Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 17
Avadhūta’s Further Teachers: Detachment, Solitude, One-Pointed Meditation, and the Lord as Āśraya
कालेनात्मानुभावेन साम्यं नीतासु शक्तिषु । सत्त्वादिष्वादिपुरुष: प्रधानपुरुषेश्वर: ॥ १७ ॥ परावराणां परम आस्ते कैवल्यसंज्ञित: । केवलानुभवानन्दसन्दोहो निरुपाधिक: ॥ १८ ॥
kālenātmānubhāvena sāmyaṁ nītāsu śaktiṣu sattvādiṣv ādi-puruṣaḥ pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ
حين يُظهر ربّ الشخص الأعلى قدرته في صورة الزمان ويقود قوى المادة—كصفة السَتْوَة—إلى حالة التوازن، يبقى هو المتحكّم الأعلى في تلك الحالة الحيادية المسماة «برَधान»، وكذلك في الأرواح الحيّة. وهو المعبود الأسمى لجميع الكائنات، للمتحرّرين والديڤات وللمقيّدين. وهو منزّه أبدًا عن كل تسمية مادية، وهو تمام النعيم الروحي الذي يُذاق عند مشاهدة صورته الإلهية المتعالية؛ وبهذا يتجلّى المعنى الأكمل لكلمة «التحرّر».
One who fixes his mind in the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, gets immediate relief from the waves of material anxiety because the Lord’s transcendental form is completely free of any material contamination or designation. Less intelligent persons accept the illogical doctrine that the Lord is transformed into His creation and maintains no separate, individual existence. They falsely imagine that they can merge their individuality into the universal oneness and become exactly equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, in the opinion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the Personality of Godhead is not impersonal but is instead full of all transcendental qualities. The three modes of material nature constitute His inferior energy, and the omnipotent time factor, upon which the modes rest, is the personal expansion of the Lord. Thus, the Lord creates, maintains and annihilates the material manifestation and yet remains completely apart from it. The conditioned souls who desire to exploit the Lord’s inferior creation are impelled by the Personality of Godhead to do so, and thus they become imitation enjoyers in the temporary world of matter. But when one gains practical experience that the gross and subtle material bodies are simply coverings of the eternal soul, one gives up the foolishness of material attachment and becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He realizes that his constitutional position is neither to enjoy matter nor merge into the Lord’s existence. His real nature is that he is a servant of God. Service rendered to the Lord is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and by the potency of such service one becomes liberated and his activities become glorious. Such service is eternal and gradually promotes one to the platform of kevalānubhavānanda-sandoha, or merging into the ocean of bliss by seeing the transcendental personal form of the Lord.
FAQs
This verse explains that by time and the Lord’s own potency, the material energies within sattva, rajas, and tamas are brought into equilibrium—yet the Supreme Person remains the controlling Lord over them.
Because Bhagavatam teaches that the Supreme Lord is master of both pradhāna (material nature) and puruṣa (the conscious enjoyer), and thus governs the interaction of matter and consciousness.
Recognize the gunas as controlled energies of the Lord; cultivate sattva through discipline and devotion, and transcend all modes by bhakti and remembrance of the Supreme Controller.