Srimad Bhagavatam #19: The creation of the material elements
Srimad Bhagavatam #19: The creation of the material elements
Uddhava started with Krishna's childhood pastimes and continuing into the pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill and his pastimes with the Gopis. Now, he continues with His pastimes out of Vrindavana.
In this part:
Uddhava continues to describe Krsna’s pastimes (chapter 3.3)
The disappearance of the Yadu dynasty (Chapter 3.4)
The Lord instructs Uddhava and Maitreya
Vidhura meets Maitreya
The creation of the material elements (chapter 3.5)
How does the Srimad Bhagavatam relate to modern theories?
The prayers by the predominating deities of the elements
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Uddhava continues to describe Krsna’s pastimes (chapter 3.3)
In chapter 3.2, Uddhava begins a description of Krsna’s pastimes, starting with His childhood pastimes and continuing into the pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill and his pastimes with the Gopis. Now, he continues with His pastimes out of Vrindavana.
Krsna went to Mathura and killed Kamsa to save his parents, Vasudeva and Devaki who he was imprisoning. Kamsa was so powerful that even demigods were afraid of him, but Krsna killed him without difficulty, after exterminating his demoniac allies.
When Krsna was in the Gurukula, He played the role of a perfect student, being extremely obedient to His teacher, Samdipani Muni, and learning the Vedas by just hearing them once. After finishing His studies, he rewarded His teacher by bringing his dead son back to life. Krsna knows everything and is all-powerful, but he plays these pastimes to teach us the necessity of learning from the spiritual master and as far as possible rewarding him for his efforts.
Krsna also married Rukmini by saving her when her brother wanted to marry her to Sisupala and He also married other seven princesses, including Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, and so on by doing similarly heroic deeds. He even fought with the demigods to bring the pārijāta tree from heaven to adorn their palaces. Later, the Lord fought with Narakasura and freed the 16,100 princes kidnapped by Him. These princesses, however, were not interested in going home, instead, they begged the Lord to marry all of them, to which the Lord agreed, expanding Himself in the same number of forms, producing a great palace for each queen and marrying them all simultaneously in perfect ceremonies. The Lord begot 10 sons and one daughter in each queen, and each of his sons had 10 other sons, creating a huge dynasty.
One of the reasons Krsna comes to our planet is to relieve the burden of the world when the Earth becomes overburdened by millions of demons from all over the universe. Krsna killed the associates of Kamsa who constantly attacked Vrindavana, as well as the millions of demoniac soldiers brought by Jarasanda. He also killed or arranged for the killing of many great demons such as Kālayavana, Śambara, Dvivida, Bāṇa, Mura, Balvala, Dantavakra, Sisupala, and others. Krsna then organized for the remaining demons to join the battle of Kuruksetra, so they could be all killed by the Pandavas and other great devotees, fulfilling His mission.
After the conclusion of the battle of Kuruksetra, the Lord saved Pariksit when he was attacked in the womb by Ashwatthama, as narrated in the first canto. After the Pandavas were installed on the throne, the Lord instructed Yudhisthira Maharaja to execute three horse sacrifices and then return to Dvaraka, where He performed other pastimes.
The Srimad Bhagavatam is centered on the pastimes that happened before the battle of Kuruksetra. The last pastimes narrated in the 10th canto, such as Draupadī meeting the Queens of Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna Kidnaping Subhadrā happened many years before the battle. By the time of the battle of Kuruksetra, Arjuna and Subhadrā had already a 16-year-old son, Abhimanyu. There are also a few pastimes that happened after the battle described in the 1st canto.
Then, in the 11th canto, there is the description of the disappearance of the Yadhu dynasty, which happened 36 years after the battle. This important pastime is also described by Uddhava to Vidhura:
“[After the end of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, the Lord said:] The abatement of the earth’s great burden, eighteen akṣauhiṇīs, has now been effected with the help of Droṇa, Bhīṣma, Arjuna and Bhīma. But what is this? There is still the great strength of the Yadu dynasty, born of Myself, which may be a more unbearable burden.
When they quarrel among themselves, influenced by intoxication, with their eyes red like copper because of drinking [madhu], then only will they disappear; otherwise, it will not be possible. On My disappearance, this incident will take place.” (SB 3.3.14-15)
The disappearance of the Yadu dynasty (Chapter 3.4)
It was not possible for the Lord to leave the planet and leave behind all His associates. The eternal associates had to go with Him, while the demigods who had taken birth to join his pastimes had to go back to the celestial planets to continue their duties.
