Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.31

Seed and Tree Reveal Krishna as Cause, Illusion of Mine and Yours Misleads All

📅 March 9, 1976 📍 Mayapur ⏱ 27 min
Everything is Krishna's energy; conceptions of mine and yours are illusion, not reality.
Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca

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Anantarām Śāstrījī: oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ [Gautamīya-tantra 7.11] Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [chants verse; Prabhupāda and devotees respond] tvaṁ vā idaṁ sad-asad īśa bhavāṁs tato 'nyo māyā yad ātma-para-buddhir iyaṁ hy apārthā yad yasya janma nidhanaṁ sthitir īkṣaṇaṁ ca tad vaitad eva vasukālavad aṣṭi-tarvoḥ [SB 7.9.31] Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: [chants synonyms; devotees respond] [05:55] Translation: "My dear Lordship, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the whole cosmic creation is caused by You, and the cosmic manifestation is the effect of Your energy.

Although the whole cosmic creation is Yourself, still, You keep Yourself aloof from it. The conception of 'my' and 'yours' is certainly a kind of illusion, māyā. Because everything is emanating from You, it is not different from You. The manifestation is also not different from You, and the annihilation is also caused by You.

In this connection, the example is of the seed and the tree, or the subtle cause and the gross manifestation." Prabhupāda: tvaṁ vā idaṁ sad-asad īśa bhavāṁs tato 'nyo māyā yad ātma-para-buddhir iyaṁ hy apārthā yad yasya janma nidhanaṁ sthitir īkṣaṇaṁ ca tad vaitad eva vasukālavad aṣṭi-tarvoḥ [SB 7.9.31] Cause and effect, sad-asad. One disappears... The cause appears, disappears, and the effect comes into being. The very good example is given here, aṣṭi-tarvoḥ.

Aṣṭi means "seed," and the... From the aṣṭi, from the seed, a big banyan tree comes out. At that time the aṣṭi, the seed, disappears; a tree is manifestation. So this is example of sad-asat.

Aṣṭi, the seed, disappears, and the tree is manifest. So the creation of God is like that. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 7.10]. Bīja, aṣṭi, or seed, He is the root cause of everything. One seed, a small seed, grain, and hundreds of thousands trees coming out of it, and in each tree there are millions of fruits, and each fruit, there are hundreds and thousands of seed.

Again, from the seed, the same creation, hundreds and thousands, millions and millions. This is God's intelligence, how from one source so many varieties are coming out. Again, when annihilation takes place, they again go into the original seed, Kṛṣṇa. Yānti māmikām, it is said.

[Bg 9.7] It's coming out. yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.48] This material creation is done by Mahā-Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu. The original Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8(1)].

Krishna ConsciousnessMayaCreationJnanaDetachmentImpersonalism
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