Srimad Bhagavatam – day 658
Everything moves per Supreme will alone
Narayana Srikrishna
Lord Brahma continued, “During time of dissolution, the waters of all the oceans merged and swelled, submerging all the three worlds. At that time, from the navel of Lord Sriman Narayana who was asleep in those waters a lotus emerged. Vedas declare that the birthless Lord Brahma manifested from that lotus. This is the fact O Lord that I have emerged from You alone.
Lord Narayana, You are the Self that exists within every living entity. You are also their founder and also their witnessing-consciousness. Nara means Supreme Self (Paramatma). Those waters which have emerged from Him are addressed as Nāra. He who manifests from those waters is addressed as Nārāyana. Lord Nārāyana, who offers refuge to them all, is nothing but Your partial aspect. Such emergence as Nārāyaṇa is yet another transcendental play of Yours, O Lord.
You are everything. Everything happens per Your will alone. The supreme goal of birth is to attain the Supreme Essence. Your body is the shelter for this creation. Why is it that I could not perceive You, the moment I manifested from Your navel? I had to undertake penance and only after that I could clearly see Your form, which was situated within my mind. What is the reason for this form to manifest in my heart? What could be the reason for its disappearance thereafter?
O Srihari! O dispeller of illusion! In this incarnation, You have shown to Your mother, this entire creation, that is externally visible and through this You have decisively proven that this creation is nothing but Your illusion”.
We, the living entities, reside in Your womb. You have retained this creation in Your womb. Nevertheless, after entering this creation which in reality is within Your womb itself, You have shown it externally to Your mother. You have externally shown this creation to Your mother, who exists within Your womb. However much is spoken on this subject, it falls short.
“Just as this creation, together with You, illumines within Your womb, it also illumines externally”.
That which is illumining within Your womb, is also illumining outside of it. That glory which exists within the Universal egg, exists outside of it too.
“Can this happen in the absence of Your illusionary energy?”
Today You have proved to me that this universe is purely Your illusory creation and that You are its presiding force. You have shown to me that You are everything. When I first saw, You were alone. Thereafter You manifested as all the boys and calves of Brindavan and also as their batons, flutes and other paraphernalia. You manifested as both living and non-living entities. Again thereafter You manifested in as many four-armed forms as the number of your companions. These four-armed forms are worshipped by all the principles of creation, including myself. Once again thereafter You became the many universes. As such, You remained as the infinite, non-dual Supreme Essence which is without a second. There is no second object. You alone exist in many forms.
“By covering the ignorant, who are unaware of Your original form, with Your illusion, You illumine like a bonded soul who has attained oneness with matter, which in reality is non-Self. During times of creation, You illumine as me, Brahma. For the purposes of protection, You illumine as Yourself i.e. as Vishnu and during times of dissolution, You illumine as the three-eyed Rudra.
O ever-competent Lord! You are the one who governs this universe. In order to subdue the wicked and protect the noble saints, You incarnated among the Devatas as Vamana, among the saints as Paraśurama, among humans as Srirama, among animals as the boar Varaha and among the aquatic creatures as a fish. The truth however is that You are birthless”.
This Earth is fortunate that He has selected her for all His incarnations. Of course, we have no idea of the number of Earths in the creation. Do we have any idea of the other worlds that are either superior or inferior to this Earth? We presume that He selected Earth solely due to His affinity for it. We have no idea if our thought process is correct or not. We have no idea of the incarnations taken in other worlds in this creation. Do we have any idea of the number of solar systems in this creation? Do we have any idea of the planets that exist in that solar system? Do have any idea of the sub-planets that exist there and of the other planetary systems pertaining to that creation? In which forms did the Lord incarnate in those planes? We have no idea.
“O birthless Lord! You are infinite. You are the Self that is beyond the Nature (prakriti). Illusionary energy is eternally in Your control. You expand Your illusionary energy and sport in it. In these three worlds it is beyond the capacity of any living entity to identify the moment, time and place Your transcendental plays will be exhibited”.
No one can fathom when, where, how and with what magnitude the Lord will show His transcendental play. How can an individual know these details when even Vedas fail to understand His plays? Vedas declare only those sports/ qualities perceptible to the eyes, but it cannot describe His infinite, limitless universal form, his birthless state.
Narayana Narayana