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TEXT 31
tvam va idam sadasad isa bhavams tato nyo
maya yad atma-para-buddhir iyam hy apartha
yad yasya janma nidhanam sthitir iksanam ca
tad vaitad eva vasukalavad asti-tarvoh
SYNONYMS
tvamYou; vaeither; idamthe whole universe; sat-asatconsisting of cause and effect (You are the cause, and Your energy is the effect); isaO my Lord, the supreme controller; bhavanYourself; tatahfrom the universe; anyahseparately situated (the creation is made by the Lord, yet He remains separate from the creation); mayathe energy that appears as a separate creation; yatof which; atma-para-buddhihthe conception of ones own and anothers; iyamthis; hiindeed; aparthahas no meaning (everything is Your Lordship, and therefore there is no hope for understanding my and your); yatthe substance from which; yasyaof which; janmacreation; nidhanamannihilation; sthitihmaintenance; iksanammanifestation; caand; tatthat; vaor; etatthis; evacertainly; vasukala-vatlike the quality of being the earth and, beyond that, the subtle element of the earth (smell); asti-tarvohthe seed (the cause) and the tree (the effect of the cause).
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, the entire cosmic creation is caused by You, and the cosmic manifestation is an effect of Your energy. Although the entire cosmos is but You alone, You keep Yourself aloof from it. The conception of mine and yours, is certainly a type of illusion [maya] because everything is an emanation from You and is therefore not different from You. Indeed, the cosmic manifestation is nondifferent from You, and the annihilation is also caused by You. This relationship between Your Lordship and the cosmos is illustrated by the example of the seed and the tree, or the subtle cause and the gross manifestation.
PURPORT
O son of Prtha, know that I am the original seed of all existences. In the Vedic literature it is said, isavasyam idam sarvam, yato va imani bhutani jayante and sarvam khalv idam brahma. All this Vedic information indicates that there is only one God and that there is nothing else but Him. The Mayavadi philosophers explain this in their own way, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead asserts the truth that He is everything and yet is separate from everything. This is the philosophy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. Everything is one, the Supreme Lord, yet everything is separate from the Lord. This is the understanding of oneness and difference.
The example given in this regardvasukalavad asti-tarvohis very easy to understand. Everything exists in time, yet there are different phases of the time factorpresent, past and future. Present, past and future are one. Every day we can experience the time factor as morning, noon and evening, and although morning is different from noon, which is different from evening, all of them taken together are one. The time factor is the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the Lord is separate from the time factor. Everything is created, maintained and annihilated by time, but the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, has no beginning and no end. He is nityah sasvataheternal, permanent. Everything passes through times phases of present, past and future, yet the Lord is always the same. Thus there is undoubtedly a difference between the Lord and the cosmic manifestation, but actually they are not different. Accepting them to be different is called avidya, ignorance.
True oneness, however, is not equivalent to the conception of the Mayavadis. The true understanding is that the differences are manifested by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The seed is manifested as a tree, which displays varieties in its trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has therefore sung, kesava tuya jagata vicitra: My dear Lord, Your creation is full of varieties. The varieties are one and at the same time different. This is the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. The conclusion given in Brahma-samhita [Bs. 5.1] is this:
Krsna, known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes. Because the Lord is the supreme cause, everything is one with Him, but when we consider varieties, we find that one thing is different from another.
We may conclude, therefore, that there is no difference between one thing and another, yet in varieties there are differences. In this regard, Madhvacarya gives an example concerning a tree and a tree in fire. Both trees are the same, but they look different because of the time factor. The time factor is under the control of the Supreme Lord, and therefore the Supreme Lord is different from time. An advanced devotee consequently does not distinguish between happiness and distress. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.8):
When a devotee is in a condition of so-called distress, he considers it a gift or blessing from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a devotee is always thus situated in Krsna consciousness in any condition of life, he is described as mukti-pade sa daya-bhak, a perfect candidate for returning home, back to Godhead. The word daya-bhak means inheritance. A son inherits the property of his father. Similarly, when the devotee is fully Krsna conscious, undisturbed by dualities, he is sure that he will return home, back to Godhead, just as one inherits his fathers property.
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