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Activated

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

So the Lord is not directly attached to this material creation. He simply glances over material nature; material nature is thus activated, and everything is created immediately.
BG 9.10, Purport:

All these living entities, although born under the glance of the Supreme Lord, take their different bodies according to their past deeds and desires. So the Lord is not directly attached to this material creation. He simply glances over material nature; material nature is thus activated, and everything is created immediately. Because He glances over material nature, there is undoubtedly activity on the part of the Supreme Lord, but He has nothing to do with the manifestation of the material world directly.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 3

In the last stage of physical development the result is earth, which has all five qualities—sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Although they are different mixtures of different materials, such mixtures do not take place automatically, just as a mixture of colors does not take place automatically without the touch of the living painter. The automatic system is factually activated by the glancing touch of the Lord.
SB 3.5.36, Translation and Purport:

Thereafter the water produced from electricity was glanced over by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and mixed with eternal time and external energy. Thus it was transformed into the earth, which is qualified primarily by smell.

From the descriptions of the physical elements in the above verses it is clear that in all stages the glance of the Supreme is needed with the other additions and alterations. In every transformation, the last finishing touch is the glance of the Lord, who acts as a painter does when he mixes different colors to transform them into a particular color. When one element mixes with another, the number of its qualities increases. For example, the sky is the cause of air. The sky has only one quality, namely sound, but by the interaction of the sky with the glance of the Lord, mixed with eternal time and external nature, the air is produced, which has two qualities—sound and touch. Similarly after the air is created, interaction of sky and air, touched by time and the external energy of the Lord, produces electricity. And after the interaction of electricity with air and sky, mixed with time, external energy and the Lord's glance over them, the water is produced. In the final stage of sky there is one quality, namely sound; in the air two qualities, sound and touch; in the electricity three qualities, namely sound, touch and form; in the water four qualities, sound, touch, form and taste; and in the last stage of physical development the result is earth, which has all five qualities—sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Although they are different mixtures of different materials, such mixtures do not take place automatically, just as a mixture of colors does not take place automatically without the touch of the living painter. The automatic system is factually activated by the glancing touch of the Lord. Living consciousness is the final word in all physical changes.

SB Canto 4

The material ingredients are activated by the force of time.
SB 4.21.35, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly lives with the individual soul as Paramātmā. The individual soul has awareness in accord with his material body, which he attains by virtue of prakṛti, or material nature. The material ingredients are activated by the force of time, and thus the three material modes of nature are manifested. According to his association with the three modes of nature, the living entity develops a particular type of body.

It is by the glance of the Lord that the material energy is activated.
SB 4.24.63, Purport:

It is by the glance of the Lord that the material energy is activated. At that time the three material qualities are set into motion, and the material energy is manifested first in the form of the mahat-tattva, then egotism, then ether, then air, fire, water and earth. After the creation, the living entities are impregnated in the cosmic manifestation, and they emerge as Lord Brahmā and the seven great ṛṣis, then as different demigods. From the demigods come human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts and everything else. The original cause, however, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as verified herein-tvam eka ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ.

SB Canto 5

Those who are activated by the material mode of ignorance engage in impious activities.
SB 5.26.3, Translation:

Just as by executing various pious activities one achieves different positions in heavenly life, by acting impiously one achieves different positions in hellish life. Those who are activated by the material mode of ignorance engage in impious activities, and according to the extent of their ignorance, they are placed in different grades of hellish life. If one acts in the mode of ignorance because of madness, his resulting misery is the least severe. One who acts impiously but knows the distinction between pious and impious activities is placed in a hell of intermediate severity. And for one who acts impiously and ignorantly because of atheism, the resultant hellish life is the worst. Because of ignorance, every living entity has been carried by various desires into thousands of different hellish planets since time immemorial. I shall try to describe them as far as possible.

SB Canto 6

As long as one is activated by the bodily conception of life, there is always the danger of being misled, whether one is a man or a woman.
SB 6.18.42, Purport:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so beneficial that it can very easily counteract the contamination of material nature, which results from one's possessing a material body. Bhagavad-gītā therefore teaches, in the very beginning, that whether one is a man or a woman, one must know that he or she is not the body but a spiritual soul. Everyone should be interested in the activities of the spirit soul, not the body. As long as one is activated by the bodily conception of life, there is always the danger of being misled, whether one is a man or a woman. The soul is sometimes described as puruṣa because whether one is dressed as a man or a woman, one is inclined to enjoy this material world. One who has this spirit of enjoyment is described as puruṣa. Whether one is a man or a woman, he is not interested in serving others; everyone is interested in satisfying his or her own senses. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, provides first-class training for a man or a woman. A man should be trained to be a first-class devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and a woman should be trained to be a very chaste follower of her husband. That will make the lives of both of them happy.

