Section 47 B
Another doubt is raised: How can birth and activities be eternal? They both are actions and every action consists of various parts each having a beginning and an end, otherwise it cannot be designated as actions.
Answer: This is not a defect. Within the Lord eternally there are unlimited forms, unlimited prakäça manifestations, unlimited pastimes of birth and other such activities. There are also unlimited individual manifestations of suitable places for these pastimes to occur, and unlimited associates to participate in these pastimes, both in the unlimited material worlds and unlimited Vaikuëöhas. This being the case, the parts of the beginning and end of the birth and activities of one particular form, in a particular prakäça in a particular place may begin or may not end in one place, while the same parts of the births and activities are just beginning in another places by another prakäça manifestations. Thus because the Lord's birth and activities never cease beginning and ending, they exist in Him eternally.
Here it should be known that sometimes they begin a little differently, and sometimes in the same way. Sometimes they have the same attributes and sometimes different. One form can perform different actions by the difference of prakäça. This was established in the explanation of verses like "How wonderful that just by one form..." (10.69.2) (Text). Because of difference in activities there is a difference in ego in the different prakäça manifestations, who perform those activities. This being the case, in different prakäça there is knowledge about mellow (rasa) born of the particular order of pastimes in the different places.
A doubt is raised: Why was it said that these births and activities are one? Because they begin differently, shouldn't they be counted as different?
Answer: The activities performed in different time frames are considered as one if they have the same form. As Çré Çaìkaräcärya says in hs commentary on Vedänta Sütra, "When the word 'cow' is pronounced twice ('cow, cow'), by experience it is decided think that two different "cow" words have not been uttered, because the two pronunciations are of the same word." Similarly when we say, "He has cooked twice", we do not conclude that he has cooked in two different ways". So it is proper to say that His birth and activities are eternal.
Thus the injunction to worship former pastimes such as in the Ägamas, is appropriate. Likewise in his commentary on Brahmä Sütra, Çré Madhväcärya writes, 'Because they are related with the Supersoul, they are eternal, and thus the activities of the Lord, such as the taking of three steps, are worshipable." This is also approved in the Vedas, "the present exist in Him and future." Upasaàhäryatvam means useful in worship. Thus the birth of the Lord is different from the birth in the material sense. It is an imitation of the material birth and is therefore a mere appearance. And sometimes it is not an imitation at all. The Vedas, therefore, say "The unborn takes birth in many ways." (Mudgalopaniñad 3.1)
For example, "Just as the full moon appears in the East, Lord Viñëu, who resides in everyone's heart, appeared from Devaké, who is the embodiment of all divine qualities." (S.B.10.3.8)
And (S.B.7.8.17):
To prove that the statement of His servant Prahläda Mahäräja was substantial--in other words, to prove that the Supreme Lord is presnet everywhere, even within the pillar of an assembly hall--the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, exhibited a wonderful form never before seen. The form was neither that of a man nor that of alion. Ths the Lord appeared in His wonderful form in the assembly hall.
The narration of Lord Kapiladeva's appearance, "Lord took shelter of the semen (vérya) of the sage Kardama" (S.B. 3.24.6). Should be explained only to mean that He became controlled by the strenghth of Kardama's bhakti. The usage of the word vérya is a pun which also has the well known menaing "son".
Similarly, the distinctions of Lord's activities from ordinary acts is that they are exclusively manifestations of His natural bliss. As The Brahmä Sütra (2.1.33) states, " But the Lord creates the world out of playfulness, as is seen in the material world." And the Tattvavädi (Madhväcärya) has explained this sutra, "Just as an intoxicated man dances out of excessive joy and not for any other purpose, similarly the Lord creates."
The Näräyaëa Saàhitä also states, "Lord Hari creates and performs other activities without any specific purpose. He does so purely out of pleasure, just like an intoxicated man dances. He is completly blissful and thus has no purpose to achieve from creation. If even the liberated souls are self-satisfied, then the Lord, who is the Supreme Soul, must be much more so."
