The spiritual sky contains innumerable spiritual planets, the Vaikuṇṭhas, which are manifestations of the Supreme Lord's internal energy. Innumerable material universes are similarly exhibited by His external energy, and the living entities are manifested by His marginal energy. Because Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is not different from Lord Kṛṣṇa, He is the cause of all causes; there is no cause beyond Him. He is eternal, and His form is spiritual. Lord Caitanya is directly the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, as the evidence of authoritative scriptures proves. This chapter stresses that a devotee who wishes to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must have knowledge of Kṛṣṇa's personal form, His three principal energies, His pastimes and the relationship of the living entities with Him.
Marginal energy (CC and Other Books)
Expressions researched:
"energies are internal, marginal and external"
|"energy (marginal potency)"
|"marginal and relative energies"
|"marginal energies"
|"marginal energy"
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Two different principles are to be considered herein—namely āśraya, the object providing shelter, and āśrita, the dependents requiring shelter. The āśrita exist under the original principle, the āśraya. The first nine categories, described in the first nine cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from creation to liberation—including the puruṣa-avatāras, the incarnations, the marginal energy, or living entities, and the external energy, or material world—are all āśrita. The prayers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, however, aim for the āśraya-tattva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The great souls expert in describing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam have very diligently delineated the other nine categories, sometimes by direct narrations and sometimes by indirect narrations such as stories. The real purpose of doing this is to know perfectly the Absolute Transcendence, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, for the entire creation, both material and spiritual, rests on the body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
The Absolute Truth is therefore the substance of reality, eternally manifest in three energies. The manifestation of the internal energy of the Lord is the inconceivably variegated spiritual world, the manifestation of the marginal energy comprises the living entities, and the manifestation of the external energy is the material cosmos. Therefore the Absolute Truth includes these four principles—the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, His internal energy, His marginal energy and His external energy. The form of the Lord and the expansions of His form as svayaṁ-rūpa and vaibhava-prakāśa are directly the enjoyers of the internal energy, which is the eternal exhibitor of the spiritual world, the most confidential of the manifestations of energy.
The energy of the Absolute Truth is exhibited in three ways: spiritual, material and marginal. The Absolute Truth is identical with His spiritual energy. Only when contacted by the spiritual energy can the material energy work and the temporary material manifestations thus appear active. In the conditioned state the living entities of the marginal energy are a mixture of spiritual and material energies. The marginal energy is originally under the control of the spiritual energy, but, under the control of the material energy, the living entities have been wandering in forgetfulness within the material world since time immemorial.
The bhakta-rūpa (Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu), the bhakta-svarūpa (Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu) and the bhakta-avatāra (Śrī Advaita Prabhu) are described as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, His immediate manifestation and His plenary expansion, and They all belong to the Viṣṇu category. Although the spiritual and marginal energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu, they are predominated subjects, whereas Lord Viṣṇu is the predominator. As such, although they are on the same platform, they have appeared differently in order to facilitate tasting of transcendental mellows. Actually, however, there is no possibility of one being different from the other, for the worshiper and the worshipable cannot be separated at any stage. On the absolute platform, one cannot be understood without the other.
He is none other than the son of Nanda Mahārāja. Similarly, although Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu appeared as Lord Caitanya's assistant, He is none other than Baladeva, the carrier of the plow. Advaita Ācārya is the incarnation of Sadāśiva from the spiritual world. All the devotees headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura are His marginal energy, whereas the devotees headed by Gadādhara Paṇḍita are manifestations of His internal potency.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Advaita Prabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu all belong to the viṣṇu-tattva category. Because Lord Caitanya is an ocean of mercy, He is addressed as mahāprabhu, whereas Nityānanda and Advaita, being two great personalities who assist Lord Caitanya, are addressed as prabhu.
CC Madhya-lila
“It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṇa has three varieties of energy.
