Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for MankindChapter 16: King Citraketu Meets the Supreme Lord

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.16.52

loke vitatam ātmānaḿ

lokaḿ cātmani santatam

ubhayaḿ ca mayā vyāptaḿ

mayi caivobhayaḿ kṛtam

SYNONYMS

lokein this material world; vitatam — expanded (in the spirit of material enjoyment); ātmānam — the living entity; lokam — the material world; ca — also; ātmaniin the living entity; santatam — spread; ubhayam — both (the material world of material elements and the living entity); ca — and; mayā — by Me; vyāptam — pervaded; mayiin Me; ca — also; eva — indeed; ubhayam — both of them; kṛtam — created.

TRANSLATION

In this world of matter, which the conditioned soul accepts as consisting of enjoyable resources, the conditioned soul expands, thinking that he is the enjoyer of the material world. Similarly, the material world expands in the living entity as a source of enjoyment. In this way they both expand, but because they are My energies, they are both pervaded by Me. As the Supreme Lord, I am the cause of these effects, and one should know that both of them rest in Me.

PURPORT

The Māyāvāda philosophy sees everything as being equal in quality with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Supreme Brahman, and therefore sees everything as worshipable. This dangerous theory of the Māyāvāda school has turned people in general toward atheism. On the strength of this theory, one thinks that he is God, but this is not a fact. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (mayā tatam idaḿ sarvaḿ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā), the fact is that the entire cosmic manifestation is an expansion of the Supreme Lord's energies, which are manifested in the physical elements and the living entities. The living entities wrongly consider the physical elements to be resources meant for their enjoyment, and they think themselves to be the enjoyers. However, neither of them is independent; they are both energies of the Lord. The original cause for the material energy and spiritual energy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, although the expansion of the Lord's energies is the original cause, one should not think that the Lord Himself has expanded in different ways. To condemn the theories of the Māyāvādīs, the Lord clearly says in Bhagavad-gītā, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaḿ teṣv avasthitaḥ: "All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." Everything rests upon Him, and everything is but an expansion of His energies, but this does not mean that everything is as worshipable as the Lord Himself. The material expansion is temporary, but the Lord is not temporary. The living entities are parts of the Lord, but they are not the Lord Himself. The living entities in this material world are not inconceivable, but the Lord is. The theory that the Lord's energies, being expansions of the Lord, are as good as the Lord is mistaken.

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