The pastime of the disappearance of the Yadhu dynasty started with a few of the princes visiting a group of sages led by Narada Muni to play a practical joke. They dressed Sāmba as a woman with a false belly and asked the sages if the lady was pregnant with a boy or a girl. Inspired by the Lord, the sages angrily answered: “Fools! She will bear you an iron club that will destroy your entire dynasty.”
When they checked under the clothes, they saw that the false belly had indeed transformed into an iron club. When they went back to Dvaraka and informed the elders about the club, they decided to ground it and throw the powder into the ocean, but this powder was washed back to the shore, where it was deposited into a groove of bamboos that were growing there. As a result, these bamboos became as hard as metal. Later, they were used as weapons by the Yadus as they fought amongst themselves, putting an end to the dynasty.
As explained by Uddhava, only the Yadus who were incarnations of demigods participated in this pastime. The ones who were eternal associates remained in Dvaraka and followed the Lord to the next universe where He went to perform his pastimes.
“Once upon a time, great sages were made angry by the sporting activities of the princely descendants of the Yadu and Bhoja dynasties, and thus, as desired by the Lord, the sages cursed them.
A few months passed, and then, bewildered by Kṛṣṇa, all the descendants of Vṛṣṇi, Bhoja and Andhaka who were incarnations of demigods went to Prabhāsa, while those who were eternal devotees of the Lord did not leave but remained in Dvārakā.” (SB 3.3.24-25)
The pastime of the Yadus fighting, putting an end to the dynasty is also described by Uddhava. A few months after the curse, the Yadus who were incarnations of demigods left Dvaraka with the purpose of executing a sacrifice. Being Ksatriyas, they were allowed to drink on certain occasions, like after a sacrifice, but in this case the drinking triggered the fulfillment of the curse, leading to the end of the dynasty:
“Thereafter, all of them [the descendants of Vṛṣṇi and Bhoja], being permitted by the brāhmaṇas, partook of the remnants of prasāda and also drank liquor made of rice. By drinking they all became delirious, and, bereft of knowledge, they touched the cores of each other’s hearts with harsh words.
As by the friction of bamboos destruction takes place, so also, at sunset, by the interaction of the faults of intoxication, all their minds became unbalanced, and destruction took place.” (SB 3.4.1-2)
After overseeing the end of the dynasty and thus sending the demigods back to their posts, the Lord went to the bank of the river Sarasvatī and sat down underneath a tree. Uddhava followed Him and was soon joined by Maitreya. These two great devotees were chosen by the Lord to receive His last instructions.
The Lord instructs Uddhava and Maitreya
Speaking to Uddhava, the Lord remembered how in the past, at the beginning of the current day of Brahma he had spoken the four original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam to him, as we studied in the second canto:
“O Uddhava, in the lotus millennium in the days of yore, at the beginning of the creation, I spoke unto Brahmā, who is situated on the lotus that grows out of My navel, about My transcendental glories, which the great sages describe as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.” (3.4.13)
Uddhava then asked the Lord to describe this transcendental knowledge to him and Maitreya, and this led the Lord to speak the Uddhava Gita, registered in the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.
“My Lord, kindly explain to us, if You think us competent to receive it, that transcendental knowledge which gives enlightenment about Yourself and which You explained before to Brahmājī.” (SB 3.4.18)
Uddhava received from the Lord the mission to stay on the planet after His disappearance and share this knowledge with the great sages living with Nara-Narayana Rsi in Badarikāśrama. The encounter between Vidhura and Uddhava happened when he was en route to the Himalayas to fulfill his mission.
Vidhura was very anxious to be instructed in transcendental knowledge by Uddhava, but he directed Vidhura to Maitreya, who was nearby and had also been instructed directly by the Lord. Although Uddhava is a pure devotee, Maitreya was senior in age, and Uddhava thus wanted to follow the general etiquette of not instructing others in the presence of a superior. In a higher sense however, all happened under the inspiration of the Lord, who wanted Maitreya to share his knowledge with Vidhura, and Uddhava to continue his path to the Himalayas to fulfill his mission there.
Sukadeva Goswami thus ends this description of this passage with:
“O King, after thus discussing with Vidura the transcendental name, fame, qualities, etc., on the bank of the Yamunā, Uddhava was overwhelmed with great affliction. He passed the night as if it were a moment, and thereafter he went away.” (SB 3.4.27)
He then revealed the mystery of the pastime of the disappearance of the Yadus:
“My dear King, the cursing of the brāhmaṇas was only a plea, but the actual fact was the supreme desire of the Lord. He wanted to disappear from the face of the earth after dispatching His excessively numerous family members.” (SB 3.4.29)
Uddhava stayed because he was so qualified that the Lord wanted Him to stay as His representative:
“Now I shall leave the vision of this mundane world, and I see that Uddhava, the foremost of My devotees, is the only one who can be directly entrusted with knowledge about Me.
