Sun rays

Expressions researched:
"ray of the sun" |"rays emanating from the sun" |"rays of sunshine" |"rays of the sun" |"rays of the sunshine" |"sun and its rays" |"sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays" |"sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays" |"sun can sterilize all sorts of infections by its powerful rays" |"sun distributes its rays" |"sun evaporates large quantities of water by its potent rays" |"sun exists diffusing its unlimited rays" |"sun expands itself by its terrible heat and rays" |"sun has been disseminating its rays" |"sun in its annihilating form will drink up with its terrible rays" |"sun is situated far away from the other planets, its rays" |"sun need do no more than merely manifest its first rays" |"sun ray" |"sun rays" |"sun's rays" |"sun, by its glowing rays" |"sun, which is separate from its rays" |"sun, whose shining rays" |"sun-god became angry, and with his virulent rays" |"sun-god expands his shining rays" |"sun-god rides on his chariot in the morning, appearing with his blazing rays" |"sun-ray" |"sunrays"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

It is also explained in the Gītā that impersonal Brahman is also subordinate to the complete Supreme Person (brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham). Brahman is more explicitly explained in the Brahma-sūtra to be like the rays of the sunshine.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.14, Purport:

As the sun exists diffusing its unlimited rays, so does the Supersoul, or Supreme Personality of Godhead. He exists in His all-pervading form, and in Him exist all the individual living entities, beginning from the first great teacher, Brahmā, down to the small ants.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.11, Purport:

Paramātmā is the partial representation of the Personality of Godhead, and impersonal Brahman is the glowing effulgence of the Personality of Godhead, as the sun rays are to the sun-god.

SB 1.7.18, Purport:

There was a demon by the name Vidyunmālī who was gifted with a glowing golden airplane which traveled to the back of the sun, and night disappeared because of the glowing effulgence of this plane. Thus the sun-god became angry, and with his virulent rays he melted the plane. This enraged Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva then attacked the sun-god, who fled away and at last fell down at Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), and the place became famous as Lolārka.

SB 1.8.6, Purport:

The Lord is equal to everyone, but a devotee of the Lord is more glorified because he is always in touch with the all-great. The sun rays are equally distributed, but still there are some places which are always dark.

SB 1.8.15, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the brahmajyoti, or the glowing transcendental effulgence, is resting on Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the glowing effulgence known as brahma-tejas is nothing but the rays of the Lord, just as the sun rays are rays of the sun disc.

SB 1.8.29, Purport:

The Lord's mercy upon the fallen souls is equally distributed. He has no one as the specific object of hostility. The very conception of the Personality of Godhead as a human being is misleading. His pastimes appear to be exactly like a human being's, but actually they are transcendental and without any tinge of material contamination. He is undoubtedly known as partial to His pure devotees, but in fact He is never partial, as much as the sun is never partial to anyone. By utilizing the sun rays, sometimes even the stones become valuable, whereas a blind man cannot see the sun, although there are enough sun rays before him. Darkness and light are two opposite conceptions, but this does not mean that the sun is partial in distributing its rays. The sun rays are open to everyone, but the capacities of the receptacles differ. Foolish people think that devotional service is flattering the Lord to get special mercy.

SB 1.8.29, Purport:

Somehow or other if someone puts himself open in the sun rays, he is sure to get the requisite benefit both by heat and by ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the conclusion is that the Lord is never partial. It is wrong for the people in general to think of Him as partial.

SB 1.9.21, Purport:

The sun is identified with every inch of the sun rays and every molecular particle of the rays. Similarly, the Lord is distributed by His different energies.

SB 1.9.33, Purport:

While Kṛṣṇa was the charioteer of Arjuna, sun rays glittered on the dress of the Lord, and the beautiful hue created by the reflection of such rays was never forgotten by Bhīṣmadeva.

SB 1.11.10, Purport:

Lord Kṛṣṇa's attraction is so powerful that once being attracted by Him one cannot tolerate separation from Him. Why is this so? Because we are all eternally related with Him as the sun rays are eternally related with the sun disc. The sun rays are molecular parts of the solar radiation. Thus the sun rays and the sun cannot be separated. The separation by the cloud is temporary and artificial, and as soon as the cloud is cleared, the sun rays again display their natural effulgence in the presence of the sun.

SB 1.11.11, Purport:

The Nāgaloka planet is situated below the earth planet, and it is understood that the sun rays are hampered there. The darkness of the planet is, however, removed by the flashes of the jewels set on the heads of the Nāgas (celestial serpents), and it is said that there are beautiful gardens, rivulets, etc., for the enjoyment of the Nāgas.

SB 1.14.17, Translation:

The rays of the sun are declining, and the stars appear to be fighting amongst themselves. Confused living entities appear to be ablaze and weeping.

