VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 11
Analytic Knowledge, Sânkhya, Summarized
In this chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa gives instruction how bewilderment of the mind can be dispelled by the science of Sāńkhya. Herein the Supreme Lord again imparts to Uddhava instruction about the analysis of material nature. By assimilating this knowledge the spirit soul can drive away his confusion based on false dualities.
In the beginning of creation, the seer and seen are one and indistinguishable. This Supreme Absolute Truth, one without a second and inaccessible to words and mind, then separates into two — the seer, which means consciousness or personality, and the seen, which means substance or nature. The material nature, which comprises the three modes of matter, is agitated by the controlling male factor. The mahat-tattva then becomes manifest together with the energies of consciousness and activity. From these come the principle of false ego in its three aspects of goodness, passion and ignorance. From false ego in the mode of ignorance arise fifteen subtle forms of sense perception, followed by the fifteen physical elements. From false ego in the mode of passion come the ten senses, and from false ego in the mode of goodness come the mind and the eleven demigods who preside over the senses. By the conglomeration of all of these elements grows the universal egg, in the midst of which the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the creating Lord of the universe takes up residence in the role of indwelling Supersoul. From the navel of this ultimate creator comes a lotus, upon which Brahma takes birth. Lord Brahma, invested with the mode of passion, executes austerities by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and on the strength of these penances he is able to create all the planets of the universe. The region of heaven is meant for the demigods, that of inner space for ghostly spirits and that of the earth for human beings and others. In the region above these three planetary systems are the places of advanced sages, and in the lower worlds are those of the demons, Nāga serpents and so forth. The goals achieved by activities based on the three modes of material nature are all within the three mortal worlds. The destinations of yoga, severe austerity and the renounced order of life are the worlds known as Mahar, Janas, Tapas and Satya. The goal of devotional service to the Supreme Lord, on the other hand, is the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead in His abode, Vaikuṇṭha. This universe of material action and reaction is constituted under the control of time and the three modes of material nature. Moreover, whatever exists in this universe is simply the product of the combination of material nature and her Lord. In the same way that creation proceeds gradually from the one and supremely subtle to the multitudinous and very gross, the process of annihilation proceeds from the grossest to the subtlest manifestation of nature, leaving only the eternal spiritual substance. This ultimate Soul remains situated within Himself, alone and without end. The mind of a person who meditates on these ideas does not become bewildered by material dualities. This science of Sāńkhya, narrated in alternating sequences of creation and annihilation, serves to cut off all doubts and bondage.
11.24.1
sāńkhyaḿ pūrvair viniścitam
jahyād vaikalpikaḿ bhramam
(1) The Supreme Lord said: 'And now I shall discuss with you the analytic knowledge as established by the classical authorities. Knowing this a person is immediately able to give up the bewilderment that is based upon the duality.
11.24.2
ekam evāvikalpitam
(2) In the beginning, during the epoch of dutifulness [Krita] and before that time there existed people expert in discrimination to whom the seer and the seen were simply one and the same [see also 11.22: 29].
Kṛta-yuga is the first age, also known as Satya-yuga, in which knowledge, being perfect, is not different from its object. In modern society, knowledge is highly speculative and constantly changing. There is often a vast difference between people's theoretical ideas and actual reality. In Satya-yuga, however, people are viveka-nipuṇāḥ, or expert in intelligent discrimination, and thus there is no difference between their vision and reality. In Satya-yuga, the population in general is self-realized. Seeing everything as the potency of the Supreme Lord, they do not artificially create duality between themselves and other living entities. This is a further aspect of the oneness of Satya-yuga. At the time of annihilation, everything merges to rest within the Lord, and at that time also there is no difference between the Lord, who becomes the only seer, and the objects of knowledge, which are contained within the Lord. The liberated living entities in the eternal spiritual world are never subject to such merging but remain forever undisturbed in their spiritual forms. Because they are voluntarily one with the Lord in love, their abode is never annihilated.
11.24.3
(3) That one undifferentiated truth inaccessible to speech and mind turned into the twofold of the forms brought about by material nature on the one hand and the complete whole [the integrity of nature itself] on the other hand [prakriti and purusha, see 11.22].
11.24.4
tayor ekataro hy arthaḥ
prakṛtiḥ sobhayātmikā
puruṣaḥ so 'bhidhīyate
(4) One of the two indeed is she, the substance of material nature, consisting of a double self [products and causes, symmetry and complementarity] while the other entity is he, the knower, who is called the original person [the enjoyer or male principle].
11.24.5
puruṣānumatena ca
(5) In order to fulfill the desires of the living entity manifested from My agitation of material nature [in the form of time, of Kâla], the modes themselves: tamas, rajas and sattva [the gunas].
