Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.84.17

anīha etad bahudhaika ātmanā

srijaty avaty atti na badhyate yathā

bhaumair hi bhūmir bahu-nāma-rūpinī

aho vibhūmnaś caritam vidambanam

SYNONYMS

anīhah — exerting no endeavor; etat — this (universe); bahudhā — manifold; ekah — alone; ātmanā — by Himself; srijati — He creates; avati — maintains; atti — annihilates; na badhyate — is not bound up; yathā — as; bhaumaih — by the transformations of earth; hi — indeed; bhūmih — earth; bahu — many; nāma-rūpinī — having names and forms; aho — ah; vibhūmnah — of the almighty Lord; caritam — the activities; vidambanam — a pretense.

TRANSLATION

Indeed, the humanlike pastimes of the Almighty are simply a pretense! Effortlessly, He alone sends forth from His Self this variegated creation, maintains it and then swallows it up again, all without becoming entangled, just as the element earth takes on many names and forms in its various transformations.

PURPORT

The one Supreme expands Himself as many without diminishing His completeness. He does this effortlessly, without depending on anyone or anything else. This mystic process of the Lord's self-expansion is incomprehensible to all but Himself, but the example of the substance earth and its manifold products bears enough resemblance to provide some idea. The same example is also presented in an often-cited passage of the Chāndogya Upanishad (6.1), vācārambhanam vikāro nāmadheyam mrittikety eva satyam: "Earth's transformations are merely verbal creations of the process of naming; the substance earth itself is alone real."

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī suggests that this verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam answers a possible objection on the part of Lord Krishna: "How can I create, maintain and destroy the universe if I am Vasudeva's son?" The answer is given by the words aho vibhūmnaś caritam vidambanam: "You are the perfectly complete whole, and Your birth and pastimes are only an imitation of ordinary persons' activities in the material world. You simply pretend to be under higher control."

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