By the example of the dancing mad man one should not consider that the Lord has incomplete knowledge. The example is accepted in the sense that owing to His excessive internal bliss He performs pastimes without having any particular purpose to accomplish. Otherwise the defect of imperfect knowledge during deep sleep can be applied to the example of inhaling and exhaling. Therefore the Lord's pastimes have the characteristic of His blissful essential nature. The Veda also declares (Mäëòukya Ägama): "This is the nature of the Lord. Otherwise, what can be the yearning of one whose every desire is satisfied ?
If the Lord's direct endeavor such as the act of glancing on the material nature, is His pastime, then His acts performed in Vaikuëöha are much more so. The wives of the Käliya serpent prayed (S.B.10.16.47): "Our obeisances unto You who always enjoys in His own nature."
Therefore, even sages like Çré Çuka hear His pastimes with great attachment.
Thus the birth and activities mentioned in the following text from the "Secret of Birth" Chapter should be explained as follows (S.B.1.3.35):
Thus learned men describe the births and activities of the unborn and inactive, which is undiscoverable even in the Vedic literatures. He is the Lord of the heart.
The two verses just preciding this (1.3.33,34) state that just as after becoming free from the self identification caused by ignorance with the subtle and gross bodies, through acquiring proper knowledge about one's real nature, one gets Brahman realization. And just when one becomes free from material bondage does one attain the wealth of one's nature. Similarly, for this only learned scholars who are self-satisfied transcendentalists describe the births and activities of the Supersoul, the Lord of the heart. Only when one becomes free from false identification with the gross and subtle bodies, and from material conditioning, does one attain the wealth of the experience of His birth and acts. this is the meaning of the verse.
Wealth here means direct vision. Thus the births and activities of the Lord are manifestations of the bliss of the personality of Godhead (bhagavadänanda), which is the excellence of His natural bliss (svarüpänanda). This is the import. Because the Lord's birth and acts are not material they the verse said of "inactive" (akartuù) and "of the unborn" (ajanasya). Thus they are confidentially described in the Vedas.
As in the commentary on the two verses beginning with tvayodétaù in the prayers of Akrüra, Çrédhara Svämé writes in the following way:
"So do you think that my incarnations and their activities are illusory like the silver perceived in the oyster shell?
Akrüra answers, No, not at all. This is Your lélä. Then Akrüra speaks the next two verses, beginning with tvyoditaù (10.48.23).
Similarly in the Viñëu Puräëa (5.2.19) the birth and activities of the Lord are equal to His form:
Lord Viñëu, whose name, activities, and form are incomprehensible by any of the processes of acquiring knowledge in the material world, has entered in Your womb.
The above verse "form and activities" (rupa-karma) is sometimes real in place of "name and activites" (nama-karma). The Gitopaniñad (4.9) conveys the same meaning:
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities........
Purport
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé raises a doubt about Lord's birth and pastimes: How can they be eternal? By definition, an activity must have a beginning and end. Every act has a purpose and finds its fulfillment when the purpose is fulfilled. Generally one activity involves other activities that support it. For example, if Kåñëa Däsa writes, the activity of writing involves holding the pen, lifting the hand, looking at the paper, thinking, and so on. All these related actions have a beginning and an end. So how is it possible that Kåñëa's activities are eternal? His birth, for example, has a beginning and end, so how can His birth be eternal? If somehow we suppose that it is eternal, then all His pastimes that occur after birth should be impossible. This is called sthuëä-nikhanana-nyäya or principle of the driving in of a post. As a post is driven into the ground by repeated hammering, so a siddhänta is strengthened by posing strong arguments against it, until no reasonable doubts are left on it.
In response to this Çréla Jéva Gosvämé says that the Lord is not limited by time and space. He is one, yet He manifests an unlimited number of prakäça forms abodes and associates. These are the three things He needs to perform His activites. Hence He is able to continuously manifest His pastimes in unlimited universes as well as in the unlimited spiritual worlds. When a particular activity, like birth, comes to end in a particular universe, it instantly begins in another universe. Thus there is never a time when His pastime of birth is not occuring somewhere in the creation. In fact in some places the activity begins while it has not yet come to an end at another place.