SB 1.16.26-30, Purport:

By equality (10), the Lord is equally kind to everyone, as the sun is equal in distributing its rays over everyone. Yet there are many who are unable to take advantage of the sun's rays. Similarly, the Lord says that surrendering unto Him is the guarantee for all protection from Him, but unfortunate persons are unable to accept this proposition, and therefore they suffer from all material miseries.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.24, Purport:

Anything, either material or spiritual, is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.13), the omnipotent Lord has His transcendental eyes, heads and other bodily parts distributed everywhere. He can see, hear, touch or manifest Himself anywhere and everywhere, for He is present everywhere as the Supersoul of all infinitesimal souls, although He has His particular abode in the absolute world. The relative world is also His phenomenal representation because it is nothing but an expansion of His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode, His energy is distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded everywhere, since the rays of the sun, being nondifferent from the sun, are accepted as expansions of the sun disc.

SB 2.2.11, Purport:

The impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth is but His radiation, as the sun rays are but radiations from the sun.

SB 2.2.18, Purport:

The impersonal brahmajyoti is also called the paraṁ padam due to its being the rays of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, as the sun rays are the rays of the sun.

SB 2.3.10, Purport:

The brahmajyoti is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc.

SB 2.3.10, Purport:

As the unmixed sun ray is very forceful and is therefore called tīvra, similarly unmixed bhakti-yoga of hearing, chanting, etc., may be performed by one and all regardless of inner motive.

SB 2.4.14, Purport:

Part of this all-pervasive brahmajyoti, which is compared to the sun rays, is covered by the darkness of the mahat-tattva, and this insignificant part is known as the material world.

SB 2.4.14, Purport:

As the sun rays are concentrated in the sun disc, the brahmajyoti is concentrated in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the topmost spiritual planet in the spiritual sky. The immeasurable spiritual sky is full of spiritual planets, named Vaikuṇṭhas, far beyond the material sky.

SB 2.5.18, Purport:

Factually the Lord is eternally manifested by His internal potency or spiritual energy just like the sun and its rays in the clear sky, but at times He creates the material energy, as the sun creates a cloud in the clear sky. As the sun is ever increasingly unaffected by a spot of cloud, so also the unlimited Lord is unaffected by the spot of material energy manifested at times in the unlimited span of the Lord's rays of brahmajyoti.

SB 2.6.22, Translation:

From that Personality of Godhead, all the universal globes and the universal form with all material elements, qualities and senses are generated. Yet He is aloof from such material manifestations, like the sun, which is separate from its rays and heat.

SB 2.6.22, Purport:

The viśva-rūpa, as it was shown to Arjuna, is not the original form of the Lord. The original form of the Lord is the transcendental form of Puruṣottama, or Kṛṣṇa Himself. It is very nicely explained herein that He expands Himself just like the sun. The sun expands itself by its terrible heat and rays, yet the sun is always aloof from such rays and heat. The impersonalist takes into consideration the rays of the Lord without any information of the tangible, transcendental, eternal form of the Lord, known as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, in His supreme personal form, with two hands and flute, is bewildering for the impersonalists who can accommodate only the gigantic viśva-rūpa of the Lord. They should know that the rays of the sun are secondary to the sun, and similarly the impersonal gigantic form of the Lord is also secondary to the personal form as Puruṣottama.

SB 2.6.40-41, Purport:

In the Vedas it is said, śuddham apāpa-viddham: the individual ātmā becomes polluted by sin, but the Lord is never contaminated by sins. The Lord is compared to the powerful sun. The sun is never contaminated by anything infectious because it is so powerful. On the contrary, infected things are sterilized by the rays of the sun. Similarly, the Lord is never contaminated by sins; on the contrary, the sinful living entities become sterilized by contact with the Lord.

SB 2.9.36, Purport:

Fire is always fire, and thus if someone touches the fire, knowingly or unknowingly, the fire will act in its own way without discrimination. The principle is: harir harati pāpāni duṣṭa-cittair api smṛtaḥ. The all-powerful Lord can purify the devotee of all sinful reactions, just as the sun can sterilize all sorts of infections by its powerful rays.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.2.24, Purport:

For comparison, one can just imagine the difference between floating in space and residing in one of the planets in the sky. The pleasure of the living entities on the planets is greater than that of those who have no body and who merge with the molecules of the sun's rays. The impersonalists, therefore, are no more favored than the enemies of the Lord; rather, they are both on the same level of spiritual salvation.

SB 3.5.23, Purport:

The Personality of Godhead is described herein as the master of all other living entities. He is like the sun disc, and the living entities are like the molecules of the sun's rays. This existence of the Lord before the creation is confirmed by the śrutis: vāsudevo vā idaṁ agra āsīt na brahmā na ca śaṅkaraḥ, eko vai nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā neśānāḥ. Because everything that be is an emanation from the Personality of Godhead, He always exists alone without a second.

SB 3.7.9, Purport:

There is no reason to assert that the Supreme Brahman is overpowered by the illusory energy. The clouds, darkness and snowfall can cover only a very insignificant portion of the sun's rays. Similarly, the modes of material nature may react upon the raylike living entities. It is the misfortune of the living entity, certainly not without reason, that the influence of the material energy acts on his pure consciousness and eternal bliss.

