Creation

viśva-pālanārthaṁ parameśvaro na kiñcit karoti

viśva-pālanārthaṁ parameśvaro na kiñcit karoti, kintu svena sahaivāvatīrṇān vaikuṇṭha-pārṣadān tathādhikārika-devādy-antargatān tathā taṭasthān anyāṁś ca bhaktān ānandayituṁ svarūpa-śakty-āviṣkāreṇaiva nānāvatārān līlāś cāsau prakāśayati | … tad evaṁ bhaktānandārtham eva tān prakaṭayatas tasyānanusaṁhitam api sura-pakṣapātādi-viśva-pālana-rūpaṁ tan-māyā-kāryaṁ svata eva bhavati | loke yathā kecid bhaktāḥ parasparaṁ bhagavat-prema-sukhollāsāya militāḥ, tad-anabhijñān api kāṁścin mārdaṅgikādīn saṅgṛhya tad-guṇa-gānānandenonmattavan nṛtyanto viśveṣām evāmaṅgalaṁ ghnanti, maṅgalam api vardhayantīti | … evam evoktam—sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harer naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu | kurute kevalānandād yathā martyasya nartanam || iti |
(Excerpt from Paramātma Sandarbha: 93)

“Parameśvara does not do anything to sustain the universe, but he manifests various avatāras and līlās purely by revelation of his svarūpa-śakti (inherent potency) to delight his associates from Vaikuṇṭha who descend along with him as well as those amongst the authorities, devas, and so forth [who see to the administration of the universe], and other peripheral bhaktas [i.e., those bhaktas on the periphery of matters of universal administration and his līlās with his descended associates]. … Thus, in this way, while manifesting them [i.e., his various avatāras] solely for the sake of the bliss of [his] bhaktas, the work of his māyā, in the form of his sustaining the universe by favoring the suras and so forth, occurs of its own accord [i.e., automatically] even though unsought [out by him specifically], just as in the world when some bhaktas are assembled together to increase the joy of [their] prema for Bhagavān and have gathered some mṛdaṅga players who are even unacquainted with that [i.e., the joy of prema for Bhagavān], they [i.e., those bhaktas] become maddened by the bliss of singing of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] qualities and dance, and so dispel the inauspiciousness of the world and increase the auspiciousness as well [i.e., the bhaktas primary purpose is satisfying Bhagavān with acts of bhakti but concomitantly as they do this they also happen, secondarily, to dispel auspiciousness and create auspiciousness in their midst within the world]. … In this way, it is said [in the Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā], ‘Hari does not require any motive for emanation and so forth [i.e., for emanating, sustaining, and dissolving the material universes]. He acts purely out of bliss, like the dancing of an intoxicated person.’”

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śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ

śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ—
kalpānāṁ jīva-sāmye hi muktir naivopapadyate |
kadācid api dharmajña tatra pṛcchāmi kāraṇam ||
ekaikasmin nare muktiṁ kalpe kalpe gate dvija |
abhaviṣyaj jagac chūnyaṁ kālasyāder abhāvataḥ ||
atha śrī-mārkaṇḍeyasyottaram—
jīvasyānyasya sargeṇa nare muktim upāgate |
acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā ||
brahmaṇā saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgatāḥ |
sṛjyante ca mahā-kalpe tad-vidhāś cāpare janān ||
atra kvacid api kalpe keṣāṁcid api jīvānām anudbuddha-karmatvena suṣuptavat prakṛtāv api līnānām ananta-brahmāṇḍa-gatānām ivānantānām ekasyopādhi-sṛṣṭyā brahmāṇḍa-praveśanaṁ sarga iti jñeyam | apūrva-sṛṣṭau sāditve kṛta-hāny-akṛtābhyāgamaḥ syāt |
(Viṣṇu-dharmottara Purāṇa: 1.81.11–14; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)