The living entity is originally part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and is therefore the superior energy of Kṛṣṇa. He is endowed with inconceivable minute energy that works inconceivably within the body. However, the living entity, forgetting his position, is situated in material energy. The living entity is called the marginal energy because by nature he is spiritual but by forgetfulness he is situated in the material energy. Thus he has the power to live either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy, and for this reason he is called marginal energy. Being in the marginal position, he is sometimes attracted by the external, illusory energy, and this is the beginning of his material life. When he enters the material energy, he is subjected to the threefold time measurement—past, present and future. Past, present and future belong only to the material world; they do not exist in the spiritual world.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Aham is stated three times just to chastise one who cannot understand or believe in the transcendental nature and form of the Supreme Lord.
The Lord possesses His internal energy, His external, marginal and relative energies, and the manifestation of the cosmic world and the living entities. The external energy is manifested by the qualitative modes (guṇas) of material nature. One who can understand the nature of the living entity in the spiritual world can actually understand vedyam, or perfect knowledge. One cannot understand the Supreme Lord simply by seeing the material energy and the conditioned soul, but when one is in perfect knowledge, he is freed from the influence of the external energy. The moon reflects the light of the sun, and without the sun the moon cannot illuminate anything.
Such living entities live in different ways according to the degree of their entanglement in material nature. The original energy of the Supreme Lord is spiritual and nondifferent from the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead. The living entity is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord, and the material energy is called the inferior energy. On account of his inert, material inebriety, the living entity in the marginal position becomes entangled with the inferior energy, matter. At that time he forgets his spiritual significance, identifies himself with the material energy and thereby becomes subjected to the threefold miseries. Only when he is free from such material contamination can he be situated in his proper position.
In other words, the Supreme Personality, Kṛṣṇa, is the reservoir of all knowledge, all pleasure and all eternity. The supreme knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is exhibited in three different energies—internal, marginal and external. By virtue of His internal energy He exists in Himself with His spiritual paraphernalia, by means of His marginal energy He exhibits Himself as the living entities, and by means of His external energy He exhibits Himself as the material world. Behind each and every exhibition of energy there is the background of eternity, His pleasure potency and His cognizance potency.
After giving a summary description of Kṛṣṇa's beauty, Rāmānanda Rāya began to speak of His spiritual energies, headed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa has immense energetic expansions, of which three are predominant: the internal energy, the external energy and the marginal energy, comprising the living entities. This threefold division of energies is confirmed in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61), where it is said that Viṣṇu has one spiritual energy, which is manifested in three ways. When the spiritual energy is overwhelmed by ignorance, it is called the marginal energy. As far as the spiritual energy itself is concerned, it is exhibited in three forms because Kṛṣṇa is a combination of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As far as His bliss and peacefulness are concerned, His spiritual energy is manifested as the pleasure-giving potency.
Nectar of Devotion
This cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not material. The Lord has three general energies—namely the external energy, the internal energy and the marginal energy. The living entities are called marginal energy, and the material cosmic manifestation is the action of the external, or material, energy. Then there is the spiritual world, which is a manifestation of the internal energy. The living entities, who are called marginal energy, perform material activities when acting under the inferior, external energy. And when they engage in activities under the internal, spiritual energy, their activities are called Kṛṣṇa conscious. This means that those who are great souls or great devotees do not act under the spell of material energy, but act instead under the protection of the spiritual energy.
Nectar of Instruction
Sages have divided the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead into three categories—namely, the spiritual energy, marginal energy and material energy. The material energy is considered to be the third-class energy (tṛtīyā śaktiḥ). Those living beings within the jurisdiction of the material energy sometimes engage themselves like dogs and hogs in working very hard simply for sense gratification. However, in this life, or, after executing pious activities, in the next life, some karmīs become strongly attracted to performing various kinds of sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas. Thus on the strength of their pious merit, they are elevated to heavenly planets.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
From Your navel a lotus flower grows, and from that lotus Brahmā, the creator of this universe, is born. Since Brahmā is the cause of this universe, You are the cause of all causes. The elements of this cosmic manifestation—earth, water, fire, air, ether, ego and the total material energy, as well as nature, the marginal energy, the living entities, the mind, the senses, the sense objects and the demigods who control the affairs of the cosmos—are all produced from Your body. You are the Supersoul of everything, but no one knows Your transcendental form. Everyone within this material world is influenced by the modes of material nature. Even demigods like Lord Brahmā, being covered by the influence of material nature, do not exactly know Your transcendental existence beyond the cosmic manifestation of the three modes of material nature.
Similarly, less intelligent men claim that there is no God, but when the manifestation of different living entities and their activities is visible, enlightened persons see You present in every atom through the medium of Your external and marginal energies. Your unlimitedly potent activities are experienced by the most enlightened devotees, but those who are bewildered by the spell of Your external energy identify themselves with this material world and become attached to society, friendship and love. Thus they embrace the threefold miseries of material existence and are subjected to the dualities of pain and pleasure, sometimes drowning in the ocean of attachment and sometimes being taken out of it.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 20.108-09, 111, 117-8, 120, and 122), Lord Caitanya gives some illuminating advice to Sanātana Gosvāmī:
It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire.
Lord Kṛṣṇa naturally has three energetic transformations, and these are known as the spiritual potency, the living entity potency, and the illusory potency... Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy (māyā) gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence. In the material condition, the living entity is sometimes raised to higher planetary systems and material prosperity and sometimes drowned in a hellish situation.
The jīva is situated in the Lord's marginal potency, which, inconceivably, is simultaneously one with and different from the Lord.
3) The jīvas,—the marginal energy of the Lord, have the ability to reside eternally either in Vaikuṇṭha or in this material world. A jīva falls down to material nescience because of countless sinful activities, and in these alien surroundings he goes up and down, traveling through all the planetary systems, from Lord Brahmā's planet down to Pātālaloka. In the material world the jīva experiences birth, disease, old age, and death and is forced to accept three types of suffering, namely: those miseries stemming from his own mind and body, those inflicted by other living entities, and those hurled at him by the demigods.
Light of the Bhagavata
The living being is the marginal energy of the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and he can spend his conserved energy either externally or internally. When spent internally, the energy is identified with the internal energy of the Personality of Godhead, but the same conserved energy, when spent for His external energy, is identified with that external energy. All energies—internal, external, and marginal—are emanations from Him, the Supreme, and they act differently to prove diversity in unity. The unity is the Lord, and the energies represent diversity. The Lord is so powerful that He can do anything and everything merely by His sweet will alone.
The Lord is so powerful that He can do anything and everything merely by His sweet will alone. As mentioned above, everything is done by His energies in a natural way, with full knowledge and complete perfection. That is the information we have from the Vedic literatures.
The internal energy and the marginal energy are of the same superior quality, but the external energy is inferior in quality. That is the information we have from Bhagavad-gītā. Because the living entity is classified as marginal energy and is of the same quality as the internal energy, it is quite natural for him to cooperate with the internal energy. But when the living entity prefers to cooperate with the external energy, he is put into difficulty. By the process called pratyāhāra (diversion), yoga diverts our energies from the external to the internal.
Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)
Persons with a poor fund of knowledge are captivated by one part of His energy and therefore fail to penetrate into the original source of the energy. Whatever astounding energies we see manifest in this world, including atomic and nuclear energies, are all part and parcel of His material, or external, energy. Superior to this material energy, however, is the Lord's marginal energy, exhibited as the living being. Besides these energies, the Supreme Lord has another energy, which is known as the internal energy. The marginal energy can take shelter of either the internal energy or the external energy, but factually it belongs to the Lord's internal energy. The living beings are therefore infinitesimal samples of the Supreme Lord. Qualitatively the living being and the Supreme Lord are equal, but quantitatively they are different, for the Lord is unlimitedly potent whereas the living entities, being infinitesimal by nature, have limited potency.
| Page Title: | Marginal energy (CC and Other Books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 04 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=8, OB=13, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 21 |