SB 04 22 38 - Bhanu Swami - 2010-05.mp3	13.5 MB
SB 04 22 38 - Gurusevananda Prabhu - ISKCON Mayapur 2011-12-24.mp3	18.7 MB

yasminn idam sad-asad-atmataya vibhati

maya viveka-vidhuti sraji vahi-buddhih

tam nitya-mukta-parisuddha-visuddha-tattvam

pratyudha-karma-kalila-prakrtim prapadye

 

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself as one with the cause and effect within this body, but one who has transcended the illusory energy by deliberate consideration, which clears the misconception of a snake for a rope, can understand that the Paramatma is eternally transcendental to the material creation and situated in pure internal energy. Thus the Lord is transcendental to all material contamination. Unto Him only must one surrender.

 

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:

 

This verse is specifically stated to defy the Mayavada conclusion of oneness without differentiation between the individual soul and the Supersoul. The Mayavada conclusion is that the living entity and the Supersoul are one; there is no difference. The Mayavadis proclaim that there is no separate existence outside the impersonal Brahman and that the feeling of separation is maya, or an illusion, by which one considers a rope to be a snake. The rope-and-the-snake argument is generally offered by the Mayavadi philosophers. Therefore these words, which represent vivarta-vada, are specifically mentioned herein. Actually Paramatma, the Supersoul, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is eternally liberated. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living within this body along with the individual soul, and this is confirmed in the Vedas. They are likened to two friends sitting on the same tree. Yet Paramatma is above the illusory energy. The illusory energy is called bahiranga sakti, or external energy, and the living entity is called tatastha sakti, or marginal potency. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, the material energy, represented as earth, water, air, fire, sky, etc., and the spiritual energy, the living entity, are both energies of the Supreme Lord. Even though the energies and the energetic are identical, the living entity, individual soul, being prone to be influenced by the external energy, considers the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be one with himself.

 

The word prapadye is also significant in this verse, for it refers to the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita (18.66): sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. In another place the Lord says, bahunam janmanam ante jñanavan mam prapadyate (Bg. 7.19). This prapadye or saranam vraja refers to the individual’s surrender to the Supersoul. The individual soul, when surrendered, can understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although situated within the heart of the individual soul, is superior to the individual soul. The Lord is always transcendental to the material manifestation, even though it appears that the Lord and the material manifestation are one and the same. According to the Vaisnava philosophy, He is one and different simultaneously. The material energy is a manifestation of His external potency, and since the potency is identical with the potent, it appears that the Lord and individual soul are one; but actually the individual soul is under the influence of material energy, and the Lord is always transcendental to it. Unless the Lord is superior to the individual soul, there is no question of prapadye, or surrender unto Him. This word prapadye refers to the process of devotional service. Simply by nondevotional speculation on the rope and the snake, one cannot approach the Absolute Truth. Therefore devotional service is stressed as more important than deliberation or mental speculation to understand the Absolute Truth.