11.24.6
tato vikurvato jāto
yo 'hańkāro vimohanaḥ
(6) From the realization of these arose the possibility of the lead, the thread, of primeval nature [the sûtra], because in the transformation of the greater reality [the mahat-tattva] that is associated with it the identification came about [of the purusha with it leading to ahankâra or false ego], which is the cause of bewilderment.
11.24.7
vaikārikas taijasaś ca
(7) That I-awareness [or false ego] is thus of the three categories and [makes accordingly] with emotion, clarity and ignorance [alternately use of] the sense objects [tanmâtra], the senses [indriyas] and the mind [manas]. Thus it [the identified self] constitutes the cause of understanding and not understanding [the so-called conscious and unconscious].
The word cid-acin-maya, "encompassing both spirit and matter," is significant in this regard. The false ego is the illusory combination of the eternal conscious soul and the temporary unconscious body. Because the spirit soul desires to exploit illicitly the creation of God, he is bewildered by the three modes of nature and assumes an illusory identity within the material world. Struggling to enjoy, he becomes more and more entangled in the complexities of illusion and only increases his anxiety. This hopeless situation can be overcome by taking to pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in which the pleasure of the Supreme Lord becomes the only goal of one's life.
11.24.8
tāmasād indriyāṇi ca
taijasād devatā āsann
(8) From the darkness of the false ego arose the subtle sensations of gross matter, from its clarity arose the senses and from the goodness of the identified self arose the eleven gods [see deva].
From false ego in the mode of ignorance, sound is generated along with the sense of hearing to receive it and the sky as its medium. Next, the sensation of touch, air and the sense of touch are generated, and thus from subtle to gross all of the elements and their perceptions are generated. The senses, because they are busily engaged in activity, are created from false ego in the mode of passion. From false ego in goodness come eleven demigods: the deities of the directions, the wind and the sun, Varuṇa, the Aśvinī deities, Agni, Indra, Upendra, Mitra, Brahmā and Candra.
11.24.9
mamāyatanam uttamam
(9) Because all the elements under My influence were combined came the egg of the universe into being which serves as My supreme residence [see from 11.22: 18].
11.24.10
tasminn ahaḿ samabhavam
(10) Within that egg situated in the water of the causal ocean I appeared [as Nârâyana], whereupon from My navel a lotus arose that is known as the universe. On that lotus found the selfborn one his existence [Brahmâ, see 3.8].
The Supreme Lord here describes His appearance in His transcendental pastime form of Śrī Nārāyaṇa. Lord Nārāyaṇa enters within the universe but does not give up His purely transcendental body of knowledge and bliss. Lord Brahmā, however, born from the Lord's navel lotus, has a material body. Although Lord Brahmā is the most powerful mystic, his body, which pervades all material existence, is material, whereas the body of the Supreme Lord Hari, Nārāyaṇa, is always transcendental.
11.24.11
so 'sṛjat tapasā yukto
(11) He, the soul of the universe endowed with passion, created from his penance by My mercy the three different worlds called earth, the atmosphere and heaven [bhûh, bhuvah and svaha], along with its rulers [see Gâyatrî and loka].
11.24.12
(12) Heaven became the home of the demigods, the atmosphere the home of the ghostly spirits, the earthly places are the home of the humans and other living beings and the beyond of these three is there for the ones of perfection [siddhaloka].
11.24.13
bhūmer oko 'sṛjat prabhuḥ
karmaṇāḿ tri-guṇātmanām
(13) The places of the underworld were by the master created as the residence of the unenlightened and the ones perfect to the ego [the 'snakes', the Nâgas]. All the destinations of the three worlds thus owe their existence to the fruitive activities of the souls who are entangled in the modes [see B.G. 4: 17, 10.1: 42-43].
11.24.14
yogasya tapasaś caiva
(14) By penance, yoga and even by forsaking [in sannyâsa] one is of the spotless destinations of mahar, janas, tapas and satya, but My destination [Vaikunthha] is reached by devotional service.
11.24.15
(15) As arranged by Me, the Supporter, the Self of Time, one rises up from or drowns in the mighty stream of the modes of this world in which one is bound to profit-minded labor.
Unmajjati refers to one's promotion to the higher planetary systems, as mentioned in previous verses, and nimajjati refers to being submerged in a miserable condition of life by impious activities. In both cases one is drowning within the mighty river of material existence, which carries one far away from one's real home in the kingdom of God.
11.24.16
yo yo bhāvaḥ prasidhyati
sarvo 'py ubhaya-saḿyuktaḥ
(16) Whatever the small, the great, the thin and the massive of the manifestation, is all brought about by the combination of the two of material nature and the enjoyer [see also B.G. 18: 16].
11.24.17
vikāro vyavahārārtho
(17) That what constitutes the cause of something is there in the beginning, during the life as well as in the end of that what was produced. The transformation [the ingredient as well as he who transforms and not so much this or that form] is what makes the real of common utensils like matters of gold and things of clay [compare 6.16: 22, 10.87: 15, 11.22: 8].
