Madhya-lélä 20.281–293 — December 19, 1966, New York
661219CC-NEW YORK [24:24 Minutes]
Audio
Prabhupäda:
yasyaika-niçvasita-kälam athävalambya jévanti loma-vilajä jagad-aëòa-näthäù viñëur mahän sa iha yasya kalä-viçeño govindam ädi-puruñaà tam ahaà bhajämi [Bs 5.48]
[Brahmä and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahä-Viñëu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahä-Viñëu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahä-Viñëu is the portion of portion.] Kåñëa's first expansion, second expansion, the third expansion. The third expansion, Mahä-Viñëu. So Mahä-Viñëu's potency is described in the Brahma-saàhitä: yasyaika-niçvasita-kälam athävalambya. Niçvasita-käla means the breathing period. Just abiding by the breathing period of that Mahä-Viñëu, jévanti loma-vilajä jagad-aëòa-näthäù. Jagad-aëòa-näthäù means the supreme creature, created, supreme created creature, Brahmä. Brahmä is the principal supreme creature in each, every universe. There are innumerable universes,
1 and there are innumerable Brahmäs also. You will find in Caitanya-caritämåta, it is quoted from Çrémad-Bhägavatam that one sometimes... It is called lélä, pastime, that Brahmä, when Kåñëa was here on this planet, so Brahmä was very much proud that "Kåñëa is now in the earthly planet, and this earthly planet is one of the innumerable planets under my control." Brahmä is the controller, is the primal, principal living entity in this universe, so he was little proud that "Kåñëa is within my control." So therefore Kåñëa, because He is Paramätmä, He knows everything, what one thinks, what one does. So Kåñëa asked Brahmä to come and see Him. So Brahmä came. Brahmä came. His doorman informed Kåñëa that... Doorman asked Brahmä, "Who are you, please?" "Now, you say Kåñëa that I am Brahmä. I have come to see Him." So when the doorman informed Kåñëa that—in Dvärakä, when Kåñëa was there as king—so Kåñëa asked, "Oh, which Brahmä? Which Brahmä?" The doorman came back again and informed that "Which Brahmä you are?" So Brahmä became astonished: " 'Which Brahmä?' I am the Brahmä. I am the supreme creature within this universe, and 'Which Brahmä?' " He was surprised, and he said, "Tell Kåñëa that four-headed Brahmä." Brahmä has four head. So Kåñëa called him, "All right, come on." So he came, and he offered his obeisances, and Brahmä asked Him, "Kåñëa, my Lord, may I ask You some question?" "What is that?" "Your doorman asked me, 'Which Brahmä?' So does it mean there are other Brahmäs also?" Kåñëa said, "Yes, there are innumerable Brahmäs. You are only four-headed. There are eight-headed, there are sixteen-headed, thirty-two–headed, sixty-four–headed, hundred-twenty-eight–headed, and millions of headed. So all right, I am calling them all." So Kåñëa called all the Brahmäs, and by His mäyä, Brahmä could see them, but they could not see this four-headed Brahmä, and each of them came and offered obeisances to Kåñëa, and they asked, "My Lord, what can I do for You?
