BY: SUN STAFF
Feb 16, CANADA (SUN) —
Bhagavat Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION FOURTEEN
Lord is the fountainhead of mutually conflicting potencies - III
Maitreya made a similar statement to Vidura (S.B. 4.17.33):
My dear Lord, by Your own potencies in the form of the material elements, the performing instruments (the senses), the workers of the senses (the controlling demigods), the intelligence, and the ego, You manifest this entire cosmic creation, maintain it, and dissolve it. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who are the fountainhead of various opposing energies, transcendental to the material modes, the original person and the creator.
Swamipada comments: Anurunaddhi means performs, dravyani means the material elements, kriya means the senses, karakah means the demigods, cetana means intelligence, and atma means the false ego. The Lord performs the act of creation with these energies. Samunaddha-viruddha-saktih means He is the fountainhead of these mighty opposing energies.
COMMENTARY
Mother earth, in the form of a cow, spoke this verse to King Prithu, who had chastised her for neglecting to supply the necessities of life. Thereafter she begged forgiveness from the king. This story is narrated by the sage Maitreya to Vidura.
This verse further shows how the Lord has opposing characteristics. While He is the creator and maintainer of the universe, He is its annihilator as well. Moreover, these contrary potencies are eternally owned by Him. When He employs His creative potency, it is not that His destructive potency is lost, or vice-versa. They both exist simultaneously, which is logically inconceivable. Among the branches of these energies such as the material elements, dravyani, some are naturally opposed to the others. Water and fire are destructive to each other. The activities in the mode of goodness lead to liberation and those in other modes lead to bondage. Same activity performed at different times or places or with different consciousness can give opposing results. The Lord's personality cannot be understood by mere scholarship as He is beyond reason and logic. All His potencies are inconceivable. This is explained in the next text.
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