Srimad Bhagavatam, The Natural Commentary On Vedanta-Sutra

H.H. SUHOTRA SWAMI

VIHE SEMINAR, RADHADESH, 1993

----------------------------------------------------------------------------References:
1) Haridas Pandit (Sastri): Vedanta-darsana
Collection of verses from SB pertaining to Vedanta-sutra.
2) Further research by Suhotra Swami choosing another (better) verses utilizing
Srila Prabhupada's translations and purports with the help of Folio program.
3) Bhaktivinod Thakur: Bhagavata-arca-marici-mala
Compendium of SB verses

Vedanta-sutra is collections of codes (sutra, very concise statement)

expressing philosophical ideas drawn from the Vedas, esp. from the Upanisads.
Mostly all of this is of concern to jnana-yogis, not to bhakti-yogis.
Vedanta-sutra is a sort of philosophical gunfight between Srila Vyasadeva and
the known six systems of Vedic philosophy, impersonal Vedanta, four schools of
Buddhism and jainism. Srila Vyasadeva puts continually their arguments and
defeats them.
As long as material world is manifest, these systems of philosophy eternally
recurr. Buddha, for example, will appear after 2500 years. Even in the Rig Veda
is presented some philosophical discussion and there are about ten philosophies
mentioned and one of them quite resembles Buddhism.
Aim of Vedanta-sutra is to establish `vedanta', conclusion of the Vedas,
presented in the Upanisads (philosophical portion of the Vedas) as the ultimate
explanation the Absolute Truth. The other philosophies are also drawn from the
Vedas, but they are incomplete, imperfect.
The Srimad Bhagavatam, `artho yam brahma-sutranam', is Srila Vyasadeva's own
natural commentary on Vedanta-sutra. To read it is quite difficult, because of
its voluminous nature and sometimes deep philosophy. These references to

Vedanta-sutra proven to be very helpful in bringing to the sharp focus the

background philosophical issues which are profoundly relevant to our
understanding of SB.

Refutations of atheistic Sankhya philosophy

There are two Sankhya philosophies. One is Bhagavata Sankhya taught by

Devahuti-putra Kapiladeva in the SB 3.Canto and is not different from KC
philosophy. The word `sankhya' in Sanskrit means `to count'; it is the
explanation of the material world in terms of elements, numbers of elements and
how they function together. The Bhagavat Sankhya philosophy presents the
ultimate tattva (all these elements are called tattvas), isvara-tattva, Sri
Krsna.
There is another Sankhya philosophy, Nirisvara Sankhya, taught by impostor
Kapila. It seems that this atheistic philosophy came about in response to the
challenge of Buddhism to the entire Vedic civilization. Buddhists rejected the
Vedas and began to set up in India a kind of alternative culture. It was very
powerful within the first thousand years after Buddha. The prevailing
atmosphere at that time was so atheistic that a serious philosophical
discussion was in position, just like today, if someone starts to talk about
God, he is just laughed off the stage... Therefore some of the Sankhya
philosophers started to preach a type of Sankhya which just did not account for
Supreme Being. It is still current in India today.
Srila Prabhupada draws a very stark parallel between that atheistic Sankhya
philosophy and philosophy of modern materialistic science. There is a clear
common ground both hold that the creation is the spontaneous effect of
material nature which alone creates.
In atheistic Sankhya philosophy there are two ultimate tattvas, ultimate
realities. One is the prakriti, in its most primeval form called pradhana,
primeval material nature. The other one is purusa, the individual soul. So
Sankhya philosophy recognizes the existence of spirit and in today's atheistic,
materialistic science some scientists hold that consciousness should be counted
as real element. But they are in the minority. Generally the scientists are
just gross materialists. But that does not amount very much to the difference,
because the atheistic Sankhya philosophers don't ascribe any function to the
spirit. Spirit just exists and is conscious, but has no power to act. It is the
prakriti that spontaneously does everything. It is very similar to modern
materialistic science.

