Srimad Bhagavatam 08.03.22-24 - Lord's Potencies Are Inconceivable (download mp3)
by Radha Vallabha Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net
SB 8.3.22-24
yasya brahmadayo deva
veda lokas caracarah
nama-rupa-vibhedena
phalgvya ca kalaya krtah
yatharciso 'gneh savitur gabhastayo
niryanti samyanty asakrt sva-rocisah
tatha yato 'yam guna-sampravaho
buddhir manah khani sarira-sargah
sa vai na devasura-martya-tiryan
na stri na sandho na puman na jantuh
nayam gunah karma na san na casan
nisedha-seso jayatad asesah
Translation:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead creates His minor parts and parcels, the jiva-tattva, beginning with Lord Brahma, the demigods and the expansions of Vedic knowledge [Sama, Rg, Yajur and Atharva] and including all other living entities, moving and nonmoving, with their different names and characteristics. As the sparks of a fire or the shining rays of the sun emanate from their source and merge into it again and again, the mind, the intelligence, the senses, the gross and subtle material bodies, and the continuous transformations of the different modes of nature all emanate from the Lord and again merge into Him. He is neither demigod nor demon, neither human nor bird or beast. He is not woman, man, or neuter, nor is He an animal. He is not a material quality, a fruitive activity, a manifestation or nonmanifestation. He is the last word in the discrimination of "not this, not this," and He is unlimited. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead!
This is a summary description of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's unlimited potency. That supreme one is acting in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His different potencies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]). Each and every potency is acting quite naturally (svabhaviki jñana-bala-kriya ca). Therefore the Lord is unlimited. Na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate: nothing is equal to Him, nor is anything greater than Him. Although He manifests Himself in so many ways, personally He has nothing to do (na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate), for everything is done by expansions of His unlimited energies.
