Srimad Bhagavatam 2.6.31 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 11 October 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 31.
ŚB 2.6.31
नारायणे भगवति तदिदं विश्वमाहितम् ।
गृहीतमायोरुगुण: सर्गादावगुण: स्वत: ॥ ३१ ॥
nārāyaṇe bhagavati
tad idaṁ viśvam āhitam
gṛhīta-māyoru-guṇaḥ
sargādāv aguṇaḥ svataḥ
Synonyms
nārāyaṇe — unto Nārāyaṇa; bhagavati — the Personality of Godhead; tat idam — all these material manifestations; viśvam — all the universes; āhitam — situated; gṛhīta — having accepted; māyā — material energies; uru-guṇaḥ — greatly powerful; sarga-ādau — in creation, maintenance and destruction; aguṇaḥ — without affinity for the material modes; svataḥ — self-sufficiently.
Translation
All the material manifestations of the universes are therefore situated in His powerful material energies, which He accepts self-sufficiently, although He is eternally without affinity for the material modes.
Purport
The question put by Nārada before Brahmā concerning the sustenance of the material creation is thus answered. Material actions and reactions, as the material scientist can superficially observe, are not basically ultimate truth in regard to creation, maintenance and destruction. The material energy is a potency of the Lord which is displayed in time, accepting the three qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance in the forms of Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. The material energy thus works under the supreme spell of His Lordship, although He is always transcendental to all such material activities. A rich man constructs a big house by spending his energy in the shape of resources, and similarly he destroys a big house by his resources, but the maintenance is always under his personal care. The Lord is the richest of the rich because He is always fully complete in six opulences. Therefore He is not required to do anything personally, but everything in the material world is carried out by His wishes and direction; therefore, the entire material manifestation is situated in Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The impersonal conception of the supreme truth is due to lack of knowledge only, and this fact is clearly explained by Brahmājī, who is supposed to be the creator of the universal affairs. Brahmājī is the highest authority in Vedic wisdom, and his assertion in this connection is therefore the supreme information.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this first statement here is that the whole universe is situated and controlled by the Supreme Lord. And though He handles everything, He is aguna. He is unaffected by anything in this material world. So this is a fundamental principle stated in scriptures. And it is fundamental to Vaishnava philosophy. One thing is, there is a material world which is real. And there is a person who is superior to that and controls it, who is non-material. Now even within India, within the Vedic tradition, there are other philosophies which will disagree with this.
So in Shankara’s philosophy, there is no world. It doesn’t exist. It is mithya. It is illusory. It’s a false conception. It’s like a dream. And furthermore, yes, there is a supreme entity, conscious entity called Brahman. But it’s not Narayana. Narayana has a form, qualities and activities. Brahman – no qualities, no form, no activities. Other philosophies will accept the real world, but still, the supreme entity has no form, qualities and activities. Other philosophies will accept conscious entities but no supreme entity. That’s Sankhya philosophy. And of course, if we go beyond Vedic philosophy, we have other religions of the world. They will accept a real world and they will accept a Supreme Lord, but again, no form.
So to accept a real world and a real Supreme Lord with form, qualities and activities is quite rare. Only the Vaishnavas, nobody else in the world [Laughs]. So Lord Caitanya describes that the Jivas are wandering around in this world and even if they accept some sort of religion or philosophy still, they are wandering around in this material world. They don’t ultimately accept that I am the servant of the Lord. And if we go beyond religion completely, of course, then we have everyone else in the world, materialists, they will accept a real world. But they will not accept a Supreme Lord.
Most will not even accept consciousness as separate from matter. Consciousness is a by-product of matter. However, science itself, of course, is stuck in the paradigm of simply examining this material world and coming to conclusions. And, of course, it gives us nice practical results. So whether you believe in God or not, you can take an engineering course and build a bridge or a house. It doesn’t matter [Laughs]. Principles are the same whether God exists or not [Laughs].
So normal people in the modern world and scientists, they will just go along with this. God may exist or not exist, we don’t know. But we will just go on examining the world. But when they examine the world, then they come up with a surprising conclusion. It is very well planned out [Laughs]. So even Newton, of course, famous for all the basic laws of science, when he started calculating, he was quite surprised to see that everything is, all the planets are going very nicely in their orbits, etc [Laughs].
