Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 11 Verses 13-14

Canto 5: The Creative Impetus | Chapter 11: Jaḍa Bharata Instructs King Rahūgaṇa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.11.13-14

kṣetrajña ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ

sākṣāt svayaḿ jyotir ajaḥ pareśaḥ

nārāyaṇo bhagavān vāsudevaḥ

sva-māyayātmany avadhīyamānaḥ

yathānilaḥ sthāvara-jańgamānām

ātma-svarūpeṇa niviṣṭa īśet

evaḿ paro bhagavān vāsudevaḥ

kṣetrajña ātmedam anupraviṣṭaḥ

SYNONYMS

kṣetra-jñaḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ātmā — all-pervading, present everywhere; puruṣaḥ — the unrestricted controller, who has unlimited power; purāṇaḥ — the original; sākṣāt — perceivable by hearing from the authorities and by direct perception; svayam — personal; jyotiḥ — manifesting His bodily rays (the Brahman effulgence); ajaḥ — never born; pareśaḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; nārāyaṇaḥ — the resting place of all living entities; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead with six full opulences; vāsudevaḥ — the shelter of everything, manifested and nonmanifest; sva-māyayā — by His own potency; ātmani — in His own self, or in the ordinary living entities; avadhīyamānaḥ — existing as the controller; yathā — as much as; anilaḥ — the air; sthāvara — of nonmoving living entities; jańgamānām — and of the moving living entities; ātma-svarūpeṇa — by His expansion as the Supersoul; niviṣṭaḥ — entered; īśet — controls; evam — thus; paraḥ — transcendental; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vāsudevaḥ — the shelter of everything; kṣetra-jñaḥ — known as kṣetrajña; ātmā — the vital force; idam — this material world; anupraviṣṭaḥ — entered within.

TRANSLATION

There are two kinds of kṣetrajña — the living entity, as explained above, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is explained as follows. He is the all-pervading cause of creation. He is full in Himself and is not dependent on others. He is perceived by hearing and direct perception. He is self-effulgent and does not experience birth, death, old age or disease. He is the controller of all the demigods, beginning with Lord Brahmā. He is called Nārāyaṇa, and He is the shelter of living entities after the annihilation of this material world. He is full of all opulences, and He is the resting place of everything material. He is therefore known as Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His own potency, He is present within the hearts of all living entities, just as the air or vital force is within the bodies of all beings, moving and nonmoving. In this way He controls the body. In His partial feature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters all bodies and controls them.

PURPORT

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). Sarvasya cāhaḿ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaḿ ca. Every living being is controlled by the supreme living being, Paramātmā, who resides within everyone's heart. He is the puruṣa, the puruṣa-avatāra, who creates this material world. The first puruṣa-avatāra is Mahā-Viṣṇu, and that Mahā-Viṣṇu is the plenary portion of the plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's first expansion is Baladeva, and His next expansions are Vāsudeva, Sańkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Vāsudeva is the original cause of the brahmajyoti, and the brahmajyoti is the expansion of the rays of the body of Vāsudeva.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam

tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaḿ

govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes." (Brahma-saḿhitā 5.40) The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus described in Bhagavad-gītā:

mayā tatam idaḿ sarvaḿ

jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni

na cāhaḿ teṣv avasthitaḥ

"By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." (Bg. 9.4)

This is the position of the plenary expansions of Kṛṣṇa as the all-pervading Vāsudeva, Sańkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness