Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.255–281
Prabhupāda:
prākṛtāprākṛta-sṛṣṭi karena nirmāṇa
[Cc Madhya 20.255]
[Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa is Lord Balarāma. Being the predominator of the creative energy, He creates both the material and the spiritual world.]
So out of three transcendental propensities of the Supreme Lord, icchā-śakti, jñāna-śakti and kriyā-śakti, the kriyā-śakti, that is represented by..., or the controller of the kriyā-śakti is Saṅkarṣaṇa, Balarāma. And with that potency, kriyā-śakti potency, the creation, both material creation and spiritual creation, are effected.
goloka, vaikuṇṭha sṛje cic-chakti-dvārāya
[That original Saṅkarṣaṇa [Lord Balarāma] is the cause of both the material and the spiritual creation. He is the predominating Deity of egotism, and by the will of Kṛṣṇa and the power of the spiritual energy, He creates the spiritual world, which consists of the planet Goloka Vṛndāvana and the Vaikuṇṭha planets.]
Cic-chakti-dvārāya. The spiritual potency is manifested in the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana and spiritual planets.
tathāpi saṅkarṣaṇa-icchāya tāhāra prakāśa
[Cc Madhya 20.257]
[Although there is no question of creation as far as the spiritual world is concerned, the spiritual world is nonetheless manifested by the supreme will of Saṅkarṣaṇa. The spiritual world is the abode of the pastimes of the eternal spiritual energy.]
Actually, there is no creation in the spiritual world. The creation means it begins at a certain time and ends at a certain time, but in the spiritual world there is no such beginning. But because we find the creation of this material world by the kriyā-śakti potency of Lord, therefore it is understood that the spiritual world is also manifested by the same potency, with the help of His spiritual energy.
gokulākhyaṁ mahat-padam
tat-karṇikāraṁ tad-dhāma
tad anantāṁśa-sambhavam
[Cc Madhya 20.258]
[Gokula, the supreme abode and planet, appears like a lotus flower that has a thousand petals. The whorl of that lotus is the abode of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. This lotus-shaped supreme abode is created by the will of Lord Ananta.’]
That original planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, is described here in the Brahma-saṁhitā "just like a lotus flower."
jaḍa-rūpā prakṛti nahe brahmāṇḍa-kāraṇa
[Cc Madhya 20.259]
[By the agency of the material energy, this same Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa creates all the universes. The dull material energy—known in modern language as nature—is not the cause of the material universe.]
Now, so far this material creation is concerned, it is said here that "By His material potency, He manifests this material world and unlimited universes within the material world." Ah, nobody should think that the material world has come out of nothing, out of void. No. This is confirmed in all Vedic literature and especially in the Brahma-saṁhitā, and in the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].
[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]
So material nature is not independent. It is a misunderstanding, a wrong conception, that matter is working out of its own accord. Matter has no power to work. It is a jaḍa-rūpā. Jaḍa-rūpā means it has no moving capacity or, what is called, initiative. Matter has no initiative. Therefore matter cannot manifest in such a way without the direction of the Supreme Lord. Māyā-dvāre sṛje teṅho brahmāṇḍera gaṇa. Actually, it is His direction, but material potency is help only. That's all.
tāhātei saṅkarṣaṇa kare śaktira ādhāne
[Cc Madhya 20.260]
[Without the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s energy, dull matter cannot create the cosmic manifestation. Its power does not arise from the material energy itself but is endowed by Saṅkarṣaṇa.]
Jaḍa haite, from matter, there is no possibility of any creation. The Saṅkarṣaṇa, He is manifestation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Balarāma. He is the director of this material creation.
lauha yena agni-śaktye pāya dāha-śakti
[Cc Madhya 20.261]
[Dull matter alone cannot create anything. The material energy produces the creation by the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Iron itself has no power to burn, but when iron is placed in fire, it is empowered to burn.]
"Just like it is, in contact with the fire, the iron becomes red hot and it become fire, similarly, in contact with Saṅkarṣaṇa, this material energy gets potency, and thereby the material manifestation is there."
rāmo mukundaḥ puruṣaḥ pradhānam
anvīya bhūteṣu vilakṣaṇasya
jñānasya ceśāta imau purāṇau
[Cc Madhya 20.262]
[Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are the original efficient and material causes of the material world. As Mahā-Viṣṇu and the material energy, They enter into the material elements and create the diversities by multi-energies. Thus They are the cause of all causes.]
