SB 11.22.3 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीउद्धव उवाच कति तत्त्वानि विश्वेश सङ्ख्यातान्यृषिभि: प्रभो । नवैकादश पञ्च त्रीण्यात्थ त्वमिह शुश्रुम ॥ १ ॥ केचित् षड्‌विंशतिं प्राहुरपरे पञ्चविंशतिम् । सप्तैके नव षट् केचिच्चत्वार्येकादशापरे । केचित् सप्तदश प्राहु: षोडशैके त्रयोदश ॥ २ ॥ एतावत्त्वं हि सङ्ख्यानामृषयो यद्विवक्षया । गायन्ति पृथगायुष्मन्निदं नो वक्तुमर्हसि ॥ ३ ॥

Verse text

śrī-uddhava uvāca kati tattvāni viśveśa saṅkhyātāny ṛṣibhiḥ prabho navaikādaśa paṣca trīṇy āttha tvam iha śuśruma kecit ṣaḍ-viṁśatiṁ prāhur apare paṣca-viṁśatiṁ saptaike nava ṣaṭ kecic catvāry ekādaśāpare kecit saptadaśa prāhuḥ ṣoḍaśaike trayodaśa etāvattvaṁ hi saṅkhyānām ṛṣayo yad-vivakṣayā gāyanti pṛthag āyuṣmann idaṁ no vaktum arhasi

Synonyms

śrī — uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said ; kati — how many ; tattvāni — basic elements of creation ; viśva — īśa — O Lord of the universe ; saṅkhyātāni — have been enumerated ; ṛṣibhiḥ — by great authorities ; prabho — O my master ; nava — nine (God, the individual soul, the mahat-tattva, false ego and the five gross elements) ; ekādaśa — plus eleven (the ten knowledge-acquiring and working senses together with the mind) ; paṣca — plus five (the subtle forms of the sense objects) ; trīṇi — plus three (the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance, making altogether a total of twenty-eight) ; āttha — have stated ; tvam — You ; iha — during Your appearance in this world ; śuśruma — so I have heard ; kecit — some ; ṣaṭ — viṁśatim — twenty-six ; prāhuḥ — they say ; apare — others ; paṣca — viṁśatim — twenty-five ; sapta — seven ; eke — some ; nava — nine ; ṣaṭ — six ; kecit — some ; catvāri — four ; ekādaśa — eleven ; apare — still others ; kecit — some ; saptadaśa — seventeen ; prāhuḥ — say ; ṣoḍaśa — sixteen ; eke — some ; trayodaśa — thirteen ; etāvattvam — such calculations ; hi — indeed ; saṅkhyānām — of the different ways of counting the elements ; ṛṣayaḥ — the sages ; yat — vivakṣayā — with the intention of expressing what ideas ; gāyanti — they have declared ; pṛthak — in various manners ; āyuḥ — man — O supreme eternal ; idam — this ; naḥ — to us ; vaktum — to explain ; arhasi — You should please .

Translation

Uddhava inquired: My dear Lord, O master of the universe, how many different elements of creation have been enumerated by the great sages? I have heard You personally describe a total of twenty-eight — God, the jīva soul, the mahat-tattva, false ego, the five gross elements, the ten senses, the mind, the five subtle objects of perception and the three modes of nature. But some authorities say that there are twenty-six elements, while others cite twenty-five or else seven, nine, six, four or eleven, and even others say that there are seventeen, sixteen or thirteen. What did each of these sages have in mind when he calculated the creative elements in such different ways? O supreme eternal, kindly explain this to me.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Uddhava inquired: O Lord! O master of the universe! How many different elements of creation have been enumerated by the great sages? I have heard you personally describe a total of twenty-eight—God, the jīva, the mahat-tattva, false ego, the five gross elements, the ten senses, the mind, the five subtle objects of perception and the three modes of nature. But some authorities say that there are twenty-six elements, while others cite twenty-five or else seven, nine, six, four or eleven, and even others say that there are seventeen, sixteen or thirteen elements. What did the sages have in mind when they calculated the creative elements in such different ways? O Lord with an eternal form! Kindly explain this to me. In the Twenty-second Chapter, the elements are enumerated, with clarification of any contrary explanations, and questions about prakṛti and the jīva, and about birth and death, are explained. Having clearly understood the meaning of karma-kāṇḍa, Uddhava now begins to ask about the meaning of jṣāna-kāṇḍa. He first asks for a conclusion to the various statements made by different sages. Which opinions are correct among those of many sages who each claim “This is what I think.” How many elements do they list? The nine elements are the Lord, the jīva, mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra and the five gross elements. There are ten senses and the mind. There are five tan-mātras and three guṇas. You have mentioned this total of twenty-eight items. I have heard of them. The three guṇas means prakṛti. He mentions three guṇas because it has been said that only through the three modes of prakṛti arise the two types of mahat-tattva (sattva gives rise to mahat-tattva and rajas gives rise to sūtra) and ahaṅkāra (tamas). These do not arise from prakṛti in equilibrium. I have understood your intention. You should explain with what intention others proclaim a variety of opinions about the number of elements. O Lord, who lives for all time with an eternal form! I should ask you since you alone know the intentions of all the sages who have a beginning, middle and end.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa thoroughly explained in the previous chapter that Vedic knowledge is not meant for sense gratification but for liberation from material bondage. Now Uddhava presents some intermediate questions that must be answered so the path of liberation will be clear. Different philosophers have historically disagreed over the exact number of material elements, about the existence and nonexistence of particular external objects and about the existence of the soul itself. The jṣāna-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas aims at liberation through analytic understanding of the material world and of the spirit soul as a transcendental element beyond matter. Ultimately the Supreme Lord Himself stands above all elements and maintains them by His personal potency. Uddhava mentions in numerical terms different methodologies of various sages, citing first the Lord’s own opinion. The word āyuṣman, or “possessing eternal form,” is significant in this regard. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternal, He possesses all knowledge of past, present and future and is thus the original and supreme philosopher. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the different analytic approaches mentioned by Śrī Uddhava are actually not contradictory, since they are different methods of categorizing the same reality. Atheistic speculation on reality does not recognize the existence of God; consequently it is a worthless attempt to explain the truth. The Lord Himself empowers different living entities to speculate and speak on reality in different ways. The actual reality, however, is the Lord Himself, who will now speak to Śrī Uddhava.