SECTION THIRTY-ONE      

            If the word "pürvam" is read in place of "pürëam", still the Lord is indicated, by the etymological explanation from the Vedas, "I existed here even prior (pürvam), to everything" and "that is the essential characteristic of the Lord (puruña)".

            When it is said that Çré Vyäsa saw Him (the Lord), it is naturally understood that he saw Him along with His svarüpa çakti, or internal potencies, just as when a person sees a full moon it is implied that he sees it with its full effulgence. Thus Arjuna said (SB. 1.7.23): 

            You are the original Personality of Godhead, controller of all the creation and transcendental to the material energy. You have cast away the effects of the material energy by Your spiritual potency and You are always in transcendental bliss.           

            Therefore the phrase mäyäïca tadäpäçrayam, "Mäyä, although dependent on Him, is away from Him" and since she stays hidden from Him she does not constitute His svarüpa, or essential nature. As said later on, "Mäyä, feeling shy, stays concealed from the Lord." (SB. 2.7.47)

            The function of the svarüpa çakti is explained in the following two Bhägavatam verses "anarthopaçamam säkñäd bhakti yogamadhokñaje" (SB. 1.7.6) 'The material miseries of the living entity can be directly mitigated by rendering devotional service to Lord Adhokñaja'; and "ätmarämas ca" (SB. 1.7.10), "and the self-satisfied persons".

            In the first of these two verses, the influence of bhakti-yoga as a function of the svarüpa çakti, is understood by its ability to subdue Mäyä, the external energy. In the second verse, because the qualities of Lord Hari are even superior to the bliss of Brahman. They form the highest function of  the svarüpa çakti, .

            In the verses explaining the trance of Çréla Vyäsadeva, no separate mention of Paramätmä, a plenary portion of Him (Kåñëa) and the controlling personality of Mäyä, nor of His non-differentiated manifestation, Brahman, is made, because both are contained in Him. Thus as before, the sambandhi tattva, or the topics dealing with the essence, the purpose, and the subject of the book have been determined here.

 

ÇRÉ JÉVA TOÑAËÉ COMMENTARY

            In some editions of Çrémad Bhägavatam, in 1.7.4, the word pürvam is seen in place of pürëam. The word puruña can also mean that which existed prior to the creation, purä äsit iti puruña, which means that the Supreme Lord is the source of everything. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä (10.8) "I (Lord Kåñëa) am the source of everything." That is the essential nature of puruña. Since this is the same sense as conveyed by the adjective "pürvam", both meanings imply the Supreme Lord.

            Çré Vyäsa saw the Lord along with His potencies, just as one always sees the full moon along with its light. The Lord always exists with His potencies, in as much as the attributes of an object are always present along with the object. In the Viñëu Puräëa the attributes of Bhagavän, the Supreme Personality of Godhead are listed:

            "The word bhagavän indicates knowledge, sensory power, strength, wealth, prowess, and valor, all without limit, being completely devoid of material qualities or their effects".

            He has multifarious potencies, out of which three are predominant. The Viñëu Puräëa (1.12.68) states: hlädiné sandhiné saàvit tvyyekä sarvasaàäçraye, "The hlädiné, sandhiné, and saàvit potencies exist only in the Lord, who is the shelter of everything". Hlädiné is the pleasure potency, sandhiné, the supporting potency, and saàvit, the cognition potency. These three potencies form the svarüpa, or the essential nature of the Lord. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé gives a detailed explanation of these potencies in the Bhagavat Sandarbha.

            Çréla Vyäsadeva saw the Lord along with these potencies. In the spiritual sky,  besides existing in the Lord's svarüpa or energies, these potencies also exist in their personal forms. Çrématé Rädhikä, with whom the Lord performs His most intimate pastimes, is the personification of His pleasure potency. That Çréla Vyäsa also saw in His trance Çrématé Rädhikä along with Her associates is understood, because the Lord is never seperated from His potencies.

