Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 164, Is Virata-rupa material or

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Digest 164, April 18th, 2006. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

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Is Virata-rupa material or spiritual?

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Q. In the 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada regularly says that

the virat-rupa is a material manifestation. Yet in some places it is said that

it is manifested from the Lord's internal potency (3.6.35). I thought the

internal potency was completely spiritual. Can you please clarify this?

 

Answer: Material energy, or maya, which bewilders all conditioned souls, is

simply a partial expansion of the Lord's spiritual energy or yogamaya. Krishna

thus refers to this deluding material energy as "this Divine energy of Mine".

(see BG 7.14)

 

The relationship between these two energies is elaborately explained in the

description of how Yogamaya becomes Durgadevi and bewilders Kamsa, as follows.

In the Narada Pancaratra it is stated that the Supreme Personality has one

potency, Yogamaya, who in her partial expansion becomes Durga or Mahamaya and

bewilders the conditioned souls. As Yogamaya she transfers the pregnancy of

Devaki to Rohini, bewildering all parties concerned into thinking that Devaki

had a miscarriage and that Rohini's son is Balarama. Then she appears as the

daughter of Yasoda, then she is transfered by Vasudeva to the side of Devaki,

then presenting herself before Kamsa as Mahamaya, for Kamsa can have no access

to see or touch Yogamaya. [see Appendix to SB Canto 10 Ch 1]

 

The Brahma-samhita describes "chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga": The

external potency Maya, is of the nature of the "shadow" of the cit potency, and

is worshiped by all people as Durga. [bS. 5.44] The mahamaya-sakti, however, is

a partial expansion of yogamaya, who serves to keep unqualified jivas from

directly confronting and offending Krishna, and thus she is called the covering

potency. In conclusion, bewildering the conditioned souls (indirectly thru her

shadow expansion) and liberating the devotees (directly, thru the agency of

devotional service to Krishna) are both functions belonging to Yogamaya.

 

Thus the virat rupa, although a temporary manifestation and not one of the

Lord's eternal forms in the spiritual sky and therefore can be understood as

material, it can still be considered as manifested from the Lord's internal

potency in the above sense - as a form exhibited for the conditioned souls.

 

Srila Prabhupada sums this up in the following purport quoted below, drawing

somewhat of a parallel with the arca vigraha of the Lord within the material

world, that Krishna's manifestation in these forms is the inconceivable

performance by the internal potency of the Lord. "In spite of their material

touch, such forms of the Lord as the virat and arca are all non-different from

His eternal form as Lord Krishna." (SB 3.6.4)

 

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