Devanagari
क्षित्यादीनामिहार्थानां छाया न कतमापि हि ।
न सङ्घातो विकारोऽपि न पृथङ्नान्वितो मृषा ॥ ५९ ॥
Verse text
kṣity-ādīnām ihārthānāṁ
chāyā na katamāpi hi
na saṅghāto vikāro ’pi
na pṛthaṅ nānvito mṛṣā
Synonyms
kṣiti
—
ādīnām — of the five elements, beginning with the earth
;
iha
—
in this world
;
arthānām
—
of those five elements
;
chāyā
—
shadow
;
na
—
neither
;
katamā
—
which of them
;
api
—
indeed
;
hi
—
certainly
;
na
—
nor
;
saṅghātaḥ
—
combination
;
vikāraḥ
—
transformation
;
api
—
although
;
na pṛthak
—
nor separated
;
na anvitaḥ
—
nor inherent in
;
mṛṣā
—
all these theories are without substance .
Translation
In this world there are five elements — namely earth, water, fire, air and ether — but the body is not a reflection of them, nor a combination or transformation of them. Because the body and its ingredients are neither distinct nor amalgamated, all such theories are insubstantial.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The body made of the five elements is neither a combination of the elements nor a whole with the elements as its parts, since it is not completely separate and not intimately connected with them. Thus the body and the world are illusory.
Thus, the body and other things (chāyā) based on the five gross elements are not a combination of the elements or their transformation. A forest is a combination of trees. Taking out one tree does not mean the whole forest has been pulled out. But the body is not such a combination (since taking out the elements in one part destroys the body). It is also not a transformation of the elements. This means it is not a whole unit produced by the elements as parts. Why? One cannot perceive a real difference between a part and the whole in the body.
Nor is the body closely connected with the elements (na anvitah). How does it relate to each element as its part? If the elements are parts, and closely connected to the body, it would mean that if the part were destroyed, the whole would be destroyed. If the hands, fingers, or intelligence in the body were destroyed the whole body should be destroyed. Or, if the parts are accepted as the whole (aṁśī), it would be an insubstantial argument.
The word api indicates that the body is also a transformation of the elements, since it is not separate from the elements. And it does not possess the elements as its parts. Thus the body and the world are false, and the doctrine of a false world is proved.
Purport
A forest is certainly a transformation of the earth, but one tree does not depend on another tree; if one is cut down, this does not mean that the others are cut down. Therefore, the forest is neither a combination nor a transformation of the trees. The best explanation is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself:
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ
“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (
Bg. 9.4
) Everything is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. As it is said,
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate:
the Lord has multi-energies, which are expressed in different ways. The energies are existing, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead also exists simultaneously; because everything is His energy, He is simultaneously one with everything and different from everything. Thus our speculative theories that
ātmā,
the living force, is a combination of matter, that matter is a transformation of the soul, or that the body is part of the soul are all insubstantial.
Since all the Lord’s energies are simultaneously existing, one must understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But although He is everything, He is not present in everything. The Lord must be worshiped in His original form as Kṛṣṇa. He can also present Himself in any one of His various expanded energies. When we worship the Deity of the Lord in the temple, the Deity appears to be stone or wood. Now, because the Supreme Lord does not have a material body, He is not stone or wood, yet stone and wood are not different from Him. Thus by worshiping stone or wood we get no result, but when the stone and wood are represented in the Lord’s original form, by worshiping the Deity we get the desired result. This is supported by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s philosophy,
acintya-bhedābheda,
which explains how the Lord can present Himself everywhere and anywhere in a form of His energy to accept service from the devotee.