SB 11.28.21 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

न यत् पुरस्तादुत यन्न पश्चा- न्मध्ये च तन्न व्यपदेशमात्रम् । भूतं प्रसिद्धं च परेण यद् यत् तदेव तत् स्यादिति मे मनीषा ॥ २१ ॥

Verse text

na yat purastād uta yan na paścān madhye ca tan na vyapadeśa-mātram bhūtaṁ prasiddhaṁ ca pareṇa yad yat tad eva tat syād iti me manīṣā

Synonyms

na — does not exist ; yat — that which ; purastāt — previously ; uta — nor ; yat — which ; na — not ; paścāt — afterward ; madhye — in between ; ca — and ; tat — that ; na — does not exist ; vyapadeśa — mātram — merely a designation ; bhūtam — created ; prasiddham — made known ; ca — and ; pareṇa — by another ; yat yat — whatever ; tat — that ; eva — only ; tat — that other ; syāt — actually is ; iti — thus ; me — My ; manīṣā — idea .

Translation

That which did not exist in the past and will not exist in the future also has no existence of its own for the period of its duration, but is only a superficial designation. In My opinion, whatever is created and revealed by something else is ultimately only that other thing.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

That which did not exist in the past and will not exist in the future also has no existence for the period of its duration, but is only a superficial designation. In my opinion, whatever is created and revealed by a first object is ultimately only that first object. It has been said that the truth is that which exists without change through all three states of time. Whatever changes in time is not truth. What exists in the middle is not a separate existing object. It is only a name. Why? Whatever is revealed by another entity is only the revealer, the cause, not something separate. That is my understanding.

Purport

Although all material products, such as our own bodies, are temporary and thus ultimately false, the material world is a real manifestation of the Lord’s potency. The basic substance, or reality, of this world is the Personality of Godhead Himself, whereas the temporary designations imposed by the conditioned souls are illusion. Thus we consider ourselves American, Russian, British, German, Indian, black, white, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and so forth. In fact, we are the marginal potency of the Supreme Lord, but by attempting to exploit the Lord’s inferior material potency we have become entangled in illusion. Everything should be properly defined in terms of the Personality of Godhead, who is the essential reality of this and all other worlds.