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Tenth Canto, it is stated that "This Rāma and Kṛṣṇa"—Rāma means Balarāma, and Kṛṣṇa—"They are the root of this material creation. And both of Them enters into each and every universe and maintains that."
[Bs 5.35].
[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]
This is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
sei īśvara-mūrti 'avatāra' nāma dhare
[Cc Madhya 20.263]
[The form of the Lord that descends into the material world to create is called an avatāra, or incarnation.]
"For material creation, the expansion of the Supreme Lord for the purpose of material creation is called incarnation. That is called avatāra."
viśve avatari' dhare 'avatāra' nāma
[Cc Madhya 20.264]
[All the expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa are actually residents of the spiritual world. But when they descend into the material world, they are called incarnations [avatāras]]
"So all Viṣṇu expansion, they are in the spiritual world, and they all of them reside there. But when they come into this material world, it is called incarnation." Actually, avatāra... This Sanskrit name is avatāra. Avatāra means who comes down from the spiritual world. Avatāratī. Avatāratī means descends. Descends. They are not born of this material energy. They descend from the spiritual world.
puruṣa-rūpe avatīrṇa ha-ilā prathama
[Cc Madhya 20.265]
[To glance over that material energy and empower her, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa first incarnates as Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu.]
Now, puruṣa-rūpe, the first incarnation for this material creation, the Mahā-Viṣṇu, sa aikṣata. Simply by His glance, this material world begins its activity.
puruṣa-rūpa avatīrṇa ha-ilā prathama
[Cc Madhya 20.265]
bhagavān mahad-ādibhiḥ
sambhūtaṁ ṣoḍaśa-kalam
ādau loka-sisṛkṣayā
[Cc Madhya 20.266]
[In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes.]
Ādau loka-sisṛkṣayā: "Just before the creation the Mahā-Viṣṇu, He takes His incarnation, and He puts His glance on the material energy, and the creation begins."
kālaḥ svabhāvaḥ sad-asan-manaś ca
dravyaṁ vikāro guṇa indriyāṇi
virāṭ svarāṭ sthāsnu cariṣṇu bhūmnaḥ
[Cc Madhya 20.267]
[Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu [Mahā-Viṣṇu] is the first incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and He is the master of eternal time, space, cause and effects, the mind, the elements, the material ego, the modes of nature, the senses, the universal form of the Lord, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and the sum total of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.]
So ādyo avatāra, the first puruṣāvatāra, Mahā-Viṣṇu, is very vast. Just imagine how much great He is, His body is, that from His breathing all these universes are generating.
'Kāraṇodakaśāyī' nāma jagat-kāraṇa
[Cc Madhya 20.268]
[That original Personality of Godhead, named Saṅkarṣaṇa, first lies down in the river Virajā, which serves as a border between the material and the spiritual world. As Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He is the original cause of the material creation.]
"That puruṣāvatāra, the first incarnation of puruṣa, He lies down in the water of Causal Ocean, and His name is Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu."
virajāra pāre paravyome nāhi gati
[Cc Madhya 20.269]
[The Virajā, or Causal Ocean, is the border between the spiritual and the material world. The material energy is situated on one shore of that ocean, and it cannot enter onto the other shore, which is the spiritual sky.]
Kāraṇābdhi-pāre. Just on the other side of the ocean, kāraṇa, Causal Ocean, this material energy is situated. Virajāra pāre paravyome nāhi gati. And this material energy has no entrance in the spiritual kingdom.
sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla-vikramaḥ
na yatra māyā kim utāpare harer
anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāḥ
[Cc Madhya 20.270]
[In the spiritual world, there is neither the mode of passion, the mode of ignorance nor a mixture of both, nor is there adulterated goodness, the influence of time or māyā herself. Only the pure devotees of the Lord, who are worshiped both by demigods and by demons, reside in the spiritual world as the Lord’s associates.]
Now, the description of the spiritual world is that there is no rajas-tamaḥ. These modes of passion and modes of ignorance is not there. Śuddha-sattva. Śuddha-sattva means simply goodness, pure goodness, without any tinge of passion and ignorance.
