antantah), after rejecting theories like svabhāva-vāda or karma-vāda. Instead of vidanti there is a version with vindanti, but the meaning is the same.
“The Lord, favoring Indra, sometimes kills the demons in sight of everyone. When rajas and tamas increase, sometimes the Lord favors the demons and rejects the devatās. If that were so, it would make his equality perfect.” The answer to this is found in another meaning of the verse. Jyotirādiḥ iva means “just like elements such as fire, which have the sense objects of form, taste, smell and touch existing within them.” These are visible in objects, but because of the combination they are not clearly visible, though they are still present within. The Lord is visible to various degrees in this world in the devatās and asuras. And he resides internally. Because of a predominance of sattva, and not being covered by it, the sense object called form (or color) is perceived in the light. At a slight distance we see whiteness in milk. At a distance of 200,000 yojanas we see the white moon. This is clearly perceived by the eye. Because of the prominence of sattva in the devatās, and not being covered by sattva, the Supreme Lord within them manifests as the form of Upendra clearly.
Because of the prominence of tamas and rajas in water and other elements, and being covered by those guṇas, sound, touch, smell and taste are not clearly visible in them. Because of the existence of some sattva with rajas and tamas, and thus the impossibility of being completely covered over, there is perception of the sense object when the object comes in contact with the gross sense organ (but not at a great distance.) Thus an object with taste in contact with the tongue gives experience of taste. An object with sound in ether, in contact with the ear, gives experience of sound. An object with coolness in contact with the skin gives the sensation of touch. A fragrant object in the air in contact with the nose gives the experience of smell.
Similarly because the predominance of rajas and tamas in the demons and Rākṣasas, and being covered by those guṇas, the Lord within them is not clearly seen as favoring them. If the sun is covered by clouds and not by sunshine, then it is not very visible. If it is not covered by clouds and is covered with sunshine, it is very visible. Similarly if the Lord is covered by tamas, then he is not visible, and if covered by sattva, he is visible. “Well, with lack of clear perception of the Lord’s partiality to the demons, how can we know it exists?” The wise understand its existence by seeing the effects--such as the devatās being defeated.
Purport
In
Bhagavad-gītā
(10.41)
the Lord says:
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ
śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ
mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam
“Know that all beautiful, glorious and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.” We have the practical experience of seeing that one person is able to do very wonderful things whereas another cannot do those same things and cannot even do things that require only a little common sense. Therefore, how much a devotee has been favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be tested by the activities the devotee has performed. In
Bhagavad-gītā
(10.10)
the Lord also says:
teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te
“To those who are constantly devoted and who worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” This is very practical. A teacher instructs the student if the student is capable of taking more and more instructions. Otherwise, in spite of being instructed by the teacher, the student cannot make strides in his understanding. This has nothing to do with partiality. When Kṛṣṇa says
teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam/ dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam,
this indicates that Kṛṣṇa is prepared to give
bhakti-yoga
to everyone, but one must be capable of receiving it. That is the secret. Thus when a person exhibits wonderful devotional activities, a thoughtful man understands that Kṛṣṇa has been more favorable to this devotee.
This is not difficult to understand, but envious persons do not accept that Kṛṣṇa has bestowed His favor upon a particular devotee in accordance with his advanced position. Such foolish persons become envious and try to minimize an advanced devotee’s activities. That is not Vaiṣṇavism. A Vaiṣṇava should appreciate the service rendered to the Lord by other Vaiṣṇavas. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava is described in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
as
nirmatsara.
Vaiṣṇavas are never envious of other Vaiṣṇavas or of anyone else, and therefore they are called
nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām.
As
Bhagavad-gītā
informs us, one can understand how one is saturated with
sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa
or
tamo-guṇa.
In the examples given herewith, fire represents the mode of goodness. One can understand the constitution of a container for wood, petrol or other inflammable substances by the quantity of the fire. Similarly, water represents
rajo-guṇa,
the mode of passion. A small skin and the vast Atlantic Ocean both contain water, and by seeing the quantity of water in a container one can understand the size of the container. The sky represents the mode of ignorance. The sky is present in a small earthen pot and also in outer space. Thus by proper judgment one can see who is a
devatā,
or demigod, and who is an
asura,
Yakṣa or Rākṣasa according to the quantities of
sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa
and
tamo-guṇa.
One cannot judge whether a person is a
devatā,
an
asura
or a Rākṣasa by seeing him, but a sane man can understand this by the activities such a person performs. A general description is given in the
Padma Purāṇa:
viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ smṛto daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ.
A devotee of Lord Viṣṇu is a demigod, whereas an
asura
or Yakṣa is just the opposite. An
asura
is not a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu; instead, for his sense gratification he is a devotee of the demigods,
bhūtas, pretas
and so on. Thus one can judge who is a
devatā,
who is a Rākṣasa and who is an
asura
by how they conduct their activities.
The word
ātmānam
in this verse means
paramātmānam.
The Paramātmā, or Supersoul, is situated in the core of everyone’s heart (
antataḥ
). This is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.61)
.
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati.
The
īśvara,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone’s heart, gives directions to everyone in terms of one’s capabilities in taking the instructions. The instructions of
Bhagavad-gītā
are open to everyone, but some people understand them properly, whereas others understand them so improperly that they cannot even believe in the existence of Kṛṣṇa, although reading Kṛṣṇa’s book. Although the
Gītā
says
śrī-bhagavān uvāca,
indicating that Kṛṣṇa spoke, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. This is due to their misfortune or incapability, which is caused by
rajo-guṇa
and
tamo-guṇa,
the modes of passion and ignorance. It is because of these modes that they cannot even understand Kṛṣṇa, whereas an advanced devotee like Arjuna understands Him and glorifies Him, saying,
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān:
“You are the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode and purifier.” Kṛṣṇa is open to everyone, but one needs the capability to understand Him.
By external features one cannot understand who is favored by Kṛṣṇa and who is not. According to one’s attitude, Kṛṣṇa becomes one’s direct adviser, or Kṛṣṇa becomes unknown. This is not Kṛṣṇa’s partiality; it is His response to one’s ability to understand Him. According to one’s receptiveness — whether one be a
devatā, asura,
Yakṣa or Rākṣasa — Kṛṣṇa’s quality is proportionately exhibited. This proportionate exhibition of Kṛṣṇa’s power is misunderstood by less intelligent men to be Kṛṣṇa’s partiality, but actually it is no such thing. Kṛṣṇa is equal to everyone, and according to one’s ability to receive the favor of Kṛṣṇa, one advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives a practical example in this connection. In the sky there are many luminaries. At night, even in darkness, the moon is extremely brilliant and can be directly perceived. The sun is also extremely brilliant. When covered by clouds, however, these luminaries are not distinctly visible. Similarly, the more one advances in
sattva-guṇa,
the more his brilliance is exhibited by devotional service, but the more one is covered by
rajo-guṇa
and
tamo-guṇa,
the less visible his brilliance, for he is covered by these qualities. The visibility of one’s qualities does not depend on the partiality of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; it is due to various coverings in different proportions. Thus one can understand how far he has advanced in terms of
sattva-guṇa
and how much he is covered by
rajo-guṇa
and
tamo-guṇa.