SB 03.26.04 sa esa prakrtim suksmam... cited

Expressions researched:
"abhyapadyata lilaya" |"daivim gunamayim vibhuh" |"sa esa prakrtim suksmam" |"yadrcchayaivopagatam"

SB Canto 3

SB 3.26.4, Translation and Purport:

As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu.

In this verse the word guṇamayīm is very significant. Daivīm means "the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead," and guṇamayīm means "invested with the three modes of material nature." When the material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, this guṇamayīm energy acts as a manifestation of the energies of the three modes; it acts as a covering. The energy emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests in two ways—as an emanation from the Supreme Lord and as a covering of the Lord's face. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that because the whole world is illusioned by the three modes of material nature, the common conditioned soul, being covered by such energy, cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The example of a cloud is very nicely given. All of a sudden there may appear a big cloud in the sky. This cloud is perceived in two ways. To the sun the cloud is a creation of its energy, but to the ordinary common man in the conditioned state, it is a covering to the eyes; because of the cloud, the sun cannot be seen. It is not that the sun is actually covered by the cloud; only the vision of the ordinary being is covered. Similarly, although māyā cannot cover the Supreme Lord, who is beyond māyā, the material energy covers the ordinary living entities. Those conditioned souls who are covered are individual living entities, and He from whose energy māyā is created is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In another place in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the First Canto, Seventh Chapter, it is stated that Vyāsadeva, by his spiritual vision, saw the Supreme Lord and the material energy standing behind Him. This indicates that material energy cannot cover the Lord, just as darkness cannot cover the sun. Darkness can cover a jurisdiction which is very insignificant in comparison to that of the sun. Darkness can cover a small cave, but not the open sky. Similarly, the covering capacity of the material energy is limited and cannot act on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is therefore called vibhu. As the appearance of a cloud is accepted by the sun, so the appearance of the material energy at a certain interval is accepted by the Lord. Although His material energy is utilized to create the material world, this does not mean that He is covered by that energy. Those who are covered by the material energy are called conditioned souls. The Lord accepts the material energy for His material pastimes in creation, maintenance and dissolution. But the conditioned soul is covered; he cannot understand that beyond this material energy there is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, just as a less intelligent person cannot understand that beyond the covering of the clouds there is bright sunshine.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.26.4 -- Bombay, December 16, 1974:

Nitāi: "(As His pastimes, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great,) accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with the three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu."

Prabhupāda:

sa eṣa prakṛtiṁ sūkṣmāṁ

daivīṁ guṇamayīṁ vibhuḥ

yadṛcchayaivopagatām

abhyapadyata līlayā

(SB 3.26.4)

So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He says that sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā... (BG 4.6). Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā. Kṛṣṇa and the living entities, both of them are the same quality, but when the living entities come in this material world, he is forced by the prakṛti, by the material nature. But when Kṛṣṇa comes, He is not forced, but by His free will, yadṛcchayā upagatām... Yadṛcchayaivopagatām abhyapadyata līlayā.

Sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers, they also take the living entities within this material world as līlā. That is not līlā. Līlā refers to the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Never... Nobody says that the living entity has come in this material world for līlā. At least, the Vaiṣṇava philosophers do not agree that. It is contradictory. Kṛṣṇa said that "When I come..."

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya...

(BG 4.7)

We should not accept Kṛṣṇa's coming within this material world and our coming in this material world as the same process. Kṛṣṇa comes as He is. He does not change. And because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, almighty, even if He comes within this material world, the material qualities do not affect Him. That is īśanam, īśanam.