So pravartate yatra rajas tamas tayoḥ sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla-vikramaḥ. There is no mixed goodness; simple goodness. And na ca kāla-vikramaḥ: "And there is no influence of time." This is the description of the spiritual world: "There is no modes of passion, and there is no modes of ignorance, and there is no influence of time." That means there is simply the pure goodness. And in pure goodness we can understand our constitutional position, we can understand what is God, what is creation, everything. These are... Goodness means prakāśa. Prakāśa means knowledge comes out. And so long we are in ignorance and passion, there is no knowledge. In ignorance there is no knowledge at all, in passion there is some glimpse of knowledge, and in goodness there is full knowledge.
So the living entities there, they are full of knowledge. Therefore they do not come into this material world. And na yatra kāla-vikramaḥ: and because there is no influence of time, therefore there is no past, present and future. In this material world there is influence of time. Therefore we have got this past, present and future.
So these things, of course theoretically we have to understand. But these are authentic explanation from scriptures, Vedic literatures. At least we have to accept them theoretically. The spiritual world means that there is no ignorance, there is no passion and there is no influence of time. Na yatra māyā kim utāpare: "And this māyā, this illusion, is also absent." Kim utāpare harer anuvratā yatra surāsurārcitāḥ: "And there, in the spiritual planets, all the living entities, they are all surrendered souls, or followers of the Supreme Lord." There is no misconception that "I am Lord; I am God." There is no such misconception. They are all clear of this nonsense ignorance. Anuvratā: they are always following.
Therefore there is unity, oneness. That is oneness. God is one, and the living entities there, they are all followers, obedient of God. There is no influence of time, no influence of ignorance, no influence of passion. So that is perfect. That is spiritual kingdom, the description of spiritual world. This is from Bhāgavatam.
And there are other verses in this chapter where this verse appears that there, I have read it, that there are aeroplanes also. And the devotees... And the woman, they are just like lightning. So it appears there are men, there are women, there are aeroplane, there are... Everything is there. Simply difference is that there is no influence of time. Influence of time there is no—that means there is no past, future and present, and there is no death. Death is the influence of time. A old man like me is going to die. Death means the influence of time is being acted on this body. So after a few days or few years, this must vanquish. So there is no influence of time.
So there is no death, there is no birth, there is no ignorance, and everyone is obedient, everyone is happy. And their features of body is also exactly like God. In the spiritual planets, all of a sudden if you go, you cannot distinguish who is God and who is not. Yes. So... Just like here also, when Kṛṣṇa comes, He appears just like one of us. So man is made after God. So, so far features are concerned, there is no difference between God and man. But the difference is only that God has no material body; we have got this material body subjected to the influence of time.
When Kṛṣṇa comes, He does not become old. He remains just like a boy, even when He is great-grandfather, because on His body there is no influence of time. Because His body is spiritual, therefore there is no influence of time.
'māyā' nimitta-hetu, viśvera upādāna 'pradhāna'
[Cc Madhya 20.271]
[Māyā has two functions. One is called māyā, and the other is called pradhāna. Māyā refers to the efficient cause, and pradhāna refers to the ingredients that create the cosmic manifestation.]
This material energy is divided into two: pradhāna and upādāna. Pradhāna and upādāna. The whole, total material energy is called pradhāna, and the material elements are called ingredients, upādāna.
prakṛti kṣobhita kari' kare vīryera ādhāna
[Cc Madhya 20.272]
[When the Supreme Personality of Godhead glances over the material energy, she becomes agitated. At that time, the Lord injects the original semen of the living entities.]
Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā you have read that mahad-yonir mahad-brahma tāsām... It is stated there that ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]:
[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]
"I implement the seeds of living entities into the matter." So in the matter the living..., the seeds of living entities, as we are, they are impregnated. As the father impregnates the mother, similarly, this material nature is just like mother, and therefore material nature is worshiped as mother, goddess, mother goddess, Durgā, Kālī. Yes. And this worship of the country, nationalism, that is also the same matter-worship. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].
[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]
So, so long we are not enlightened, we are worshiper of this matter, energy. And when we are advanced in knowledge, then we are worshiper of the Supreme. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness means advanced stage of knowledge. It is not in the material platform. Therefore anyone who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness appropriately and thoroughly, he is liberated from material consciousness.
jīva-rūpa 'bīja' tāte kailā samarpaṇa
[Cc Madhya 20.273]
[To impregnate with the seeds of the living entities, the Lord Himself does not directly touch the material energy, but by His specific functional expansion He touches the material energy, and thus the living entities, who are His parts and parcels, are impregnated into material nature.]