According to SB, pradhana, or the primeval material nature, is unknowable.

This is very significant. Sutra refuting this atheistic Sankhya position:
jneyatva avacanat ca There is no statement in the Vedas, that the pradhana

is object of knowledge.
In other words, there is no support for the idea, that pradhana can be
understood by living entity, human being.
This undercuts the whole position of the atheistic Sankhya philosophy because
their whole premise is that when one knows material nature, its original form
as it is, all the secret workings, when one has penetrated the inner secrets of
material nature, then one will be liberated. That is the secret of liberation.
Today's material scientists say the same thing, of course, their conception
of liberation is little bit different... Sci-fi visions of liberation.
Liberation means liberation from distress.

SB 3.26.10 the basic definition of pradhana and prakriti.

...The unmanifested eternal combination of the three modes is the cause of the
manifest state and is called pradhana. It is called prakriti when in manifest
stage of existence.

SB 12.4.20-21 the pradhana is unknowable.

...sunya vat...
...The situation is just like of a complete sleep or a voidness. Indeed, it is
indescribable...since pradhana is the original substance, it is the actual
basis of material creation.

It means that the research of atheistic Sankhya philosophers (and modern

scientists) will never be completed, it is totally futile.
Pradhana appears to be nothing, but it is so complex that none can understand
it. Mathematicians need pages of calculation to describe this seeming void.
This is very significant understanding; people who argue that everything
appeared from nothing just reached the limit of the power of their knowledge.
They can't go beyond.

Argument of the atheistic Sankhya philosophy:

The Vedic scriptures indicate that the pradhana is aja, unborn, or
beginningless. Therefore it exists as separate, parallel tattva to purusa.
In other words, the atheistic Sankhya philosophy is ultimately dualistic;
there are two Absolute Truths.

SB 10.87.31
Neither material nature nor the soul who tries to enjoy her are ever born
(ajayor). Yet living bodies coming to being when these two combine just as
bubbles form where water meets the air. And just as rivers merge into the
ocean, or the nectar from many different flowers blend into honey, so all these
conditioned living beings eventually merge back into You, the Supreme, with
their various names and qualities.
The example of nectar from many different flowers which blend together into
honey is very significant. It is used to illustrate what happens at the time of
the cosmic dissolution, the maha-pralaya, when the universes enter into the
body of Maha-Visnu. So there is pradhana, the material energy, and there are
the purusas, the souls. So they merge together as nectar from different flowers
merge together into honey. That merging doesn't mean that they disappear; they
have simply been condensed, combined, amalgamated together. And with the next
cosmic manifestation this amalgamation will come out again and everything will
become distinct as it was before.
This sheds very important light on this point of aja, that prakriti and
purusa are beginningless. So they are beginningless, or unborn, but they are
subordinate. This is the point.
From the purport: Prakriti thus serves as the upadana-karana, or ingredient
cause of creation. In the ultimate issue, however, since she is also an
expansion of the Supreme Lord, it is the Lord alone Who is the ingredient cause
as well as the efficient cause.

[Upadana-karana = material cause or ingredient cause; the substance, matter.

Mita-karana = efficient cause or operative cause; one who puts ingredients
together.
Antaryami (Sanskrit: inner ruler or guide, Supersoul) = formal cause; the form
of object. CC: Supersoul gives form to the universe from within.
Artha-visesa = final cause; the purpose.]

According to Vedanta philosophy, SB, Krsna is all four these causes. But in
each stage of causation He is displaying the particular lila. So in this
upadana-karana, this lila of material cause, He is expanded as the pradhana,
prakriti. This is His form that He uses to give the ingredients to everything.
The pradhana is Krsna's energy, but yet it is nondifferent from Him; it is
beginningless and yet it is subordinate to Him. It is not independent from the
Lord. This is mistake of atheistic Sankhya philosophers.

