There are innumerable planets. Each planet has got a different atmosphere. Just like we have got experience within this planet, Europe has got another atmosphere, India has got another atmosphere. Similarly, all the planets, they are of different atmospheres and each and every planet there are varieties of living entities. Just imagine the living entities are eight million four hundred thousand species. So even if you divide so many thousands and hundreds, still, eight million. This is God's creation. God's creation means all these living entities, they want to enjoy this material world in a different capacity and God has given the facility, "Yes, you can enjoy. You can enjoy." He is giving facility. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo (BG 15.15). He's sitting, God is so kind, Kṛṣṇa is so kind.
Creation means
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
Lord Brahmā was created by Lord Viṣṇu; then Lord Brahmā created Lord Śiva and other great sages, headed by Bhṛgu Muni. These great sages included Bhṛgu, Marīci, Ātreya, Vasiṣṭha and others. All these great sages were in charge of creating population. Since there were not very many living entities in the beginning, Viṣṇu entrusted Brahmā with the business of creation, and Brahmā in his turn created many hundreds and thousands of demigods and great sages to continue with the creation. At the same time, Lord Brahmā cautioned all his sons and disciples by reciting the prayers now recited by Lord Śiva. The material creation means material engagement, but material engagements can be counteracted if we always remember our relationship with the Lord as that relationship is described in these prayers recited by Lord Śiva.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So sound is the original element of creation. In Sanskrit language it is called śabda-brahma. Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, is first appeared Absolute Truth becomes knowable by sound. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, the Lord says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8), śabdaḥ khe. Śabda means sound. If we want to see God, so let us hear first of all the sound vibration, because that is the beginning. In the Bible also it is said, "The Lord said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." So "Let there be creation," this is sound, transcendental sound. So one who says this word, "Let there be creation," He is not within the creation. Because He, God, is speaking, "Let there be creation" means He is existing before creation.
Just like Brahmā, the best authority because he is the first living being created within the universe. Ādi-puruṣa. Not ādi-puruṣa; ādi-kavi. Ādi-puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. Brahmā is ādi-kavi, the original learned scholar. So our theory of creation means first of all Brahmā is created. So Brahmā is called ādi-kavi. Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Ādi-kavaye means Brahmā. So Brahmā's knowledge, what does he say? Brahmā says govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Brahmā says Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). He's giving description about Kṛṣṇa in the Brahma-saṁhitā. And the description of Kṛṣṇa's abode. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Everything is there. This is authority, śruti. Kṛṣṇa is very much fond of tending cows. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. He has got His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, where the residential houses are made of cintāmaṇi, touchstone. Touchstone, we have heard the description. Touchstone means the stone which you touch to the iron and the iron becomes gold. So such touchstone, they're used as brick. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu (Bs. 5.29).
So Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes, His name, quality, paraphernalia, entourage, everything is spiritual. That is accepted by great scholars like Śaṅkarācārya. He says: nārāyaṇa parā. "Nārāyaṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond this material world." There are many examples. In your Bible also, those who are Christians, God said, "Let there be creation." So there was creation. Now this world, this word is not vibration of this material world. In the material world, if I say, "Let there be some mango," so no. That is not possible. But in the spiritual vibration, that is possible. That is possible. So the study is that God said, "Let there be creation." So there was creation. Now this word existed before the creation, because "Let there be creation" means when God is speaking there was no creation. And the creation means this material world. Therefore this vibration is not material. So when God is saying, "Let there be creation," then He's a person. Therefore His personality is also transcendental, spiritual. Otherwise how He speaks? These things are there in the Vedic literature. Sa aikṣata: "He glanced over, and there was creation." And Bhagavad-gītā also it is said that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
Creation means this material world. There are two worlds: material world and spiritual world. Spiritual world is eternal, and material world is created. We can experience. Anything material is created, it is maintained for some time, then it is annihilated. Nothing remains forever. So when... Creation means this material world, not the spiritual world. So when Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānāṁ (Bg 10.2), ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8), that means God is not within this material world, created being. He is the creator. So creator was there in the beginning, and then the created material world was in existence or is in existence. Therefore God is not one of these created things. He is beyond created. He is transcendental. If we accept God is also one of the created beings, that is our mistake. Because if God created this material world, He was existing before the creation. Therefore He is not one of the product of this creation. Therefore He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Creator means He must have full knowledge.
