SB 3.26.15

TEXT 15

TEXT

एतावानेव सङ्ख्यातो ब्रह्मणः सगुणस्य ह ।
सन्निवेशो मया प्रोक्तो यः कालः पञ्चविंशकः ॥ १५ ॥

etavan eva saṅkhyato

brahmanah sagunasya ha

sanniveso maya prokto

yah kalah panca-vimsakah

etavan-so much; eva-just; saṅkhyatah-enumerated; brahmanah-of Brahman; sa-gunasya-with material qualities; ha-indeed; sannivesah-arrangement; maya-by Me; proktah-spoken; yah-which; kalah-time; panca-vimsakah-the twenty-fifth.

TRANSLATION

All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is counted as the twenty-fifth element.

According to the Vedic version there is no existence beyond Brahman. Sarvam khalv idam brahma (Chand. Up. ). It is stated also in the Visnu Purana that whatever we see is parasya brahmanah saktih; everything is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman. When Brahman is mixed with the three qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, there results the material expansion, which is sometimes called saguna Brahman and which consists of these twenty-five elements. In the nirguna Brahman, where there is no material contamination, or in the spiritual world, the three modes-goodness, passion and ignorance-are not present. Where nirguna Brahman is found, simple unalloyed goodness prevails. Saguna Brahman is described by the saṅkhya system of philosophy as consisting of twenty-five elements, including the time factor (past, present and future).