Ādi-līlāChapter 5: The Glories Of Lord Nityānanda Balarāma

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 5.89

āmi ta' jagate vasi, jagat āmāte

nā āmi jagate vasi, nā āmā jagate

SYNONYMS

āmi — I; ta' — certainly; jagate — in the material world; vasi — situated; jagat — the whole material creation; āmāte — in Me; nā — not; āmi — I; jagate — within the material world; vasi — situated; nā — nor; āmā — in Me; jagate — the material world.

TRANSLATION

[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] "I am situated in the material world, and the world rests in Me. But at the same time I am not situated in the material world, nor does it rest in Me in truth."

PURPORT

Nothing in existence is possible unless energized by the will of the Lord. The entire manifested creation is therefore resting on the energy of the Lord, but one should not therefore presume that the material manifestation is identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A cloud may rest in the sky, but that does not mean that the sky and the cloud are one and the same. Similarly, the qualitative material nature and its products are never identical with the Supreme Lord. The tendency to lord it over material nature, or māyā, cannot be a feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When He descends to the material world, He maintains His transcendental nature, unaffected by the material qualities. In both the spiritual and material worlds, He is always the controller of all energies. The uncontaminated spiritual nature always exists within Him. The Lord appears and disappears in the material world in different features for His pastimes, yet He is the origin of all cosmic manifestations.

The material manifestation cannot exist separate from the Supreme Lord, yet Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in spite of His connection with the material nature, cannot be subordinate to nature's influence. His original form of eternal bliss and knowledge is never subordinate to the three qualities of material nature. This is a specific feature of the Supreme Lord's inconceivable potencies.

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