Uddhava is not inferior to Me in any way because he is never affected by the modes of material nature. Therefore he may remain in this world in order to disseminate specific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.” (3.4.30-31)
Vidhura meets Maitreya
Vidhura met Maitreya at the bank of the Ganges at Haridwar. He asked the sage several questions:
a) How does the Lord accept different incarnations, and how does He create the cosmic manifestation in such an organized way?
b) The Lord creates the element ether (sky), the fabric of the material creation, and places the whole material creation on it. He then expands Himself into all the living entities who appear in the different species of life. How does the Lord maintain them and how can he be simultaneously one and different from them?
c) What are the auspicious characteristics of the Lord in His different incarnations?
d) How did the Lord create the different planets as well as the different kings and others who rule them?
e) How did the Lord create the natures, activities, forms, features, and names of the different living entities?
Vidhura then reveals that during his pilgrimage he had already heard the Mahabharata from Vyasadeva (his father) and he was now interested in directly hearing about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. As a pure devotee, he understood that the real purpose of the Mahabharata is to conduct people to the teachings of the Lord, present in the form of the Bhagavad-Gita, and laments for the unfortunate people who are interested just in philosophical speculation, theoretical knowledge, and rituals.
Maitreya starts his answer by describing the beginnings of the creation to Vidura. All the discussion about the creation that we studied in the second canto is centered around the primary creation, the creation of the subtle components of the universe performed by the Lord that compose the Virat-rupa. Now, in the third canto, we will study the creation of the material universes, starting with the creation of the material elements, done by the Lord, and then the secondary creation, performed by Lord Brahma, including the creation of the different planetary systems, the process of the population of the universe, the reign of the manus and so on, as well as the different incarnations of the Lord that appeared during his current day.
The answers of Maitreya start in verse 18. As is the etiquette, he starts by congratulating Vidhura and glorifying him:
“Śrī Maitreya said: O Vidura, all glory unto you. You have inquired from me of the greatest of all goodness, and thus you have shown your mercy both to the world and to me because your mind is always absorbed in thoughts of the Transcendence.
O Vidura, it is not at all wonderful that you have so accepted the Lord without deviation of thought, for you were born from the semen of Vyāsadeva.
I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Māṇḍavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarāja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatī, Vyāsadeva, in the kept wife of his brother.
Your good self is one of the eternal associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for whose sake the Lord, while going back to His abode, left instructions with me.
I shall therefore describe to you the pastimes by which the Personality of Godhead extends His transcendental potency for the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic world as they occur one after another.” (3.5.18-22)
Vidhura is no one else but Yamaraja, the upholder of the religious principles. Just like in the case of Pariksit Maharaja and Sukadeva Goswami, this is an extremely high-level philosophical discussion between two pure devotees of the Lord.
The creation of the material elements (chapter 3.5)
Maitreya starts his narration by giving an explanation of the four original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The line “aham evāsam evāgre” is misinterpreted by Mayavadis and speculators who don’t want to accept the supremacy of the Lord, but the real meaning is that before the creation of the material universe, when there were no material elements, no universes, no planets and not purusha incarnation, only the Lord existed as Maha-Vishnu:
“The Personality of Godhead, the master of all living entities, existed prior to the creation as one without a second. It is by His will only that creation is made possible and again everything merges in Him. This Supreme Self is symptomized by different names.
The Lord, the undisputed proprietor of everything, was the only seer. The cosmic manifestation was not present at that time, and thus He felt imperfect without His plenary and separated parts and parcels. The material energy was dormant, whereas the internal potency was manifested.” (3.3.23-24)
This should not be misinterpreted that literally, nothing existed apart from the Lord. The spiritual planets, with all the eternal associates of the Lord and his spiritual potencies, are always active, as the verse makes clear by stating that “the internal potency was manifested”.
When the scriptures describe a situation when only the Lord existed, they are describing the situation connected with the material creation prior to the appearance of Brahma. At this point, only Lord Maha-Vishnu existed. The material potency was inactive, and all the souls were sleeping in the body of the Lord. In this situation, the Lord desired to again give names and forms to His parts and parcels, again creating the material manifestation and giving again the opportunity for the souls to practice devotional service and return back to Godhead.