SB 2.10.45 Krsna is always aloof; His energies are working and in this way

these four causations are taking place. He is always enjoying but still the
Vedic scriptures say that Lord is the ultimate cause of everything (verse:) to
counteract the idea that material nature is independent.
From the purport: ...the material nature therefore produces the moving and
standing manifestations of the material world after being contacted by the
Supreme Father, and not independently.
Lord glances at material nature and thus everything begins. The pradhana then
becomes energized by the time energy, kala-siseksa (time is that very glance of
Maha-Visnu that energizes the pradhana and sets it to motion).

SB 3.26.4-5 Material creation is lila of the Lord; it is simply His mercy

that He glances at the material nature. He is never entangled in the material
creation.
Another point from the purport: Energy emanated from the Lord manifests in
two ways: as an emanation from the Supreme Lord and as a covering of the Lords'
face. BG: example of the cloud; to the sun the cloud is creation of it's
energy, but to the ordinary common men in a conditioned state it is covering to
the eyes because of the cloud the sun can not be seen.
For those who are under the control of material nature this material nature
is covering, it is bewildering. So, again, it is another reason why is this
study of material nature to find the truth futile; it is one of the very
profound functions of the material nature to cover the Absolute Truth. We can't
get around the cloud, it is stretching from horizon to horizon. From Krsna's
point of view the cloud is very insignificant thing.
The material creation is lila for the Lord. For those who want to imitate
rather than serve the Lord, they become captivated by the material nature. It
is not that every living entity who comes into this creation is so captivated.
Because it is the lila the pure devotees participate with Lord like, for
instance, Narada Muni by preaching.
Another nice point: It is a fact that there are two classes of men; those
who are obedient to the laws of the Supreme and those who are atheists, or
agnostics. They do not accept the existence of the Lord and want to create
their own laws. This is very significant because we are speaking about Sankhya
philosophy. Sankhya philosophy is a clear example of this phenomena
conditioned souls who are rebellious and want to create their own laws. That is
what all these nontheistic, or non-Bhagavata philosophies are. They are just
invented laws by persons who want to be in maya. Therefore we call them
Mayavadis.
Pradhana is sustained by the brahmajyoti. In the Vedanta-sutra this is called
jyotir upa-krama (it exists within light, in the jyoti within the Brahman
effulgence of the Lord.)
SB 4.9.16 The research to the origin of the material nature ultimately ends

up in the impersonal brahmajyoti.

Argument of atheistic Sankhya philosophers why material nature spontaneously

gives rise to the creation: They say when the material nature comes into
proximity with the souls then there is a kind of mutual interaction or
attraction, as between a piece of metal and a magnet. You bring them together,
they are attracted and they combine. They say that this spontaneous combination
is the manifestation, or creation.
SB 5.18.39 Magnetic attraction causes Lord's glance.
SB 7.5.14 When one is cleansed from all designation one will be naturally
attracted to Krsna.
If we are spirit then why should we be attracted to the matter? The Sankhya
philosophers have no answer for that. But here the answer is given: we are
attracted to matter because we are not attracted to Krsna. We are meant to be
attracted to Krsna. The Lord is the ultimate principle of attraction.

Vedic literature describes the Supreme Lord as sat, the real, the truth, and
this material world is described as asat, the unreal. The atheistic Sankhya
philosophers argue against this. Their philosophy is dualistic and thus they
can not agree with the statement that this material world is asat, unreal. They
take it be a tattva, a truth. Their argument is that the Vaisnava Vedantists
contradict themselves because they also sometimes say that this world is real,
that the origin of everything is the Supreme Truth, the sat, and they also say
that this material world is asat. They distinguish between the two sat is
God, asat is material world. How this all put together? If they say that the
sat is the origin and the asat is the emanation then how is it that the sat and
asat can be together in the beginning? How is it that the unreal emanates from
the real?
What does a devotee mean when he says that the material world is real?
SB 10.2.26 ...the Lord is the active principle, the real truth in all the
ingredients of creation, ... the beginning of all truth.
From the purport: Example of a lump of clay and a clay pot. The pradhana is
comparable to the lump of clay and from this lump of clay one can make a clay
pot. In ingredient the clay lump and the clay pot are the same but there is a
difference in name and form and the clay pot can be easily destroyed.
Krsna is sat, eternally real, and in His lila of creation He manifests as the
pradhana, the upadana-karana, material cause. This is also sat, that is His
energy, real. From this pradhana come at the time of manifestation the names
and the forms of this material existence which are asat. This is what is meant.
The substance, vastu, of existence is real but in this material world it
assumes temporary forms. They are asat, unreal, ultimately meaningless. To be

