Chapter Six
Puruṣa-sūkta Confirmed
TEXT 1
brahmovāca
vācāṁ vahner mukhaṁ kṣetraṁ
chandasāṁ sapta dhātavaḥ
havya-kavyāmṛtānnānāṁ
jihvā sarva-rasasya ca
SYNONYMS
brahmā uvāca—Lord Brahmā said; vācām—of the voice; vahneḥ—of fire; mukham—the mouth; kṣetram—the generating center; chandasām—of the Vedic hymns, such as Gāyatrī; sapta—seven; dhātavaḥ—skin and six other layers; havya-kavya—offerings for the demigods and the forefathers; amṛta—food for human beings; annānām—of all sorts of foodstuffs; jihvā—the tongue; sarva—all; rasasya—of all delicacies; ca—also.
TRANSLATION
Lord Brahmā said: The mouth of the virāṭ-puruṣa [the universal form of the Lord] is the generating center of the voice, and the controlling deity is fire. His skin and six other layers are the generating centers of the Vedic hymns, and His tongue is the productive center of different foodstuffs and delicacies for offering to the demigods, the forefathers and the general mass of people.
PURPORT
The opulences of the universal form of the Lord are described herein. It is said that His mouth is the generating center of all kinds of voices, and its controlling deity is the fire demigod. And His skin and other six layers of bodily construction are the representative generating centers of the seven kinds of Vedic hymns, like the Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī is the beginning of all Vedic mantras, and it is explained in the first volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Since the generating centers are the different parts of the universal form of the Lord, and since the form of the Lord is transcendental to the material creation, it is to be understood that the voice, the tongue, the skin, etc., suggest that the Lord in His transcendental form is not without them. The material voice, or the energy of taking in foodstuff, is generated originally from the Lord; such actions are but perverted reflections of the original reservoirs-the transcendental situation is not without spiritual variegatedness. In the spiritual world, all the perverted forms of material variegatedness are fully represented in their original spiritual identity. The only difference is that material activities are contaminated by the three modes of material nature, whereas the potencies in the spiritual world are all pure because they are engaged in the unalloyed transcendental loving service of the Lord. In the spiritual world, the Lord is the sublime enjoyer of everything, and the living entities there are all engaged in His transcendental loving service without any contamination of the modes of material nature. The activities in the spiritual world are without any of the inebrieties of the material world, but there is no question of impersonal voidness on the spiritual platform, as suggested by the impersonalists. Devotional service is defined in the Nārada-pañcarātra as follows:
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
[Cc. Madhya 19.170]
Originally, since all the senses are produced of the Lord's reservoir of senses, the sensual activities of the material world are to be purified by the process of devotional service, and thus the perfection of life can be attained simply by purifying the present position of our material activities. And the purifying process begins from the stage of being liberated from the conception of different designations. Every living entity is engaged in some sort of service, either for the self, or for the family, or for the society, country, etc., but, unfortunately, all such services are rendered due to material attachment. The attachments of the material affinity may be simply changed to the service of the Lord, and thus the treatment of being freed from material attachment begins automatically. The process of liberation is therefore easier through devotional service than by any other methods, for in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) it is said that one is subjected to various kinds of tribulations if one is impersonally attached: kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām.
TEXT 2
sarvāsūnāṁ ca vāyoś ca
tan-nāse paramāyaṇe
aśvinor oṣadhīnāṁ ca
ghrāṇo moda-pramodayoḥ
SYNONYMS
sarva—all; asūnām—different kinds of life air; ca—and; vāyoḥ—of the air; ca—also; tat—His; nāse—in the nose; parama-āyaṇe—in the transcendental generating center; aśvinoḥ—of the Aśvinī-kumāra demigods; oṣadhīnām—of all medicinal herbs; ca—also; ghrāṇaḥ—His smelling power; moda—pleasure; pramodayoḥ—specific sport.
TRANSLATION
His two nostrils are the generating centers of our breathing and of all other airs, His smelling powers generate the Aśvinī-kumāra demigods and all kinds of medicinal herbs, and His breathing energies produce different kinds of fragrance.
TEXT 3
rūpāṇāṁ tejasāṁ cakṣur
divaḥ sūryasya cākṣiṇī
karṇau diśāṁ ca tīrthānāṁ
śrotram ākāśa-śabdayoḥ
SYNONYMS
rūpāṇām—for all kinds of forms; tejasām—of all that is illuminating; cakṣuḥ—the eyes; divaḥ—that which glitters; sūryasya—of the sun; ca—also; akṣiṇī—the eyeballs; karṇau—the ears; diśām—of all directions; ca—and; tīrthānām—of all the Vedas; śrotram—the sense of hearing; ākāśa—the sky; śabdayoḥ—of all sounds.
TRANSLATION
His eyes are the generating centers of all kinds of forms, and they glitter and illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun and the heavenly planets. His ears hear from all sides and are receptacles for all the Vedas, and His sense of hearing is the generating center of the sky and of all kinds of sound.