The material creation is eternal in the sense that it goes through unlimited cycles of creation and destruction, but it is not always active. After each day of Brahma (4.32 billion years), there is a partial destruction, followed by his night (also 4.32 billion years), and at the end of the life of Brahma (311.04 trillion years), there is the period when the material maturity remains inactive (also 311.04 trillion years). In this way, the material creation remains active less than 25% of the time. Considering that we spend about one-third of our time sleeping, and yet more time in an unconscious state when we transmigrate from one body to the other, we have quite little time to perform activities. Most of our time is spent on these different levels of unconsciousness. Our existence in this material world can be thus described as very long periods of unconsciousness with short periods of activities in between, and even these periods of activity are not always in a human body, and not always in situations where we fully understand what we are doing.
In comparison, the inhabitants of the spiritual world are always fully conscious and active in their service to the Lord. Life in the spiritual world is thus reality, while life in the material world is more like a sleeping state, with short periods of partial consciousness while in a body performing different material activities. Somehow we got into this situation, and now we have a rare chance of going back.
The next three verses describe the beginning of the process of creation:
“The Lord is the seer, and the external energy, which is seen, works as both cause and effect in the cosmic manifestation. O greatly fortunate Vidura, this external energy is known as māyā or illusion, and through her agency only is the entire material manifestation made possible.
The Supreme Living Being in His feature as the transcendental puruṣa incarnation, who is the Lord’s plenary expansion, impregnates the material nature of three modes, and thus by the influence of eternal time the living entities appear.
Thereafter, influenced by the interactions of eternal time, the supreme sum total of matter, called the mahat-tattva, became manifested, and in this mahat-tattva the unalloyed goodness, the Supreme Lord, sowed the seeds of universal manifestation out of His own body. (3.5.25-27)
Most atheistic philosophies believe that the universe is created automatically by the interaction of the different material elements, but this verse explains that the material energy is just the effect. The cause is the Supreme Lord. Just like a pile of bricks doesn’t organize itself into a building, the material energy can’t move without the transcendental touch of the Lord.
How does the transcendental Lord activate the spiritual energy? No extenuating effort is necessary, everything is done by a simple glance. By the glance of Maha-Vishnu, the material energy is impregnated by all the sous who desire to participate in the material creation, accompanied by Lord Sadha-Shiva and the time energy, which agitate the material energy, leading to the manifestation of the mahat-tattva, and the three modes of material nature. Just like a father impregnating a mother leads to the birth of a child, the Lord impregnating the material nature with the souls and the time energy leads to the appearance of all material universes and ultimately of all living entities.
The material energy is first manifested in the form of pradhana, the gigantic mass of unmanifested material energy that appears like a cloud, covering part of the spiritual sky. After being impregnated by the time energy, the three material modes become apparent (originally they are present, but merged into the mass of elements). From this point on, the pradhana is converted into the mahat-tattva and the chain of transformations that leads to the creation of the material universes starts.
From the combination of the total material energy and the mode of ignorance, the false ego is generated. This false ego is the basic force that binds the souls into the material universe, making them accept different material identities one after the other.
In his purport to verse 3.5.28, Prabhupada explains:
“The mahat-tattva is the medium between pure spirit and material existence. It is the junction of matter and spirit wherefrom the false ego of the living entity is generated. All living entities are differentiated parts and parcels of the Personality of Godhead. Under the pressure of false ego, the conditioned souls, although parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, claim to be the enjoyers of material nature. This false ego is the binding force of material existence. The Lord again and again gives a chance to the bewildered conditioned souls to get free from this false ego, and that is why the material creation takes place at intervals. He gives the conditioned souls all facilities for rectifying the activities of the false ego, but He does not interfere with their small independence as parts and parcels of the Lord.”
The verse explains that being touched by the glance of the Lord, the mahat-tattva becomes itself an aṁśa, a partial expansion of the Lord. In this way, the Mahat-tattva becomes a sentient living being, that consistently differentiates itself and gradually generates the different material manifestations and the different living entities.
“Thereafter the mahat-tattva differentiated itself into many different forms as the reservoir of the would-be entities. The mahat-tattva is chiefly in the mode of ignorance, and it generates the false ego. It is a plenary expansion of the Personality of Godhead, with full consciousness of creative principles and time for fructification.” (3.5.28)
An attentive reader may notice an apparent contradiction between verses 27 and 28. Verse 27 mentions unalloyed goodness” and in verse 28 it’s said that the mahat-tattva is “chiefly in the mode of ignorance”. In reality, verse 27 mentions that the Supreme Lord, who is the unalloyed goodness, the purest, inseminates the Mahat-tattva. The quality of the Mahat-tattva is the mode of ignorance, which makes the soul forget their original spiritual position and join the material creation.
