SB 2.2.35 ( In the light of modern science ...)

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>

> I think so too. In a good example, Srila Prabhupada walks readers

>through this subject step by step in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam,

>2.2.35.

 

> MDd

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2.2.35

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TEXT 35

 

bhagavan sarva-bhutesu

laksitah svatmana harih

drsyair buddhy-adibhir drusta

laksanair anumapakaih

bhagavan--the Personality of Godhead; sarva--all; bhutesu--in the living

entities; laksitah--is visible; sva-atmana--along with the self; harih--the

Lord; drsyaih--by what is seen; buddhi-adibhih--by intelligence; drasta--one

who sees; laksanaih--by different signs; anumapakaih--by hypothesis.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krsna is in every living being

along with the individual soul. And this fact is perceived and hypothesized

in our acts of seeing and taking help from the intelligence.

 

PURPORT

 

The general argument of the common man is that since the Lord is not

visible to our eyes, how can one either surrender unto Him or render

transcendental loving service unto Him? To such a common man, here is a

practical suggestion given by Srila Sukadeva Gosvami as to how one can

perceive the Supreme Lord by reason and perception. Actually the Lord is not

perceivable by our present materialized senses, but when one is convinced of

the presence of the Lord by a practical service attitude, there is a

revelation by the Lord's mercy, and such a pure devotee of the Lord can

perceive the Lord's presence always and everywhere. He can perceive that

intelligence is the form-direction of the Paramatma plenary portion of the

Personality of Godhead. The presence of Paramatma in everyone's company is

not very difficult to realize, even for the common man. The procedure is as

follows. One can perceive one's self-identification and feel positively that

he exists. He may not feel it very abruptly, but by using a little

intelligence, he can feel that he is not the body. He can feel that the

hand, the leg, the head, the hair and the limbs are all his bodily parts and

parcels, but as such the hand, the leg, the head, etc., cannot be identified

with his self. Therefore just by using intelligence he can distinguish and

separate his self from other things that he sees. So the natural conclusion

is that the living being, either man or beast, is the seer, and he sees

besides himself all other things. So there is a difference between the seer

and the seen. Now, by a little use of intelligence we can also readily agree

that the living being who sees the things beyond himself by ordinary vision

has no power to see or to move independently. All our ordinary actions and

perceptions depend on various forms of energy supplied to us by nature in

various combinations. Our senses of perception and of action, that is to

say, our five perceptive senses of (1) hearing, (2) touch, (3) sight, (4)

taste and (5) smell, as well as our five senses of action, namely (1) hands,

(2) legs, (3) speech, (4) evacuation organs and (5) reproductive organs, and

also our three subtle senses, namely (1) mind, (2) intelligence and (3) ego

(thirteen senses in all), are supplied to us by various arrangements of

gross or subtle forms of natural energy. And it is equally evident that our

objects of perception are nothing but the products of the inexhaustible

permutations and combinations of the forms taken by natural energy. As this

conclusively proves that the ordinary living being has no independent power

of perception or of motion, and as we undoubtedly feel our existence being

conditioned by nature's energy, we conclude that he who sees is spirit, and

that the senses as well as the objects of perception are material. The

spiritual quality of the seer is manifest in our dissatisfaction with the

limited state of materially conditioned existence. That is the difference

between spirit and matter. There are some less intelligent arguments that

matter develops the power of seeing and moving as a certain organic

development, but such an argument cannot be accepted because there is no

experimental evidence that matter has anywhere produced a living entity.

Trust no future, however pleasant. Idle talks regarding future development

of matter into spirit are actually foolish because no matter has ever

developed the power of seeing or moving in any part of the world. Therefore

it is definite that matter and spirit are two different identities, and this

conclusion is arrived at by the use of intelligence. Now we come to the

point that the things which are seen by a little use of intelligence cannot

be animate unless we accept someone as the user of or director of the

intelligence. Intelligence gives one direction like some higher authority,

and the living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the

use of intelligence. When one fails to take advantage of intelligence he

becomes a deranged man, and so a living being is dependent on intelligence

or the direction of a superior being. Such intelligence is all-pervading.

Every living being has his intelligence, and this intelligence, being the

direction of some higher authority, is just like a father giving direction

to his son. The higher authority, who is present and residing within every

individual living being, is the Superself.

At this point in our investigation, we may consider the following

question: on the one hand we realize that all our perceptions and activities

are conditioned by arrangements of material nature, yet we also ordinarily

feel and say, "I am perceiving" or "I am doing." Therefore we can say that

our material senses of perception and action are moving because we are

identifying the self with the material body, and that the superior principle

of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire. By taking

advantage of the guidance of Superself in the form of intelligence, we can

either continue to study and to put into practice our conclusion that "I am

not this body," or we can choose to remain in the false material

identification, fancying ourselves to be the possessors and doers. Our

freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant,

material misconception or the true, spiritual conception. We can easily

attain to the true, spiritual conception by recognizing the Superself

(Paramatma) to be our friend and guide and by dovetailing our intelligence

with the superior intelligence of Paramatma. The Superself and the

individual self are both spirit, and therefore the Superself and the

individual self are both qualitatively one and distinct from matter. But the

Superself and the individual self cannot be on an equal level because the

Superself gives direction or supplies intelligence and the individual self

follows the direction, and thus actions are performed properly. The

individual is completely dependent on the direction of the Superself because

in every step the individual self follows the direction of the Superself in

the matter of seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, willing, etc.

So far as common sense is concerned, we come to the conclusion that

there are three identities, namely matter, spirit and Superspirit. Now if we

go to the Bhagavad-gita, or the Vedic intelligence, we can further

understand that all three identities, namely matter, individual spirit, and

the Superspirit, are all dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Superself is a partial representation or plenary portion of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavad-gita affirms that the Supreme

Personality of Godhead dominates all over the material world by His partial

representation only. God is great, and He cannot be simply an order supplier

of the individual selves; therefore the Superself cannot be a full

representation of the Supreme Self, Purusottama, the Absolute Personality of

Godhead. Realization of the Superself by the individual self is the

beginning of self-realization, and by the progress of such self-realization

one is able to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead by intelligence,

by the help of authorized scriptures, and, principally, by the grace of the

Lord. The Bhagavad-gita is the preliminary conception of the Personality of

Godhead Sri Krsna, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is the further explanation of the

science of Godhead. So if we stick to our determination and pray for the

mercy of the director of intelligence sitting within the same bodily tree,

like a bird sitting with another bird (as explained in the Upanisads),

certainly the purport of the revealed information in the Vedas becomes clear

to our vision, and there is no difficulty in realizing the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. The intelligent man therefore, after many

births of such use of intelligence, surrenders himself at the lotus feet of

Vasudeva, as confirmed by the Bhagavad-gita (7.19).

 

 

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