SB Canto 8

The material creation is activated by the Lord, and therefore the Lord is not a part of the material creation.
SB 8.5.32, Translation and Purport:

On this earth there are four kinds of living entities, who are all created by Him. The material creation rests on His lotus feet. He is the great Supreme Person, full of opulence and power. May He be pleased with us.

The word mahī refers to the five material elements—earth, water, air, fire and sky—which rest upon the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ. The mahat-tattva, the total material energy, rests on His lotus feet, for the cosmic manifestation is but another opulence of the Lord. In this cosmic manifestation there are four kinds of living entities—jarāyu ja (those born from embryos), aṇḍa ja (those born from eggs), sveda ja (those born from perspiration), and udbhijja (those born from seeds). Everything is generated from the Lord, as confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)). No one is independent, but the Supreme Soul is completely independent. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ. The word sva-rāṭ means "independent." We are dependent, whereas the Supreme Lord is completely independent. Therefore the Supreme Lord is the greatest of all. Even Lord Brahmā, who created the cosmic manifestation, is but another opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The material creation is activated by the Lord, and therefore the Lord is not a part of the material creation. The Lord exists in His original, spiritual position. The universal form of the Lord, vairāja-mūrti, is another feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.87.29, Translation:

O eternally liberated, transcendental Lord, Your material energy causes the various moving and nonmoving species of life to appear by activating their material desires, but only when and if You sport with her by briefly glancing at her. You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, see no one as an intimate friend and no one as a stranger, just as the ethereal sky has no connection with perceptible qualities. In this sense You resemble a void.

SB 11.3.3, Translation:

Śrī Antarīkṣa said: O mighty-armed King, by activating the material elements, the primeval Soul of all creation has sent forth all living beings in higher and lower species so that these conditioned souls can cultivate either sense gratification or ultimate liberation, according to their desire.

SB 11.3.4, Translation:

The Supersoul enters the material bodies of the created beings, activates the mind and senses, and thus causes the conditioned souls to approach the three modes of material nature for sense gratification.

SB 11.3.5, Translation:

The individual living being, the master of the material body, uses his material senses, which have been activated by the Supersoul, to try to enjoy sense objects composed of the three modes of nature. Thus he misidentifies the created material body with the unborn eternal self and becomes entangled in the illusory energy of the Lord.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

The Lord activates material nature, which then supplies the ingredients for cosmic development.
CC Adi 5.51, Purport:

The glancing power of the Lord agitates the entire cosmic energy, and thus its actions begin at once. This indicates that matter, however powerful she may be, has no power by herself. Her activity begins by the grace of the Lord, and then the entire cosmic creation is manifested in a systematic way. The example of a woman's conception can help us understand this subject to a certain extent. The mother is passive, but the father puts his energy within the mother, and thus she conceives. She supplies the ingredients for the birth of the child in her womb. Similarly, the Lord activates material nature, which then supplies the ingredients for cosmic development.

The modes of nature, which directly cause material actions, are also originally activated by Nārāyaṇa.
CC Adi 5.51, Purport:

The modes of nature, which directly cause material actions, are also originally activated by Nārāyaṇa. A simple example will explain how this is so: When a potter manufactures a pot from clay, the potter's wheel, his tools and the clay are the immediate causes of the pot, but the potter is the chief cause. Similarly, Nārāyaṇa is the chief cause of all material creations, and the material energy supplies the ingredients of matter. Therefore without Nārāyaṇa, all other causes are useless, just as the potter's wheel and tools are useless without the potter himself. Since materialistic scientists ignore the Personality of Godhead, it is as if they were concerned with the potter's wheel and its rotation, the potter's tools and the ingredients for the pots, but had no knowledge of the potter himself. Therefore modern science has created an imperfect, godless civilization that is in gross ignorance of the ultimate cause. Scientific advancement should have a great goal to attain, and that great goal should be the Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that after conducting research for many, many births, great men of knowledge who stress the importance of experimental thought can know the Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes. When one knows Him perfectly, one surrenders unto Him and then becomes a mahātmā.