The false ego means the concept of identity that makes us think we are something other than our original spiritual nature. Our original nature is to be a servant of Krsna, but under the influence of the false ego, we think we are a man, woman, demigod, a tree, or a horse. Under the influence of the false ego, we are prepared to accept any identity, any at all, except our original spiritual identity as a servant of Krsna.
False ego leads to executing material activities, manipulating the material energy, in the form of gross matter and also in dealing with other people. These material activities have three phases: cause, effect, and the doer. The cause is material desire, the effect (or consequence) is the different karmic reactions we get, and under the illusion, we see ourselves as the doers, the ones doing all these things. Verse 29 mentions these points:
“Mahat-tattva, or the great causal truth, transforms into false ego, which is manifested in three phases — cause, effect and the doer. All such activities are on the mental plane and are based on the material elements, gross senses and mental speculation. The false ego is represented in three different modes — goodness, passion and ignorance.”
Originally, there were only five energies present: the mahat-tattva (the sum of all material elements), the three modes of nature, and material time. By the interaction of the five, everything else was created. First, the false ego was created by the combination of mahat-tattva and the mode of ignorance, and next the mind is created by the further interaction of the false ego and the mode of goodness. The mind is the center of our material experience because is through the mind that we can feel, desire, and experience the world. The creation of the mind is explained in verse 30:
“The false ego is transformed into mind by interaction with the mode of goodness. All the demigods who control the phenomenal world are also products of the same principle, namely the interaction of false ego and the mode of goodness.”
The interaction of the false ego and the mode of goodness also creates the different demigods who govern the cosmos. The demigods created at this stage however are not the same demigods we have in our universe. Everything that happens in this chapter happened in the very initial stages of creation, before the creation of the material universes. These demigods mentioned here are archetypical demigods that are the source of all the different demigods that later appear inside the different material universes, just like Lord Sadha-Shiva is the origin of all the Lord Shivas that appear in the different universes.
Next, by the interaction of the false ego and the mode of passion, the senses are created, allowing us to experience the world. Again, the senses created at this stage are archetypical senses, that will later give origin to the senses of every individual living being. One example that can be given in this sense is that someone may invent a thing called “car” as an idea, and later a factory may be built to produce cars for everyone interested in buying them.
Verse 31 mentions that senses are in turn used to perform material activities and mental speculation, which are also material activities.
In another part of Srimad Bhagavatam, it is mentioned that the interaction of false ego and passion is also responsible for the creation of material intelligence. This explains why this passage mentions the senses as being the means for performing both material activities and mental speculation. Here in this explanation, the senses and intelligence are described together. The senses do the material activities and the intelligence takes care of the mental speculation.
“The senses are certainly products of the mode of passion in false ego, and therefore philosophical speculative knowledge and fruitive activities are predominantly products of the mode of passion.” (3.5.31)
Srila Prabhupada explains how the false ego, mind, and senses, as well as the influence of the three modes of material nature, lead to the performance of different material activities on his purpose:
“Those who are in the mode of goodness think that each and every person is God, and thus they laugh at the pure devotees, who try to engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Those who are puffed up by the mode of passion try to lord it over material nature in various ways. Some of them engage in altruistic activities as if they were agents appointed to do good to others by their mental speculative plans. Such men accept the standard ways of mundane altruism, but their plans are made on the basis of false ego. This false ego extends to the limit of becoming one with the Lord. The last class of egoistic conditioned souls — those in the mode of ignorance — are misguided by identification of the gross body with the self. Thus all their activities are centered around the body only. All these persons are given the chance to play with false egoistic ideas, but at the same time the Lord is kind enough to give them a chance to take help from scriptures like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so that they may understand the science of Kṛṣṇa and thus make their lives successful. The entire material creation, therefore, is meant for the falsely egoistic living entities hovering on the mental plane under different illusions in the modes of material nature.”
