Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 18
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
Apabila Bhagavān menzahirkan kuasa-Nya sebagai Waktu dan membimbing potensi-potensi material seperti sattva kembali ke keadaan seimbang, Dia tetap menjadi Penguasa tertinggi atas keadaan neutral itu yang disebut pradhāna, serta atas para jīva. Dialah tujuan pemujaan tertinggi bagi semua—para mukta, para dewa dan jiwa terikat. Dia kekal bebas daripada sebarang penandaan material dan merupakan keseluruhan kebahagiaan rohani yang dialami ketika memandang rupa-Nya yang transendental; inilah makna penuh ‘pembebasan’.
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 time, acting under the Lord’s own potency, brings the material energies into balance, while the Supreme Person remains the controller beyond the modes of nature.
To show that both material nature (pradhāna) and the living beings as enjoyers (puruṣa) are subordinate to Bhagavān, who governs creation and dissolution.
Seeing time and changing moods as movements of the guṇas helps one detach from anxiety and take shelter of the Lord, who is steady beyond material fluctuation.