Bhagavat Sandarbha/46 Lord's body is invisble but can be seen by His mercy

Section 46
Lord's body is invisible but can be seen by His mercy

King Någa also describes the Lord's imperceptible nature as the Supersoul (S.B. 10.64.26):

O almighty one, how is it that my eyes see You here before me? You are the Supreme soul, whom the greatest masters of mystic yoga can meditate upon within their pure hearts only by employing the spiritual eye of the Vedas. Then how, O transcendental Lord, are You directly visible to me, since my intelligence has been blinded by the severe tribulations of material life? Only one who has finished his material entanglement should be able to see You.

Çrédhar Svämé comments: (King Någa said:) O all-pervading Lord, how is it that You have become the object of my eyes and are being directly perceived by me? A doubt is raised, "What is so surprising about it?" It is answered, "You are the Supersoul, therefore You are meditated upon, even by the Yogeçvaras, in their pure hearts, through the eye of the Upaniñads. The reason is that You are adhokñaja, unapproachable by sense perception, only those who are free from bondage of material world are able to see You. Owing to the material miseries of this lizard body, I have lost proper consciousness, thus Your appearance is very surprising." This is the end of his comment.

What causes the Lord to become visible is explained in the Näräyaëädhyätma, "Although the Lord is always invisible, by His own power He can be seen. Without that who is able to see the immortal, Supreme Lord, who is the Supersoul of all beings?' Only Lord's mercy is cause behind this power to act. The Vedas say so, "His form cannot be seen with the eyes" (Kaöhopanisad 2.3.9), "Whoever is blessed by Him can attain Him. The Lord manifests His form to him" (Muëòakopaniñad 3.2.3). "His form is not visible" (Kaöhopanisad 2.3.9, Çvetäçvataraopaniñad 4.20)

Similarly in the Mokñadharma part of Näräyaëéya the Lord of Çvetadvipa explains (M.B.Santi Parva, 339.45,46), "O Narada do not think that because I have form like other objects therefore you are able to see Me. I can disappear in a moment by My will. I am the controller and the spiritual master of the entire universe. I have created the illusion and therefore you think that you can see Me because I have all material qualities. But to understand like this is not proper.

The Lord said, Just as other objects have forms and are thus visible similarly My body is visible because it has form." By saying that He has a form yet is invisible, He showed that His form is not material. The only reason behind His becoming visible is His most merciful, irrepressible will. To say this Lord said that he can disappear by His will. Naçyeyam means "I become invisible". To show the reason behind His independence and distinction from the material world Lord said that He is the controller and teacher of the universe. Still if He is understood to be possessing material qualities then this illusion is His creation. The meaning is that He appears so due to His illusion or Mäyä. Therefore in reality He is not so. "Maya" here means cheating energy. The Viçvaprakäça dictionary states, "Mäyä means mercy and cheating."

In the same section of the Mahäbhäräta there is a similar statement by Çré Bhiñmadeva (M.B. Çänti Parva, 336.12), "After that, being pleased with him, the eternal Supreme Lord, who is worshiped by all the demigods, directly showed His form to him. This form was certainly not visible to the others."

It should be added that, "He showed Himself to King Uparicara Vasu." Furthermore there is the following statement by Vasu and others (M.B.Çänti Parva 336.20), "O Brhaspati, He can neither be seen by you nor by us. Only one who is blessed by Him is able to see Him."

Therefore the qualities such as the invisibility mentioned in the Vedic texts, belong to His body and not to anything else. One such Vedic statement is, "The eye cannot see His form" (Kaöhopaniñad 2.3.9).

PURPORT

Çréla Jéva Gosvämé has established that the Lord's form is one, eternal, transcendental, and all pervading. The last anuccheda discussed Gajendra's prayers, which appear to describe the formless impersonal Absolute, without qualities. In reality his prayers show that the Absolute is not devoid of qualities, but is devoid of material qualities. The proof is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared to Gajendra as a transcendental person, Lord Näräyaëa.

A doubt may be raised here. The eyes and other senses of all material beings are material and can only perceive material objects. Brahmä designed the senses in that way as described in Kaöhopaniñad (2.1.1)

"The self born Lord Brahmä created the senses to perceive external objects and therefore one sees them but not the indwelling self."

If Gajendra saw Lord Viñëu, then His body must be material. Moreover, if He is all-pervading, He cannot be visible and vice-versa. According to logic and experience, objects that are either all-pervading or atomic in size cannot be seen.