Inert material nature is not the actual cause of the material manifestation, for Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī, Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa, activates all the ingredients.
CC Adi 5.61, Translation and Purport:

Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. Prakṛti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.

The external energy, composed of pradhāna or prakṛti as the ingredient-supplying portion and māyā as the causal portion, is known as māyā-śakti. Inert material nature is not the actual cause of the material manifestation, for Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī, Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa, activates all the ingredients. It is in this way that material nature has the power to supply the ingredients. The example given is that iron has no power to heat or burn, but after coming in contact with fire the iron becomes red-hot and can then diffuse heat and burn other things. Material nature is like iron, for it has no independence to act without the touch of Viṣṇu, who is compared to fire.

Lord Viṣṇu activates material nature by the power of His glance.
CC Adi 5.61, Purport:

Lord Viṣṇu activates material nature by the power of His glance, and then the ironlike material nature becomes a material-supplying agent just as iron made red-hot becomes a burning agent. Material nature cannot independently become an agent for supplying the material ingredients. This is more clearly explained by Śrī Kapiladeva, an incarnation of Godhead, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.28.40):

yatholmukād visphuliṅgād dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt
apy ātmatvenābhimatād yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt

"Although smoke, flaming wood, and sparks are all considered together as ingredients of a fire, the flaming wood is nevertheless different from the fire, and the smoke is different from the flaming wood."

Material nature can supply only when it is activated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
CC Adi 5.61, Purport:

The material elements (earth, water, fire, etc.) are like smoke, the living entities are like sparks, and material nature as pradhāna is like the flaming wood. But all of them together are recipients of power from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus able to manifest their individual capacities. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of all manifestations. Material nature can supply only when it is activated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

CC Madhya-lila

Our minds and bodies are always engaged in material activities. When they are activated on the spiritual platform, they slacken on the material platform.
CC Madhya 19.99, Translation and Purport:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu requested Raghupati Upādhyāya to continue speaking about the pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Thus the Lord was absorbed in ecstatic love, and His mind and body slackened.

Our minds and bodies are always engaged in material activities. When they are activated on the spiritual platform, they slacken on the material platform.

"Love for Kṛṣṇa, Keśava, as previously described, reaches the supreme state of being composed of mellows when its ingredients are fulfilled. By means of vibhāva, anubhāva, sāttvika and vyabhicārī, hearing and chanting are activated, and the devotee is able to taste love for Kṛṣṇa."
CC Madhya 23.47, Purport:

"Love for Kṛṣṇa, Keśava, as previously described, reaches the supreme state of being composed of mellows when its ingredients are fulfilled. By means of vibhāva, anubhāva, sāttvika and vyabhicārī, hearing and chanting are activated, and the devotee is able to taste love for Kṛṣṇa. Then attachment for Kṛṣṇa, or permanent ecstasy (sthāyi-bhāva), becomes the mellow of devotional service (bhakti-rasa)."

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Renunciation Through Wisdom

The potency that activates the inferior energy is known as the Lord's superior energy, or spiritual potency.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

The above-mentioned eight ingredients make up the material nature, or the Supreme Lord's external potency. These material ingredients—earth, water, fire, air, and so on—are devoid of any free will, and so they are known as the Lord's inferior energy. By contrast, the potency that activates the inferior energy is known as the Lord's superior energy, or spiritual potency. On principle the energy cannot be the enjoyer; nor can one energy enjoy another energy. Energy is the enjoyed, and the energetic is the enjoyer.

It is beyond doubt that matter is inert, incapable of voluntary action, and that consciousness has activated the twenty-four material ingredients so as to exhibit variegatedness in material nature.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

The living entities are a product of the Lord's superior, spiritual energy, and so they are superior to earth, water, fire, and so on, which are always devoid of volition. But that does not mean the living entities are on the same platform as the Supreme Lord, who is the absolute controlling principle. It is easy to discern the superiority of spirit over inert matter. The jīva principle is setting into motion and sustaining everything in this material world. And if the jīvas did not try to lord it over the material nature, then there would be no variegatedness in this phenomenal world. The material elements would have remained unchanged if the jīvas had not been inclined to control and enjoy them. Only through the material energies' connection with the conscious living entity can such substances as earth, wood, stone, and iron be orchestrated so as to give rise to huge, opulent buildings, factories, and cities. Matter cannot organize itself.