PURPORT
The word tīrthānām is sometimes interpreted to mean the places of pilgrimage, but Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that it means the reception of the Vedic transcendental knowledge. The propounders of the Vedic knowledge are also known as the tīrthas.
TEXT 4
tad-gātraṁ vastu-sārāṇāṁ
saubhagasya ca bhājanam
tvag asya sparśa-vāyoś ca
sarva-medhasya caiva hi
SYNONYMS
tat—His; gātram—bodily surface; vastu-sārāṇām—of the active principles of all articles; saubhagasya—of all auspicious opportunities; ca—and; bhājanam—the field of production; tvak—skin; asya—His; sparśa—touch; vāyoḥ—of the moving airs; ca—also; sarva—all kinds of; medhasya—of sacrifices; ca—also; eva—certainly; hi—exactly.
TRANSLATION
His bodily surface is the breeding ground for the active principles of everything and for all kinds of auspicious opportunities. His skin, like the moving air, is the generating center for all kinds of sense of touch and is the place for performing all kinds of sacrifice.
PURPORT
The air is the moving agent of all the planets, and as such the generating centers for promotion to the deserving planets, the sacrifices, are His bodily surface and are naturally the origin of all auspicious opportunities.
TEXT 5
romāṇy udbhijja-jātīnāṁ
yair vā yajñas tu sambhṛtaḥ
keśa-śmaśru-nakhāny asya
śilā-lohābhra-vidyutām
SYNONYMS
romāṇi—hairs on the body; udbhijja—vegetables; jātīnām—of the kingdoms; yaiḥ—by which; vā—either; yajñaḥ—sacrifices; tu—but; sambhṛtaḥ—particularly served; keśa—hairs on the head; śmaśru—facial hair; nakhāni—nails; asya—of Him; śilā—stones; loha—iron ores; abhra—clouds; vidyutām—electricity.
TRANSLATION
The hairs on His body are the cause of all vegetation, particularly of those trees which are required as ingredients for sacrifice. The hairs on His head and face are reservoirs for the clouds, and His nails are the breeding ground of electricity, stones and iron ores.
PURPORT
The polished nails of the Lord generate electricity, and the clouds rest on the hairs of His head. One can therefore collect all sorts of necessities of life from the person of the Lord, and therefore the Vedas affirm that everything that is produced is caused by the Lord. The Lord is the supreme cause of all causes.
TEXT 6
bāhavo loka-pālānāṁ
prāyaśaḥ kṣema-karmaṇām
SYNONYMS
bāhavaḥ—arms; loka-pālānām—of the governing deities of the planets, the demigods; prāyaśaḥ—almost always; kṣema-karmaṇām—of those who are leaders and protectors of the general mass.
TRANSLATION
The Lord's arms are the productive fields for the great demigods and other leaders of the living entities who protect the general mass.
PURPORT
This important verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is corroborated and nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.41-42) as follows:
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ
śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ
mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam
athavā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat
There are many powerful kings, leaders, learned scholars, scientists, artists, engineers, inventors, excavators, archaeologists, industrialists, politicians, economists, business magnates, and many more powerful deities or demigods like Brahmā, Śiva, Indra, Candra, Sūrya, Varuṇa and Marut, who are all protecting the interest of the universal affairs of maintenance, in different positions, and all of them are different powerful parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the father of all living entities, who are placed in different high and low positions according to their desires or aspirations. Some of them, as particularly mentioned above, are specifically endowed with powers by the will of the Lord. A sane person must know for certain that a living being, however powerful he may be, is neither absolute nor independent. All living beings must accept the origin of their specific power as mentioned in this verse. And if they act accordingly, then simply by discharging their respective occupational duties they can achieve the highest perfection of life, namely eternal life, complete knowledge and inexhaustible blessings. As long as the powerful men of the world do not accept the origin of their respective powers, namely the Personality of Godhead, the actions of māyā (illusion) will continue to act. The actions of māyā are such that a powerful person, misled by the illusory, material energy, wrongly accepts himself as all in all and does not develop God consciousness. As such, the false sense of egoism (namely myself and mine) has become overly prominent in the world, and there is a hard struggle for existence in human society. The intelligent class of men, therefore, must admit the Lord as the ultimate source of all energies and thus pay tribute to the Lord for His good blessings. Simply by accepting the Lord as the supreme proprietor of everything, since He is actually so, one can achieve the highest perfection of life. Whatever a person may be in the estimation of the social order of things, if a person tries to reciprocate a feeling of love towards the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is satisfied with the blessings of the Lord, he will at once feel the highest peace of mind for which he is hankering life after life. Peace of mind, or in other words the healthy state of mind, can be achieved only when the mind is situated in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The parts and parcels of the Lord are endowed with specific powers for rendering service unto the Lord, just as a big business magnate's sons are empowered with specific powers of administration. The obedient son of the father never goes against the will of the father and therefore passes life very peacefully in concurrence with the head of the family, the father. Similarly, the Lord being the father, all living beings should fully and satisfactorily discharge the duty and will of the father, as faithful sons. This very mentality will at once bring peace and prosperity to human society.
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