in maya means to become attached to the unreal names and forms that appear in
this material world. Substance is not maya, but the attachment to the temporary
forms, that is maya.

Argument of atheistic Sankhya philosophers that Vaisnava philosophy is

pantheistic: If the example of clay lump and clay pot is given and it is said
that the substance is God therefore it is said that God is everything. God is
everywhere. This is also not correct. Next verse refutes it.
SB 3.21.19 O Personality of Godhead, desiring to create these universes, You
create them, maintain them and again wind them up by Your own energies which
are under the control of Your second energy called yogamaya just as a spider
creates a cobweb by its own energy and again winds it up.
This is very instructive analogy to help us understand the realtionship between
the Lord Himself and His expanded energies in form of pradhana and prakriti.
From the purport: The spider is individual living entity, by its energy it
creates a cobweb and plays on it and whenever it likes it, winds up the cobweb
thus ending the play. When the cobweb is manufactured by the saliva of the
spider, the spider does not become impersonal. Similarly, the creation and
manifestation of the material or the spiritual energy does not render the
creator impersonal.
Prabhupada explains that when devotee observes this material creation he sees
Krsna. What it means can be easily understood by the same example. When we see
cobweb we don't think that it is the work of the mouse or man... Immediately we
think of a spider. In this way when devotee sees the material existence he sees
or thinks of Krsna. Everything reminds him of Krsna because he knows well the
origin of everything, Krsna. It is quite logical when one sees a spider web to
think of a spider. To associate this creation with anything else than Krsna is
asat.

Argument of atheistic Sankhya philosophers: How can the Lord remain sat when
at the time of dissolution He absorbs this asat into Himself? This defective
creation enters into the Lord therefore He must become defective.
SB 4.7.26 My dear Lord, You are transcendental to all speculative positions.
You are completely spiritual, devoid of all fear and You are always in control
of material energy. Even though You appear in the material energy You are
situated transcendentally. You are always free from material contamination
because You are completely self-sufficient.
Baladeva Vidyabhusana gives an example in this regard, explaining that the
Lord is the basis of the manifestation, maintenance and dissolution of this
material creation but He is always distinct from it at the same time. The
analogy of the canvass and the painting the picture can be eradicated,
overpainted by white or scraped off the canvass but no matter what happens to

the painting the canvass remains always as the basis. The canvass is always
distinct as the support.

SB 10.87.29 ...sunya tulam...