            Besides the three internal potencies Vyäsa saw the Lord's external potency (Mäyä) and His marginal potency (jéva). Mäyä is not part of the Lord's svarüpa. She has her personification as well, but she remains away from Him. The import is that she has no influence over the Lord or His internal potencies. Generally a female influences a male by appearing before him, but the external energy, Mäyä, personified as a female, has no such relationship of influencing the Supreme Lord. Thus it is said, mäyä paraityabhimukhe ca vilajjamänä (S.B. 2.7.47) "Mäyädevé feels ashamed to come in front of the Lord and keeps away from Him". Çréla Baladeva Vidyäbhüñaëa compares her to a maidservant who renders service outside the king's inner quarters. She does not have the same privilege as the queens, likened to the internal potencies, who can associate directly with their Lord at all times.

            The external potency, although an energy of the Lord, is inferior to His svarüpa çakti and to His marginal energy as well.  Still, thejéva, being marginal, can be subdued by her. This is shown in verse 1.7.5 of Çrémad Bhägavatam:

"Being bewildered by the external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reaction of material bondage".

            Although the individual soul and the Supersoul are both conscious and inhabit the same material body, only the jéva is bewildered by Mäyä and suffers the material miseries. This is because the Lord is the master of Mäyä. She exerts no influence over Him. By His inconceivable potency He is forever unaffected by Mäyä.

            In Bhagavad-gétä (7.5) Kåñëa tells Arjuna that the jéva is of a superior nature to His seperated material energy, Mäyä. The question may then be raised, how does the superior jéva come under the control of the inferior nature, Mäyä? The answer is that Mäyä acts contrary to logic. In the Third Canto of Çrémad Bhägavatam (3.7.9), Maitreya Muni, responding to a question from Vidurä, states:

"The illusory energy of the Supreme Lord acts contrary to logic, otherwise, how is it possible that the living entity, who is conscious and liberated becomes bound and miserable?"  Commenting on this, Çréla Viçvanätha Cakravarti Öhäkur gives this example. He says that although the sun is brilliant, still the cloud, generated from the sun's potency, can cover the powerful, effulgent sun. Similarly, the jéva, though of a superior nature to  Mäyä, can still be covered or bewildered by her power.

            Another point made in this section is that in Vyäsa's trance no explicit mention of the Supersoul, the controlling agent of Mäyä, is made, nor is the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Lord mentioned. Supersoul, or Paramätmä, is the expansion of the Lord that presides over the affairs of the material energy. Lord Kåñëa says in Bhagavad-gétä, mayädhykñeëa prakåtiù süyate sacaräcaram (B.g. 9.10), "This material nature is working under My direction, producing all moving and non-moving beings." Here "My" refers to His Paramätmä expansion, for it is through this feature that He regulates the workings of the material world. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé points out that since the Paramätmä springs from Kåñëa and is entirely dependent on Him, there is no need for its seperate mention in describing Vyäsadeva's trance.

            The same goes for Brahman, which is nothing but the effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord. Subsequently, Brahman has no independent existence from Him either. Lord Kåñëa confirms this in the Bhagavad-gétä, brahmaëo hi pratiñöäham, "I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman" (B.g. 14.27). According to the Nirukti, "pratiñöhä" means shelter or basis, pratiñöhiyate asmin iti pratiñöhä. Just as the sun's rays have the sun globe as their basis, so the Brahman rays has Kåñëa as their basis.

            From this analysis of Veda Vyäsa's trance it is clear that the central subject of the Çrémad Bhägavatam is the personal form of Godhead, Lord Çré Kåñëa, and the process to attain Him is bhakti- yoga, as was mentioned previously. Brahman and Paramätmä, being dependent manifestations of the Lord cannot be seperated from Him, but these two features are not the objects of Vyäsadeva's trance and so cannot be the central subjects of His greatest work, the Çrémad Bhägavatam. Still, it should be noted that Brahman and Paramätmä realization are included in Kåñëa, or Bhagavän, realization, in as much as when a man has a million dollars it automatically includes all smaller denominations.

            In the next section, the cause of Mäyä's binding the living entity is explained.