SB 07.09.33 tasyaiva te vapur idam nija-kala-saktya... cited

Expressions researched:
"ambhasy ananta-sayanad viramat-samadher" |"nabher abhut sva-kanika-vatavan-mahabjam" |"sancodita-prakrti-dharmana atma-gudham" |"tasyaiva te vapur idam nija-kala-saktya"

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.33, Translation and Purport:

This cosmic manifestation, the material world, is also Your body. This total lump of matter is agitated by Your potent energy known as kāla-śakti, and thus the three modes of material nature are manifested. You awaken from the bed of Śeṣa, Ananta, and from Your navel a small transcendental seed is generated. It is from this seed that the lotus flower of the gigantic universe is manifested, exactly as a banyan tree grows from a small seed.

The three different forms of Mahā-viṣṇu—namely Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who are the origin of creation and maintenance—are gradually being described. From Mahā-viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is generated, and from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu gradually expands. Thus Mahā-viṣṇu is the original cause of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu comes the lotus flower from which Lord Brahmā is manifested. Thus the original cause of everything is Viṣṇu, and consequently the cosmic manifestation is not different from Viṣṇu. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (10.8), wherein Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me." Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa. In this way, Kṛṣṇa is ultimately the cause of all causes (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)). The conclusion is that both the material world and spiritual world are considered to be the body of the Supreme Lord. We can understand that the material body is caused by the spiritual body and is therefore an expansion of the spiritual body. Thus when one takes up spiritual activities, one's entire material body is spiritualized. Similarly, in this material world, when the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement expands, the entire material world becomes spiritualized. As long as we do not realize this, we live in the material world, but when we are fully Kṛṣṇa conscious we live not in the material world but in the spiritual world.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 7.9.33 -- Mayapur, March 11, 1976:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "This cosmic manifestation, the material world, is also Your body. By Your potential energy known as kāla-śakti, this total lump of matter is agitated, and thus three modes of material nature are manifested. In this way You become awakened from the bed of Ananta-Śeṣa, and from Your navel a small transcendental seed is generated, from which the gigantic universe becomes manifest. Exactly like the small seed of banyan tree, the lotus flower of the cosmic manifestation is grown up."

Prabhupāda: These verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras. They're not ordinary wording, set of wording. It is not. Veda-mantra, saṁhitā. So every one of you must try to chant. This is required. Each verse of Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras, veda-mantra. So simply by chanting them we become purified. So every one of you... There is diacritic marks, literation, transliteration, so everyone should try to chant the mantra. That is very beneficial. That is kīrtana. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya (SB 12.3.51). Everything is being chanted in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, with reference to Kṛṣṇa.

So this material world is explained,

tasyaiva te vapur idaṁ nija-kāla-śaktyā

sañcodita-prakṛti-dharmaṇa ātma-gūḍham

ambhasy ananta-śayanād viramat-samādher

nābher abhūt sva-kaṇikā-vaṭavat mahābjam

(SB 7.9.33)

Vaṭavat mahābjam. Abjam means flower, lotus flower? Yes. So this is the description of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and then Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and then Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, trin, three Viṣṇus. First of all from... I have several times explained, from Kṛṣṇa, then expansion, Balarāma, then catur-vyūha, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, like that. Then Nārāyaṇa, then dvitīya catur-vyūha. From dvitīya catur-vyūha, Vaikuṇṭha, Saṅkarṣaṇa, then Puruṣa, Puruṣa-avatāra. These Puruṣas are three. In the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna recognized Kṛṣṇa as puruṣa. Puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam. So He's the puruṣa. God is puruṣa, male. God is not female. Female... The śakti, that is female, prakṛti.

In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is mentioned, prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā, bhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā. This material nature is separated energy, divided into eight elements: earth, water, air, and fire, then ether, mind, intelligence and ego. These are all prakṛti, material. Bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. Bhinnā. Bhinnā means separated. There is not direct connection, but another prakṛti, that is... Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā (BG 7.5). This is inferior energy, material elements, and there is superior element, prakṛti. That is also prakṛti. We are prakṛti. Prakṛti means under the control of the puruṣa. That is natural. We cannot conceive equal rights of puruṣa and prakṛti. That is not Vedic conception. Vedic conception is puruṣa, the superior, Supreme, and prakṛti means subordinate. Puruṣa is predominator, and prakṛti is predominated. So we living entities, we are prakṛti. Falsely if we try to become puruṣa, that is māyā. We should remain prakṛti, subservient, predominated. That is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Because generally the people are misled, thinking himself as puruṣa, "I am the enjoyer." But that is not the fact. That false ego, that "I am enjoyer," that is false ego. And real ego is "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." So there is no necessity of giving up egotism or egoism, but it must be real. At the present moment we are falsely thinking, "I am this body," every one of us. There is no argument. The whole material world is going on on the basis of this false conception that "I am this body." And because I am this body, therefore "I am American," "I am Indian." So this is false ego.

Lecture on SB 7.9.33 -- Mayapur, March 11, 1976:

So this material world is explained here: tasyaiva te vapur idaṁ nija-kāla-śaktyā. Energy, Kṛṣṇa's energy, prakṛti. Energy means prakṛti. So parasya brāhmaṇa śakti. Eka-sthāne sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇi yathā, parasya brāhmaṇaḥ śakti tathaiva akhilaṁ jagat. Then same thing we'll find in the Vedic literature everywhere, either you read Purāṇas or Mahābhārata, or Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra also says that "The origin... The Absolute Truth is origin, and everything is emanation." So emanation and the original fact-vapur idam. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: "This viśvam, this universe, is Bhagavān in one sense." Just like this my finger, so that is also my body. Although it is named "finger," but it is my body. Or even a piece of hair, that is also my body, although it is differently named, "hair." So similarly, when you understand that every particle of this material world is also the body of the Supreme Lord, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Aṇḍāntarasthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. So there are millions and trillions of universes, and each atom of each universe is Kṛṣṇa. That we have to understand. That is being explained here.

Tasyaiva te vapur idaṁ nija-kāla-śaktyā sañcodita-prakṛti dharmaṇa ātma-gūḍham. The secret, the people, they do not know. They... But Prahlāda Mahārāja knows. Ambhasi. This is the beginning of creation, ambhasi. Ambhasy ananta-śayanāt. Anantadeva... Ananta faces, there are. On that Ananta-naga, the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is lying on. So from the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu there is a lotus flower, and... Vaṭavat-mahābjam. So, so there is Brahmā, and Brahmā created other thing. So it is just like the... In previous verse it has been explained, "Just like the seed of the fruit of the tree." Seed is the cause of the tree, and tree is the cause of the seed. In this way the whole material cosmic manifestation is there, and vapur idaṁ tava te. So everything of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava's, I mean to say, conception is that everything at least Kṛṣṇa's, so everything should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa's benefit. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not "my benefit." "I also belong to Kṛṣṇa, so I must be utilized for Kṛṣṇa's benefit." So in this way, if we develop our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we'll be benefited.