Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 20.273

svāńga-viśeshābhāsa-rūpe prakriti-sparśana

jīva-rūpa 'bīja' tāte kailā samarpana

SYNONYMS

sva-ańga-viśesha-ābhāsa-rūpe — in the form of a specific shadow from His personal body; prakriti-sparśana — the Lord glances over the material nature; jīva-rūpa — having the form of the sparklike living entities, who are parts and parcels; bīja — semen; tāte — in that material nature; kailā samarpana — impregnated.

TRANSLATION

"To impregnate with the seeds of the living entities, the Lord Himself does not directly touch the material energy, but by His specific functional expansion He touches the material energy, and thus the living entities, who are His parts and parcels, are impregnated into material nature.

PURPORT

According to Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.7):

mamaivāmśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtah sanātanah

manah-shashthānīndriyāni prakriti-sthāni karshati

"The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind."

The word prakriti-sparśana is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmrita in reference to the way the living entities come in contact with dull matter. The glancing is performed by Mahā-Vishnu: sa aikshata lokān nu srijā iti. (Aitareya Upanishad 1.1.1) In the conditioned stage we impregnate according to the bodily conception — that is, by sexual intercourse — but the Supreme Lord does not need sexual intercourse to impregnate. The impregnation is performed simply by His glance. This is also explained in the Brahma-samhitā (5.32):

ańgāni yasya sakalendriya-vrittimanti

paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciram jaganti

ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya

govindam ādi-purusham tam aham bhajāmi

Govinda can impregnate simply by glancing. In other words, His eyes can work as His genitals. He does not need genitals to beget a child. Indeed, Krishna can beget any one of the living entities with any part of His body.

The word svāńga-viśeshābhāsa-rūpe, indicating the form by which the Lord begets living entities in the material world, is explained herein. He is Lord Śiva. In the Brahma-samhitā it is stated that Lord Śiva, who is another form of Mahā-Vishnu, is like yogurt. Yogurt is nothing but milk, yet it is not milk. Similarly, Lord Śiva is considered the father of this universe, and material nature is considered the mother. The father and mother are known as Lord Śiva and goddess Durgā. Together, Lord Śiva's genitals and the vagina of goddess Durgā are worshiped as the śiva-lińga. This is the origin of the material creation. Thus Lord Śiva's position is between that of the living entity and that of the Supreme Lord. In other words, Lord Śiva is neither the Supreme Personality of Godhead nor a living entity. He is the form through which the Supreme Lord works to beget living entities within this material world. As yogurt is prepared when milk is mixed with a culture, the form of Lord Śiva expands when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in touch with material nature. The impregnation of material nature by the father, Lord Śiva, is wonderful because at one time innumerable living entities are conceived. Bhāgo jīvah sa vijñeyah sa cānantyāya kalpate (Śvetāśvatara Upanishad 5.9). These living entities are very, very small:

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāmśa-sadriśātmakah

jīvah sūkshma-svarūpo 'yam sańkhyātīto hi cit-kanah

[Cc. Madya 19.140]

"If we divide the tip of a hair into a hundred parts and then take one of these parts and divide it again into a hundred parts, that very fine division is the size of but one of the numberless living entities. They are all cit-kana, particles of spirit, not matter."

The innumerable brahmāndas, or universes, come from the pores of the Lord's body, and innumerable living entities also come from the pores of the transcendental body of the Lord. This is the process of material creation. Without the living entities, this material nature has no value. Both emanate from the pores of the transcendental body of Lord Mahā-Vishnu. They are different energies. The material nature is explained as follows by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4):

bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuh kham mano buddhir eva ca

ahańkāra itīyam me bhinnā prakritir ashtadhā

"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight constitute My separated material energies." Thus the material elements also come from the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they are a different type of energy from the living entities. Although the living entities also come from the Lord's body, they are categorized as a superior energy:

apareyam itas tv anyām prakritim viddhi me parām

jīva-bhūtām mahā-bāho yayedam dhāryate jagat

"Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature." (Bg. 7.5) The inferior energy, matter, cannot act without the superior energy. All these things are very clearly explained in the Vedas. The materialistic theory that life develops from matter is incorrect. Life and matter come from the supreme living entity; therefore, being the source of both, that supreme living entity, Krishna, is described in the Vedānta-sūtra as janmādy asya yatah [SB 1.1.1] (1.1), or the original source of everything, sarva-kārana-kāranam [Bs. 5.1]. This is further explained in the following verse.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness