yatholmukād visphuliṅgād dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt apy ātmatvenābhimatād yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt
yatholmukad visphuliṅgad
dhumad vapi sva-sambhavat
apy atmatvenabhimatad
yathagnih prthag ulmukat
dhumad vapi sva-sambhavat
apy atmatvenabhimatad
yathagnih prthag ulmukat
"Although smoke, flaming wood, and sparks are all considered together as ingredients of a fire, the flaming wood is nevertheless different from the fire, and the smoke is different from the flaming wood." The material elements (earth, water, fire, etc.) are like smoke, the living entities are like sparks, and material nature as pradhana is like the flaming wood. But all of them together are recipients of power from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus able to manifest their individual capacities. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of all manifestations. Material nature can supply only when it is activated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Just as a woman can deliver a child after being impregnated by the semina of a man, so material nature can supply the material elements after being glanced upon by Maha-Visnu. Therefore pradhana cannot be independent of the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (9.10). Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram: prakrti, the total material energy, works under the superintendence of the Lord. The original source of the material elements is Krsna. Therefore the attempt of the atheistic Saṅkhya philosophers to consider material nature the source of these elements, forgetting Krsna, is useless, like trying to get milk from the nipple-like bumps of skin hanging on the neck of a goat.
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