Lecture on SB 3.26.4 -- Bombay, December 16, 1974:

So those who are too much infected by these material qualities, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). They think that "Kṛṣṇa and we are the same." But that is not the fact. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because Kṛṣṇa comes as human being, we may think that "Kṛṣṇa is as good as I am." No, that should not be... Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, and we are aṇu. Kṛṣṇa is master, and we are servant. That is our eternal relationship. We should not forget that. And sa eṣa prakṛtiṁ sūkṣmāṁ daivīṁ guṇamayīṁ vibhuḥ. Prakṛti, prakṛti, this prakṛti is also Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa, the supreme powerful, He can utilize the prakṛti as He likes. He is not controlled by prakṛti. But we are controlled by prakṛti. Because He is vibhu... Vibhu means the great. So you cannot say great māyā, or prakṛti is greater than Kṛṣṇa. You cannot say. Then your God is not great. If something is greater than God, then you cannot say God is great. If you accept this, that there is no more greater identity than Kṛṣṇa, then you can say, "Kṛṣṇa is great, or..." Kṛṣṇa cannot be entrapped. Nūnaṁ mahatān tatra. If you are smaller, then you can be overpowered by the great. If your strength is lesser than another man... Say, two wrestler. If one wrestler is more powerful, he can defeat the other wrestler.

So therefore, here it is said that vibhuḥ... Kṛṣṇa is vibhuḥ, and if He is covered by māyā... As the Māyāvādī philosopher thinks, that "When God comes within this material world, He is also covered by māyā..." He is not covered by māyā. If māyā is greater than Kṛṣṇa, then māyā can cover Kṛṣṇa. But that is not the fact. Kṛṣṇa says, mama māyā. That means... Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). If one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, then he becomes free from the clutches of māyā. So how Kṛṣṇa can be caught by māyā? This is contradictory. If anyone surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he becomes free from the influence of māyā, simply by surrendering. Then how Kṛṣṇa can be influenced by māyā? It is common sense. By surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, by becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, you become free from the clutches of māyā. Mām eva ye prapadyante. Simply by surrendering. Māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). So never think that Kṛṣṇa... The Māyāvādī thinks like that, that "We are one, Kṛṣṇa and we. We are one." Yes, we are one—in quality. The same thing: just like the fire and the spark, one in burning capacity. Even a small spark of the fire, it can burn. So we are one in the spiritual quality, but in quantity, we are different. Same example: vibhu and aṇu. This is very nice verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14).

Lecture on SB 3.26.4 -- Bombay, December 16, 1974:

So this is a great science, Kṛṣṇa science, kṛṣṇa-tattva. So we have to learn from the authorized Vedic literature about Kṛṣṇa. And that is required in human life. Because if we simply understand the truth about Kṛṣṇa, janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9), which are divine transcendental, yo jānāti tattvataḥ, if you try to understand and if you become fortunate to understand the divine nature of Kṛṣṇa's līlā, then you become liberated, immediately: tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). The Sāṅkhya philosophy of Kapiladeva is explained in this way to understand Kṛṣṇa.

So Kṛṣṇa, yadṛcchayaivopagatām abhyapadyata līlayā. Kṛṣṇa is līlā, and our coming here is not līlā. We are forced. We are forced. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. Even if we think it is material, still, it is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Just like one can argue that "Here is Kṛṣṇa's form. It is made of stone. How it is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha?" But if you know the nature of Kṛṣṇa, even He appears as stone, still He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. How? Because the stone is also energy of Kṛṣṇa. That is said in the Upaniṣad:

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate

na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate

parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate...

(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)

So the stone is also another energy of Kṛṣṇa, another energy of Kṛṣṇa. And Śrī Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful. He can utilize His energy in anyway. He can utilize His energy in any way. Just like an electrician—he knows how to utilize electricity for the refrigerator and the heater, although the heating process is just opposite of the cooling process. We see opposite. Similarly, material nature and spiritual nature, just opposite, but the same way: the electricity utilize for heating and electricity utilized for cooling. The energy is the same, but it is the manipulation of the engineer which can turn heat into cold and cold into heat. So therefore, for Kṛṣṇa there is no material nature. Everything is spiritual nature. Even Kṛṣṇa appears as material form, as stone, as matter, still, one who knows Kṛṣṇa, he can derive Kṛṣṇa's favor from any form. Otherwise the devotees are recommended to worship the Deity in the temple.