Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 17
Sāṅkhya of Creation and Annihilation
Sarga–Nirodha-viveka
यस्तु यस्यादिरन्तश्च स वै मध्यं च तस्य सन् । विकारो व्यवहारार्थो यथा तैजसपार्थिवाः ॥ १७ ॥
yas tu yasyādir antaś ca sa vai madhyaṁ ca tasya san vikāro vyavahārārtho yathā taijasa-pārthivāḥ
Aquello que es el comienzo y el fin de una cosa, es también su fase intermedia. La transformación es solo un nombre y una forma para el uso práctico—como brazaletes y pendientes hechos de oro, u ollas y platillos hechos de tierra. Puesto que el oro y la tierra existen antes y permanecen después de que las formas se destruyen, también sostienen la realidad de la forma mientras se manifiesta.
The Lord here explains that the original cause is certainly present in its effect, citing the example of gold and clay functioning as the causal ingredients of many different products in which gold and clay continue to be present. For our convenience, we assign different names to temporary products, although their essential nature continues to be that of the ingredient, and not of the temporary product.
FAQs
It says that change is described for practical convention, while the underlying substance that appears as beginning, middle, and end remains the same.
To give Uddhava steady discrimination: seeing that material forms arise and dissolve, while the underlying cause/substance persists, one becomes detached and fixed in spiritual understanding.
Treat shifting circumstances—success, loss, praise, blame—as temporary ‘forms’ and focus on the enduring spiritual goal: devotion and inner steadiness rather than anxiety over changing externals.