As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, paras tasmād tu bhava anyaḥ: "There is another nature." This is one nature, material nature, where millions and trillions of universes are clustered together in the corner of the spiritual sky. This is only one universe, within which there are innumerable planets. But there are millions and trillions of universes also. That is material creation. Material creation means one-fourth part of the whole creation. Three-fourths part is spiritual creation. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "This whole material world is existing in one fourth of My energy." kiṁ devā upadevā vā bhṛśaṁ kiṁ siddha-sattamāḥ.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning also, it is described, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1), abhijñaḥ. Now, God created this world. Everyone knows, those who are religious, either Hindu, Muslim, Christian, that God has created. Now, creation means He must be very expert. You do not see that this cosmic manifestation, the earth, water, air, fire, so nicely arranged, and they are being mixed up and so many other things are happening. Everything is perfectly, perfectly being done. So this perfect knowledge, how Kṛṣṇa or God received? Wherefrom He got this perfect knowledge? That is the difference between our knowledge and Kṛṣṇa's knowledge, God's knowledge. That is called abhijña: He knows everything perfectly, without going to anyone else. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This is the Vedic statement, that "The Absolute Truth is so perfect, He has got so many potencies, that everything is being done so perfectly."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So this is the process of creation, that the Garbhodakaśāyī, here, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, from His breathing, He created from the breathing, from the pores of the body, He created innumerable universes, and in each and every universe He entered again. And entering there, He produced a lotus flower. Within the stem of that lotus flower there are so many planets. Just see the gigantic lotus stem. These are to be known from the śāstra. You cannot imagine how the creation takes place, huge creation. That sort of explanation—"There was a chunk, and it exploded"—no, these are not explanation. Here is the explanation, in the śāstra. Śāstra cakṣuṣāt. You have to see by your śāstric eyes, not your limited, speculative eyes. That will not help us. Such gigantic business... You are a tiny soul. Your brain is very small. You cannot imagine the process of creation by your sporadic thoughts. That is not possible. So the creation means that first of all the universes are created through the breathing period of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Then in each and every universe He enters as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and He creates... Half of the universe is filled up with water. The water came from His perspiration, and then He lies down there. Then He creates the lotus flower. And upon the lotus flower, a Brahmā is first-born. This is creation. That Brahmā means not an uncivilized human being; the most intelligent person, first creation.
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.
Philosophy Discussions
So everything is taking birth means before the birth of everything there was the source wherefrom the birth is taking place. Just like child is born, and before the birth of the child the mother was existing. Similarly, before the creation of this material world, the source, Brahman, was there. Therefore Brahman is not matter. Brahman is not matter.
Śyāmasundara: Brahman is the essence.
Prabhupāda: Essence. The essence was there before the creation of the manifestation. That Brahman, Kṛṣṇa says, as Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ; (SB 1.1.1) similarly Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8): "I am the source of everything." And Brahma-saṁhitā says, Kṛṣṇa..., sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), "the cause of all causes." So before creation, Kṛṣṇa was existing, or God was existing. Creation means matter. So the source of creation, God, or Kṛṣṇa, is not matter. It is spirit.
Śyāmasundara: This is his idea: all of creation means motion. There is motion everywhere.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Without motion, how there can be creation? This is called kṣobha. Nothing is created without motion.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That means simultaneously you praise His creation; at the same time, you get the universal knowledge how many universes are there, how they are situated, what is the atmosphere, everything. You get a glimpse of idea at the same time. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. This is the way.
Śyāmasundara: So we see in the creation of God, it also traces back to the Creator.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Creation means the Creator. Just like when I see the picture of so many sculptor. So who has done it? I come to David. To appreciate the creation means you have to come to the point, appreciating the Creator. Otherwise, it is not finished. Or your knowledge is imperfect still. So these scientists, they are simply trying to study the creation. They have no knowledge about the Creator. That is the defect. Neither do they try, neither they can understand. They are so foolish and poor fund of knowledge. They should try to understand the Creator also. Then the knowledge is perfect.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: Astadhā, that's the lower prakṛti of God.
