3 - Creation of the universe: Variations due to difference in Gunas

Lord Krishna said:

1. God Vishnu had a desire to create beings worthy of creation, t0 release beings worthy of release. Vishnu ever cherishes such desires, though the expression of such desires is expressedly material. 

2. Hari assumed a material form and swallowed darkness. That form of the lord they declare to be material. Those who do not know this enter the pitch-dark region. 

3. The incarnations of lord Vishnu are perfect. Perfect is that supreme form, Perfection begets perfection. 

4. Superiority and inferiority rest on personality, not on the facilities of Space and Time. 

5. The Supreme lord is full. The Super-imposed universe is full. When the Super-imposed full is taken off that which remains is also full. 

6. It has become a custom to say that he incarnates in the person of Krishna for lightening the burden of the earth. There can be no dissolution of the world without his wishes. 

7. Too much effort should not be made for realizing Self. Too much effort made for self-realization occasions trouble. Too much effort leads to certain disease, it is certain. 

8. The teacher and the disciple should make common effort to know what it is possible to know. The teacher and the disciple who work together in that direction can rightly be called by those designations. 

9. O son of Vinata, those who think upon the lord as Supreme Reality are the teacher and the taught in the right sense of the word. 

10. They say there is no harm to cut jokes with the teacher, if the joke is simple enough. 

11. If the disciple cuts joke with the teacher out of ridicule or rage, is the teacher makes an ironical remark - the disciple and the teacher go to hell where they stay as long as the moon and the stars shine in the sky. 

The High-Souled red-eyed Hari, possessed of strong semen, deposited his energy in Maya consisting of three gunas with an auspicious force. 

Garuda said:

12. O Hari, please tell us about the nature of your energy and its constituents. Is that energy the very nature of yours or is it a separate entity? Tell me, O lord, as you know the truth. 

Lord Krishna said: 

13. O son of Vinata, the energy which lord Hari deposited in Maya is the very nature of the lord. The wise who know the truth have declared thus. 

14. They have also declared that the energy being material is a separate entity, like the lotus in the navel of Vishnu. This fact is not detrimental to the concept of the lord being full of energy, as the lord is the very form of knowledge. 

15. Lord Vasudeva is of the nature of energy everywhere and in all times. O lord of birds, if he were not possessed of energy he would not be both Ishvara and Purusha. 

16. The people in general regard him as twofold: of the form of male and of the form of female. The two should not be considered to be separate entities, O lord of birds. 

17. If the lord were separate from the female form, O lord of birds, how could the woman be his reflection. 

18. Hence, the female is inseparable from the male form. The two forms constitute the very nature of the lord. This should not be taken otherwise. 

19. The neutral form is alien to his nature. It is the effect and not his real nature. It is not present in Hari, O lord of birds. Know that in the form of Hari there is reflected the form of Lakshmi. 

Garuda said: 

20-21. The contact of a woman with a woman is futile. So, say the wise. The female form being the mirror, how can there be reflected another female form? How could the female form abide in the female form? What is the reason thereof? Tell me, O lord. 

Lord Krishna said:

22-23. Lord Vishnu assumes different female forms, O lord of birds. How can it be possible that Lakshmi (a female form herself) may not be reflected therein, since she, the eternal one, being inseparable from the lord is always at his service in her many forms. 

24. Hence, it is the separation from her lord (and not her union with him) that can be the object of doubt on the part of the disciple. 

O Garuda, lord Vishnu can never remain without Lakshmi who is ever devoted to his lotus-feet. 

25. Those seeking for release should know that Lakshmi can never remain without Vishnu in any space or time. 

26. Lord Vishnu deposits energy in her to further growth of creation. The asuras hold that energy is the magical power of the lord. But they are fools who ignore reality and as a result enter the region of pitch darkness. 

In fact, what we call Maya is nothing but Prakruti (the primordial nature) invested with subtle form that is different from magic. 

27. They should know that Lakshmi is the very Self of Lord Vishnu who deposits energy in her. The union of the two is not without a purpose. 

28. She is beginningless, eternal and truthful. How can she be a fake, O lord of birds? Prakruti is eternal truth though not manifest in distinct form. 

29. But if she be an empirical reality, how can she be eternal and if she be non-eternal, O lord of birds, how can she be the cause of creativity in her subtle form? 

30. If she be the cause of creativity in the subtle form, who can be the cause of creativity in the gross form? 

31. If you say: By the power of illusion, Vishnu manifests himself in many forms. But when illusion disappears by knowledge, the universe (of various forms) is absorbed in Vishnu. O lord of birds, hear, I shall produce an argument. 

32. Hari, being omniscient, how can ignorance abide with him? As darkness cannot co-exist with the sun, there can be no ignorance co-existing with the lord. 

