Text 4
yat-kāya eṣa bhuvana-traya-sanniveśo
yasyendriyais tanu-bhṛtām ubhayendriyāṇi
jñānaṁ svataḥ śvasanato balam oja īhā
sattvādibhiḥ sthiti-layodbhava ādi-kartā
yat-kāye — within whose body; eṣaḥ — this; bhuvana-traya — of the three planetary systems making up the universe; sanniveśaḥ — the elaborate arrangement; yasya — of whom; indriyaiḥ — by the senses; tanu-bhṛtām — of the embodied living beings; ubhaya-indriyāṇi — both kinds of senses (knowledge-acquiring and active); jñānam — knowledge; svataḥ — directly from Him; śvasanataḥ — from His breathing; balam — strength of the body; ojaḥ — strength of the senses; īhā — activities; sattva-ādibhiḥ — by nature’s modes of goodness, passion and ignorance; sthiti — in maintenance; laya — destruction; udbhave — and creation; ādi-kartā — the original doer.
Within His body are elaborately arranged the three planetary systems of this universe. His transcendental senses generate the knowledge-acquiring and active senses of all embodied beings. His consciousness generates conditioned knowledge, and His powerful breathing produces the bodily strength, sensory power and conditioned activities of the embodied souls. He is the prime mover, through the agency of the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. And thus the universe is created, maintained and annihilated.
When a conditioned soul becomes completely exhausted by his strenuous activities, or when he is overcome by disease, death or fear, he loses all power to manifest practical knowledge or activities. Thus we should understand that independent of the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead we can neither work nor cultivate knowledge. By the mercy of the Personality of Godhead the conditioned soul acquires a material body, which is a perverted reflection of the unlimited spiritual body of the Lord. Thus the living entity engages in ignorant materialistic activities for society, friendship and love. But the entire program suddenly vanishes with the unforeseen dissolution of the material body. Similarly, our material knowledge is always subject to become null and void within an instant, since the material nature is itself constantly changing. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the prime mover behind the birth, maintenance and destruction of the universe. And the living entity should try to understand that Personality of Godhead who has given him so much facility for illusion. The Personality of Godhead actually wants the conditioned soul to surrender to Him and regain an eternal life of bliss and knowledge at the Lord’s side. The conditioned soul should reason, “If the Lord is giving me so much facility to merge into ignorance, surely He will give even more facility to come out of this ignorance if I humbly follow His direction without foolish speculations.”
This verse describes Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the second phase of the puruṣa incarnations of the Lord. This Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is glorified in the Puruṣa-sūkta prayers, expands Himself as the Supersoul to enter the heart of every living being. Through chanting the holy names of the Lord — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare — even in this degraded age one can find the Supreme Lord within one’s heart. The Lord is a person as much as we are, but He is unlimited. Still, a personal loving relationship exists between the tiny living entity and the unlimited Supreme Lord. In consideration of this personal relationship, bhakti-yoga is the only suitable process by which to come to the ultimate understanding of our constitutional position as eternal servants of the Supreme Lord.