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is this evidence:
svasyāṁ yonau paraḥ pumān
ādhatta vīryaṁ sā 'sūta
mahat-tattvaṁ hiraṇmayam
[Cc Madhya 20.274]
[At a time beyond memory, after agitating the material nature into three qualities, the Supreme Personality of Godhead placed the semen of innumerable living entities within the womb of that material nature. Thus material nature gave birth to the total material energy, known as the hiraṇmaya-mahat-tattva, the original symbolic representation of the cosmic manifestation.]
So from this version of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that the living entities as seeds, they are coming from the spiritual world. They are not product of the matter. Therefore it is not possible to produce living entity with material chemicals and material elements. It is not possible. As some of the modern scientists they claim that "We shall now give life," or they advertise in that way, so from this verse we can understand that it is not possible. Because these living entities, they are just like seeds, and they are coming from the spiritual world, from the body of the Supreme. Those spiritual, I mean to say, living entities are desirous of enjoying sense gratification, they are allowed to this material world; others, they are in the spiritual world.
guṇamayyām adhokṣajaḥ
puruṣenātma-bhūtena
vīryam ādhatta vīryavān
[Cc Madhya 20.275]
[In due course of time, the Supreme Personality of Godhead [Mahā-Vaikuṇṭhanātha], by the agency of an expansion of His personal self [Mahā-Viṣṇu], placed the seed of the living entities within the womb of material nature.]
So there is another verse, that how the seeds are given within this material world.
yāhā haite devatendriya-bhūtera pracāra
[Cc Madhya 20.276]
[First the total material energy is manifested, and from this arise the three types of egotism, which are the original sources from which all demigods [controlling deities], senses and material elements expand.]
Now, here is a short description of the creation. First, material energy; then the seeds of the living entities are impregnated into that material energy; and then mahat-tattva, from the material energy, this ego, false ego, comes out. First, first manifestation of this material world is this false ego, mahat-tattva. Trividha ahaṅkāra. Yāhā haite devatendriya-bhūtera pracāra: "And from that ego, all these human beings or demigods or other living entities, they are coming out."
ananta brahmāṇḍa, tāra nāhika gaṇana
[Cc Madhya 20.277]
[Combining all the different elements, the Supreme Lord created all the universes. Those universes are unlimited in number; there is no possibility of counting them.]
"In this way, the Lord created unlimited number of universes." This one universe which you have seen, that is one only; but there are innumerable universes that is created.
ananta brahmāṇḍa tāṅra loma-kūpe dhāma
[Cc Madhya 20.278]
[The first form of Lord Viṣṇu is called Mahā-Viṣṇu. He is the original creator of the total material energy. The innumerable universes emanate from the pores of His body.]
"Now, the expansion of Kṛṣṇa who is doing all this material expansion, He is known as Mahā-Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu."
puruṣa-niśvāsa-saha brahmāṇḍa bāhirāya
[Cc Madhya 20.279-80]
[These universes are understood to be floating in the air that Mahā-Viṣṇu exhales. They are like atomic particles that float in sunshine and pass through the holes of a screen. All these universes are thus created by the exhalation of Mahā-Viṣṇu, and when Mahā-Viṣṇu inhales, they re-enter His body. The unlimited opulences of Mahā-Viṣṇu are completely beyond material conception.]
Now here is a nice example. You have seen the sunshine entering your room through a hole of your window, and you will find so many atomic demonstration. So these brahmāṇḍas, the so many universes, they are emanating from the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṇu in that way.
ananta aiśvarya tāṅra, saba-māyā-pāra
[Cc Madhya 20.279-80]
In this way all the universes, they enter into the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu after the creation is over, and again comes out. In this way it is coming and going, coming... Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19].
[Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved.]
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that they are coming and going within. This is the way of material nature. And here is another evidence from Brahma-saṁhitā:
jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.48]
[Brahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṇu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṇu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṇu is the portion of portion.]
Now, such a vast, gigantic Mahā-Viṣṇu, of whose breathing producing this universes and whose inhaling, annihilating all the universes—such vast Mahā-Viṣṇu is only part and part of the expansion of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. So Brahmā says, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So just we have to imagine how much potential is the Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Thank you very much. [end]