BY: SUN STAFF
Dec 28, CANADA (SUN) —
Tattva Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION THIRTY-ONE
If the word "purvam" is read in place of "purnam", still the Lord is indicated, by the etymological explanation from the Vedas, "I existed here even prior (purvam), to everything" and "that is the essential characteristic of the Lord (purusha)".
When it is said that Sri Vyasa saw Him (the Lord), it is naturally understood that he saw Him along with His svarupa sakti, or internal potencies, just as when a person sees a full moon it is implied that he sees it with its full effulgence. Thus Arjuna said (SB. 1.7.23):
You are the original Personality of Godhead, controller of all the creation and transcendental to the material energy. You have cast away the effects of the material energy by Your spiritual potency and You are always in transcendental bliss.
Therefore the phrase mayanca tadapasrayam, "Maya, although dependent on Him, is away from Him" and since she stays hidden from Him she does not constitute His svarupa, or essential nature. As said later on, "Maya, feeling shy, stays concealed from the Lord." (SB. 2.7.47)
The function of the svarupa sakti is explained in the following two Bhagavatam verses "anarthopasamam sakshad bhakti yogamadhokshaje" (SB. 1.7.6) 'The material miseries of the living entity can be directly mitigated by rendering devotional service to Lord Adhokshaja'; and "atmaramas ca" (SB. 1.7.10), "and the self-satisfied persons".
In the first of these two verses, the influence of bhakti-yoga as a function of the svarupa sakti, is understood by its ability to subdue Maya, the external energy. In the second verse, because the qualities of Lord Hari are even superior to the bliss of Brahman. They form the highest function of the svarupa sakti, .
In the verses explaining the trance of Srila Vyasadeva, no separate mention of Paramatma, a plenary portion of Him (Krishna) and the controlling personality of Maya, nor of His non-differentiated manifestation, Brahman, is made, because both are contained in Him. Thus as before, the sambandhi tattva, or the topics dealing with the essence, the purpose, and the subject of the book have been determined here.
Sri Jiva Toshani Commentary
In some editions of Srimad Bhagavatam, in 1.7.4, the word purvam is seen in place of purnam. The word purusha can also mean that which existed prior to the creation, pura asit iti purusha, which means that the Supreme Lord is the source of everything. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (10.8) "I (Lord Krishna) am the source of everything." That is the essential nature of purusha. Since this is the same sense as conveyed by the adjective "purvam", both meanings imply the Supreme Lord.
Sri Vyasa saw the Lord along with His potencies, just as one always sees the full moon along with its light. The Lord always exists with His potencies, in as much as the attributes of an object are always present along with the object. In the Vishnu Purana the attributes of Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead are listed:
"The word bhagavan indicates knowledge, sensory power, strength, wealth, prowess, and valor, all without limit, being completely devoid of material qualities or their effects".
He has multifarious potencies, out of which three are predominant. The Vishnu Purana (1.12.68) states: hladini sandhini samvit tvyyeka sarvasamasraye, "The hladini, sandhini, and samvit potencies exist only in the Lord, who is the shelter of everything". Hladini is the pleasure potency, sandhini, the supporting potency, and samvit, the cognition potency. These three potencies form the svarupa, or the essential nature of the Lord. Srila Jiva Gosvami gives a detailed explanation of these potencies in the Bhagavat Sandarbha.
Srila Vyasadeva saw the Lord along with these potencies. In the spiritual sky, besides existing in the Lord's svarupa or energies, these potencies also exist in their personal forms. Srimati Radhika, with whom the Lord performs His most intimate pastimes, is the personification of His pleasure potency. That Srila Vyasa also saw in His trance Srimati Radhika along with Her associates is understood, because the Lord is never seperated from His potencies.
Besides the three internal potencies Vyasa saw the Lord's external potency (Maya) and His marginal potency (jiva). Maya is not part of the Lord's svarupa. She has her personification as well, but she remains away from Him. The import is that she has no influence over the Lord or His internal potencies. Generally a female influences a male by appearing before him, but the external energy, Maya, personified as a female, has no such relationship of influencing the Supreme Lord. Thus it is said, maya paraityabhimukhe ca vilajjamana (S.B. 2.7.47) "Mayadevi feels ashamed to come in front of the Lord and keeps away from Him". Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana compares her to a maidservant who renders service outside the king's inner quarters. She does not have the same privilege as the queens, likened to the internal potencies, who can associate directly with their Lord at all times.
The external potency, although an energy of the Lord, is inferior to His svarupa sakti and to His marginal energy as well. Still, thejiva, being marginal, can be subdued by her. This is shown in verse 1.7.5 of Srimad Bhagavatam:
"Being bewildered by the external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reaction of material bondage".
Although the individual soul and the Supersoul are both conscious and inhabit the same material body, only the jiva is bewildered by Maya and suffers the material miseries. This is because the Lord is the master of Maya. She exerts no influence over Him. By His inconceivable potency He is forever unaffected by Maya.
In Bhagavad-gita (7.5) Krishna tells Arjuna that the jiva is of a superior nature to His seperated material energy, Maya. The question may then be raised, how does the superior jiva come under the control of the inferior nature, Maya? The answer is that Maya acts contrary to logic. In the Third Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam (3.7.9), Maitreya Muni, responding to a question from Vidura, states:
"The illusory energy of the Supreme Lord acts contrary to logic, otherwise, how is it possible that the living entity, who is conscious and liberated becomes bound and miserable?" Commenting on this, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur gives this example. He says that although the sun is brilliant, still the cloud, generated from the sun's potency, can cover the powerful, effulgent sun. Similarly, the jiva, though of a superior nature to Maya, can still be covered or bewildered by her power.
Another point made in this section is that in Vyasa's trance no explicit mention of the Supersoul, the controlling agent of Maya, is made, nor is the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Lord mentioned. Supersoul, or Paramatma, is the expansion of the Lord that presides over the affairs of the material energy. Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita, mayadhykshena prakritih suyate sacaracaram (B.g. 9.10), "This material nature is working under My direction, producing all moving and non-moving beings." Here "My" refers to His Paramatma expansion, for it is through this feature that He regulates the workings of the material world. Srila Jiva Gosvami points out that since the Paramatma springs from Krishna and is entirely dependent on Him, there is no need for its seperate mention in describing Vyasadeva's trance.
The same goes for Brahman, which is nothing but the effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord. Subsequently, Brahman has no independent existence from Him either. Lord Krishna confirms this in the Bhagavad-gita, brahmano hi pratishtaham, "I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman" (B.g. 14.27). According to the Nirukti, "pratishtha" means shelter or basis, pratishthiyate asmin iti pratishtha. Just as the sun's rays have the sun globe as their basis, so the Brahman rays has Krishna as their basis.
From this analysis of Veda Vyasa's trance it is clear that the central subject of the Srimad Bhagavatam is the personal form of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and the process to attain Him is bhakti- yoga, as was mentioned previously. Brahman and Paramatma, being dependent manifestations of the Lord cannot be seperated from Him, but these two features are not the objects of Vyasadeva's trance and so cannot be the central subjects of His greatest work, the Srimad Bhagavatam. Still, it should be noted that Brahman and Paramatma realization are included in Krishna, or Bhagavan, realization, in as much as when a man has a million dollars it automatically includes all smaller denominations.
In the next section, the cause of Maya's binding the living entity is explained.
Go to Section Thirty-two
Return to Section Thirty
