SB 2.1.26

TEXT 26

TEXT

पातालमेतस्य हि पादमूलम् पठन्ति पार्ष्णिप्रपदे रसातलम् ।
महातलं विश्वसृजो ऽथ गुल्फौ तलातलं वै पुरुषस्य जङ्घे ॥ २६ ॥

patalam etasya hi pada-mūlam

pathanti parsni-prapade rasatalam

mahatalam visva-srjo 'tha gulphau

talatalam vai purusasya jahghe

patalam-the planet in the bottom of the universe; etasya-of his; hi-exactly; pada-mūlam-soles of the feet; pathanti-they study it; parsni-of the ankles; prapade-under the foot; rasatalam-the planets named Rasatala; mahatalam-the planet named Mahatala; visva-srjaḥ-of the creator of the universe; atha-thus; gulphau-the calves; tala-the planet named Tala; atala-the planet named Atala; vai-as they are; purusasya-of the gigantic person; jahghe-on the knees.

TRANSLATION

Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Patala constitute the bottom of the feet of the Universal Lord, and the ankles and the soles are the Rasatala planets. The calves are Mahatala planets, and His knees constitute the Tala and Atala planets.

PURPORT

Outside the bodily existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the manifested cosmic existence has no reality. Everything and anything of the manifested world rests on Him, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 9.4), but that does not imply that everything and anything in the vision of a materialist is the Supreme Personality. The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization. The materialistic view of exploitation of the material resources is occasioned by the illusion of the external energy of the Lord, and as such, if anyone wants to realize the Supreme Truth by conceiving of the universal form of the Lord, one must cultivate the service attitude. Unless the service attitude is revived, the conception of virata realization will have very little effect on the seer. The transcendental Lord, in any conception of His form, is never a part of the material creation. He keeps His identity as Supreme Spirit in all circumstances and is never affected by the three material qualities, for everything material is contaminated. The Lord always exists by His internal energy.

The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems. Seven planetary systems, called Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Jana, Tapas, and Satya, are upward planetary systems, one above the other. There are also seven planetary systems downward, known as Tala, Atala, Vitala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala and Patala, gradually, one below the other. In this verse, the description begins from the bottom because it is in the line of devotion that the Lord's bodily description should be begun from His feet. Sukadeva Gosvami is a recognized devotee of the Lord, and he is exactly correct in the description.

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