The Glory of God : A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam : 5. Swami Krishnananda

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Ananta Padmanabhaswamy Temple : Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. 

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08/08/2019
Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -5.
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So, the origin of action – everybody’s action, up to the action of the atom – is impelled by this great Action of the Purusha – bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargaḥ karmasamjnitah.

Really speaking, there are not many actions taking place in the world in terms of various individualities. One Action is taking place, as the rumbling of thousands of waves in the ocean is actually the one action of the ocean itself. Many actions are not taking place in the ocean; it is one impulse of the root and the heart of the bowels of the ocean that rises up as the waves. One action is taking place in the ocean; One Action is taking place in this cosmos also.

Adhibhutam ksharo bhavah.

The perishable nature of all things is called adhibhuta prapancha, the externalised projected form of physical nature. The very fact of being external is a tendency to evolution and destruction. Everything in this world evolves from the lower level to the higher level. What is called evolution is nothing but the destruction of the earlier process for the birth of a new process.

This takes place in one’s own body in the form of growth and decay, and it also happens in the world outside in a cosmic evolutionary process. No one can live without dying in their earlier condition, and we could not have grown into the adults that we are if the earlier babyhood had not been transcended by the decomposition of those constituents of baby individuality into the adulthood in which we are placed now – bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargaḥ karmasamjnitah.

Action is cosmic action, and the characteristic of all visible physical things is its perishable nature –

bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargah karmasamjnitah (Gita 8.3);

adhibhutam ksharo bhavah puruṣhas cadhidaivatam (Gita 8.4).

The Purusha, who is the principle of cosmic sacrifice as we have it described in the Purusha Sukta, is also the indwelling presence in all our hearts. He is the source of individual sacrifices and right action, virtuous action, etc. He is the impeller from the recesses of our own heart. This is the source of individual impulses.

Adhiyajnoham evatra (Gita 8.4) – the field of activity is also God Himself.

God is the director of the drama of creation, as also the actor. He does not employ people to act in the theater. He himself appears as all the actors in all forms of manifestation, and he also directs it from another point of view. He is the performer as well as the witness of all performances.

To be continued ...

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