Shloka 21
Citraketu Offends Śiva, Is Cursed by Pārvatī, and Is Glorified as a Vaiṣṇava
एक: सृजति भूतानि भगवानात्ममायया । एषां बन्धं च मोक्षं च सुखं दु:खं च निष्कल: ॥ २१ ॥
ekaḥ sṛjati bhūtāni bhagavān ātma-māyayā eṣāṁ bandhaṁ ca mokṣaṁ ca sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ ca niṣkalaḥ
Die Höchste Persönlichkeit Gottes ist Einer; durch Seine eigene ātma-māyā erschafft Er alle Lebewesen. Unberührt zeigt Er dennoch Bindung und Befreiung, Glück und Leid.
The question may be raised why the living entities are situated in different conditions and who has arranged this. The answer is that it has been done by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without anyone’s help. The Lord has His own energies ( parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate ), and one of them, namely the external energy, creates the material world and the varieties of happiness and distress for the conditioned souls under the supervision of the Lord. The material world consists of three modes of material nature — sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. By sattva-guṇa the Lord maintains the material world, by rajo-guṇa He creates it, and by tamo-guṇa He annihilates it. After the varieties of living entities are created, they are subject to happiness and distress according to their association. When they are in sattva-guṇa, the mode of goodness, they feel happiness, when in rajo-guṇa they are distressed, and when in tamo-guṇa they have no sense of what to do or what is right and wrong.
FAQs
This verse states that Bhagavān, through His own potency, governs the conditions of bondage and liberation for living beings, while remaining Himself untouched and pure.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks this verse while narrating the Canto 6 teachings to King Parīkṣit, explaining the Lord’s transcendence despite creating and regulating the world.
See changing pleasure and pain as temporary conditions under divine governance; cultivate devotion and detachment, focusing on the Lord who remains beyond dualities.