33. Hence, the lord is not associated with Maya. If that were so, O lord of birds, how could we explain the difference between the omniscient lord and the lord of limited knowledge. 

34. How could the Vedas declare the identity of the two who are of contrary nature. Not circumscribed by space and time, the creator of the universe is omnipotent and is above all sorrows. 

35. The individual soul, on the other hand, is the creator of a small world, being prone to sorrows and afflictions of births. The two are contradictory in nature and appear to be distinct. Such is the power of illusion of the magician lord. 

36. The devotees of Vishnu and their followers are exempt from censure and reproach. He who bears malice to them cannot receive the pleasure of Vishnu. Even in the state of release he cannot enjoy perfect bliss. 

37. Those who perceive a difference between the Supreme and the subservient Self become subject to reproach and are overpowered by suffering and afflicted by affliction. They enter the region of pitch darkness whence there can be no return. 

38. O lord of birds, the primordial nature (Prakruti) is subtle in form. It has the nature of eternal truth as are the infinitesimal particles of space, time, air and other elements. 

39-40. The seekers of eternal wisdom should know that the material objects consist of infinitesimal particles. You should know, O bird, that in the categories of the material objects there is a category called Višhesha¹ of which the final Vishesha is the paramanu.² 

1. Vishesha - a particular or an eternal distinguishing mark of each of the nine dravyas. 

2. Paramanu-the thirteenth part of the atom of dust which is seen moving in the sun-beam:

Garuda said: 

41. O Krishna, O Madhava, O lord of Satvatas,³ you say that the ultimate particle of a substance is paramanu. 

3. Satvatas-a family of Yadava race whose founder was Yadu, son of King Yayati. King Satvata founded a branch of the Yadavas after his name. He had four sons: (1) Bhajin Bhajamana, (2) Devavrudha, (3) Andhaka Mahabhoja and (4) Vrushni. Krishna, the celebrated hero of the Mahabharata was born in the Satvata-Vrushni family. 

42. It is still not clear to me. The ultimate particle is indivisible (the other particles are divisible). That which is divisible cannot be ultimate particle. This view is invariable, so it appears to me. 

Lord Krishna said: 

43. There are experts who can perceive the divisible particles of a substance but not the ultimate particle. 

44. The sages declare the ultimate particle to be Vishesha. Following the view of ancient sages, the philosophers Kanada⁴ and Gautama,⁵ o lord of birds, have indorsed that the ultimate Vishesha called Paramanu is indivisible. 

4. Kanada or Kanabhuj or Kanabhaksha - the names of the founder of the Vaišheshika system, which may be said to be a doctrine of atoms. 

5. Gautama-the propounder of the Nyaya system of philosophy. His Nyaya-Sutra is the earliest treatise on the subject. 

45. The infinitesimal particles are divisible. Those who declare them indivisible are totally wrong in their view. Therefore, O son of Vinata,⁶ the particles are divisible in many parts. 

6. Vinata-the mother of Aruna and Garuda and a wife of Kashyapa. 

46. O lord of birds, the infinitesimal particles are divisible in many parts. There are, in the same way, many forms of lord Hari. These forms are divisible while the lord himself is indivisible. 

47. That which is the subtlest of the subtle forms is also the greatest of the great. No characteristic difference should be traced among the forms of the lord who is of inconceivable form. 

48-49. None else but the lord is eternal in respect of time, space and quality. The wise define the eternity of time as time not circumscribed by time, the eternity of space as space not circumscribed by space, the eternity of attribute as an attribute not circumscribed by attributes. 

50. Thus, the lord is characterized by his threefold eternity. Though omnifarious or all-pervasive, he can still be circumscribed by space. His inconceivable and wondrous powers are manifest in the forms he takes for the welfare of the people. 

51-53. In respect of attributes and time, there is no difference in the forms of the lord. Being all-pervasive though circumscribed by space, there is no difference even in the minutest form of the lord. Still, he is divisible even in subtle parts. Such is the virtue of his supreme power. 

54. Therefore, O Garuda, know that he incarnates in particular forms. His all-pervasive form (which does not incarnate) they call Narayana.¹ 

1. Narayana-An epithet of Vishnu. The word is derived differently in the MS. I.10. See GP. p. 955, Fn. 5. 

55. Thus, in all conditions and in all entirety, there is a fivefold classification of the different forms of the lord, viz., the eternal and non-eternal, the animate and inanimate and the lord circumscribed and not circumscribed by time, space and attributes. Lord Hari, the primeval Purusha of mighty power, deposited energy in the primordial nature called Maya² and produced creation characterized by three gunas, viz., sattva, rajas and tamas. 

2. Prakruti or Pradhana-Primordial nature consisting of the three essential qualities sattva, rajas and tamas. It is distinguished from Purusha, the original source of the material world.