Time and Space

2012-06-06
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.09.13-14 - Time and Space (download mp3) , (download flv) and (download mp4)
by Radha Vallabha Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net



SB 10.9.13-14
na cantar na bahir yasya
na purvam napi caparam
purvaparam bahis cantar
jagato yo jagac ca yah
tam matvatmajam avyaktam
martya-lingam adhoksajam
gopikolukhale damna
babandha prakrtam yatha

Translation:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-pervading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything. That unmanifested person, who is beyond the perception of the senses, had now appeared as a human child, and mother Yasoda, considering Him her own ordinary child, bound Him to the wooden mortar with a rope.

Purport:
In Bhagavad-gita (10.12), Krsna is described as the Supreme Brahman (param brahma param dhama). The word brahma means “the greatest.” Krsna is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound? Then again, Krsna is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Krsna these do not exist. Every individual person can be measured, but Krsna has already shown that although He also is an individual, the entire cosmic manifestation is within His mouth. All these points considered, Krsna cannot be measured. How then did Yasoda want to measure Him and bind Him? We must conclude that this took place simply on the platform of pure transcendental love. This was the only cause.

advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam
adyam purana-purusam nava-yauvanam ca
vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

(Brahma-samhita 5.33)

Everything is one because Krsna is the supreme cause of everything. Krsna cannot be measured or calculated by Vedic knowledge (vedesu durlabham). He is available only to devotees (adurlabham atma-bhaktau). Devotees can handle Him because they act on the basis of loving service (bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah). Thus mother Yasoda wanted to bind Him.