BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:22

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:22

 

purusah sa parah partha

bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya

yasyantah-sthani bhutani

yena sarvam idam tatam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

purusah--the Supreme Personality; sah--He; parah--the Supreme, than

whom no one is greater; partha--O son of Prtha; bhaktya--by devotional

service; labhyah--can be achieved; tu--but; ananyaya--unalloyed,

undeviating; yasya--whom; antah-sthani--within; bhutani--all of this

material manifestation; yena--by whom; sarvam--all; idam--whatever we

can see; tatam--is pervaded.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is

attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode,

He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

 

PURPORT

 

It is here clearly stated that the supreme destination, from which

there is no return, is the abode of Krsna, the Supreme Person. The

Brahma-samhita describes this supreme abode as ananda-cinmaya-rasa, a

place where everything is full of spiritual bliss. All the

variegatedness manifest there is of the quality of spiritual

bliss--nothing there is material. That variegatedness is expanded as

the spiritual expansion of the Supreme Godhead Himself, for the

manifestation there is totally of the spiritual energy, as explained

in Chapter Seven. As far as this material world is concerned, although

the Lord is always in His supreme abode, He is nonetheless

all-pervading by His material energy. So by His spiritual and material

energies He is present everywhere--both in the material and in the

spiritual universes. Yasyantah-sthani means that everything is

sustained within Him, within either His spiritual or material energy.

The Lord is all-pervading by these two energies.

 

To enter Krsna's supreme abode or the innumerable Vaikuntha planets is

possible only by bhakti, devotional service, as clearly indicated here

by the word bhaktya. No other process can help one attain that supreme

abode. The Vedas (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 3.2) also describe the

supreme abode and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Eko vasi

sarva-gah krsnah. In that abode there is only one Supreme Personality

of Godhead, whose name is Krsna. He is the supreme merciful Deity, and

although situated there as one He has expanded Himself into millions

and millions of plenary expansions. The Vedas compare the Lord to a

tree standing still yet bearing many varieties of fruits, flowers and

changing leaves. The plenary expansions of the Lord who preside over

the Vaikuntha planets are four-armed, and they are known by a variety

of names--Purusottama, Trivikrama, Kesava, Madhava, Aniruddha,

Hrsikesa, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, Sridhara, Vasudeva, Damodara,

Janardana, Narayana, Vamana, Padmanabha, etc.

 

The Brahma-samhita (5.37) also confirms that although the Lord is

always in the supreme abode, Goloka Vrndavana, He is all-pervading, so

that everything is going on nicely (goloka eva nivasaty

akhilatma-bhutah). As stated in the Vedas (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8),

parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate/ svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca: His

energies are so expansive that they systematically conduct everything

in the cosmic manifestation without a flaw, although the Supreme Lord

is far, far away.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.