From the foregoing one can understand that this massive cosmic creation, with its innumerable planetary systems and heavenly bodies, has come about only through the interference of some superior and powerful consciousness. It is beyond doubt that matter is inert, incapable of voluntary action, and that consciousness has activated the twenty-four material ingredients so as to exhibit variegatedness in material nature. All this goes to prove the inherent insufficiency and imperfections in material nature. Thus transcendental happiness is possible only in spiritual variegatedness.

Light of the Bhagavata

We must first activate our dormant love of Godhead by following the prescribed rules and by following in the footsteps of the authorities who are actually fixed in love of Godhead.
Light of the Bhagavata 42, Purport:

and thousands of men, but because they were not in love of Godhead they could hardly realize the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we must first activate our dormant love of Godhead by following the prescribed rules and by following in the footsteps of the authorities who are actually fixed in love of Godhead. The gopīs provide the highest example of such unalloyed love of Godhead, and Lord Caitanya at the ultimate stage of realization displayed the viraha worship in the mood of the gopīs.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Active means we are active with our senses. Mind, mind is the central point of activitizing the senses.
Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

As soon as this consciousness is gone, neither you can hear, neither I can speak. So any activity, either hearing or speaking or moving or eating or seeing—anything. We have got different senses. We are active. Active means we are active with our senses. Mind, mind is the central point of activitizing (activating) the senses. That is our life. Life means the acting of the senses. And that, beyond, beyond that mind, there is consciousness. So if consciousness is gone, then what remains? Nothing remains.

The moon, Candradeva... They are all devas, demigods. He's in charge of, what is called, activating the vegetables.
Lecture on BG 8.1 -- Geneva, June 7, 1974:

The demigods, they are controlling the universal affairs. Just like for rain, water supply, Indradeva, the demigod known as Indra, he is in charge. For heat and light, the demigod Sūryadeva, he's in charge. Similarly, the moon, Candradeva... They are all devas, demigods. He's in charge of, what is called, activating the vegetables, the moon, activating the vegetables. In this way, all these demigods have got different power invested upon them by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are agents. They are called demigods, Indra, Candra... There are thirty-three crores of demigods, and they are controlling our activities also.

Initiation Lectures

The mind is activated by intelligence.
Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975:

This evening we were discussing with some learned psychiatrist to solve the problems of the world. So we have tried to convince them that the problems of the world are due to ignorance of our spiritual life. So this body... Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ. This body means combination of different senses. This body means we have got hands, legs, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, genital, rectum. All these different parts of the body are working. So these senses are working under the leadership of the mind, and the mind is activated by intelligence, and behind the intelligence there is soul.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

They cannot. It is not possible.
Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Just see how small animal it is, and how freely it is going. Let them manufacture a small animal like this with chemicals. It has got all the symptoms of animal. It has got the desire. It has thinking, feeling, willing, then eating, sleeping, mating. Everything is there. And as such, the anatomic physiology is there, within such a full stop. Everything is there. If you check them going here, they'll protest. And wherefrom they are coming? Where they are going? Just see how small it is. You cannot see even with naked eyes, so small. But it has all life symptoms. And they say there is no soul.

Rāmeśvara: No, it is some wonderful chemical mixture that they have not discovered yet, very mysterious chemistry. It is all based on this idea of a study of genes and chromosomes, genetics. They have so many words for describing how it happens.

Prabhupāda: Jugglery, word jugglery.

Rāmeśvara: DNA, RNA.

Hari-śauri: But they still can't explain the power force that activates them. They still can't explain the actual source of power that activates those chemicals.

Prabhupāda: They cannot. It is not possible.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Svarūpa Dāmodara: Prabhupāda says by activating his muscles, by massaging, that will generate energy. That will bring appetite.
Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

(break)

Prabhupāda: Bhagatji?

Bhagatji: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Prabhupāda says by activating his muscles, by massaging, that will generate energy. That will bring appetite. (break)

Page Title:Activated
Compiler:Sharmila, Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas
Created:04 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=10, CC=7, OB=3, Lec=3, Con=2, Let=0
No. of Quotes:26