SB 3.7.9, Purport:

According to Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bhagavad-gītā and all other Vedic literatures, the living entities are generated from the taṭasthā energy of the Lord, and thus they are always the energy of the Lord and are not the energetic. The living entities are like the sun's rays. Although, as explained above, there is no qualitative difference between the sun and its rays, the sun's rays are sometimes overpowered by another energy of the sun, namely by clouds or by snowfall. Similarly, although the living entities are qualitatively one with the superior energy of the Lord, they have the tendency to be overpowered by the inferior, material energy.

SB 3.9.42, Purport:

Without possessing affection for the sun, the eyes cannot bear the rays of the sun; or, in other words, such eyes have no capacity to understand the utility of the sun's rays. Similarly, the empiric philosophers, despite their theoretical knowledge of Brahman, cannot utilize the mercy of the Supreme Brahman because they lack affection.

SB 3.10.17, Purport:

For example, one of our sense organs, the eye, is controlled by light, light is distributed by the sun rays, and their controlling deity is the sun. Similarly, mind is controlled by the moon. All other senses, both for working and for acquiring knowledge, are controlled by the different demigods. The demigods are assistants of the Lord in the management of material affairs.

SB 3.11.29, Purport:

It is understood that the glare of the sun and moon disappear from the sphere of the three worlds, but the sun and the moon themselves do not vanish. They appear in the remaining portion of the universe, which is beyond the sphere of the three worlds. The portion in dissolution remains without sunrays or moonglow. It all remains dark and full of water, and there are indefatigable winds, as explained in the following verses.

SB 3.25.9, Translation:

You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin and Supreme Lord of all living entities. You have arisen to disseminate the rays of the sun in order to dissipate the darkness of the ignorance of the universe.

SB 3.25.17, Purport:

In the state of pure consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can see himself as a minute particle nondifferent from the Supreme Lord. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, the jīva, or the individual soul, is eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Just as the sun's rays are minute particles of the brilliant constitution of the sun, so a living entity is a minute particle of the Supreme Spirit.

SB 3.25.17, Purport:

One should not think that because the individual soul is a particle, it is fragmented from the whole spirit. Māyāvāda philosophy enunciates that the whole spirit exists, but a part of it, which is called the jīva, is entrapped by illusion. This philosophy, however, is unacceptable because spirit cannot be divided like a fragment of matter. That part, the jīva, is eternally a part. As long as the Supreme Spirit exists, His part and parcel also exists. As long as the sun exists, the molecules of the sun's rays also exist.

SB 3.32.28, Purport:

When uncontaminated pure knowledge is uncovered from the modes of material nature, the actual identity of the living entity is discovered: he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The process of uncovering is like this: the rays of sunshine are luminous, and the sun itself is also luminous. In the presence of the sun, the rays illuminate just like the sun, but when the sunshine is covered by the spell of a cloud, or by māyā, then darkness, the imperfection of perception, begins.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.16.14, Translation:

Just as the sun-god expands his shining rays up to the Arctic region without impedance, the influence of King Pṛthu will cover all tracts of land up to the Arctic region and will remain undisturbed as long as he lives.

SB 4.24.36, Purport:

The sun-god evaporates water from the seas and oceans and then forms the water into clouds and distributes it over land. When there is sufficient rainfall grains are produced, and these grains maintain living entities in each and every planet. The sun-god is also addressed herein as pūrṇa, or complete, because the rays emanating from the sun have no end.

SB 4.31.16, Purport:

All the planets rest on the sunshine, and because of the heat of the sun, they all revolve in their orbits. On each and every planet, the trees and plants grow and change colors due to the sunshine. Being the rays of the sun, the sunshine is nondifferent from the sun. Similarly, all the planets, resting on the sunshine, are nondifferent from the sun.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.20.37, Translation:

By the supreme will of Kṛṣṇa, the mountain known as Lokāloka has been installed as the outer border of the three worlds—Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka and Svarloka—to control the rays of the sun throughout the universe. All the luminaries, from the sun up to Dhruvaloka, distribute their rays throughout the three worlds, but only within the boundary formed by this mountain. Because it is extremely high, extending even higher than Dhruvaloka, it blocks the rays of the luminaries, which therefore can never extend beyond it.

SB 5.20.37, Purport:

When we speak of loka-traya, we refer to the three primary planetary systems—Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ—into which the universe is divided. Surrounding these planetary systems are the eight directions, namely east, west, north, south, northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest. Lokāloka Mountain has been established as the outer boundary of all the lokas to distribute the rays of the sun and other luminaries equally throughout the universe.

SB 5.20.37, Purport:

This vivid description of how the rays of the sun are distributed throughout the different planetary systems of the universe is very scientific. Śukadeva Gosvāmī described these universal affairs to Mahārāja Parīkṣit as he had heard about them from his predecessor. He explained these facts five thousand years ago, but the knowledge existed long, long before because Śukadeva Gosvāmī received it through disciplic succession.