In response to these doubts Çréla Jéva Gosvämé explains that although the form of the Lord is within pratyayätmä it is visible by His mercy. He cites a verse by King Någa, who was the son of King Ikñväku of the Sun dynasty. Nrga was very munificent. He was especially fond of donating cows to the brähmaëas. Once a cow he had donated to a brähmaëa returned, and considering it to be his own, King Någa gave it in charity to another brähmaëa. When the second brähmaëa was taking the cow away the first brähmaëa claimed it. A quarrel ensued and they approached the king to settle the matter. King Någa humbly admitted his mistake and offered to give more cows to the brähmaëa who relinquished his claim on the disputed one. Both were adamant, however, and each considered it an offence to disown his cow. To pacify them King Någa offered each one lakh cows, but they declined and left him the cow and went away in anger. Owing to this mistake King Någa took birth as a lizard in his next life.

One day while playing in the forest, Kåñëa's sons felt thirsty and approached a well for water. Upon looking inside they saw a gigantic lizard. Out of compassion they tried to pull him out. Being unsuccessful they informed Lord Kåñëa who came to the well and immediately lifted the lizard out with His left hand. Upon being touched by the lotus hand of Kåñëa, the lizard turned into a heavenly being and Lord Kåñëa inquired about the details regarding his curious condition. King Någa then narrated the events of his past life. Afterwards he offered prayers to Kåñëa.

In this verse he expresses surprise that he is able to see the Supreme Lord. He addresses the Lord as vibhu, all-pervading, and parätmä, or Supersoul. Both of these addresses imply that the Lord is imperceptible by material senses. Parätmä signifies that He is beyond the soul and since the soul cannot be seen, how is it possible to see the Supersoul? Great yogés like the Kumäras meditate on Him within the heart (hådi-vibhävyaù) which means that even they do not see Him. Further, he specifically addressed Kåñëa as Adhokñaja, one who cannot be perceived by the senses. King Någa's prayers establish the Lord as imperceptible and further admit his own disqualification--blindness owing to ignorance. Thus from both angles of the seer and the seen, it is not possible to see the Lord. This means that the Lord is not material or subject to material perception, yet He was seen by Någa. How is this possible?

Only by the mercy of the Lord is one able to see Him. This is discussed in great detail in the Bhakti Sandarbha. The gist is that a living entity in material life is like a drowning person. He can shout for help, but his cries will not oblige an expert swimmer to come to his rescue. The mercy of the lifeguard is the impetus for the rescue. Similarly, no process can force the Lord to manifest Himself before the sädhaka. He appears only by His will, being impelled by His mercy.

Çréla Jéva Gosvämé quotes from the Upaniñads and Mahäbhäräta to confirm this. Once Närada went to Çvetadvipa to meet the Lord and offered prayers by reciting two hundred different names. The Lord appeared before Närada Muni and spoke about the twenty-four material elements, the living entity, and Himself. By instructing Närada in this way, He warned that just because His body is manifest one should not think it is material (M.B. Çänti Parva 339.45,46). The tendency in the conditioned state is to take things for granted. We take our environs, the sunlight, the air e breathe, the water we drink, the earth we use to grow food and so on for grat. And we never stop to think who created them. This is due to ignorance. Similarly if one thinks of the Lord's body as material, then he is under the influence of mäyä, or illusion. Mäyä has various meanings, including "illusion" and "cheating".
Although Lord is beyond sense perception He can be seen and understood by His grace. The Lord made a similar statement to Närada (M.B. Çänti Parva 339.13):

"They (sages Ekata, Dvita, and Trita) could not see Me. No one but My pure devotees can see Me and as you are the best among My unalloyed devotees, you are able to see Me."

Lord Kåñëa confirms this in the Uddhava Gétä (S.B. 11.14.21):

"Only by practicing unalloyed devotional service with full faith in Me can one obtain Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am naturally dear to My devotees, who take Me as the only goal of their loving service. By engaging in such pure devotional service, even the dog-eaters can purify themselves from the contamination of their low birth.".

Therefore, although the Lord's form is prtyak-rüpa, transcendental to the mundane senses, by His mercy, He can be seen. Because of this reason it is possible that Lord may become visible only to a specific person, as happened in the sacrificial arena of King Vasu. Once He was performing a horse sacrifice for the pleasure of Lord Viñëu and His priest was Sage Båhaspati along with his three sons. Being pleased with the king, Lord appeared in the sacrificial area. But only the king was able to see him. Even the chief priest Båhaspati was unable to see Him and fell very frustrated. The king and other assembly members pacified him by explaining that Lord can be seen only by His supreme will. Therefore the quality of invisibility belong to His body. Similarly the other negative qualities which were described by Gajendra in His prayers cited in the previous Text belong to His body.

In the following Text Çréla Jéva Gosvämé explains that Lord has no birth, activities, name form, qualities and so on as they are known to the materialistic people.