2016-10-26 Srimad Bhagavatam 10.87.02 - Epitome of Pleasing Devotees (download mp3) by Murlidhar Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty www.iskcondesiretree.com SB 10.87.2sri-suka uvacabuddhindriya-manah-pranan jananam asrjat prabhuhmatrartham ca bhavartham ca atmane ’kalpanaya ca Translation: Sukadeva Gosvami said: The Supreme Lord manifested the material intelligence, senses, mind and vital air of the living entities so that they could indulge their desires for sense gratification, take repeated births to engage in fruitive activities, become elevated in future lives and ultimately attain liberation. Purport: At the dawn of creation, when the conditioned living entities lay dormant within the transcendental body of Lord Visnu, He initiated the process of creation by sending forth the coverings of intelligence, mind and so on for the living entities’ benefit. As stated here, Visnu is the independent Lord (prabhu), and the living entities are His jana, dependents. Thus we should understand that the Lord creates the cosmos entirely for the living entities’ sake; compassion is His sole motive. By providing the living entities with gross and subtle bodies, the Supreme Lord enables them to pursue sense gratification and, in the human form, religiosity, economic development and liberation. In each body the conditioned soul utilizes his senses for enjoyment, and when he comes to the human form he must also discharge various duties assigned to him at the different stages of his life. If he faithfully discharges his duties, he earns more refined and extensive enjoyment in the future; if not, he is degraded. And when the soul eventually hankers to be freed from material life, the path of liberation is always available. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti comments that in this verse the repeated use of the word ca (“and”) indicates the importance of all of what the Lord provides — not only the path of liberation, but also the paths of gradual elevation through religious life and appropriate sense enjoyment. In all their endeavors the living entities depend on the Lord’s mercy for success. Without intelligence, senses, mind and vital air, the living entities cannot achieve anything — neither elevation to heaven, purification through knowledge, perfection of the eightfold meditational yoga, nor pure devotion through following the process of bhakti-yoga, beginning with hearing and chanting the names of God. How, then, if the Supreme arranges all these facilities for the conditioned souls’ welfare, can He be impersonal? Far from presenting the Absolute Truth as ultimately impersonal, the Upanisads speak at great length about His personal qualities. The Absolute described by the Upanisads is free from all inferior, material qualities, and yet He is omniscient, omnipotent, the master and controller of all, the universally worshipable Lord, He who awards the results of everyone’s work, and the reservoir of all eternity, knowledge and bliss. The Mundaka Upanisad (1.1.9) states, yah sarva-jñah sa sarva-vid yasya jñana-mayam tapah: “He who is all-knowing, from whom the potency of all knowledge comes — He is the wisest of all.” In the words of the Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad (4.4.22, 3.7.3, and 1.2.4), sarvasya vasi sarvasyesanah: “He is the Lord and controller of everyone”; yah prthivyam tisthan prthivya antarah: “He who resides within the earth and pervades it”; and so ’kamayata bahu syam: “He desired, ‘I will become many.’” Similarly, the Aitareya Upanisad (3.11) states, sa aiksata tat tejo ’srjata: “He glanced at His potency, who then manifested the creation,” while the Taittiriya Upanisad (2.1.1) declares, satyam jñanam anantam brahma: “The Supreme is unlimited truth and knowledge.” The phrase tat tvam asi, “You are that” (Chandogya Upanisad 6.8.7), is often cited by impersonalists as a confirmation of the absolute identity of the finite jiva soul with his creator. Sankaracarya and his followers elevate these words to the status of one of the few maha-vaky