SB 5.22 Summary:

The moon is situated 100,000 yojanas above the rays of the sunshine. Day and night on the heavenly planets and Pitṛloka are calculated according to its waning and waxing. Above the moon by a distance of 200,000 yojanas are some stars, and above these stars is Śukra-graha (Venus), whose influence is always auspicious for the inhabitants of the entire universe.

SB 5.22.8, Translation:

Above the rays of the sunshine by a distance of 100,000 yojanas (800,000 miles) is the moon, which travels at a speed faster than that of the sun. In two lunar fortnights the moon travels through the equivalent of a saṁvatsara of the sun, in two and a quarter days it passes through a month of the sun, and in one day it passes through a fortnight of the sun.

SB 5.22.8, Purport:

When we take into account that the moon is 100,000 yojanas, or 800,000 miles, above the rays of the sunshine, it is very surprising that the modern excursions to the moon could be possible. Since the moon is so distant, how space vehicles could go there is a doubtful mystery. Modern scientific calculations are subject to one change after another, and therefore they are uncertain.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.15, Translation:

Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.

SB 6.1.15, Purport:

The ābhāsa feature of bhakti is compared to twilight, and the accumulation of one's sinful activities is compared to fog. Since fog does not spread throughout the sky, the sun need do no more than merely manifest its first rays, and the fog immediately disappears. Similarly, if one has even a slight relationship with devotional service, all the fog of his sinful life is immediately vanquished.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.3.3, Translation:

From the hair on Hiraṇyakaśipu's head there emanated an effulgent light as brilliant and intolerable as the rays of the sun at the time of dissolution. Seeing the performance of such austere penances, the demigods, who had been wandering throughout the planets, now returned to their respective homes.

SB 7.9.46, Purport:

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.1.15):

kecit kevalayā bhaktyā

vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ

aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena

nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ

"Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays." The real purpose of human life is to attain liberation from material entanglement. Such liberation may be achieved by many methods (tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca (SB 6.1.13)), but all of them more or less depend on tapasya, austerity, which begins with celibacy.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.3.22-24, Translation:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead creates His minor parts and parcels, the jīva-tattva, beginning with Lord Brahmā, the demigods and the expansions of Vedic knowledge (Sāma, Ṛg, Yajur and Atharva) and including all other living entities, moving and nonmoving, with their different names and characteristics. As the sparks of a fire or the shining rays of the sun emanate from their source and merge into it again and again, the mind, the intelligence, the senses, the gross and subtle material bodies, and the continuous transformations of the different modes of nature all emanate from the Lord and again merge into Him. He is neither demigod nor demon, neither human nor bird or beast. He is not woman, man, or neuter, nor is He an animal. He is not a material quality, a fruitive activity, a manifestation or nonmanifestation. He is the last word in the discrimination of "not this, not this," and He is unlimited. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

SB Canto 9

SB 9.9.6, Purport:

There are methods of prāyaścitta, or atonement, but they are inadequate to cleanse one of sinful reactions. One can be cleansed of sinful reactions only by devotional service, as stated in regard to the history of Ajāmila:

kecit kevalayā bhaktyā

vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ

aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena

nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ

"Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays." (SB 6.1.15) If one is under the protection of a devotee and sincerely renders service unto him, by this process of bhakti-yoga one is certainly able to counteract all sinful reactions.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.2.18, Purport:

When Vasudeva was sustaining the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart, he appeared just like the glowing sun, whose shining rays are always unbearable and scorching to the common man. The form of the Lord situated in the pure, unalloyed heart of Vasudeva is not different from the original form of Kṛṣṇa. The appearance of the form of Kṛṣṇa anywhere, and specifically within the heart, is called dhāma.

SB 10.2.18, Purport:

Thus the eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with full potencies was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devakī, exactly as the setting sun's rays are transferred to the full moon rising in the east.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.18.6, Translation:

With their flowing waves the deep rivers drenched their banks, making them damp and muddy. Thus the rays of the sun, which were as fierce as poison, could not evaporate the earth's sap or parch its green grass.

SB 10.20.42, Translation:

The autumn moon relieved all creatures of the suffering caused by the sun's rays, just as wisdom relieves a person of the misery caused by his identifying with his material body and as Lord Mukunda relieves Vṛndāvana's ladies of the distress caused by their separation from Him.

SB 10.71.17, Translation:

The Lord's army boasted royal umbrellas, cāmara fans and huge flagpoles with waving banners. During the day the sun's rays reflected brightly from the soldiers' fine weapons, jewelry, helmets and armor. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa's army, noisy with shouts and clatter, appeared like an ocean stirring with agitated waves and timiṅgila fish.

SB 10.76.17, Translation:

With His divine weapons Pradyumna instantly destroyed all of Śālva's magic illusions, in the same way that the warm rays of the sun dissipate the darkness of night.

SB 11.7.50, Translation:

ust as the sun evaporates large quantities of water by its potent rays and later returns the water to the earth in the form of rain, similarly, a saintly person accepts all types of material objects with his material senses, and at the appropriate time, when the proper person has approached him to request them, he returns such material objects. Thus, both in accepting and giving up the objects of the senses, he is not entangled.

