Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Chapter 21 Verse 19

Canto 3: The Status Quo | Chapter 21: Conversation Between Manu and Kardama

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.21.19

ekaḥ svayaḿ sañ jagataḥ sisṛkṣayā-

dvitīyayātmann adhi-yogamāyayā

sṛjasy adaḥ pāsi punar grasiṣyase

yathorṇa-nābhir bhagavan sva-śaktibhiḥ

SYNONYMS

ekaḥ — one; svayam — Yourself; san — being; jagataḥ — the universes; sisṛkṣayā — with a desire to create; advitīyayā — without a second; ātman — in Yourself; adhi — controlling; yoga-māyayā — by yogamāyā; sṛjasi — You create; adaḥ — those universes; pāsi — You maintain; punaḥ — again; grasiṣyase — You will wind up; yathā — like; ūrṇa-nābhiḥ — a spider; bhagavan — O Lord; sva-śaktibhiḥ — by its own energy.

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, You alone create the universes. O Personality of Godhead, desiring to create these universes, You create them, maintain them and again wind them up by Your own energies, which are under the control of Your second energy, called yogamāyā, just as a spider creates a cobweb by its own energy and again winds it up.

PURPORT

In this verse two important words nullify the impersonalist theory that everything is God. Here Kardama says, "O Personality of Godhead, You are alone, but You have various energies." The example of the spider is very significant also. The spider is an individual living entity, and by its energy it creates a cobweb and plays on it, and whenever it likes it winds up the cobweb, thus ending the play. When the cobweb is manufactured by the saliva of the spider, the spider does not become impersonal. Similarly, the creation and manifestation of the material or spiritual energy does not render the creator impersonal. Here the very prayer suggests that God is sentient and can hear the prayers and fulfill the desires of the devotee. Therefore, He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], the form of bliss, knowledge and eternity.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness