SB 3.10.11
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 11
maitreya uvāca
guṇa-vyatikarākāro
nirviśeṣo 'pratiṣṭhitaḥ
puruṣas tad-upādānam
ātmānaṁ līlayāsṛjat
SYNONYMS
maitreyaḥ uvāca—Maitreya said; guṇa-vyatikara—of the interactions of the modes of material nature; ākāraḥ—source; nirviśeṣaḥ—without diversity; apratiṣṭhitaḥ—unlimited; puruṣaḥ—of the Supreme Person; tat—that; upādānam—instrument; ātmānam—the material creation; līlayā—by pastimes; asṛjat—created.
TRANSLATION
Maitreya said: Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limitless, and it works as the instrument of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for His pastimes in the material creation.
PURPORT
The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self expansion of the Personality of Godhead. Time is considered the impersonal feature of the Lord.
The time factor is also explained by modern men in various ways. Some accept it almost as it is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For example, in Hebrew literature time is accepted, in the same spirit, as a representation of God. It is stated therein: "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets...." Metaphysically, time is distinguished as absolute and real. Absolute time is continuous and is unaffected by the speed or slowness of material things. Time is astronomically and mathematically calculated in relation to the speed, change and life of a particular object. Factually, however, time has nothing to do with the relativities of things; rather, everything is shaped and calculated in terms of the facility offered by time. Time is the basic measurement of the activity of our senses, by which we calculate past, present and future; but in factual calculation, time has no beginning and no end. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that even a slight fraction of time cannot be purchased with millions of dollars, and therefore even a moment of time lost without profit must be calculated as the greatest loss in life. Time is not subject to any form of psychology, nor are the moments objective realities in themselves, but they are dependent on particular experiences.
Therefore, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī concludes that the time factor is intermixed with the activities—actions and reactions—of the external energy of the Lord. The external energy, or material nature, works under the superintendence of the time factor as the Lord Himself, and that is why material nature appears to have produced so many wonderful things in the cosmic manifestation. Bhagavad-gītā (BG 9.10) confirms this conclusion as follows:
- mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
- sūyate sa-carācaram
- hetunānena kaunteya
- jagad viparivartate
SB 3.10.12
2008-03-16T18:10:01Z
Acyuta
2
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 12
viśvaṁ vai brahma-tan-mātraṁ
saṁsthitaṁ viṣṇu-māyayā
īśvareṇa paricchinnaṁ
kālenāvyakta-mūrtinā
SYNONYMS
viśvam—the material phenomenon; vai—certainly; brahma—the Supreme; tat-mātram—the same as; saṁsthitam—situated; viṣṇu-māyayā—by the energy of Viṣṇu; īśvareṇa—by the Personality of Godhead; paricchinnam—separated; kālena—by the eternal time; avyakta—unmanifested; mūrtinā—by such a feature.
TRANSLATION
This cosmic manifestation is separated from the Supreme Lord as material energy by means of kāla, which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Lord. It is situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord under the influence of the same material energy of Viṣṇu.
PURPORT
As stated previously by Nārada before Vyāsadeva (SB 1.5.20), idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: this unmanifested world is the self-same Personality of Godhead, but it appears to be something else beyond or besides the Lord. It appears so because of its being separated from the Lord by means of kāla. It is something like the tape-recorded voice of a person who is now separated from the voice. As the tape recording is situated on the tape, so the whole cosmic manifestation is situated on the material energy and appears separate by means of kāla. The material manifestation is therefore the objective manifestation of the Supreme Lord and exhibits His impersonal feature so much adored by impersonalist philosophers.