SB 11.14.45, Translation:

One who has completely fixed his mind on Me should see Me within his own soul and should see the individual soul within Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus, he sees the individual souls united with the Supreme Soul, just as one sees the sun's rays completely united with the sun.

SB 12.4.8, Translation:

The sun in its annihilating form will drink up with its terrible rays all the water of the ocean, of living bodies and of the earth itself. But the devastating sun will not give any rain in return.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.16, Translation and Purport:

"I worship Govinda. He is my Lord. Only by His grace am I empowered to create the universe."

Although the sun is situated far away from the other planets, its rays sustain and maintain them all. Indeed, the sun diffuses its heat and light all over the universe. Similarly, the supreme sun, Govinda, diffuses His heat and light everywhere in the form of His different potencies.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The Supreme Whole is compared to the sun, which also exists in four features, namely the personality of the sun-god, the glare of his glowing sphere, the sun rays inside the sun planet, and the sun's reflections in many other objects. The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The primary potencies of the Absolute Truth are mentioned to be three: internal, external and marginal. By the acts of His internal potency, the Personality of Godhead in His original form exhibits the spiritual cosmic manifestations known as the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, which exist eternally, even after the destruction of the material cosmic manifestation. By His marginal potency the Lord expands Himself as living beings who are part of Him, just as the sun distributes its rays in all directions. By His external potency the Lord manifests the material creation, just as the sun with its rays creates fog. The material creation is but a perverse reflection of the eternal Vaikuṇṭha nature.

CC Adi 3.86, Translation:

But faithless unbelievers do not see what is clearly evident, just as owls do not see the rays of the sun.

CC Adi 5.14, Purport:

We can get some idea of that spiritual sky by a comparison to the material sky, for the rays of the sun in the material sky can be compared to the brahmajyoti, the glowing rays of the Personality of Godhead. In the brahmajyoti there are unlimited Vaikuṇṭha planets, which are spiritual and therefore self-luminous, with a glow many times greater than that of the sun.

CC Adi 5.35, Purport:

As the powerful sun, by its glowing rays, can purify all kinds of impurities, so the all-spiritual Personality of Godhead can purify all material qualities in a person He attracts. Even if one is attracted by Godhead in the mode of material lust, such attraction is converted into spiritual love of Godhead by His grace. Similarly, if one is related to the Lord in fear and animosity, he also becomes purified by the spiritual attraction of the Lord. Although God is great and the living entity small, they are spiritual individuals, and therefore as soon as there is a reciprocal exchange by the living entity's free will, at once the great spiritual being attracts the small living entity, thus freeing him from all material bondage.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 13.169, Translation:

Lord Jagannātha was garlanded, dressed with nice garments and adorned with beautiful ornaments. His face was glittering from the rays of sunshine, and the entire atmosphere was fragrant.

CC Madhya 23.5, Translation and Purport:

“"When devotional service is executed on the transcendental platform of pure goodness, it is like a sun-ray of love for Kṛṣṇa. At such a time, devotional service causes the heart to be softened by various tastes, and one is then situated in bhāva (emotion)."

This verse is found in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.3.1).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

Brahmā is one of the living entities, but due to his devotional service he is very powerful. This primal living entity, master of the mode of material passion, is directly empowered by the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu to create innumerable living entities. In Brahma-saṁhitā (5.49) Brahmā is likened to valuable jewels influenced by the rays of the sun, and the sun is likened to the Supreme Lord Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. If in some kalpa there is no suitable living entity capable of acting in Brahmā's capacity, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu Himself manifests as Brahmā and acts accordingly.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 1:

Of course, in the categories of mystic perfection there are certain processes which the material scientists have not yet been able to develop. For instance, a mystic yogī can enter into the sun planet simply by using the rays of the sunshine. This perfection is called laghimā. Similarly, a yogī can touch the moon with his finger. Though the modern astronauts go to the moon with the help of spaceships, they undergo many difficulties, whereas a person with mystic perfection can extend his hand and touch the moon with his finger.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

That is because the nature of sanātana is unchangeable. Anything that changes under the influence of time and circumstances is not sanātana. Therefore anything that changes whatsoever in form or quality cannot be accepted as sanātana. To give a material example, the sun has been disseminating its rays for hundreds and millions of years, and yet although it is a materially created object, its form and rays are still unchanged. Therefore, that which is never created cannot change in formation and quality, even though He is the seedling source of everything.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

These six potencies are fully exhibited by Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa when They descend before human beings. Only a section of human beings—the unalloyed devotees—can recognize Kṛṣṇa on the authority of revealed scriptures, but others are bewildered by the influence of material energy. The Absolute Truth is therefore the Absolute Person who has no equal or competitor. The impersonal Brahman rays are the rays of His transcendental body, just as the sun's rays are emanations from the sun.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 2:

When Vasudeva was sustaining the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart, he appeared just like the glowing sun, whose shining rays are always unbearable and scorching to the common man. The form of the Lord situated in the pure unalloyed heart of Vasudeva is not different from the original form of Kṛṣṇa. The appearance of the form of Kṛṣṇa anywhere, and specifically within the heart, is called dhāma. Dhāma refers not only to Kṛṣṇa's form but also to His name, His qualities and His paraphernalia. Everything becomes manifest simultaneously.

