Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.26.9

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

devahutir uvāca prakṛteḥ puruṣasyāpi lakṣaṅaṁ puruṣottama brūhi kāraṅayor asya sad-asac ca yad-ātmakam [SB 3.26.9]

[break] [01:38]

"Devahūti said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, kindly explain the characteristics of the Supreme Person and His energies, because both of these are the causes of this manifest and unmanifest creation."

Prabhupāda:

prakṛteḥ puruṣasyāpi lakṣaṅaṁ puruṣottama brūhi kāraṅayor asya sad-asac ca yad-ātmakam [SB 3.26.9]

So Kapiladeva is addressed here as Puruṣottama. Puruṣottama. The living entities, the Supersoul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Living entities are sometimes called puruṣa because puruṣa means enjoyer. So the living entities wants to enjoy this material world although he is not enjoyer. We have explained many times. The living entities, that is also prakṛti, but he also wants to enjoy. That is called illusion. So in his enjoying temperament he may be called puruṣa, illusory puruṣa. Real puruṣa is Bhagavān. Puruṣa means bhoktā. The bhoktā, real bhoktā, enjoyer, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

So Devahūti wants elucidation of the characteristics of puruṣa and prakṛti. So puruṣa is one, but prakṛti, there are many energies. Prakṛti, energy. Just like we have got practical experience that husband and wife, the wife is supposed to be the energy. The husband works day and night very hard, but when he comes home, the wife gives him comfort—eating, sleeping, mating—in so many ways. He gets fresh energy. Especially the karmīs, they get energy by the behavior and service of the wife. Otherwise, the karmīs cannot work. Anyway, the energy principle is there. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He has got also energy. In the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of everything, Brahman... Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahman... In one code Vyāsadeva describes that janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]: "The Brahman, Supreme Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything comes." So unless this principle is there, that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is also energized or worked with His energies, otherwise why this conception comes within this material world? The material world is shadow reflection of the spiritual world. Unless the original thing is there in the spiritual world, it cannot be reflected in the material world.

So puruṣa is accompanied by varieties of energies. In the Upaniṣad it is stated,

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṅaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate... [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8]

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

Para, the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth, has multi-energy. So the multi-energy is divided into three division. That is called antaraṅga-śakti, internal energy, external energy and the marginal energy. All of them are energies, or prakṛti. So in the Sāṅkhya philosophical discussion, Devahūti—she is also the mother of Kapiladeva—she asked this intelligent question: "What are the characteristic of the prakṛti, and what are the characteristic of the puruṣa?" Prakṛteḥ puruṣasyāpi lakṣaṅaṁ puruṣottama. He [she] is addressing his [her] son, Kapiladeva, God, as Puruṣottama. Uttama puruṣa. Uttama, madhyama and adhama. There is a comparative. So uttama puruṣa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa, or His incarnation like Kapiladeva, Ṛṣabhadeva. There are many incarnations. So they are all Puruṣottama.

So, so far in this material conception of life there are two puruṣas: one, the living entity, and the other is the Supersoul. So above this... Living entity is the adhama-puruṣa, and the Supersoul is the madhyama-puruṣa, and Kṛṣṅa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is uttama-puruṣa, the Supreme. And in this material world the adhama-puruṣa is called also nitya-baddha. Similarly, there are other living entities in the spiritual world, they are called nitya-mukta, or nitya-siddha. They never come in this material world. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, he describes some comparison, that the sea fishes, they never come to the river. The river fishes sometimes go to the sea, but the sea fishes, they never come to the river. Similarly, there are living entities in the spiritual world, they never come in this material world. Their number is greater, at least three times greater than all the living entities within this material world. And the Supersoul, He is also living entity, but superior, Supersoul. Soul and Supersoul.

So the Supersoul is also living with the..., along with these ordinary living entities as friends. That is described in the Upaniṣad, that two birds are sitting on one tree. One bird is eating the fruit, and the other bird is simply witnessing. Paramātmā, upadraṣṭā anumantā. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Paramātmā is existing within our heart: īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

He is simply upadraṣṭā. He is not enjoying. He has no interest to enjoy this material world. But the other bird, the living entity, he is trying to enjoy this material world. And according to his karma, upadraṣṭā... I wanted to do something or I have done something; the resultant action, I will have to enjoy or suffer in the next life. The witness is the Paramātmā, sākṣī, upadraṣṭā anumantā, antaryāmī, sākṣī.

We cannot do anything without the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramātmā feature. He is fulfilling our desires and waiting for the opportunity when the living entity will give up this business of eating the fruit of this body..., of the tree, and simply become engaged, again come back to the Supersoul. That opportunity He is looking after. So the Christian philosophers, they do not believe in the Paramātmā feature, and they say that "If I am punished for my past deeds, then who is the witness?" Because in the court, if somebody is charged with criminality, there must be some witnesses. So we heard a Christian professor in our college; they did not believe in this witness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is witness within the heart. Witness must be. This is very intelligent, that without witness, how my charges, charges upon me, can be substantiated? The witness is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Upadraṣṭā anumantā. He is seeing everything. So that is puruṣa also, and we are also puruṣa. And above these two puruṣas, the Supreme Puruṣa is Kṛṣṅa, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Eighth Chapter, puruṣottama-yogam.

So brūhi kāraṅayor asya sad-asac ca yad-ātmakam. So the uttama-puruṣa, Puruṣottama, just like Kṛṣṅa or Kapiladeva, They come within this material world, but They are not affected. But we are affected. We are, according to our desire, conditioned. We are affected by the different modes of material nature. It is described in the Vedic literature just like the fire and the spark. The fire is always blazing, but the sparks coming out of the fire, they sometime fall down. And this falling down is described that if the spark falls on some dry grass, then immediately the grass is also ignited into fire. That is sattva-guṅa. And rajo-guṅa means on the ground. It gradually, the ignition, the fire of the spark, becomes finished. And if the spark falls down on some water, then immediately it is extinguished. Similarly, when we come down from the spiritual world on account of desire, icchā-dveṣa samutthena sarge yānti parantapa [Bg 7.27], by our icchā, Kṛṣṅa gives us to fulfill our desires. So as we contact with the different modes of material nature, we are situated either in sattva-guṅa or rajo-guṅa or tamo-guṅa, and our different characteristics are visible.

But the Puruṣottama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is never become affected by the material nature. This is the general description of the puruṣa and puruṣottama. And further description will be given from the verse number ten.

[aside:] If you like, you can read that. Or you can read this purport of the ninth verse.

Nitāi: [reading purport] "Prakṛti, or material nature, is connected with both the Supreme Lord and the living entities, just as a woman is connected with her husband as a wife and with her children as a mother."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is very nice example. This prakṛti, the mother... Just like mother is woman, prakṛti, but her relationship with the husband is different from the relationship with her children. So both of them are puruṣa—living entities and the Supersoul, or the Supreme Lord. They come to this material world. But the relationship is that the Supreme Lord is the controller, controller of the material world, and the living entities, they are controlled. This is the difference. One is controller, and the other is controlled. The same woman, mother, she is working under the direction of the husband. That is one relationship. And she is taking care of the children and controlling the children. The... Although the medium is the same, but the relationship is different.

In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said, mama māyā: "Under My control."

mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate [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.]

We should understand this relationship. The material nature has got relationship with both—God and the living entities—but the activities of the two living entities, namely the aṅu and vibhu... God is Vibhu, or Prabhu, and living entity is aṅu, or servant, and the via media is the material nature. So we cannot control material nature. That is not possible. We are controlled. We are being controlled. Tribhir guṅamayair bhāvair mohitam nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam [Bg 7.13].

[Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me who am above the modes and inexhaustible.]

We are always being controlled. And... But the prakṛti, material nature, is being controlled by the Supreme Lord. This is the difference. Unfortunately, sometimes we claim that we can control over. Just like the scientists, they are trying to control over the material nature. That is not possible. You cannot control. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

You cannot control. You shall be controlled, but you cannot control. The controller is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa. Mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa [Bg 9.10].

This is the relationship. This is the characteristic, two puruṣas: one living entity and the Supreme Soul, parama-puruṣa or puruṣottama. The puruṣottama is the controller, and we ordinary living entities, we are controlled. Then how the living entity can be on the equal level with the Supreme Lord? That is not possible. Anyone who thinks like that, they are imperfect knowledge. That is not perfect knowledge. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. They have been described as aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, imperfect knowledge. Buddhi means intelligence. They have no intelligence. We cannot say no intelligence, but aviśuddha. Aviśuddha means it is not purified. Anyone who is claiming to be on the equal level with the Supreme, their intelligence is not yet purified. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

Because these Māyāvādī philosophers, they have no knowledge of the Supreme Personality of... They cannot believe that the Absolute Truth can be a person. They cannot believe it. Their knowledge is so poor, they cannot accommodate. Because as soon as they think of one person, they think that "That person is equal with me." Otherwise, they cannot think of person.

So this is poor fund of knowledge. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ [Bg 7.25].

[I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency [yoga-māyā]; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.]

He does not become manifest, or visible, to everyone. Then who..., unto whom He is visible? And that is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

So unless you take to this process of bhakti-yoga, you cannot understand what is God. Then you will be misguided. So if you take... Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṅa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]

You cannot understand God. But if you take to the devotional service submissively, if you become submissive, surrendered, and you render service to the Lord, then, by His causeless mercy, He becomes revealed, "Here I am. See Me." He talks.

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam... [Bg 10.10]

[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]

Then He gives intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which one can approach Me." This intelligence is given to him. To whom? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām: twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. How? Prīti-pūrvakam: "With love and faith," not that officially. Just like if I want a glass of water, one can give me, "Here is. Take it." And one brings the same glass of water with love and devotion.

So there is two different. Kṛṣṅa is not in want of anything from us. He is pūrṅa. But if we offer Him something with love and faith and devotion, then He accepts. That is the difference. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26].

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

That is the real thing, bhakti. Otherwise Kṛṣṅa is not hankering after your patraṁ puṣpam. He has created patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, He can enjoy. Why He should ask from you? But the real thing is bhaktyā. It is insignificant thing, but if you offer Him bhaktyā, with bhakti, devotion, faith and love, that He accepts. And if He continues to accept, then you can realize Him. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

Otherwise you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṅa.

So we have come to this material world. Kṛṣṅa is always anxious to get us back to home, back to Godhead. Therefore He comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg 4.7]. What is that dharma? That dharma is not this dharma, Hindu dharma, Mussulman dharma. No. That dharma is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. That's... So in this way, our position, although we are both in this material world, one is the controller; one is the controlled. And the one who is controlled by the prakṛti, by the material nature, if he accepts to be controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then his controlling by the material nature upon him, that is finished, no more control. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

This is perfection of life.

At the present moment we are being controlled every second, every step. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām [SB 10.14.58].

[For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṅṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.]

Every step there is danger. This control means punishment. You cannot expect very good treatment in the prison life. So this is prison life, conditioned life. So you cannot expect any good treatment by the material nature because her business is to punish us. That is the business, so that we can enquire that "Why I am being punished?" That is required. That "why" philosophy is very important. That is the beginning of human life. But we are so dull, in spite of being kicked every moment by material nature, that "why" question is not coming. So dull-headed. And we are advanced in education.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]