2 You have asked me?" "Yes. I have not seen you for so many times, so many days, so I have called you." So they came, thousands and millions of Brahmä came, and offered obeisances, and they went away. And this Brahmä, four-headed Brahmä, remained in the corner, "Oh, what is I am?" So this is Kåñëa's creation. So here it is stated that yasyaika-niçvasita-kälam athävalambya: "Only just abiding by the breathing period of Mahä-Viñëu, there are millions of Brahmäs, they are living." And each Brahmä's period... That you have read in the Bhagavad-gétä: sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmaëo viduù [Bg 8.17]. [By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmä's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.] The Brahmä's one day means 4,300,000's into 1000. That is Brahmä's twelve hours. Similarly, twenty-four hours, one day. Now calculate one month, such one year, such hundred years. So that hundred years of Brahmä is only a breathing period of Mahä-Viñëu, just like we are breathing, our inhalation and exhalation is going on. So during the breathing period, when the breathing is out, all these brahmäëòas become created, and when it is inhaled, all, they are closed, account closed. So this is going on. And such Mahä-Viñëu is the part, one of the fourth part of Kåñëa's expansion. That is stated. Lord Caitanya is giving evidence from Brahma-saàhitä:
yasyaika-niçvasita-kälam athävalambya jévanti loma-vilajä jagad-aëòa-näthäù viñëur mahän sa iha yasya kalä-viçeño govindam ädi-puruñaà tam ahaà bhajämi [Bs 5.48]
"I worship that Kåñëa, Govinda, whose fourth dimension, the four expansion, is Mahä-Viñëu, in whose breathing period all these Brahmäs, or the principal head of each brahmäëòa, they live."
[Mahä-Viñëu is the Supersoul of all the universes. Lying on the Causal
Ocean, He is the master of all material worlds.] "Now, this Mahä-Viñëu, the puruñävatära, incarnation of puruña, of Kåñëa, is the principal Supreme Personality of Godhead of all the brahmäëòas, all the many thousands of brahmäëòas."
eita kahiluì prathama puruñera tattva
dvitéya puruñera ebe çunaha mahattva [Cc Madhya 20.283]
[I have thus explained the truth of the first Personality of Godhead,
Mahä-Viñëu. I shall now explain the glories of the second Personality of Godhead.] Now, He said, "Now I have explained to you about the first incarnation, avatära. Now just try to hear about the second, second Viñëu." First Viñëu is described. Now second Viñëu, what is that? Sei puruña [Cc Madhya 20.284]: [After creating the total number of universes, which are unlimited, Mahä-Viñëu expanded Himself into unlimited forms and entered into each of them.] "That Mahä-Viñëu," ananta-koöi brahmäëòa såjiyä, ananta-koöi, "innumerable universes came out of His breathing period by breathing." Såjiyä means "He created." Ekaika-mürtye... Ekaika-mürtye praveçilä bahu mürti haïä: "Now, this Mahä-Viñëu again expanded Himself in millions and millions Viñëu form and entered in each brahmäëòa." The same Viñëu, Mahä-Viñëu, expanded Himself in millions other forms.
[When Mahä-Viñëu entered each of the limitless universes, He saw that
there was darkness all around and that there was no place to stay. He therefore began to consider the situation.] "When He entered in each universe, it was all dark. So He began to think."
nijäìga-sveda-jale brahmäëòärdha bharila
sei jale çeña-çayyäya çayana karila [Cc Madhya 20.286]
[With the perspiration produced from His own body, the Lord filled half the universe with water. He then lay down on that water, on the bed of Lord Çeña.] Now, in each brahmäëòa... This universe what we are seeing, it is only half. The half is full with water. And where is that water, we cannot see. But there is water. Just like a ball, and half the ball, inside, is filled with water. So... And wherefrom this water came? The Mahä-..., this Viñëu, the Viñëu which entered each universe, from His perspiration He created this water. And He laid down on the water. This is called Çeñaçäyé Viñëu or Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu. Täìra näbhi-padma haite uöhila eka padma [Cc Madhya 20.287]: [A lotus flower then sprouted from the lotus navel of that Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu. That lotus flower became Lord Brahmä’s birthplace.] "And then He created one lotus flower from His navel." You have seen that picture in the title page, title cover. Näbhi-padma. Sei padme ha-ila brahmära janma-sadma: "And from that lotus flower, on that lotus flower, the Brahmä, the first created being, was manifested."
[In the stem of that lotus flower, the fourteen worlds were generated. Then He became Lord Brahmä and manifested the entire universe.] And this Brahmä is a living being, jéva-tattva. He is not viñëu-tattva. Just see how much a living being can be powerful. "Now, Brahmä was created by this Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, and Brahmä in his turn, he created all these planetary system." There are fourteen status of planetary system, caudda bhuvana: Bhürloka, Bhuvarloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka, and down, Tala, Atala, Vitala, Talätala, Pätäla, and similarly, there are fourteen planetary systems all over this universe.