Krsna Book 70:

By the time the Lord finished all these daily duties and activities, His charioteer Dāruka would come with His wonderful chariot to stand before the Lord with folded hands, intimating that the chariot was ready, and the Lord would come out of the palace to travel. Then the Lord, accompanied by Uddhava and Sātyaki, would ride on the chariot just as the sun-god rides on his chariot in the morning, appearing with his blazing rays on the surface of the world. When the Lord was about to leave His palaces, all the queens would look at Him with feminine gestures. The Lord would respond to their greetings with smiles, attracting their hearts so much that they would feel intense separation from Him.

Krsna Book 85:

“The original energy is only an emanation from You. My dear Lord, the shining of the moon, the heat of fire, the rays of the sun, the glittering of the stars, and the electric lightning, which are all manifested as very powerful, as well as the gravity of the mountains and the energy and fragrance of the earth—all are different manifestations of You. The pure taste of water, the water itself and the vital force which maintains all life are also features of Your Lordship.

Krsna Book 87:

Just as the shining particles of the sun's rays always exist with the sun, the living entities exist eternally as parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But just as the sun rays are sometimes covered by a cloud, which is created by the sun, so the conditioned souls, although eternally existing as parts of the Supreme Lord, are sometimes put within the cloud of the material concept of life, in the darkness of ignorance.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.3:

The scriptures amply prove that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme Lord's bodily effulgence, just as sunshine is the brilliant emanation from the sun. Furthermore, as the sun's rays are dependent on and subservient to the sun, so the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence, Lord Kṛṣṇa's bodily luster, is dependent on and subservient to the Lord.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead Introduction:

However, if we keep our doors and windows shut when the sun rises in the morning, surely the rays of the sun will not enter into our somber room. In the same way, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His confidential servants manifest themselves and preach the message of Godhead, we must not shut the doors and windows of our body and mind; otherwise, the light emanating from the Lord and His servants shall not enter into us. The lights that emanate from such transcendental sources generally enter into us by our aural reception.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 4, Purport:

We should not try to be beautiful like seasonal flowers or greenery that flourish in the rainy season but are weary in the winter. To be enlivened by the clouds of ignorance overhead and to enjoy the sight of temporary greenery is not at all desirable. One should try to live in the unlimited clear sky overflooded with the rays of the sun and moon. That is what we actually desire. A life of freedom in eternity, complete knowledge, and a blissful atmosphere is the heart's desire of an enlightened soul. We should undertake all sorts of penances and austerities to attain that permanent source of happiness.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 5, Purport:

The material energy works according to His direction; therefore He can use that energy for His purposes without ever being influenced by any of the qualities of that energy. (In this sense He is nirguṇa, "without qualities.") Nor does the Lord become a formless entity at any time, for ultimately He is the eternal form, the primeval Lord. His impersonal aspect, or Brahman effulgence, is but the glow of His personal rays, just as the sun's rays are the glow of the sun-god.

Sri Isopanisad 16, Purport:

The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29):

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs, or goddesses of fortune."

The brahmajyoti is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

The impersonal Brahman is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that impersonal Brahman is also subordinate to the complete person. Brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā (BG 14.27). Impersonal Brahman is also. It is... The impersonal Brahman is more explicitly explained in the Brahma-sūtra as the rays. As there is the rays of the sunshine, sun planet, similarly, the impersonal Brahman is the shining rays of the Supreme Brahman or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore impersonal Brahman is incomplete realization of the absolute complete whole, and so also the conception of Paramātmā.

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

Just like we have got innumerable planets floating on the sun rays, similarly, in the brahmajyoti, which is emanating from the abode of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis (Bs. 5.37), all those planets are spiritual planets. They are ānanda-cinmaya; they are not material planets.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

The Lord says that "These individual souls, they are My part and parcels." Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ: (BG 15.7) "Jīva-bhūtaḥ, or these living entities, they are My parts and parcels." How it is that? I can give you a very good example. Just like the sun, sun and the sun rays. What is the sun ray? Sun ray, if you analyze physically, you'll find small molecules of raising (raysing ?) atoms, shining atoms. This is material. You see? The sun ray is nothing but combination of, I mean to say, shining atoms. It is not a homogeneous thing. Anything you take. Anything you take. You are artist. You take a point, any color, and you photograph.

Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:

Similarly, that is the difference between ourself and God. We are minute particles, minute particles, just like the sun and the sun rays. The sunshine, the sun rays, they are also combination of molecules of some shining material, material. So shining material... So that sunshine is not different from the sun, but at the same time, sunshine is not the sun. This is called simultaneously one and different.

Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:

This is scientific and practical, you know, that the innumerable planets that the, that you can see at night as, I mean to say, luminaries, stars in the sky, each and every one of them, more or less, they are all different kinds of planets. But do you know how they are floating in the space? They are floating on the sunshine, on the sun rays. They are floating. That you can see. Similarly, the sunshine is the imitation of the brahmajyoti that is coming out of the body of the Supreme Lord. So everything is resting on the shine of the Supreme Lord.

Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:

Just like the sun rays. Those who are scientists, those who know what is the sun ray... The sun ray is a small molecular, glazing atom, the sun ray. You have got experience of sun ray, but what is the sun ray? It is not homogeneous. It is heterogeneous. When you can analyze the sun ray, you'll find small particles of molecules. Similarly, brahmajyoti is also spiritual atoms combined together. Just like the sun rays, different material molecules combined together, similarly, brahmajyoti is also like that. Now as in the sun rays there are different planets—they are also generated from the sun rays—similarly, from the brahmajyoti there are different planets, but those planets we cannot see here. That is beyond this sky. So in that planets, spiritual planets, there are different forms of God, Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966:

We have several times discussed this point. Just like to understand the sun, somebody is studying the sun rays. He is also studying the sun and somebody is studying what is the sun disc. So he is also studying sun and somebody is trying to enter into the sun planet to see who is there. Everything is the sun. But the persons who are studying the sunshine, their grade is lower than the person who is trying to understand the sun disc.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

This brahmajyoti, brahma-jñāna, is just like the rays. As the sunshine is the rays of the sun globe, similarly, the rays of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is brahmajyoti. And within that brahmajyoti, there are innumerable universes. So in each universe... We have given the picture in our title cover of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So in each universe there are innumerable planets. In this way, this is a partial expansion, partial exhibition of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

And how is that puruṣa? Yasya antaḥsthāni bhūtāni yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. He is such a puruṣa, He is such a person, that everything, whatever you see, is within Him, and He is without, all-pervading. He has got such energy. How it is, that? Just like the sun is fixed up in one place located, but the sun rays is, all over the universe is distributed, similarly, although God is there, still, His energy is distributed everywhere. And He is not different from His energy. Just like the sunshine and the sun is not different, the same, same illuminating substance, similarly, He is distributed all over by His energies, different energies, and He is not different from His energy.

Lecture on BG 16.6 -- Hawaii, February 2, 1975:

So similarly, Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone's heart, localized. This is impersonal expansion. Just like sunshine is impersonal expansion of the sun rays, so similarly, Brahman effulgence is the impersonal expansion of Kṛṣṇa's bodily rays.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

There is the predominating Deity in the sun globe, and his name is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā-Vivasvān. Vivasvān manave prāha. Prāha, he explained Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore he's a person. As we get, get this experience that from the sun globe, within the sun globe there is a person, and, due to the effulgence of that personal rays of the sun-god, or the population there, every people being glowing, the whole sun planet is so powerful, glowing, and the glow is distributed all over the universe, similarly, there is a glowing effulgence of the Supreme Person.

Lecture on SB 3.25.33-34 -- Bombay, December 3, 1974:

And one means you cannot enter into the spiritual planets. There are so many, not devotees but spiritualists; they want to become one. That oneness means that you remain outside the spiritual planet in the brahmajyoti, in the rays. We are part and parcel of the rays. Just like I have given the example: the sun rays means combination of so many bright, minute, atomic particles. Similarly, we can remain as atomic soul outside. Just like this sunshine is outside the sphere of the sun globe. It is outside. It is not... Inside also, that is brightness, but the sunshine is outside the sun globe, and inside there is sun-god.

Lecture on SB 3.26.45 -- Bombay, January 20, 1975:

You have seen the paramāṇu. In your room, if there is a hole and sunshine is coming through that hole, you will find in that sunshine, sun rays, there are millions of small particles. That is called paramāṇu. Aṇu, paramāṇu. So then there is aṇu also, smaller than that. Six aṇus combined together becomes a paramāṇu.

Lecture on SB 3.28.21 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:

The Brahman world means where there is complete effulgence, bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. That is Brahman world. Just like here the bodily rays of the sun makes it clear, so brilliant, what we can see. Then what is the sunshine? It is the bodily rays of the sun. Why don't you believe that? The example is there, you learn. If a material thing like the sun globe or the sun-god, he has got so much bodily effulgence that it is keeping lighted all over the universe, just imagine what is the bodily brilliance of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.9 -- Nellore, January 7, 1976:

The translation is, "Only a rare person who has adopted complete unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful action with no possibility that they will revive." Kevalayā bhaktyā. "Simply... He can do the simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays." So by other processes temporarily it can be ceased, but actually from the root of the cause it is not possible to get it out.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Los Angeles, June 11, 1976:

The sum and substance is Kṛṣṇa cannot be contaminated. Apāpa-viddham. In the Īśopaniṣad, you'll find. Tejīyasām. Just like sun is never contaminated. From the whole universe, the sun is soaking water from any filthy place. But the filthy place is becoming purified by the sun rays. That is possible by the sun.

Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 4, 1968:

So all these universes—this is one of the universes—they are in that brahmajyoti, and that brahmajyoti is being reflected in the sky, and sky is so beautiful. So how much beautiful is Kṛṣṇa, just we can imagine. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is the rays of the sun planet, and in the sun planet there is sun-god. So if sunshine is so pleasing, just imagine how the sun-god is pleasing.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976:

One can rise up to the paraṁ pada, brahma pada, but patanty tataḥ. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho. Adho means this material world. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. They could not take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme. Brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). This Brahman is the rays of the body of Kṛṣṇa, just like the sunshine is the rays of the sun-god, the sun planet.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless you hear, how you will be able to preach? Hearing is very important.

Devotee: Do the rays of the sun actually take away our life?

Prabhupāda: Rays... Actually, don't you find you're dying daily? Then? That is real.

Devotee: It means each time the sun rises and set...

Prabhupāda: Yes. One day's past means one day you lose. That's all. The sunshine..., the sunrise and sunset means passing days, that's all.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: Everywhere He is there. And personal is localized, and..., but from the person, the impersonal effulgence come out. That we understand from the Bhagavad-gītā: brahmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. As the big sunshine comes from the localized sun globe—the sun globe is situated in one place, but this, the rays of the sun is distributed all over the universe—similarly, impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth is that by His transcendental rays, prabhā, yasya prabhā prabhavata (Bs. 5.40), illumination. Just like the fire has got heat and light. It expands. So the impersonal feature of the Lord expands unlimitedly, and the Personality, it appears that He is limited, but He is unlimited by His energy.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Śyāmasundara: By using this analogy he's proving that there's a contingency. There's a... that wherever there's heat and wherever there's light there must be fire.

Dr. Weir: With respect, no, because you can have an infra-red (indistinct) which is not fire.

Śyāmasundara: The original source is fire.

Dr. Weir: Or ultra-violet, no.

Prabhupāda: How can you explain light without fire?

Dr. Weir: Ultraviolet light doesn't have a fire.

Prabhupāda: There is sun, ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Śyāmasundara: How can you produce ultraviolet light except with electrical apparatus, electricity?

Prabhupāda: Light and heat, you cannot think of without fire.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: At will. So the soul is still finer. Intelligence is finer than the mind. And soul is finer than the intelligence. So just imagine what is the velocity. Soul is so powerful. By yogi, simply giving up this material body, they can capture the sun rays and immediately go to the sun planet. Beams of the sun. This is science. Where is that science?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So the impersonal feature is an expansion of God's energy. Just like the sunshine is expansion of the energy of sun, so the sunshine is resting on the bodily rays of the sun-god. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, brahmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. The resting place of the impersonal Brahman is God, Kṛṣṇa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- September 26, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Prabhupāda: Settle this. I create something which has got so power that it is localized, at the same time sarva-vyāpaka. And I myself, I cannot be sarva-vyāpaka. What is this logic?

Indian man (3): The sun rays are not actually... When there is hindrance, it cannot be on the other side.

Prabhupāda: No, hin... There is question of hindrance. I am seeing as it is. That is another thing.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Now, you see, impersonal and personal God, I am talking. I.... Perhaps you may not like. You know, the people.... You see, impersonal God is nothing but the emanation of God. As he said, the brahmajyoti, or what as he once gave me that example, that sun and its rays, if you put a sort of mirror, you see the same sun there through the rays. Don't you? In the same way, you may see God everywhere that way, but real God is sun. Like that, God is there, but His emanation is Brahman. Parabrahman is God; Brahman is jyoti.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Haṁsadūta: No, no. They say that the sun's rays are striking it, only half. The other half is in shadow.

Prabhupāda: What is that shadow?

Morning Walk -- May 30, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee (3): Karandhara and I were at a scientists' meeting, and he used that argument with the scientists. He said "The universe always has been." So Karandhara used your argument that "Yes, the sun has been there, and the sun rays are there along with it. Still, the sun is the source of the sun rays." The scientists could not answer. And everybody in the crowd...

Prabhupāda: What they will answer? Simply speculator, misleading (unclear).

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So one has to accept the statement of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, how He is originally the puruṣa or person. Impersonal Brahman is expansion of the rays of His personal body, exactly like the sunshine is expansion of the rays of the sun-god Vivasvān. Vivasvān is a person in the sunglobe and Kṛṣṇa is also a person who spoke the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā long, long years before He spoke the same to Arjuna.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: No, they say it's just old dried-up desert because there's no atmosphere for vegetation to grow in. It just gets dried up by the sun's rays.

Prabhupāda: How it became dried up? Formerly it was.

Hari-śauri: Well, it was just gas.

Prabhupāda: Eh? It is gas. Then you have not gone.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. Y. G. Naik M.Sc., Ph.D -- Delhi 28 March, 1960:

Only a section of the human being who are unalloyed devotees could recognize Him on the authority of revealed scriptures but others are bewildered under the influence of material energy. The Absolute Truth is therefore the Absolute Person without an equal or high competitor Personality. Impersonal Brahman Rays are the rays of His body transcendental as much as the sun rays are emanations from the sun planet.