So even in early science, they were not complete atheists. But then as science progresses and develops new instruments to detect things, then their perception is different and they come to different conclusions. And suddenly all of Newton’s laws, which were the basis of most studies [Laughs] in the modern world, got contradicted by quantum physics, which is completely opposite. And just as Newtonian physics is useful because you can build bridges and whatever like this, so quantum physics is also useful and you can build computers and what not [Laughs]. So using a whole set of different laws in quantum physics, you can also get practical results. So which set of laws are real [Laughs]?
So there is a little problem there in science. But then they made new instruments, etc., so they can measure the galaxy, measure the mass of the universe, do all sorts of things with modern physics. And then they discovered that actually, whatever we possibly could perceive, does not constitute more than 5% of what actually exists. And we can never see that. 95% of the universe is beyond us. Forever. Eternally. So therefore, even matter itself is invisible to us, 95% of it.
So, to say that God does not exist because we cannot see Him becomes a useless argument. Because we can’t even see most of matter. Does it exist? Yeah, it exists, but we can’t see it [Laughs]. Meanwhile, within quantum physics, then they discovered that consciousness exists as something separate from matter. So therefore, what is it? They don’t know. And for 120 years since they came to that conclusion, they can’t explain it. Scientifically, it’s a conclusion, and it’s also observable, but they can’t explain it. So, we have 95% of the universe, which they conclude is there, plus consciousness also there, but they can’t explain it. So, we should not conclude that science explains everything. It does not [Laughs]. Maybe they will give an explanation of consciousness in 50 years, 100 years, who knows [Laughs]? But so far, no [Laughs].
An interesting phenomenon also takes place in medical science. So, we have neuro surgeons who do operations on your brain. And after observing certain cases of brain diseases, and doing operations, and experimenting with the brains of people who got defective brains, etc., the conclusion is that consciousness is not in the brain at all, but it exists. It exists separate from the brain. So, they observe through experiments that the ability to logically think and to choose was not operating in the brain at all. Separate. So, therefore, something is there besides your brain, which is consciousness [Laughs].
So, in this way, yes, science can observe many things, and in the future, they will observe more things, etc., but still, there are things they cannot observe, and things they cannot understand with science. Of course, scripture gives us a solution. You can observe the Lord. You can observe the atma. But not with material senses and material consciousness [Laughs].
So, if you develop spiritual eyes, spiritual consciousness, then you can perceive the Lord, you can perceive atma, and probably you can perceive the 95% of matter also, which nobody understands [Laughs]. Of course, the Vedic literature already accepts that most of the universe, you cannot see it. In Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita and other literatures, we get a whole list of elements. These elements are very different from our scientific elements, table of how many matter, elemental table, 120 now? 80?
Devotee: 118.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: 118. Okay. So, this is quite different, the categories in the Vedic literature. There is a little similarity because we get five gross elements. However, the Vedic literature says even those elements in their pure state cannot be seen. Only when they combine in certain proportions, then they become things we can understand. And of course, akasha or ether is beyond our conception at the moment in modern science. But also in matter we have senses and sense objects, which are obviously not these senses, very subtle senses which are part of matter. And we have manas and buddhi, ahankara, mahat-tattva, very, very subtle elements. And then we have prakriti, which is the most subtle of all. This is called avyakta, because nobody can see it [Laughs]. So, this is matter, but most of it we can never see. We cannot see prakriti, we cannot see mahat-tattva, we cannot see manas, buddhi, sense objects, senses, and even the gross elements unless they combine. We don’t see most of the universe [Laughs].
So, in this way, the Bhagavatam also agrees with modern science. Yes, you can never observe the whole universe even. Now, material senses are elements of matter. But they can only observe material sense objects [Laughs]. They cannot observe consciousness. So, whether it is jiva or Supreme Lord, our material senses can never perceive them. So, we say that atma is self-perceiving, sva prakasah. Atma can perceive itself. So, if we say self-realize, that means we perceive not with material senses anymore. We are aware of ourself as atma.
