SB 10.3.19 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

त्वत्तोऽस्य जन्मस्थितिसंयमान् विभो वदन्त्यनीहादगुणादविक्रियात् । त्वयीश्वरे ब्रह्मणि नो विरुध्यते त्वदाश्रयत्वादुपचर्यते गुणै: ॥ १९ ॥

Verse text

tvatto ’sya janma-sthiti-saṁyamān vibho vadanty anīhād aguṇād avikriyāt tvayīśvare brahmaṇi no virudhyate tvad-āśrayatvād upacaryate guṇaiḥ

Synonyms

tvattaḥ — are from Your Lordship ; asya — of the entire cosmic manifestation ; janma — the creation ; sthiti — maintenance ; saṁyamān — and annihilation ; vibho — O my Lord ; vadanti — the learned Vedic scholars conclude ; anīhāt — who are free from endeavor ; aguṇāt — who are unaffected by the modes of material nature ; avikriyāt — who are unchanging in Your spiritual situation ; tvayi — in You ; īśvare — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; brahmaṇi — who are Parabrahman, the Supreme Brahman ; no — not ; virudhyate — there is a contradiction ; tvat — āśrayatvāt — because of being controlled by You ; upacaryate — things are going on automatically ; guṇaiḥ — by the operation of the material modes .

Translation

O my Lord, learned Vedic scholars conclude that the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the entire cosmic manifestation are performed by You, who are free from endeavor, unaffected by the modes of material nature, and changeless in Your spiritual situation. There are no contradictions in You, who are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman. Because the three modes of material nature — sattva, rajas and tamas — are under Your control, everything takes place automatically.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O my Lord, learned Vedic scholars conclude that the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the entire cosmic manifestation are performed by You, who are free from endeavor, unaffected by the modes of material nature, and changeless in Your spiritual situation. There are no contradictions in You, who are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman. Because the three modes of material nature-sattva, rajas and tamas—are under Your control, everything takes place automatically. KB 10.3.19 “My Lord, Your appearance, existence and disappearance are beyond the influence of the material qualities. Because Your Lordship is the Supreme Brahman and the controller of everything, there is nothing inconceivable or contradictory in You. As You have said, material nature works under Your superintendence, just like a government officer working under the orders of the chief executive. The influence of subordinate activities cannot affect You. Since You are the Supreme Brahman, everything is existing within You, and since all the activities of material nature are controlled by Your Lordship, none of these activities affect You.

Purport

As stated in the Vedas: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jṣāna-bala-kriyā ca “The Supreme Lord has nothing to do, and no one is found to be equal to or greater than Him, for everything is done naturally and systematically by His multifarious energies.” ( Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8) Creation, maintenance and annihilation are all conducted personally by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and this is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā ( mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram ). Yet ultimately the Lord does not need to do anything, and therefore He is nirvikāra, changeless. Because everything is done under His direction, He is called sṛṣṭi-kartā, the master of creation. Similarly, He is the master of annihilation. When a master sits in one place while his servants work in different duties, whatever the servants are doing is ultimately an activity of the master, although he is doing nothing ( na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate ). The Lord’s potencies are so numerous that everything is nicely done. Therefore, He is naturally still and is not directly the doer of anything in this material world.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

From your statements that you are the creator through prakrti it is understood that prakrti is your energy and non different from you. You are the material cause of the universe. But you are without contact with the gunas internally or externally. How is that possible? This verse answers the question. O Lord, the sruti says that creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe arise from you, who are without action, quality and change. But how can the creator be inactive? Though you are Brahma and Siva, the creator and destroyer, at the same time you are without action (aniha), You are the reservoir of opposite qualities. How? Because you are the shelter of the gunas, the action of creation and destruction are ascribed upon you. Though prakrti is the Lord’s energy ,it is his external energy. It is not his svarupa or svabhava. Thus you are not in contact with the gunas internally or externally. This conclusion is established here. Or, how can my son be Brahma and Siva? Actually you are not Brahma or Siva--you are the shelter of both. You says this yourself: brahmano hi pratithaham. Brahma says: adyo’vatarah purusah parasya... Since you are the shelter of Brahma and Siva (tad asrayatvat) you are called the creator and destroyer indirectly. The qualities of a person being sheltered are often ascribed to the shelterer. Just as when the country is fortunate, the king is called fortunate. In this way you are Brahma and Siva. This is also in accordance with the concept of rasa. The form of Krsna is distinct in terms of rasa, though though he is one with other forms of the Lord. Brahma, Siva and Krsna are one form: Rasenotkrsyate krsna rupam esa rasa sthiti. (bhaki rasamrta sindhu)

