SRI BRAHMA-SAMHITA

Verse 62

aham hi visvasya characharasya
bijam pradhanam prakrtih pumams cha
mayahitam teja idam vibharsi
vidhe vidhehi tvam atho jaganti [62]

Translation: Hear Me, O Vidhe! I am the seed—the primal principle of the world of moving and stationary beings; I am the elements, I am the predominated, I am the predominator. The fiery spirit of Brahman that abides in you has been conferred unto you by Me; now, adopting that prowess, create the world of moving and stationary beings.

Purport: Some philosophers conclude that the undifferentiated element of Brahman becomes transformed and takes on the appearance of having attributes in the form of this mundane world; or Maya becomes divided and becomes the mundane world, and undivided it is Brahman; or Brahman is the ‘object’ and the world is its ‘reflection’; or the entire world is the jiva’s illusion. Others think that by nature God is ‘the one,’ the soul is ‘the one,’ and although the universe or mundane world is ‘the one principle,’ it is eternally distinct in an independent manner; or God is the absolute ‘specific,’ and the relative, both spirit and matter, are the ‘specified’—yet all are one truth. Others think that by dint of inconceivable potency the truth sometimes appears as one, sometimes as dual. Yet others conclude that the doctrine of an impotent ‘one’ is meaningless, so Brahman is replete with pure potency, and it is the eternally pure, one-without-a-second truth.

All these theories have their origin in the Vedas, with support in the Vedanta sutras. Although none of them can claim to expound the truth in every respect, each carries a certain degree of truth. They—not to mention the theories of Sankhya, Patanjala, Nyaya and Vaisesika that are all contradictory to the Vedic teachings, and the theories such as purva-mimamsa, etc., that solely favour fruitive pursuits in conformity with a section of the Vedas—owe their existence to their superficial reliance upon the Vedanta.

(Thus, the Lord says to Brahma,) “You and your pure divine succession are to abandon all these theories and accept the supreme principle of achintya-bhedabheda—inconceivable simultaneous oneness and distinction. Then you will be able to become a true devotee.”

The underlying gist of the Lord’s words is, “The animate world is composed of jivas and the inanimate world is composed of matter. Of these, My divine potency (para-sakti)—by its marginal power—has manifest the jivas; and my secondary potency (apara-sakti) has manifest the material world. I am the seed of everything: in a form non-different from each of those potencies of Mine, I control them by the potency of My will. By various stages of transformations, those potencies have become pradhana (the elements), prakrti (the predominated) and purusa (the predominator). So although as the potency principle I am pradhana, prakrti and purusa, as the potent principle I am eternally distinct from all those potencies. Such simultaneous oneness and distinction has come into being by virtue of My inconceivable potency."

“Therefore, embracing the wisdom of the correlation of the inconceivably one and distinct entities of ‘the soul,’ ‘the world’ and ‘Krishna,’ let the attainment of divine love for Krishna by the practice of pure devotion be the eternal divine teaching handed down in your divine succession.”

jivabhaya-prada vrttir jivasaya-prakasini
krta bhaktivinodena surabhi-kunja-vasina
iti sri-brahma-samhitaya bhagavat-siddhanta-sangrahe
mula-sutrakhya panchama adhyayera
‘prakasini’-namni gaudiya-vrtti samapta

iti sri-brahma-samhitayam bhagavat-siddhanta-sangrahe
mula-sutrakhyah panchamo ’dhyayah

This Prakasini-vrtti Commentary—
the queller of the soul’s apprehension,
the illuminator of the soul’s deep aspiration—
was penned by Sri Bhaktivinoda
residing at Surabhi Kunja.
Thus concludes the Prakasini Gaudiya illumination
of the Quintessence of Reality the Beautiful
Fifth Chapter, Sri Brahma-samhita

• For Reader's Appreciation
• Feelings of Appreciation
• Prologue
• Translator's Note
• Illumination
• Verse 1
• Verse 2
• Verse 3
• Verse 4
• Verse 5
• Verse 6
• Verse 7
• Verse 8
• Verse 9

• Verse 11
• Verse 12
• Verse 13
• Verse 14
• Verse 15
• Verse 16
• Verse 17
• Verse 18
• Verse 19

• Verse 20
• Verse 21
• Verse 22
• Verse 23
• Verse 24
• Verse 25
• Verse 26
• Verse 27
• Verse 28
• Verse 29

• Verse 30
• Verse 31
• Verse 32
• Verse 33
• Verse 34
• Verse 35
• Verse 36
• Verse 37
• Verse 38
• Verse 39

• Verse 40
• Verse 41
• Verse 42
• Verse 43
• Verse 44
• Verse 45
• Verse 46
• Verse 47
• Verse 48
• Verse 49

• Verse 50
• Verse 51
• Verse 52
• Verse 53
• Verse 54
• Verse 55
• Verse 56
• Verse 57
• Verse 58
• Verse 59

• Verse 60
• Verse 61
• Verse 62

• Verse Contents

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