“A question of Śrī Vajra: ‘Because of the kalpas’ even number of jīvas [i.e., because the number of jīvas in the universe remains the same in every kalpa], mukti can never be possible. O knower of dharma, I ask [you] the reason for this. O twice-born, if one human being attained mukti in kalpa after kalpa, the universe would have become empty [by now] because of the non-existence of time’s beginning.’
“Then, the answer of Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya: ‘Whenever a human being attains mukti, Bhagavān, who is possessed of inconceivable potency (śakti), always [re-] fills the universe with an emanation of another jīva. Those who have attain Brahmaloka [i.e., the plane of Brahmā] are liberated along with Brahmā [at the end of the kalpa when the universe is dissolved], and other persons of that type are emanated in the next great kalpa [i.e., at the beginning of the next emanation of the universe].’
“[Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments:] In this regard, ‘emanation’ (sarga) [of a jīva] is to be understood as the emanating of [appropriate] adjuncts (upādhis] [i.e., an antaḥkaraṇa, bahiḥkaraṇa, and gross body] and the entering a universe (brahmāṇḍa) of one of the innumerable [jīvas] who are like those situated in the innumerable universes but who are merged in prakṛti as if in deep sleep because of some such jīvas in some kalpa having unaroused karma [i.e., because some jīvas’ beginningless karma does not result in their being emanated into a manifest form of prakṛti, i.e., a universe, during that particular kalpa]. If it [i.e., the emanation of a jīva] had a beginning [i.e., was a creation of a new entity rather than just an emanation of a pre-existent entity] in the unprecedented emanation [i.e., in the beginningless cyclic existence of material universes], loss of what has been made (kṛta-hāni) and attainment of what has not been made would occur [i.e., the results of some actions performed in the past would not bear fruit, since the jīva in such a case would be a created entity who is subject to death, and thus would not have the ability to experience after death the results of the actions that it performed throughout its life; moreover, the jīva would have experiences that are not a result of its past actions since its birth and the circumstances of its life would not be outcomes of actions performed in past lives].”

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buddhīndriya-manaḥ-prāṇān janānām asṛjat prabhuḥ

buddhīndriya-manaḥ-prāṇān janānām asṛjat prabhuḥ |
mātrārthaṁ ca bhavārthaṁ ca ātmane’kalpanāya ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.2)

[Translation as per Śrīdhara Svāmīpada’s ṭīkā:] “Prabhu emanated the intellect, senses, mind, and prāṇas of living beings for the sake of the objects [i.e., for the sake of enabling perception of objects of the senses constituted of the five elements], for the sake of production [i.e., for the sake of enabling karma to be performed], for the sake of the ātmā [i.e, for the sake of enabling the ātmā to travel to and experience various lokas], and for the sake of non-formulation [i.e, for the cessation of desire, that is, mukti for the ātmā].”

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sṛṣṭvā purāṇi vividhāny ajayātma-śaktyā

sṛṣṭvā purāṇi vividhāny ajayātma-śaktyā
vṛkṣān sarīsṛpa-paśūn khaga-dandaśūkān |
tais tair atuṣṭa-hṛdayaḥ puruṣaṁ vidhāya
brahmāvaloka-dhiṣaṇaṁ mudam āpa devaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.9.28)

“After creating trees, reptiles, animals, birds, snakes, and various [other] bodies with his own śakti ajā [i.e., māyā] and being unsatisfied at heart with them, Deva [i.e., Bhagavān] made the human being, endowed with an intellect for perception of Brahman [i.e., with the capacity to realize the him, the Supreme,] and became pleased.”

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yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam |
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
(Brahmā-saṁhitā: 5.40; cited in Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.224; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 80; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.2.14, 2.20.160)

“I serve him, Govinda, the Original Person, whose effulgence is the indivisible, unlimited, and all-pervading Brahman distinct from the opulence of the innumerable earths and so forth throughout the billions of material universes.”

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sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harir naiva

sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harir naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu |
kurute kevalānandād yathā mattasya nartanam ||
pūrṇānandasya tasyeha prayojana-matiḥ kutaḥ |
muktā apy āpta-kāmāḥ syuḥ kim utāsyākhilātmanaḥ ||
(Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Paramātma Sandarbha: 93; Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra: 2.1.33)

“Hari does not require any motive for emanation and so forth [of the material universes]. He acts purely out of bliss, like the dancing of an intoxicated person. Since he is full of bliss, how can he have any thought of a motive? Even liberated beings are of satisfied desire, so how much more so must be the Ātmā of all?”

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