SB 7.9.33

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Seventh Canto - Chapter 9: Prahlāda Pacifies Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva with Prayers

SB 7.9.32 - SB 7.9.34

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 33

tasyaiva te vapur idaṁ nija-kāla-śaktyā

sañcodita-prakṛti-dharmaṇa ātma-gūḍham

ambhasy ananta-śayanād viramat-samādher

nābher abhūt sva-kaṇikā-vaṭavan-mahābjam

SYNONYMS

tasya — of that Supreme Personality of Godhead; eva — certainly; te — of You; vapuḥ — the cosmic body; idam — this (universe); nija-kāla-śaktyā — by the potent time factor; sañcodita — agitated; prakṛti-dharmaṇaḥ — of Him, by whom the three guṇas, or qualities of material nature; ātma-gūḍham — dormant in Yourself; ambhasi — in the water known as the Causal Ocean; ananta-śayanāt — from the bed known as Ananta (another feature of Yourself); viramat-samādheḥ — having awakened from the samādhi (yogic trance); nābheḥ — from the navel; abhūt — appeared; sva-kaṇikā — from the seed; vaṭa-vat — like the great banyan tree; mahā-abjam — the great lotus of the worlds (has similarly grown).

TRANSLATION

This cosmic manifestation, the material world, is also Your body. This total lump of matter is agitated by Your potent energy known as kāla-śakti, and thus the three modes of material nature are manifested. You awaken from the bed of Śeṣa, Ananta, and from Your navel a small transcendental seed is generated. It is from this seed that the lotus flower of the gigantic universe is manifested, exactly as a banyan tree grows from a small seed.

PURPORT

The three different forms of Mahā-Viṣṇu—namely Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who are the origin of creation and maintenance—are gradually being described. From Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is generated, and from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu gradually expands. Thus Mahā-Viṣṇu is the original cause of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu comes the lotus flower from which Lord Brahmā is manifested. Thus the original cause of everything is Viṣṇu, and consequently the cosmic manifestation is not different from Viṣṇu. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 10.8), wherein Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me." Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa. In this way, Kṛṣṇa is ultimately the cause of all causes (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (BS 5.1)). The conclusion is that both the material world and spiritual world are considered to be the body of the Supreme Lord. We can understand that the material body is caused by the spiritual body and is therefore an expansion of the spiritual body. Thus when one takes up spiritual activities, one's entire material body is spiritualized. Similarly, in this material world, when the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement expands, the entire material world becomes spiritualized. As long as we do not realize this, we live in the material world, but when we are fully Kṛṣṇa conscious we live not in the material world but in the spiritual world.

SB 7.9.32 - SB 7.9.34