The Lord, being the basis of creation, maintenance and destruction, is neutral.
He is the remote cause. In that sense He is like the void. He can not be
discerned, He can not be understood by a person who is caught in a cycle of
time, creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe.
BG 2.69 What is night for the conditioned is the day for the
transcendentalists because they can see beyond the covering of the material
nature.
What the materialist take to be asat, unreal, primordial void, unmanifested,
unknown beginning, the transcendentalist understand perfectly He is the sat,
He is the eternal real. It can be seen from the next verse.
SB 8.3.34 The nonmanifestation of material creation is actually the state
when it becomes invisible to us. But the Lord can see everything in both
states, visible and invisible. In both states the Lord is always witness.
In the 11.Canto, in the teachings of Hamsavatara to Lord Brahma and four
Kumaras, Hamsavatara tells them that the liberated soul in the state turiya,
above material nature, also becomes saksi, the witness, in the same way as the
Lord. He can also see, at the time of nonmanifestation when everything seems to
be nonexistent to materialist, its existence with the Lord. He can see the Lord
and Lord's energies. In the 3.Canto are verses which explain how all the
energies of material existence are arrayed around the Lord in spiritual world.
The same energies which manifest in this material world, they are personalities
and in Vaikuntha with the Lord worshipping Him eternally. In other words, the
substance is sat, eternally real.
SB 3.10.13 The Lord is always the same. The activities of time factor are
eternal and can not be stated as false, only temporary.
SB 6.3.12 The Lord is the basis and the controller of everything like the
thread is basis of the quilt.
The thread exists even before the weaving of the quilt, it exists during the
existence of the quilt and when the quilt is unravelled the thread remains.
The substance itself is eternal.
SB 12.4.27 That which mundane people call asat (voidness, nonmanifestation)
is actually the separate reality (which they can not perceive).

The maya is reflection in darkness (of our ignorance). The material energy is
the deluding potency, so she fills out the darkness or she casts a reflection
to that darkness which we take to be the reality. In this way everyone is
deluded. The material energy is a real energy but she has function to bewilder
us when we forget Krsna. When one perceives Krsna behind material energy then
he is no longer in ignorance, the darkness is not there. It is just like a
projector you need a dark room to create an image. If you turn on all the
lights, if that background of ignorance is not there, than what is the effect
of turning on the projector? You are not bewildered by that; it may be a very
interesting, exciting movie, but if all the lights are on, it is just a very
dim image and you are very aware that you are in the room with so many objects
and people. You can't become absorbed in that, it doesn't have the effect. The
illusion is identification. The movie is just a projected image of light and
sound but when we look at it we start to enjoy it vicariously. That is the
illusion WE create.
From Krsna's position is everything spiritual, but from point of view of
conditioned souls there is matter temporary, miserable, ignorant substance.
But ultimately, from spiritual point of view above the three modes of material
nature, the matter does not exist.
One sutra in Vedanta-sutra says that when one comes upto Brahman platform,
then one will see within Brahman the gramya-bhuta (gramya = village, bhuta =
elements), Vrndavan village within which one will see things appearing to be
constructed out of bhutas, elements (their true, spiritual forms). To see this
is a cold shower for the impersonalists which prefer to go back to the material
world...

Argument of Nyaya and Vaisesika: If the material nature is an emanation of

the Supreme Lord and the jiva is also an emanation from Him, the philosophy
confuses the difference between the Lord and the jiva. What is the difference
between them?
They are also, as the Sankhya philosophers, against the position of the one
Absolute Truth. Sankhya philosophers says there are two absolute truths, purusa
and prakriti, the Nyayas explain reality in sixteen categories and the
Vaisesikas say there is nine real substances and seven real categories.
According to them each one of these categories is component of the total but in
itself exists as its own reality.
They are seemingly theistic philosophies isvara is there, but he is just
another category. There is a God but He has nothing intrinsically to do with
the other categories. They object that He is the source.
SB 6.16.9 the similarity and difference between the Lord and the living
entity with regard to the creation. ...The living being is so sublime that is
equal in quality to the Supreme Lord. Nonetheless, because he is extremely
small he is prone to be illusioned by the external energy...

The specific word is suksma, very fine, or not seen by material eyes, very
small.
From the purport: This verse describes the philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda
tattva. The Supreme Lord is greatest of all whereas the living entity is
suksma, extremely small. The lord is udasina, neutral. He acts but He is not
personally affected.

Opposition it understands in a way that the Lord just -becomes- the world and
the living entities. He is also entangled in material manifestation, He has no
separate identity.
But this is not a fact: The Lord is the source of jiva and pradhana but He is
not affected by creation that results from their combination. He is neutral
like a judge (Paramatma) before two opposing parties, jiva and pradhana.