A practical example is the sun, which rises at a particular time, in a particular place, yet at the same time it is always rising in some part of the world. Indeed at any given moment the Sun is manifesting its full range of positions in the firmament--it is always rising somewhere, it is always noon somewhere, and it is always setting somewhere on the planet. If this is possible for a material heavenly body, certainly it is possible for the transcendental Lord for whom nothing is impossible.
A further objection may be raised: The Lord's activities in different universes are different from each other being separated by time and space. Why then should these activities be counted as one? Since they are different, it is incorrect to say that His pastime of birth is eternal. It would be more accurate to say that eternally He repeats His pastime of birth.
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé responds by pointing out that when an activity that has the same format is performed at different intervals, it is considered one activity. He cites Çankaräcarya's example that if someone says "cow" twice, it is not considered two separate actions but one. Just as when a devotee repeats the Hare Kåñëa Mahämantra on beads, it is not considered that he is chanting many mantras. Even if he sings or chants for hours, it is counted as one activity--the chanting of the Mahämantra. If the chanter is same then activity is also same no matter where he chants. Similarly the Lord's pastimes, although appearing at difference places, are one. Especially when seen from His point of view, they are one. They are enacted continously without break or interuption. It is only from our point of view that His pastimes appear to begin and end. Beyond our temporary vision, His pastimes are eternal.
But this does not mean that Lord' spastimes are monotone repetitions like a video tape. There is variety in His pastimes just as even sun rises and sets differently in different seasons and places. In different prakäça manifestations Lord is one yet He has individual ego and thus acts independently. Thus in different places he and His associates are able to enjoy differently. They remain unaware of other prakäça manifestations.
To understand the transcendental knowledge about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His energies we must first accept the reasonable axiom that the laws governing the spiritual nature are different from those governing the material nature. One example of this was in Text Forty-two. There it was shown that Kåñëa married simultaneously 16,000 princesses in the same number of ceremonies by expanding Himself 16,000 times, but all those forms were one.
There can be no doubt that Kåñëa's pastimes are eternal. The Vedic literature describes His pastimes, even before His appearance on this planet 5,200 years ago. In the Padma Puräëa, Gautama Åñi advised Ambaréña Mahäräja to hear Çrémad Bhägavatam. That conversation took place in an earlier yuga. In addition, the Ägamas prescribe meditation on Kåñëa's pastimes. The specific reason for this recommendation is that devotee can enter into Kåñëa's eternal pastimes by meditating on them. Such a recommendation would be futile if the Lord's pastimes were not eternal. In the Bhagavad-gita Kåñëa declares it Himself that His birth and activities are transcendental and that many people in the past have attained Him through knowledge of His pastimes (Bg. 4.10).
Although Kåñëa appears to take birth and engage in work, His birth and activities are not like those of ordinary human beings. Sometimes His activities appear ordinary and sometimes extraordinary, but in either case there is no tinge of the modes of material nature in them. When He descended as the son of Devaki, His birth appeared ordinary in the sense that she became pregnant and experienced the delivery of the child. In reality there was nothing ordinary about Kåñëa's pastime of birth. First He appeared in His four-armed Viñëu form clad in yellow garments, then He turned into a newly born baby. When He appeared He also gave the feelings to Devaké as if she has delivered Him and thus she considered herself to be the mother of Kåñëa. His appearance can be compared to the moon, which is always full but only appears so to our vision on the full moon day.
At other times the Lord chooses to appear without following any material conventions. One of His most extraordinary appearances is in the form of a Nåsiàha, as half-man and half-lion. This time He appeared from a pillar.
When He desires to perform human like pastimes He comes as like other babies take birth. But one should not think that the Lord enters the womb of His mother via the semen of His father as in the case of ordinary human beings. Here an objection may be raised as Çrémad Bhägavatam clearly describes Lord Kapila's birth through the semen of Kardama Muni (S.B. 3.24.6):
"After many, many years, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Madhusudana, the killer of the demon Madhu, having entered the semen of Kardama, appeared in Devahüti just as fire comes from wood in a sacrifice."
In this verse the word vérya, or semen, has been used. So why is it said that the Lord does not take birth like an ordinary child?