[In this way, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of Viñëu maintains the entire material world. Since He is always beyond the material qualities, the material nature cannot touch Him.] "Now, this Viñëu has nothing to do. He is not affected by this material contamination." That is the power of Viñëu. Just like we are living entities. When we come into this material world, we become contaminated, we become affected by the influence of this material nature. But Viñëu, although He is looking after the management of creation of this brahmäëòa, He is not affected. He is not affected.
'viñëu'-rüpa haïä kare jagat pälane
guëätéta viñëu—sparça nähi mäyä-sane
6 [Cc Madhya 20.289]
'rudra'-rüpa dhari kare jagat saàhära
[Cc Madhya 20.290]
[The Supreme Lord in His form of Rudra [Lord Çiva] brings about the dissolution of this material creation. In other words, only by His will are there creation, maintenance and dissolution of the whole cosmic manifestation.] And when these material worlds or universes are to be annihilated, the same Viñëu in His form of Lord Çiva, rudra-rüpa, He annihilates. So Viñëu, Viñëu creates, and Lord Çiva annihilates, and Brahmä is in charge of this universe.
[Brahmä, Viñëu and Çiva are His three incarnations of the material qualities. Creation, maintenance and destruction respectively are under the charge of these three personalities.] Now, this material world is created, it is..., it stays for some time, and it is again annihilated. Just we have seen in the Bhagavad-gétä, bhütvä bhütvä praléyate. [Bg 8.19] [Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pärtha, and they are helplessly dissolved.] This is the nature. This material nature is like that. Just like you have seen one lamp. It is..., once it is extinguished, once it is light. Similarly, there is creation, there is maintenance and there is annihilation of this material world. Now, these three functions are controlled by three guëävatära, qualitative incarnation of the Supreme Lord. What are they? Now, Viñëu... Viñëu is the incarnation of the modes of goodness, and Çiva is the incarnation of the modes
7 of annihilation, and Brahmä is the in-charge. Brahmä is secondary. Brahmä is the secondary creator. First of all, the everything is, the principal, the material principal ingredients, and the guëas and the everything is created by Viñëu. Then, the secondary creation, with those ingredients, all these planetary system, everything, is created by Brahmä. So Brahmä is also a secondary creator. And then Viñëu maintains. Just like to a carpenter you give wood and planks and materials and screw and other things, and the carpenter makes a very good cabinet, and you maintain that, similarly, this brahmäëòa, the secondary creation, is Brahmä, and Viñëu is the maintainer, and when it is to be destroyed, it is destroyed by Lord Çiva. These three guëävatära. Brahmä, viñëu, siva-täìra guëa-avatära. They are incarnations of Kåñëa's guëa. So in other words, it is to be understood that these three guëas, they are also coming from Kåñëa, three guëas. So therefore, for Kåñëa, there is no such distinction. Several times just I have explained this thing, but this material, spiritual, or the qualitative differences, that is for us, not for Kåñëa. How it is? Just like government has got different departments. There is criminal department, civil department, and this department, that department, so many departments. Now, for us the criminal department may not be so pleasing or civil department may be very much pleasing, but for the government both the departments are equal, because they have to maintain equally, either criminal department or the civil department. The government has no distinction that "This is criminal department; therefore this department should be neglected," or "It is inferior." No. Rather, in criminal department the government may spend more than civil department. Similarly, these distinction, these qualitative distinction, matter, spirit, and the different kinds of modes, they are distinction for us, not for Kåñëa. He is Absolute. He is Absolute. To the Absolute, there is no such distinction. Therefore when Kåñëa comes, when Kåñëa comes in this material, He is not affected by this. Suppose the minister, the secretary of the president, goes to 8 the criminal department to see the prison house. He is not affected by the prison rules. It is simple to understand. If the prisoner thinks, "Oh, he is also one of the prisoner, because he has come here," this is nonsense. He is not prisoner. Similarly, when Kåñëa comes in this material world, if a foolish man thinks that He is also one of us, he is foolish number one. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gétä it is stated, avajänanti mäà müòhä mänuñéà tanum äçritä [Bg 9.11]: [Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.] "Foolish persons, they think that I am one of them." These examples are very nice. We can understand. So here it is stated that Viñëu...,
[Brahmä, Viñëu and Çiva are His three incarnations of the material qualities. Creation, maintenance and destruction respectively are under the charge of these three personalities.]