We can see that the Lord creates the conditions for us to enjoy this material world, by creating the false ego, the mind, the senses, etc., and at the same time, He creates the conditions for our liberation, by giving the scriptures, sending His pure devotees to take birth in this world to help the conditioned souls and so on. We come to this material world due to misusing our free will, choosing to turn our back to Krsna, and we can return to our original, eternal position by using our free will appropriately, by choosing to understand Krsna through the scriptures, and by association with pure devotees. As Prabhupada mentions:
“The best means of liberation from the clutches of false ego is to give up the habit of philosophical speculation regarding the Absolute Truth. One should know definitely that the Absolute Truth is never realized by the philosophical speculations of the imperfect egoistic person. The Absolute Truth, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is realized by hearing about Him in all submission and love from a bona fide authority who is a representative of the twelve great authorities mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. By such an attempt only can one conquer the illusory energy of the Lord, although for others she is unsurpassable, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14).”
In this way, from the interaction of false ego and goodness, the mind and the demigods are generated. From false ego and passion, the senses and material intelligence are created. The next stage is the creation of the material elements, which starts with the creation of the element ether, from which other elements are created.
Ether, or sky is created from the interaction of false-ego and ignorance. False ego already appears from the interaction of the Mahat-tattva and ignorance, and when the combination again mixes with ignorance, ether is created. These successive combinations are similar to an artist creating new colors by mixing different colors present in his palette and then mixing the new colors again with the previous colors to create yet new colors.
In these verses, two different Sanskrit words are used to describe the element ether: kham and nabha. However, in his purports, Prabhupada mentions the word ākāśa, which makes clear that all these three words refer to the same thing, the element ether.
As explained in the Vedanta Sutra, the element ether (sky), or ākāśa is a manifestation of the Lord. The element ether is the fabric of the material manifestation and also the source of all other elements. It serves also as the foundation where the whole cosmic manifestation rests. The property of ether is to transmit sound, therefore ether and sound are created at the same stage. Sound is used to transmit Vedic knowledge, and this is another indicative of the importance of ether.
Prabhupada explains in his purport that the whole material creation is created from subtle to gross, therefore sound was created before the element ether, just like touch is created before the element air and so on.
“The sky is a product of sound, and sound is the transformation of egoistic ignorance. In other words, the sky is the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul.” (3.5.32)
The next stage was the creation of the element air, together with the touch sensation. We can’t see air, but we can feel it, and the Vedas explain that we can feel different material objects due to a layer of subtle air that covers the skin. Ether is created from mixing mahat-tattva with ignorance and then again ignorance. Touch is created from the mixture of ether with eternal time and again mahat-tattva, the total material energy, and the element air come immediately after the creation of touch. This all happens due to the glance of the Lord.
“Thereafter the Personality of Godhead glanced over the sky, partly mixed with eternal time and external energy, and thus developed the touch sensation, from which the air in the sky was produced.” (3.5.33)
As Prabhupada explains in his purport: “All material creations take place from subtle to gross. The entire universe has developed in that manner. From the sky developed the touch sensation, which is a mixture of eternal time, the external energy and the glance of the Personality of Godhead. The touch sensation developed into the air in the sky. Similarly, all other gross matter also developed from subtle to gross: sound developed into sky, touch developed into air, form developed into fire, taste developed into water, and smell developed into earth.”
The next stage is the creation of the element fire. In this narration, fire is mentioned as “jyoti” (light), which Prabhupada translates as “electricity”. Both light and electricity are considered subtle manifestations of the element fire, therefore the three are manifestations of the same material element. However, it seems that at the time of creation, there was no gross manifestation of fire (there was nothing burning), but just subtle energy. Therefore, the element fire existed in a very subtle form and that’s probably why Prabhupada chose to use the word “electricity”.
Electricity, or fire comes after the appearance of form, which comes from a combination of ether (or sky) and air. It’s thanks to the creation of the element fire, and its subtle forms as light and electricity that we can see the world.
“Thereafter the extremely powerful air, interacting with the sky, generated the form of sense perception, and the perception of form transformed into electricity, the light to see the world.” (3.5.34)
It’s described that this light or electricity surcharged the air and, by the glance of the Lord, this air surcharged with electricity was again combined with time and mahat-tattva, which led to the creation of water, together with taste. This water was again glanced at by the Lord and again combined with time and mahat-tattva, leading to the creation of the element earth, together with smell.
“When electricity was surcharged in the air and was glanced over by the Supreme, at that time, by a mixture of eternal time and external energy, there occurred the creation of water and taste.
Thereafter the water produced from electricity was glanced over by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and mixed with eternal time and external energy. Thus it was transformed into the earth, which is qualified primarily by smell.
