Devanagari
करोति विश्वस्थितिसंयमोदयं
यस्येप्सितं नेप्सितमीक्षितुर्गुणै: ।
माया यथायो भ्रमते तदाश्रयं
ग्राव्णो नमस्ते गुणकर्मसाक्षिणे ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
karoti viśva-sthiti-saṁyamodayaṁ
yasyepsitaṁ nepsitam īkṣitur guṇaiḥ
māyā yathāyo bhramate tad-āśrayaṁ
grāvṇo namas te guṇa-karma-sākṣiṇe
Synonyms
karoti
—
performing
;
viśva
—
of the universe
;
sthiti
—
the maintenance
;
saṁyama
—
winding up
;
udayam
—
creation
;
yasya
—
of whom
;
īpsitam
—
desired
;
na
—
not
;
īpsitam
—
desired
;
īkṣituḥ
—
of the one glancing over
;
guṇaiḥ
—
with the modes of material nature
;
māyā
—
the material energy
;
yathā
—
as much as
;
ayaḥ
—
iron
;
bhramate
—
moves
;
tat
—
āśrayam — placed near that
;
grāvṇaḥ
—
a magnetic stone
;
namaḥ
—
my respectful obeisances
;
te
—
unto You
;
guṇa
—
karma — sākṣiṇe — the witness of the actions and reactions of material nature .
Translation
O Lord, You do not desire the creation, maintenance or annihilation of this material world, but You perform these activities for the conditioned souls by Your creative energy. Exactly as a piece of iron moves under the influence of a lodestone, inert matter moves when You glance over the total material energy.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By your glance, you carry out creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe by māyā, though it is not desired by you, but only by the jīva. Just as a piece of iron moves forward because of a magnet, māyā moves by the influence of the Lord. I offer respects to the Lord, the witness of the guṇas and the jīva’s karmas.
“Since it is my effect, the universe, though material, is my form also.” This universe is actually not your effect, but the effect of māya, just as a pot is made of clay. By māyā (guṇaiḥ) the Lord carries out the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe, though not desired for himself, just by applying his glance (īkṣituḥ), but desired by the jīvas. Though māyā is inert, by association with the Lord it operates. An example is given. Iron moves because of a magnet (grāvnaḥ) and comes near the magnet. I offer respects to you, the witness of the gunās and the karmas of the jīvas.
Purport
Sometimes the question arises why the Supreme Lord has created this material world, which is so full of suffering for the living entities entrapped in it. The answer given herein is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not wish to create this material world just to inflict suffering on the living entities. The Supreme Lord creates this world only because the conditioned souls want to enjoy it.
The workings of nature are not going on automatically. It is only because the Lord glances over the material energy that it acts in wonderful ways, just as a lodestone causes a piece of iron to move here and there. Because materialistic scientists and so-called Sāṅkhya philosophers do not believe in God, they think that material nature is working without supervision. But that is not the fact. In
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
(
Ādi
6.18-19) the creation of the material world is explained as follows:
yadyapi sāṅkhya māne ‘pradhāna’ — kāraṇa
jaḍa ha-ite kabhu nahe jagat-sṛjana
nija-sṛṣṭi-śakti prabhu saṣcāre pradhāne
īśvarera śaktye tabe haye ta’ nirmāṇe
“Atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophers think that the total material energy causes the cosmic manifestation, but they are wrong. Dead matter has no moving power, and therefore it cannot act independently. The Lord infuses the material ingredients with His own creative potency. Then, by the power of the Lord, matter moves and interacts.” Sea waves are moved by the air, the air is created from ether, the ether is produced by the agitation of the three modes of material nature, and the three modes of material nature interact due to the Supreme Lord’s glance over the total material energy. Therefore the background of all natural occurrences is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram
). This is also further explained in
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
(
Ādi
5.59-61):
jagat-kāraṇa nahe prakṛti jaḍa-rūpā
śakti saṣcāriyā tāre kṛṣṇa kare kṛpā
kṛṣṇa-śaktye prakṛti haya gauṇa kāraṇa
agni-śaktye lauha yaiche karaye jāraṇa
ataeva kṛṣṇa mūla-jagat-kāraṇa
prakṛti — kāraṇa yaiche ajā-gala-stana
“Because
prakṛti
[material nature] is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. Lord Kṛṣṇa shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature. Thus
prakṛti,
by the energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red-hot by the energy of fire. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation.
Prakṛti
is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.” Thus it is a great mistake on the part of the material scientists and philosophers to think that matter moves independently.