BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:8

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:8

 

asatyam apratistham te

jagad ahur anisvaram

aparaspara-sambhutam

kim anyat kama-haitukam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

asatyam--unreal; apratistham--without foundation; te--they; jagat--the

cosmic manifestation; ahuh--say; anisvaram--with no controller;

aparaspara--without cause; sambhutam--arisen; kim anyat--there is no

other cause; kama-haitukam--it is due to lust only.

 

TRANSLATION

 

They say that this world is unreal, with no foundation, no God in

control. They say it is produced of sex desire and has no cause other

than lust.

 

PURPORT

 

The demonic conclude that the world is phantasmagoria. There is no

cause and effect, no controller, no purpose: everything is unreal.

They say that this cosmic manifestation arises due to chance material

actions and reactions. They do not think that the world was created by

God for a certain purpose. They have their own theory: that the world

has come about in its own way and that there is no reason to believe

that there is a God behind it. For them there is no difference between

spirit and matter, and they do not accept the Supreme Spirit.

Everything is matter only, and the whole cosmos is supposed to be a

mass of ignorance. According to them, everything is void, and whatever

manifestation exists is due to our ignorance in perception. They take

it for granted that all manifestation of diversity is a display of

ignorance. Just as in a dream we may create so many things which

actually have no existence, so when we are awake we shall see that

everything is simply a dream. But factually, although the demons say

that life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream. And

so, instead of acquiring knowledge, they become more and more

implicated in their dreamland. They conclude that as a child is simply

the result of sexual intercourse between man and woman, this world is

born without any soul. For them it is only a combination of matter

that has produced the living entities, and there is no question of the

existence of the soul. As many living creatures come out from

perspiration and from a dead body without any cause, the whole living

world has come out of the material combinations of the cosmic

manifestation. Therefore material nature is the cause of this

manifestation, and there is no other cause. They do not believe in the

words of Krsna in Bhagavad-gita: mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate

sa-caracaram. "Under My direction the whole material world is moving."

In other words, among the demons there is no perfect knowledge of the

creation of the world; every one of them has some particular theory of

his own. According to them, one interpretation of the scriptures is as

good as another, for they do not believe in a standard understanding

of the scriptural injunctions.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.