hiraëyagarbha-antaryämi—garbhodakaçäyé 'sahasra-çérñädi' kari' vede yäìre gäi [Cc Madhya 20.292]
[Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, known within the universe as Hiraëyagarbha and
the antaryämé, or Supersoul, is glorified in the Vedic hymns, beginning with the hymn that starts with the word ’sahasra-çérñä.’] In the Vedas there is a prayer, Sahasra-çérñä. That is very famous prayer. That prayer is offered to this Viñëu. Which Viñëu? The Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, the Viñëu who has entered in every universe. That Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu.
9 ei ta' dvitéya-puruña—brahmäëòera éçvara mäyära 'äçraya' haya, tabu mäyä-pära [Cc Madhya 20.293]
[This second Personality of Godhead, known as Garbhodakaçäyé Viñëu, is
the master of each and every universe and the shelter of the external energy. Nonetheless, He remains beyond the touch of the external energy.] Although this Viñëu is the shelter, shelter of the material energy, still, He has nothing to do with this material energy. He is free from the contamination of material energy. In the Çrémad-Bhägavatam there is a verse: apaçyat puruñaà pürëaà mäyäà ca yad apäçrayam [SB 1.7.4]. [Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control.] When Vyäsadeva, he was just attempting to write Çrémad-Bhägavatam by bhakti-yoga, he saw two things: apaçyat puruñaà pürëam. He saw the Supreme Personality and the material energy, apäçrayam, just far away from Him. Because this mäyä's task is very thankless task. Mäyä's task is very thankless task because she is in charge of these conditioned souls, and her business is to give all the conditioned souls always miseries. Trisura. You have seen in the hand... You might not have seen, but there is a picture of Durgä, she has got three, trisura. Trisura means three kinds of miseries. So the mäyä, this material nature, is inflicting upon the conditioned soul always three kinds of miseries so that they can come to their conscious, Kåñëa consciousness. But the conditioned souls are so foolish and so dull, they have accepted, "Oh, these miseries are very palatable." Yes. They have no sense that they are always in three kinds of miseries: adhyätmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. This is constantly going on. Just like in the prison house, when the prisoners are there,
10 it is not meant that they should be comfortably situated there. The prison house [is] meant for giving them always some trouble so that they can come to their consciousness, that "We have broken... We are lawbreakers. Therefore we are punished here." But if the prisoner becomes so fool that "All right. Don't care for this prison. Let me finish this term and again commit nuisance and again come to the..." That is going on. So gatägataà käma-kämä labhante [Bg 9.21]. [When they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus, through the Vedic principles, they achieve only flickering happiness.] So the conditioned souls, they are not coming to the sense that what is their position. This position, by the grace of some special representative of the Supreme Lord or by the Supreme Lord, is offered to these conditioned souls, that "This is not your place. You are part and parcel of God. Your place is in the kingdom of God. Your place is there. You are..." Manaù-ñañöhänéndriyäëi prakåti-sthäni karñati [Bg 15.7]: [The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.] "You are struggling very hard within this material nature. Just try to understand your position." So these things are described in scriptures, in the Vedas, so that these foolish conditioned souls may come to their senses and try to become Kåñëa conscious and make their life successful so that they can go back to home, back to Godhead. Thank you very much. Any question? [end]
