Srimad Bhagavatam 2.6.19 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 28 September 2026
jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī
gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī
yaśodā-nandana vraja-jana-rañjana
yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Jaya Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2 Chapter 6 Verse 19.
ŚB 2.6.19
पादेषु सर्वभूतानि पुंस: स्थितिपदो विदु: ।
अमृतं क्षेममभयं त्रिमूर्ध्नोऽधायि मूर्धसु ॥ १९ ॥
pādeṣu sarva-bhūtāni
puṁsaḥ sthiti-pado viduḥ
amṛtaṁ kṣemam abhayaṁ
tri-mūrdhno ’dhāyi mūrdhasu
Synonyms
pādeṣu — in the one fourth; sarva — all; bhūtāni — living entities; puṁsaḥ — of the Supreme Person; sthiti-padaḥ — the reservoir of all material opulence; viduḥ — you should know; amṛtam — deathlessness; kṣemam — all happiness, free from the anxiety of old age, diseases, etc.; abhayam — fearlessness; tri-mūrdhnaḥ — beyond the three higher planetary systems; adhāyi — exist; mūrdhasu — beyond the material coverings.
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is to be known as the supreme reservoir of all material opulences by the one fourth of His energy in which all the living entities exist. Deathlessness, fearlessness and freedom from the anxieties of old age and disease exist in the kingdom of God, which is beyond the three higher planetary systems and beyond the material coverings.
Purport
Out of the total manifestations of the sandhinī energy of the Lord, one fourth is displayed in the material world, and three fourths are displayed in the spiritual world. The Lord’s energy is divided into three component parts, namely sandhinī, saṁvit and hlādinī; in other words, He is the full manifestation of existence, knowledge and bliss. In the material world such a sense of existence, knowledge and pleasure is meagerly exhibited, and all living entities, who are minute parts and parcels of the Lord, are eligible to relish such consciousness of existence, knowledge and bliss very minutely in the liberated stage, whereas in the conditioned stage of material existence they can hardly appreciate what is the factual, existential, cognizable and pure happiness of life. The liberated souls, who exist in far greater numerical strength than those souls in the material world, can factually experience the potency of the above-mentioned sandhinī, saṁvit and hlādinī energies of the Lord in the matter of deathlessness, fearlessness and freedom from old age and disease.
In the material world, the planetary systems are arranged in three spheres, called triloka, or Svarga, Martya and Pātāla, and all of them constitute only one fourth of the total sandhinī energy. Beyond that is the spiritual sky where the Vaikuṇṭha planets exist beyond the coverings of seven material strata. In none of the triloka planetary systems can one experience the status of immortality, full knowledge and full bliss. The upper three planetary systems are called sāttvika planets because they provide facilities for a long duration of life and relative freedom from disease and old age, as well as a sense of fearlessness. The great sages and saints are promoted beyond the heavenly planets to Maharloka, but that also is not the place of complete fearlessness because at the end of one kalpa the Maharloka is annihilated and the inhabitants have to transport themselves to still higher planets. Yet even on these planets no one is immune to death. There may be a comparative extension of life, expansion of knowledge and sense of full bliss, but factual deathlessness, fearlessness and freedom from old age, diseases, etc., are possible only beyond the material spheres of the coverings of the material sky. Such things are situated on the head (adhāyi mūrdhasu).
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here we have a description of one quarter and three quarters. So in the Bhagavatam and of course in the Purusha Sukta, we have the same comparison. One quarter is the material realm and three quarters is the spiritual realm. From our point of perspective, the material world is very vast. But the spiritual world is much vaster. So therefore this example of one quarter and three quarters is given. But of course we can never measure the size of the spiritual world. So all we can say is that it is much bigger and the material world is much smaller. And in that spiritual world, there is great difference.
So here it is mentioned three items, like three quarters, Amrita, Kshema, and Abhaya. So complete bliss, which is eternal. And none of the problems that occur in the material world. So in the purport of course Prabhupada explains, we have eternity, knowledge, and bliss in the spiritual world. And these of course represent also the spiritual shaktis of the Lord or internal energy. So we have the Sandhini corresponding to Sat and Samvit corresponding to Cit and Hladini corresponding to Ananda. So we can say that the Sat-cit-ananda of things in the spiritual world are manifested through these three shaktis. The material world is manifested through a completely different shakti. And that is Bahiranga shakti or external energy. We can say that it is just one energy, whereas the spiritual energy is three. So there again we get three in one.
So that material energy in itself is not conscious. It can manifest places like planets. But they are all temporary. It manifests bodies for the living entities which are also temporary. So that is the extent that the Sat is reflected in the material world. Matter itself cannot have Cit or Ananda. So it is very limited in that sense. However, the Jivas can manifest Cit and Ananda. And they do that in the spiritual world. In the material world we get a dull reflection of that. So the Jiva becomes aware of material things. That’s his Cit. And he is able to experience some material happiness. But all of this knowledge and happiness is temporary and limited and faulty.
On the other hand, the Jiva in the spiritual world can experience Sat, Cit, Ananda in a complete way. So he has eternal body in the spiritual world. He has eternal place, not a temporary planet. And he has knowledge unobstructed by ignorance. This is further reinforced by the internal energy, the Samvit Shakti of the Lord. And the Jiva can experience bliss in a relationship with the Lord which is eternal. And this is supported by the Lord’s internal energy, Hladini Shakti. Even then, the Sat, Cit, Ananda that the Jiva has in the spiritual world is nothing in comparison to the Sat, Cit, Ananda of the Supreme Lord of the spiritual world.
