Srimad Bhagavatam — Saptama Skandha, Shloka 32
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s Austerities and Brahmā’s Boons
The Architecture of ‘Conditional Immortality’
त्वत्त: परं नापरमप्यनेज- देजच्च किञ्चिद्व्यतिरिक्तमस्ति । विद्या: कलास्ते तनवश्च सर्वा हिरण्यगर्भोऽसि बृहत्त्रिपृष्ठ: ॥ ३२ ॥
tvattaḥ paraṁ nāparam apy anejad ejac ca kiñcid vyatiriktam asti vidyāḥ kalās te tanavaś ca sarvā hiraṇyagarbho ’si bṛhat tri-pṛṣṭhaḥ
Nothing exists apart from You—neither higher nor lower, neither stationary nor moving. The wisdom of the Vedas, such as the Upaniṣads, together with all subsidiary limbs and arts of Vedic knowledge, forms as it were Your external body. You are Hiraṇyagarbha, the womb and reservoir of the universe; yet as the supreme controller You transcend this material world of the three guṇas.
The word param means “the supreme cause,” and aparam means “the effect.” The supreme cause is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the effect is material nature. The living entities, both moving and nonmoving, are controlled by the Vedic instructions in art and science, and therefore they are all expansions of the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the center as the Supersoul. The brahmāṇḍas, the universes, exist during the duration of a breath of the Supreme Lord ( yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ ). Thus they are also within the womb of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Mahā-Viṣṇu. Nothing, therefore, is separate from the Supreme Lord. This is the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva.
FAQs
This verse declares that nothing—neither moving nor nonmoving—exists separate from the Supreme; all knowledge, arts, and forms are His expansions.
Brahmā is glorifying the Supreme Lord’s all-pervading supremacy while addressing Him in the context of cosmic creation principles such as Hiraṇyagarbha.
See your abilities, learning, and opportunities as gifts of the Divine, and cultivate humility and devotion by recognizing God’s presence behind all beings and events.