SB 10.48.20 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यथा हि भूतेषु चराचरेषु मह्यादयो योनिषु भान्ति नाना । एवं भवान् केवल आत्मयोनि- ष्वात्मात्मतन्त्रो बहुधा विभाति ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

yathā hi bhūteṣu carācareṣu mahy-ādayo yoniṣu bhānti nānā evaṁ bhavān kevala ātma-yoniṣv ātmātma-tantro bahudhā vibhāti

Synonyms

yathā — as ; hi — indeed ; bhūteṣu — among manifested beings ; cara — mobile ; acareṣu — and immobile ; mahī — ādayaḥ — earth and so on (the primary elements of creation) ; yoniṣu — in species ; bhānti — manifest ; nānā — variously ; evam — so ; bhavān — You ; kevalaḥ — one alone ; ātma — Yourself ; yoniṣu — in those whose source ; ātmā — the Supreme Soul ; ātma — tantraḥ — self-reliant ; bahudhā — manifold ; vibhāti — appear .

Translation

Just as the primary elements — earth and so on — manifest themselves in abundant variety among all the species of mobile and immobile life, so You, the one independent Supreme Soul, appear to be manifold among the variegated objects of Your creation.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Just as the primary elements—earth and so on—manifest themselves in abundant variety among all the species of mobile and immobile life, so You, the one independent Supreme Soul, appear to be manifold among the variegated objects of Your creation. KB 10.48.20 “As the five material elements—earth, water, fire, air and sky—are distributed in everything manifested by different kinds of bodies, so You alone enter the various bodies created by Your own energy. You enter the body as the individual soul and, independently, as the Supersoul.” It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the material body is created by Kṛṣṇa’s inferior energy, that the living entities—the individual souls—are His parts and parcels, and that the Supersoul is His localized representation. Thus while the material body, the living entity and the Supersoul constitute an individual living being, originally they are all different energies of the one Supreme Lord.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The varieties expanded from one Lord is explained by an example in this verse. "Just material bodies are manifest with various forms from the material elements like earth and water, so you, the one independent Lord, become many as the multitude of visible objects in this universe."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

You do not undergo transformation like earth. You are pure (kevalaḥ), without transformation because of your acintya-śakti. Therefore you are independent (ātma-tantraḥ).

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Though you are one, you appear to be variegated. Though you are within, you are also external. An example is given to clarify this. Exactly as (yatha hi) mahat-tattva etc. existing outside as the cause is also within all beings, you, though the one cause, the giver of consciousness to everything, and independent, being the externally existing supreme Lord, appear as many in all beings as the antaryāmī. They become active by you as antaryāmī. How can there be any fault? All are delivered and made prosperous.