The Jiva by nature is Tatastha Shakti. He is the Shakti of the Lord. And thus he is ultimately dependent on the Lord. So he can never be superior to the Lord. And thus his knowledge and his bliss is nothing in comparison to the Lord’s knowledge and bliss. In any case, the Lord can endow the Jiva in the spiritual world with this Sat, Cit, Ananda which gives great satisfaction to the Jivas. And thus the Jiva can experience eternal satisfaction. All of this is in relation to the Supreme Lord. So his knowledge coming from the Samvit Shakti is knowledge of the Lord. His bliss arises because of relationship with the Lord. So the Sat, Cit, Ananda of the Jiva is caused by the relationship with Bhagavan.
So the spiritual world is a perfect place. We describe the material world as having a covering of the different layers of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, maha-tattva, prakrti, etc. Spiritual world is completely separate. And therefore there is no entrance of material influence in the spiritual world at all. So thus it is free from death, fear, etc. And that realm exists independently, completely separate from the material world. It doesn’t need anything.
This material world is completely dependent on the Supreme Lord. And this is illustrated by the fact that we have Karanodakasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and Kshirodakasayi functioning, supporting and maintaining the material worlds. And when they decide to make the material world disappear, it disappears. So the appearance and disappearance of the material world does not take place by the Shakti of matter itself. It is because of the Lord.
On the other hand, the spiritual world is intimately connected with the Supreme Lord. And thus it is called the Antaranga Shakti or internal energy. Unlike the external energy which is completely separate. The Lord resides there as Bhagavan. The Lord operates the material world by expanding himself into Purusha avatars. So in this way, spiritual world and material world are very different.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj in the purport Srila Prabhupada is saying that the whole creation is a manifestation of the Lord’s sandhini shakti. Sandhini shakti is the spiritual energy, but in the spiritual world it works in a different way, in the material world it’s works in a different way because the material universe manifests and unmanifests. There is a little variety in the material world. How to understand this?
So Sandhini, Samvit and Hladini are aspects of the internal energy which operates in the spiritual world. And the Bahiranga Shakti operates outside the material world. But we get a reflection of the Sandhini, Samvit and Hladini in the material world. So the material energy itself or the Bahiranga Shakti manifests material worlds like Sandhini Shakti. And the Jivas in the material world, they manifest something like Samvit and Hladini in terms of material knowledge and material happiness. But they are actually not the same as the Sandhini, Samvit and Hladini in the spiritual world.
2.) You were saying about different coverings of the universes. I read in Srimad Bhagavatam that each covering is ten times greater than the previous one. But when we see from the top of the universe, that Bhu Mandala is very small. But we see that so many living entities we have in the Bhu Mandala. But does these living entities become more when you go to the top of the covering? Upper planets are also covering. Seven planets are covering at that time. Earth, water, fire are covering. Is the covering there more than earthly planets.
So the main place for the living entities is within that shell, that is, Patala Loka to Brahma Loka. But in Brhad Bhagavatamrta it is described that within these different layers there are living entities and the Supreme Lord also has expansions there. But these are not the usual places for the Jivas which are actually in the material world due to their karma.
3.) Maharaj there are different types of heavenly planets from Brahma Loka to Indra Loka, Swarga Loka. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that one who performs pious activities is elevated to heavenly planets. What type of heavenly planets one promotes after leaving the earth planet? How one elevates to different types of heavenly planets when performs pious activities? One word generally we call as heavenly planet. So how one goes to Indra Loka or Brahma Loka, Swarga Loka, how does it happen?
So the different planets above Swarga Loka do have their particular types of living entities. So one goes to Swarga Loka by punyas. If one does more punyas, one can go higher [Laughs]. So those who have the greatest punyas can go to Satya Loka. So in between Satya Loka and Swarga Loka we have Mahar Loka, Jana Loka and Tapa Loka. And in Mahar Loka they do a lot of yajnas. So many great sages live there. On Tapo Loka there are great yogis living. So there everybody is meditating. So each particular planet has a particular type of living entity who is purer than the ones below [Laughs]. And on the top we have Brahma Loka. As one goes to the higher planets, the bodies also change. So the bodies become, though they are material, they become more and more subtle. And thus the inhabitants of Brahma Loka have the most subtle bodies. And consequently they live the longest.
4.) Maharaj once one goes to the higher and higher planets, the bodies become more and more subtle. Does it apply when one goes down below planets, that the body becomes more and more gross?
So the gross living entities, we can say, start with the Bhu Mandala. And even above that on Bhuvar Loka the entities have more subtle bodies. The lower bodies are not really described, but we know that they are more tamasic. Those on the Bhu Mandala are considered to be rajasic. So because the lower realms have more tamasic mentality and bodies, we can say in that sense they also have grosser bodies.
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. In Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu, it says, after one attains sthayi bhava, samvit and hladini shaktis manifest in the jiva. So what about the sandhini shakti Maharaj? When does the spiritual body develops for the jiva?
So the samvit and hladini are very necessary to perceive the Lord and experience bliss. So bhakti and prema are actually composed of samvit and hladini shaktis. The sandhini shakti will manifest one’s spiritual body.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!