O gentle one, of all the physical elements, beginning from the sky down to the earth, all the inferior and superior qualities are due only to the final touch of the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (3.5.35-37)
As Prabhupada explains in his purport:
“From the descriptions of the physical elements in the above verses it is clear that in all stages the glance of the Supreme is needed with the other additions and alterations. In every transformation, the last finishing touch is the glance of the Lord, who acts as a painter does when he mixes different colors to transform them into a particular color. When one element mixes with another, the number of its qualities increases. For example, the sky is the cause of air. The sky has only one quality, namely sound, but by the interaction of the sky with the glance of the Lord, mixed with eternal time and the external nature, the air is produced, which has two qualities: sound and touch. Similarly, after the air is created, the interaction of sky and air, touched by time, the external energy of the Lord, produces electricity. Next, the interaction of electricity with air and sky, mixed with time, the external energy and the Lord’s glance over them, produces water. In the final stage of sky there is one quality, namely sound; in the air two qualities, sound and touch; in the electricity three qualities, namely sound, touch and form; in the water four qualities: sound, touch, form and taste; and in the last stage of physical development the result is earth, which has all five qualities — sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Although they are different mixtures of different materials, such mixtures do not take place automatically, just as a mixture of colors does not take place automatically without the touch of the living painter. The automatic system is factually activated by the glancing touch of the Lord.”
“The conclusion is that the physical elements may work very wonderfully to the laymen’s eyes, but their workings actually take place under the supervision of the Lord. Those who can mark only the changes of the physical elements and cannot perceive the hidden hands of the Lord behind them are certainly less intelligent persons, although they may be advertised as great material scientists.
How does the Srimad Bhagavatam relate to modern theories?
Nowadays, the most accepted scientific theory for the origin of the universe is the Big Bang theory. Their idea is that a great explosion led to a rapid expansion of the fundamental material particles, which created the physical laws that govern the cosmos, and a mass of energy, that gradually expanded and cooled down, leading to the creation of hydrogen, which condensed in the first stars, leading to the gradual creation of the other atomic elements by nuclear fusion inside these starts. These atomic elements then spread throughout the cosmos as these first stars exhausted their fuel and exploded into supernovas.
Some believe that this passage of the Srimad Bhagavatam connects well with this scientific description of the initial stages of the universe, with the sequential creation of the fabric of space-time (ether), followed by the expansion of matter (air), which was, in turn, surcharged with light and energy (fire) leading to the creation of hydrogen (water) and finally the other atomic elements (earth) by the process of nuclear fusion inside the stars. This initial creation, they believe, was followed by the appearance of Brahma, who used these elements to create the sun, the planets, and the different forms of life.
Whether this is correct or not we can’t tell, but there are indeed certain similarities between these two explanations and this can be used to explain the version of the Srimad Bhagavatam to scientifically inclined people.
It’s interesting to note that the explanations given in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Puranas also closely relate to modern scientific theories in other factors, such as the dates for the creation of both the universe and the solar system, dates for the main cycles of extinction in our planet, such as the Permian–Triassic extinction, etc. They also agree on the idea of the sun becoming in the future a red giant and destroying the planets in the inner solar system (including the Earth). According to the Puranas, this is supposed to happen at the end of the day of Brahma, in a time frame that matches what is believed by the scientists.
Science is based on making experiments and creating theories based on the results. In the Vedic tradition, these two processes are called pratyakṣa and anumāna. They are not considered very perfect forms of obtaining knowledge, because they are based on using our material senses and intelligence, which are imperfect, but despite the imperfection, they are still accepted as forms of obtaining knowledge. Sometimes the conclusions achieved by these methods may not be completely incorrect.
The most perfect form of obtaining knowledge according to the Vedas is śabda-pramāṇa, receiving perfect knowledge from the scriptures, trying to understand the explanations about the origin of the universe and other topics that are given in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other books, and that’s what we are trying to do here. The point about following the process of śabda-pramāṇa is that we need to study the explanations of the scriptures very carefully, so we may properly understand them, otherwise we may start to fanatically try to push theories that are the fruit of our misunderstanding and are not at all supported in the sastras, or the purports of Srila Prabhupada.
The fact that some scientific theories agree with the Vedas on some points reinforces the validity of the scriptures and also makes the point that some scientific theories may not be completely incorrect. Maybe in the future, the knowledge from the Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures may be used to correct scientific theories and thus arrive at unified theories that are supported by both Vedic knowledge and experimental knowledge. This would prove beyond doubt the authenticity of the knowledge of Vedas and would represent a great success for our movement. That’s perhaps Prabhupada’s idea in constructing the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
The prayers by the predominating deities of the elements
Concluding the 5th chapter, there are prayers of the predominating deities of the elements to Lord Maha-Vishnu. Everything in the Lord’s creation is personal. Just like the material energy itself is personified in the form of Parvati, all the material elements and different material energies of the Lord have their predominating deities.