The Lord here explains that the original cause is certainly present in its effect, citing the example of gold and clay functioning as the causal ingredients of many different products in which gold and clay continue to be present. For our convenience, we assign different names to temporary products, although their essential nature continues to be that of the ingredient, and not of the temporary product.
11.24.18
(18) Something which operates as a previous ingredient in the production of another thing that is thus a modification of that ingredient, is called the true of something when it is present from the beginning to the end [compare B.G. 2: 13, 2: 16].
11.24.19
prakṛtir yasyopādānam
sato 'bhivyañjakaḥ kālo
(19) Material nature constituting the basis [âdhâra] of the causal ingredient [the transformed], the real of the Original Person [He who transforms], and that what sets in operation, viz. Time [the transformation], are the three [of resp. prakriti, Purusha and kâla] who together constitute the Absolute Truth [the Brahman] that I am.
Material nature is the energy of the Lord, Mahā-Viṣṇu is His plenary portion, and time represents the Lord's activity. In this way, time and nature are always subservient to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who creates, maintains and annihilates all that exists through the agency of His potencies and plenary portions. In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth because He contains all existence within Himself.
11.24.20
paurvāparyeṇa nityaśaḥ
sthity-anto yāvad īkṣaṇam
(20) The bountiful creation will for the sake of the variegatedness of its qualities generation after generation continually be maintained until its dissolution for as long as I look after it [see also B.G. 3: 24].
Although the mahat-tattva, impelled by the force of time, is the ingredient cause of this world, it is clearly explained here that the Supreme Lord is personally the only ultimate cause of all that exists. Time and nature are powerless to act without the glance of the Personality of Godhead. He creates unlimited material variety for the sense gratification of the conditioned souls, who try to enjoy life as the children of particular parents and as the parents of particular children, throughout the 8,400,000 species of life.
11.24.21
virāṇ mayāsādyamāno
(21) When the universal form that is pervaded by Me has manifested the planetary variety of its time periods [of creation, maintenance and decay], this variety with its different worlds [losing its synergy] becomes fit for [dissolution into] its five composing gross elements [see yugas, manvantaras, and B.G. 11: 13].
11.24.22-27
līyate so 'pi cāmbare
līyate manasīśvare
śabdo bhūtādim apyeti
vikalpāpāya-lakṣaṇaḥ
(22-27) The mortal frame [at the time of annihilation] merges with the food, the food with the grains, the grains with the earth and the earth with the fragrance. The fragrance is merged with the water, the water with its quality, that taste with the fire and the fire with the form. Form is being merged with the touch, the touch then with the ether, ether with the subtle object of sound and the senses [of sound etc.] with their sources [the gods of the sun and moon etc.]. The sources [as the ahankâra ego of passion] are merged with the emotions [the ego of goodness], My dearest, and they merge with the mind, the controller of the sound, which dissolves in the original of the elements [ego of slowness], and that all powerful primal elementary nature merges with the cosmic intelligence [mahat]. That greater nature merges in its own modes and they on their turn merge with their ultimate abode of the unmanifest which merges with the infallible Time. Time merges with the individuality [the jîva] of the Supreme in command of the illusory potency and that individuality merges with Me, the Supreme Self Unborn [âtmâ], who, characterized by creation and annihilation, perfectly being established in Himself remains alone [see also 3.11: 28, 4.23: 15-18, 11.3: 12-15].
The annihilation of the material world is the reversal of the process of creation, and ultimately everything is merged to rest within the Supreme Lord, who remains full in His absolute position.
11.24.28
manaso hṛdi tiṣṭheta
vyomnīvārkodaye tamaḥ
(28) Just as the darkness cannot remain with the sun rising in the sky, the same way the bewilderment of the dual mind cannot remain in the heart of someone who seriously studies this.
Just as the brilliant sun removes all darkness from the sky, a clear understanding of the knowledge spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava removes all ignorance concocted by the material mind. One will then no longer accept the material body as the self. Even if such illusion temporarily manifests within one's consciousness, it will be driven away by the resurgence of one's spiritual knowledge.
11.24.29
pratilomānulomābhyāḿ
(29) This is what I, the Overseer of the Spiritual and Material world, had to say about this Sânkhya direction of analysis [see also 3.25 - 3.33] which breaks the bondage of doubts of people who in their lives go along with and go against the nature of things.'
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has explained that the material mind accepts and rejects many different concepts of life, generating innumerable false arguments about the actual process of perfection. But a person who takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can see everything with clear intelligence. One who understands how the Supreme Lord creates and annihilates can be liberated from material bondage and devote himself to the eternal service of the Supreme Lord.
Thus end of the Eleventh Canto, Twenty-fourth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Philosophy of Sāńkhya."
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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