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Śṛīdhara Svāmī explains this verse. This explanation is based on that. Anīhāt means the Lord is without disturbance or without change since he is devoid of anything except his svarūpa. Though there are transformations by the guṇas, there is no fault in you since you are only its material cause. There may be a doubt that you can also be the indirect cause (nimitta) (since you are also the material cause). You are actually Brahman in nature (brahmaṇi), and only by attribution of guṇas does it seem that you undergo change. Or you are established as the possessor of unlimited qualities, as the faultless cause of everything since you are both the efficient and material cause as proved by your statement (tvattaḥ) prakṛtiś ca pratijñā-dṛṣtantanurodhena: Brahman is also the material nature (prakṛti) because this view is not contradicted by the statements and examples given in the scriptures. (Brahma-sūtra 1.4.23) The fear of contradiction is refuted starting with words like vibho (O Lord!) The three words aguṇāt, akriyāt and anīhāṭ are explained as follows. Though you have no relationship with the three guṇas (aguṇāt), because you are the material cause, you seem to become the guṇas. But there is no possibility that you can deviate from your svarūpa (anīhāt). Because you are the efficient cause, you have no external or internal actions (akriyāt). Therefore you are called vibhu. Kṛtsna-prasakti-niravayava-śabda-vyāpako vā: the jīva is absorbed in activity with all his parts for it is said that the jīva has no parts. (Brahma-sūtra 2.1.26) Therefore statements about you are untrue, because we see that you are worshipped in different forms, and thus not situated in one place. But this statement does not apply to you, if you are accepted as the efficient cause. Śrutes tu śabda-mūlatvāt: the defects if the jīva do not apply to Brahman because of the declaration of scripture; scripture is the root of knowledge about spirit. (Brhama-sūtra 2.1.27) The wise speak from authority when they say that you are the cause, maintenance and destruction of everything. What doubt can there be if the śruti, the self-manifesting authority, says that you are beyond the four defects, that you are without material guṇas and that you are the cause of the universe? There is no contradiction here. You are the one form of supreme bliss without change (brāhmaṇi) but also the Lord possessing all inconceivable śaktis (īśvare). The cintāmaṇi or load stone remain unchanged though they attract other objects or pieces of iron. acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā tāns tarkeṇa yojayet prakṛitbhyaḥ paraṁ yac ca tad acintyasya lakṣaṇam Inconceivable states are not subject to material logic since they are beyond the material situation. That is the quality of the inconceivable. Mahābhārata There is no contradiction in you, who are the supreme cause with various inconceivable śaktis working together, as proved by the Purāṇas. All contradictions on both sides are eliminated by strongly establishing the inconceivable śakti. There is no alternative to this. There can be no opposing arguments because this śakti is supremely suitable to the Lord, being superior to all else, and since it is devoid of dependence on matter and ignorance, being supreme bliss beyond words and mind. “That’s alright. In the spiritual world, the Lord with his śakti is faultless with his six qualities. But as the cause of the material world possessing śaktis of the three guṇas, full of fault, he becomes faulty.” You are the shelter of the material śakti. Because this śakti is only a shadow, you cannot be contaminated by the faults of matter. On the other hand, the guṇas do not function unless they take shelter of you. Though the guṇas act as the cause, this is only a product of your inconceivable power.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

“Why should I be worshipped?” The knowers of the Vedas or the Vedas say that the creation of the universe comes from you who are without desire, who depend on nothing else, who are devoid of relationship with material guṇas, and who are devoid of transformations like anger. Or Lord (vibho), endowed with all powers! You are able to carry out creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe, being superior to it, as previously described. The three descriptive terms mentioned indicate the Lord’s independence from prakṛti. But still you create (without desire), maintain (without guṇas) and destroy the world (without anger). “This looks like a contradiction.” Just as for the one person who is the Lord and Brahman there is no contradiction since all the powers belong to Brahman, beyond māyā, so there is no contradiction if the Lord produces the material universe. “There is no contradiction within the absolute truth, but there is contradiction in creating the universe which is māyā.” The creation takes place in you by the guṇas of māyā, since you are the shelter of those guṇas. There is no contradiction whether you have or do not have a relationship with the guṇas, Or you are continually served by the guṇas, since you are their shelter. No one else is. Because of that, there is no contradiction. You are to be worshipped because of your form of power.