SB 5.20.46

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Fifth Canto - Chapter 20: Studying the Structure of the Universe

SB 5.20.45 - SB 5.21.1

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 46

deva-tiryaṅ-manuṣyāṇāṁ

sarīsṛpa-savīrudhām

sarva-jīva-nikāyānāṁ

sūrya ātmā dṛg-īśvaraḥ

SYNONYMS

deva — of the demigods; tiryak — the lower animals; manuṣyāṇām — and the human beings; sarīsṛpa — the insects and the serpents; sa-vīrudhām — and the plants and trees; sarva-jīva-nikāyānām — of all groups of living entities; sūryaḥ — the sun-god; ātmā — the life and soul; dṛk — of the eyes; īśvaraḥ — the Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

All living entities, including demigods, human beings, animals, birds, insects, reptiles, creepers and trees, depend upon the heat and light given by the sun-god from the sun planet. Furthermore, it is because of the sun's presence that all living entities can see, and therefore he is called dṛg-īśvara, the Personality of Godhead presiding over sight.

PURPORT

In this regard, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, sūrya ātmā ātmatvenopāsyaḥ. The actual life and soul of all living entities within this universe is the sun. He is therefore upāsya, worshipable. We worship the sun-god by chanting the Gāyatrī mantra (oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi). Sūrya is the life and soul of this universe, and there are innumerable universes for which a sun-god is the life and soul, just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the life and soul of the entire creation. We have information that Vairāja, Hiraṇyagarbha, entered the great, dull, material globe called the sun. This indicates that the theory held by so-called scientists that no one lives there is wrong. Bhagavad-gītā also says that Kṛṣṇa first instructed Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god (imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1)). Therefore the sun is not vacant. It is inhabited by living entities, and the predominating deity is Vairāja, or Vivasvān. The difference between the sun and earth is that the sun is a fiery planet, but everyone there has a suitable body and can live there without difficulty.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fifth Canto, Twentieth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled, "Studying the Structure of the Universe."

SB 5.20.45 - SB 5.21.1