At this point, the material elements were already manifested, including the mahat-tattva, false-ego, ether, air, fire, water, and earth, as well as the functions of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell, together with their respective deities, but because the material creation was not yet active, they were not able to perform their functions and thus they started praying to the Lord.
“The controlling deities of all the above-mentioned physical elements are empowered expansions of Lord Viṣṇu. They are embodied by eternal time under the external energy, and they are His parts and parcels. Because they were entrusted with different functions of universal duties and were unable to perform them, they offered fascinating prayers to the Lord as follows.”
Their prayers go from verse 39 to 51, at the end of the chapter. The main points are:
a) The Lord is the supreme shelter for everyone. By taking shelter in the lotus feet of the Lord, we can become free of all material miseries and anxieties. On the other hand, without taking shelter from the Lord, one will continue to be affected by such miseries, even if occupied in the cultivation of knowledge and other spiritual activities.
b) Living entities in this material world who are harassed by the three types of miseries can find relief from these miseries by taking shelter in the Lord. By this simple process, one can become happy and peaceful, even while still living in the material world. Surrender to the lotus feet of the Lord is not dependent on first cultivating knowledge or performing fruitive activities. It can immediately give relief to anyone, without any prerequisite.
c) The lotus feet of the Lord are the shelter of all places of pilgrimage, therefore great sages, carried by the knowledge of the Vedas, take shelter of them, understanding that they can deliver one from all sinful reactions.
d) By meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord one automatically develops knowledge, and from this knowledge arises detachment. This detachment in turn makes one feel satisfied. On the other hand, without surrendering to the Lord one remains attached to matter and especially to sex life, which keeps him under the miseries of the material world.
e) The Lord appears in many incarnations for the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the universe. The Lord appears to protect the devotees and destroy the atheists, as well as to maintain the principles of religion, but in reality, the main reason for the Lord’s coming is to give association to His devotees who are living in the material universes and are anxious for His association. The shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord gives us remembrance of these pastimes, as well as courage.
f) People who are attached to their material bodies, as well as the bodies of relatives, thinking in terms of “I” and “mine” are unable to see the lotus feet of the Lord, even though the Lord is present in their hearts as Paramatma. They can however change by hearing the glories of the Lord and chanting His holy names.
g) Materialistic and offensive persons can’t see the lotus feet of the Lord, and similarly, they are not able to recognize pure devotees of the Lord who are roaming on the planet. However, such materialistic persons can be saved when they somehow or other receive the causeless mercy of such pure devotees, just like the hunter Mrgari or Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, the degraded sons of Kuvera, who were saved by receiving the mercy of Narada Muni.
h) Jñānīs, impersonalists, and yogis can also attain the Lord in His impersonal aspect by dint of their austerities and cultivation of knowledge, merging into the Brahmajoti. However, the path for them is very difficult and their practice is very painful. Devotees however can attain a much higher perfection by serving the Lord, without having to experience such pain. The difference is that impersonalists try to attain the Lord by their own effort, while devotees depend on the mercy of the Lord.
i) Although created by the Lord to create the material world, the demigods of the elements admit that they are not able to cooperate and perform this creation by themselves. They then ask the Lord to give them perfect knowledge, so they can serve the Lord by being engaged in the different stages of the material creation.
In his purport, Srila Prabhupada draws a parallel with our own situation, explaining that we need empowerment to be able to serve the Lord, and this empowerment is obtained by trying to serve the Lord under the guidance of a qualified spiritual master.
“One cannot do anything unless he is enlightened and empowered by the Lord. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca. All recollections, knowledge, etc., as well as all forgetfulness, are engineered by the Lord, who is sitting within the heart of everyone. The intelligent man seeks the help of the Lord, and the Lord helps the sincere devotees engaged in His multifarious services.
The demigods are entrusted by the Lord to create different species of living entities according to their past deeds. They are herein asking the favor of the Lord for the intelligence and power to carry out their task. Similarly, any conditioned soul may also engage in the service of the Lord under the guidance of an expert spiritual master and thus gradually become freed from the entanglement of material existence. The spiritual master is the manifested representative of the Lord, and anyone who puts himself under the guidance of a spiritual master and acts accordingly is said to be acting in terms of buddhi-yoga, as explained in Bhagavad-gītā (2.41).”
The 6th chapter describes how the Lord reacted to these prayers by creating the universal form and progressing into the subsequent stages of material creation.