SB 5.18.32

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Fifth Canto - Chapter 18: The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa

SB 5.18.31 - SB 5.18.33

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 32

jarāyujaṁ svedajam aṇḍajodbhidaṁ

carācaraṁ devarṣi-pitṛ-bhūtam aindriyam

dyauḥ khaṁ kṣitiḥ śaila-sarit-samudra-

dvīpa-graharkṣety abhidheya ekaḥ

SYNONYMS

jarāyu-jam—one born from a womb; sveda-jam—one born from perspiration; aṇḍa-ja—one born from an egg; udbhidam—one born of the earth; cara-acaram—the moving and the stationary; deva—the demigods; ṛṣi—the great sages; pitṛ—the inhabitants of Pitṛloka; bhūtam—the material elements air, fire, water and earth; aindriyam—all the senses; dyauḥ—the higher planetary systems; kham—the sky; kṣitiḥ—the earthly planets; śaila—the hills and mountains; sarit—the rivers; samudra—the oceans; dvīpa—the islands; graha-ṛkṣa—the stars and planets; iti—thus; abhidheyaḥ—to be variously named; ekaḥ—one.

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, You manifest Your different energies in countless forms: as living entities born from wombs, from eggs and from perspiration; as plants and trees that grow out of the earth; as all living entities, both moving and standing, including the demigods, the learned sages and the pitās; as outer space, as the higher planetary system containing the heavenly planets, and as the planet earth with its hills, rivers, seas, oceans and islands. Indeed, all the stars and planets are simply manifestations of Your different energies, but originally You are one without a second. Therefore there is nothing beyond You. This entire cosmic manifestation is therefore not false but is simply a temporary manifestation of Your inconceivable energy.

PURPORT

This verse completely rejects the theory of brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, which states that spirit, or Brahman, is real, whereas the manifested material world, with its great variety of things, is false. Nothing is false. One thing may be permanent and another temporary, but both the permanent and the temporary are facts. For example, if someone becomes angry for a certain period, no one can say that his anger is false. It is simply temporary. Everything we experience in our daily lives is of this same character; it is temporary but real.

The different kinds of living entities coming from various sources are very clearly described in this verse. Some are born from a womb and some (like certain insects) from human perspiration. Others hatch from eggs, and still others sprout from the earth. A living entity takes birth under different circumstances according to his past activities (karma). Although the body of the living entity is material, it is never false. No one will accept the argument that since a person's material body is false, murder has no repercussions. Our temporary bodies are given to us according to our karma, and we must remain in our given bodies to enjoy the pains and pleasures of life. Our bodies cannot be called false; they are only temporary. In other words, the energy of the Supreme Lord is as permanent as the Lord Himself, although His energy is sometimes manifest and sometimes not. As summarized in the Vedas, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is Brahman."

SB 5.18.31 - SB 5.18.33