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé says that in this verse the word véryya refers to the strength of bhakti. Lord Kapila was controlled by the power of Kardama's devotion and thus agreed to appear as his son. Semen is only one of the various meanings of the word véryya. According to the Äyurveda, food turns into blood, flesh, fat and so on. The last item is semen which gives vitality to the body. It is called véryya because it gives vitality. According to the Amarkoça Dictionary (3.3.155) véryya means strength and influence véryam bale prabhäve ca. The Medinékoça Dictionary states that véryyam means influence, semen, prowess, and ability (véryyam prabhäve sükre ca tejaùsämarthyorapi.) Therefore, véryyam äpannaù means appeared by the power of Kardama Muni's devotion.
Another way of looking at it is that véryya is sometimes used to indicate the son as it is the source of the son in much the same way that the fruit of the mango tree is given the same name. If we take this meaning, then véryyam äpannaù would simply mean "became Kardama's son".
The Lord's activities, like birth, are not ordinary though they may appear so to mundane eyes. The activities of a common man are the modes of nature. But Lord acts out of His own will through His internal energy even while displaying His pastimes in the material world. The Vedänta Sütras explain this. In Sütra 2.1.32 an objection is raised--na prayojanavattvät--"The Lord does not create, because He has no purpose to achieve." A person performs an activity to attain a goal either for himself or for others. Since the Lord is ätmäräma, or fully satisfied, He has no reason to act. It goes against logic to say that the Lord creates for the sake of the jévas, for He is compassionate by nature and would not like to give the jévas a place to suffer birth, death, old age, and disease.
In response Çréla Vyäsa wrote the next Sütra (2.1.33). Çréla Baladeva Vidyabhuñana explains in Govinda Bhäñya that tu is used to remove the doubt. The Lord performs creation for mere sport. This is also confirmed in the Mändukya Upaniñad (1.9):
Indeed Lord creates out of His nature, not to achieve something which He lacks.
The creation is performed for mere sport so are the Lord's other activities lélä-kaivalyam. He acts out of exuberance just as a drunken man dances. This example is only to show that the Lord acts out of delight. It does not mean the omniscient Lord is unconscious like a drunkard. His activities are not motivated by the desire to enjoy, rather they are a display of His joy‚ His svarüpananda. If He acts for enjoyment that means He lacks it. But His very form is made of bliss just as our form is made of material modes. Some scholars compare the Lord's activities to breathing, which naturally occurs without motive or conscious effort even during deep sleep. As with the drunkard example this one is also not perfect, because the Lord, who is omniscient is never ignorant or unconcious like a sleeping man. In deep sleep one breathes though unconscious. The Lord, however, is omniscient and never unaware of His activities. The act of creation is free from motive, but kåñëa's pastimes with His devotees are even more so. They are manifestation only of His svarüpa-çakti (S.B. 10.16.47):
Because Lord's pastimes are not material and they are not perfomred for any selfish motive, even ätmärämas like Çukadeva hear them with great relish who have no interest in anything material. The transcendental nature of Kåñëa's birth and activities can be realized only when one is free from the bodily conception fostered by mäyä. This is the purport of the following verse by Süta Gosvämé (S.B. 1.3.33):
"Whenever a person experiences, by self-realization, that both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the pure self, at that time he sees himself as well as the Lord."
This indirectly states that Lord's birth and activities are not material and that's why one has to become completely free from the identification with material body to become to realize them. The phrase Brahmä darçanam indicates direct realization of the Lord and His pastimes. For this purpose great persons describe the birth and activities of the unborn Lord, which are confidentially told in the Vedas. This also indicates that the bliss of hearing the Lord's pastimes is superior to the bliss of impersonal realization. Otherwise self realized persons like Sükadeva Gosvämé would not have an iota of interest in them. This certainly proves that the Lord's pastimes are not material and with this intention Süta Gosvämé refers to the Lord as akartu, (the non-doer), and ajana (the unborn) (S.B. 1.3.35). Çréla Jéva Gosvämé alludes to the commentary of Çrédara Swämé on the two verses of Çrémad Bhägavatam (10.48.23, 24) wherein he also accepts the Lord's birth and pastimes as lélä, or sport.