BG 8.22 (1972)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 22
- पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया ।
- यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥२२॥
- puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha
- bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā
- yasyāntaḥ-sthāni bhūtāni
- yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
SYNONYMS
puruṣaḥ—the Supreme Personality; saḥ—He; paraḥ—the Supreme, than whom no one is greater; pārtha—O son of Pṛthā; bhaktyā—by devotional service; labhyaḥ—can be achieved; tu—but; ananyayā—unalloyed, undeviating devotion; yasya—His; antaḥsthāni—within; bhūtāni—all this material manifestation; yena—by whom; sarvam—all; idam—whatever we can see; tatam—distributed.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.
PURPORT
It is here clearly stated that the supreme destination from which there is no return is the abode of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. The Brahma-saṁhitā describes this supreme abode as ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, a place where everything is full of spiritual bliss. Whatever variegatedness is manifest there is all of the quality of spiritual bliss—there is nothing material. All variegatedness is expanded as the spiritual expansion of the Supreme Godhead Himself, for the manifestation there is totally of the spiritual energy, as explained in Chapter Seven. As far as this material world is concerned, although the Lord is always in His supreme abode, He is nonetheless all-pervading by His material energy. So by His spiritual and material energies He is present everywhere-both in the material and in the spiritual universes. Yasyāntaḥsthāni means that everything is sustained by Him, whether it be spiritual or material energy.
It is clearly stated here that only by bhakti, or devotional service, can one enter into the Vaikuṇṭha (spiritual) planetary system. In all the Vaikuṇṭhas there is only one Supreme Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who has expanded Himself into millions and millions of plenary expansions. These plenary expansions are four-armed, and they preside over the innumerable spiritual planets. They are known by a variety of names-Puruṣottama, Trivikrama, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Hṛṣīkeśa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Vāmana, Padmanābha, etc. These plenary expansions are likened unto the leaves of a tree, and the main tree is likened to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, dwelling in Goloka Vṛndāvana, His supreme abode, systematically conducts all affairs of both universes (material and spiritual) without a flaw by power of His all-pervasiveness.