Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 11 Chapter 24:16-29

Book 11: Chapter 24

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 24: Verses 16-29 Minute or large, lean or stout, whatever entity has come into being is pervaded by (made up of) Prakrti (Matter) and Purusa (Spirit) both. That which really constitutes the beginning as well as the end of a thing represents its middle too and that alone is real (inasmuch as it pervades all its states). its modifications have only a practical value even as the modifications (ornaments etc.), of gold or those of clay (viz., earthenware). That alone is real, adopting which as its material an earlier existence (e.g., the Mahat-tattva) produces a later existence (e.g., Ahankara). That which is intended in a particular instance to be mentioned as the beginning and end of some effect is spoken of as real. The well-known material cause of this (visible) universe, viz., Prakrti (Primordial Matter), He who presides over this Prakrti, viz., the Supreme Person, and the Time-Spirit, which manifests the universe (by disturbing the equilibrium of Prakrti)-all these three are as a matter of fact the same as I, the Infinite. The elaborate process of creation ever continues in (due) order of succession (from father to son) for the sake of (enjoyment of) the embodied soul (that undergoes birth in various species of life made up of the three Gunas) until the life of the universe comes to a close, or (in other words) until the Lord (Myself) so wills it. When contacted (gazed on) by Me (as the Time-Spirit, the Destroyer of created beings), the cosmic egg, in which the creation and dissolution of the worlds alternately take place, becomes fit alongwith the (various) worlds (comprised in it) for disintegration into the five (gross) elements. (Consequent on the total failure of crops occasioned by a prolonged drought extending over a hundred years) the mortal body (of human beings and other living creatures) is withdrawn into the food (on which it subsisted); the food is reduced to seeds (persists in the form of seeds alone); the seeds get merged into the soil (no longer take root); while the earth (on being dried by the sun and burnt by the flames emanating from the mouths of Lord Sankarsana) is reduced to (the subtle state of) odour (the cause of the earth). O dour gets merged into (its cause, the element of) water and water is reduced to its own (essential property, viz., the quality of) taste. Taste gets merged into (its cause, the element of) fire, and fire is withdrawn into (its own essential property of) colour. Colour gets merged into (its cause,) the air and the latter is reduced to (its subtle state, viz., the quality of) touch while that too gets merged into (its cause, the element of) ether. Ether (on being swallowed by Ahankara) is reduced to (its subtle state, viz.,) the quality of sound. (Even so) the Indriyas (the products of Rajasika Ahankara) are merged in their (respective) causes (viz., the deities presiding over them and ultimately into the Rajasika Ahankara). The causes (viz., the gods), 0 gentle one, are merged in their controller, the mind, which is a product of Sattvika Ahankara (and ultimately into the Sattvika Ahankara alongwith the gods). (Even) sound returns to (the state of) the Tamasika Ahankara (the cause of the elements) and the mighty Tamasika Ahankara (as well as the Sattvika and Rajasika types of Ahankara) is merged in Mahat-tattva (the principle of cosmic intelligence). The most powerful Mahat-tattva (which is endowed with the potency of Jnana or knowledge and the potency of Karma or activity) is reduced to its causes, the (three) Gunas. The latter get dissolved into the Unmanifest (Primordial Matter) and the Unmanifest is merged in the Time-Spirit, which has (now) ceased to operate. The Time-Spirit is merged in the Cosmic Person (the Creator of the universe), the Director of Maya; and the latter, in Me, the birthless (eternal) Spirit. The Spirit, which is absolute (unconditioned) and is inferred by the (processes of) creation and dissolution (of the universe as their background), stands by Itself (and does not get merged in any other entity). How could there arise any misconception, engendered by the notion of difference, in the mind of one investigating into the Spirit as aforesaid; and (if it ever arose) how could it persist any more than darkness would on the appearance of the sun in the sky ? This is the process of differentiating the Spirit from Matter, which cuts the knot of doubt and which has been set forth by me, the Knower of (the truth relating to both) the cause and the effect, from the standpoint of evolution and involution. Thus ends the twenty-fourth discourse in Book Eleven of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.