Prabhupāda: Yes, so now the study, first study, begins from material point of view: Wherefrom the sky came? How the sky came into existence? First of all sky. Then, from sky, there is sound. Then, from sound there is air. From air, there is... Along with these creations... the sky creation means the air creation also, the reception of the sound. So in this way it is all described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very nicely, how creation took place. Then, ultimately, we come to the land, where all the qualities of other elements are there. There is sound. There is touch. There is vision. There is smell. Everything is there. So... And the subtle matters. Mind, citta, intelligence, then buddh... intelligence. Then false ego. This is... At the present moment, everyone is thinking in the bodily concept of life: "I am American." "I am Indian." "I am brāhmaṇa." "I am kṣatriya." This is false ego. He's not, neither of them. Because he's spirit soul, a different identity. So these, how the subtle mind, intelligence, are working, one should know.
Jyotirmayī: Then he said that so is it not that God, the person, this divine essence, is a superperson, an evolved person, and not exactly somebody impersonal. Like he said that in Śaṅkarācārya's philosophy there is the conception of tat. So is not this tat conception, this divine essence, this superperson...
Prabhupāda: Yes, He is divine essence. God is divine essence, just like you have volumes of milk and you churn it, then you get so much butter. So the butter is the essence of the milk. Similarly, the spirit is vast, all-pervading. The example, another example, is just like the sunshine universally spread, very big. Then you concentrate the sunshine, it is sun globe. And if you still concentrate, you will see within the sun globe there is sun-god. So he is the essence of this light, the sunshine light, the sun globe light, and the person—sun-god, Vivasvān, he is person—he is the essence among all this light. That is explained in the Brahma-samhitā, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). The whole creation means expansion of the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato (Bs. 5.40). By expansion of the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, this Brahman, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam, tad brahma (Bs. 5.40). That Brahman. Brahman is..., just like the sunshine is the expansion of the bodily rays of sun-god.
Paramahaṁsa: You have quoted a great English Poet who says that "Man has created the city..."
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes.
Paramahaṁsa: "...and God has created the country."
Prabhupāda: This is the statement of Mr. Cowper. Man has created nothing. Suppose this building, man has created. But wherefrom the ingredient comes. Has man created? This stone, man has created? Eh? What do you think? Is this stone, creation of man?
Paramahaṁsa: No.
Prabhupāda: Then what... You have done the work of a laborer. That's all. You have taken ingredients from God and worked hard and transformed into a step. That's all. Your creation means just like carpenter creates a furniture. That's all. That is his creation. Then that is... The economic law says that man cannot create anything. He can simply transform. These trees, has man created these trees? Why do they claim man has created everything?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Religion without science or philosophy is sentiment. And philosophy without religion is mental speculation. So they must be combined together. So far the controller is concerned, this is scientific understanding. Just like the father... We consider... Why we? Everyone. Either he is Christian or Muhammadan or Hindu, the conception of God is generally accepted as the supreme father.
Cline Cross: I mean, it is a fact.
Prabhupāda: It is fact.
Cline Cross: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Because, just like anything, creation means the mother, the father and the children. That is our practical experience. Without mother, we are nowhere. We are given birth by the mother. So the material nature is the mother. From the material nature, material elements, everything is coming. From the water the fishes are coming, from the land the grass, the worms, and then human being, they are coming. From the air also living entities are coming. So therefore material nature is the mother, and we have come out of the material nature, therefore we are children. Then there must be father, because without father, simply mother cannot give birth. This is science. You cannot deny the existence of God simply by a false argument. This is real argument. The mother is there, material nature, and we are children there. There must be father.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
Regarding your question about Krishna's Name, the first principle is that Krishna is Absolute. He is not only identical with His Name, but with His Qualities, Form, Pastimes, Paraphernalia, etc. Krishna is identical with the whole creation because the creation means the expansion of Krishna's energy. The energy is never different from the source of the energy as much as heat and light are never different from the fire. The quality of fire is there existing both in heat and light. Naturally Krishna is not different from anything, and what to speak of His Transcendental Name? This is explained in the Bhagavad-gita where Krishna says that "everything is resting on Me, but I am not everything." This simultaneously one and different philosophy should be carefully understood. Then our Krishna Consciousness will be more clear.
| Page Title: | Creation means |
| Compiler: | Rati, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 22 of Nov, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=11, Con=5, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 18 |