So, if science comes with a big breakthrough, then maybe they will accept, okay, we have to do some spiritual sadhana to understand atma, and then they will go to Jnana Yoga [Laughs], or Yoga [Laughs]. But the problem is that no scientist is going to do all the tapasya and all that [Laughs] for thousands of years [Laughs]. So, of course, the alternative is Bhakti Yoga. But the advantage of Bhakti Yoga is that not only you understand atma, you can also perceive Supreme Lord, which you can never perceive through Jnana or Yoga. So thus Bhakti Yoga is the process by which we can know everything, matter, plus invisible matter, plus atma, plus Supreme Lord.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj, you know, these scientists, they are trying to understand consciousness or different material elements through their experience. But you are saying that only 5% they know, 95% they cannot experience, they cannot know. They can go on like this, but still, you know, they will not be able to know. Because they are trying to know it through the material senses, which is also imperfect. So, is it not something like a wasting of time? You know, simply just, because what they are supposed to do, they are not doing that. But there is something wrong way they are trying to understand it.
So, of course, scientists are not trying to prove consciousness or trying to prove God. These conclusions or hints just manifest when they are doing science. And even from Newton to Einstein, they would never declare God does not exist. Because in the laws of physics and mathematics, you get some phenomena which show that there must be a plan behind everything [Laughs]. And the whole universe is structured in such a way through physical laws that it does not look like chance. And that’s the conclusion of scientists. So, then some scientists will say, the proof of God is physics [Laughs]. Physics law [Laughs]. Of course, God is hidden in one sense, but evidence is there. So, some scientists are willing to admit that.
2.) Scientists, they say that everything is by chance. If they don’t accept this by chance theory then they have to accept someone who’s superior and who’s managing everything. So that definition that there’s a Supreme person, they have to accept it. But I feel that to reject that Supreme person behind everything, they say this by chance, by chance, by chance and it’s bewildering for the common conditioned souls maximum.
So, of course, some atheists will just give the answer, chance, that’s the cause of everything. But even serious scientists like Newton, it doesn’t look like chance. And the theory of evolution, which is based on chance mutations, cannot explain how things evolve so complicatedly, even the simple cells, they can’t explain it by chance. So, that much, something is there, they can call that God or whatever you want to call it [Laughs], but it’s certainly not just chance and whatever. There’s some order behind things which we cannot explain. That, of course, is like meditation on the universal form [Laughs]. You can understand the perfection of God by looking at a lion. I am the lion, I am the makara, I am the mountain or whatever like that, and you find some wonderful quality in that, and from that we can infer the presence of God [Laughs].
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, you have mentioned Shankarites or Mayavadis, they say, world is unreal, only Brahman is real. That is not Narayana Narayan, it is Brahman. That is not Narayan, it is Brahman. That’s what you have mentioned Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Only Brahman exists.
Devotee: But when we see Adi Shankaracharya, when he writes in his Shankara bhashyam, he mentions nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt. So, though we know they accept only Brahman, but this statement says that Brahman is Narayana. How can we understand this Maharaj?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, ultimately he explains that Narayana is pure sattva [Laughs] which is again material.
4.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Regarding brain so far, we thought that brain is the main function of all. If there is no brain means no life like that. Brain hemorrhage like that. And all we understand through brain only like that so far we understand in studies in schooling, college, all that, through brain only, so far we understood like that. So how can we understand?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What’s that?
Devotee: Maharaj you said like, atma only perceives things, but brain doesn’t. But so far in school, right from childhood, we have been taught that only brain understands things. Through brain only we can perceive things. So these two statements are contradictory. How can we understand it?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, maybe the science textbook is wrong [Laughs]. Generally, we assume that because you have a brain, you are thinking and observing and all that. So, when you get to brain science, then they understand that yes, your motor functions happen through your brain. But then in brain science, they start experimenting with your brain and seeing which part is doing what. And then they finally discover that your thought processes are beyond the brain functions completely. And even if your brain is dead or whatever, you can still think [Laughs]. Then we have the example of near-death experiences where people’s brains are dead. No brain waves. But, during that time when their brain is dead, they observe things, they see things. How? If the brain is dead? It cannot be the brain that is observing, something else is observing. And then when they come back to consciousness, they remember that. How? The brain wasn’t there to register that at all. Something else did it.
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj ji. Maharaj ji, a group of scientists are proving like consciousness is also real, the soul existence. So maybe they get some fame like that. They prove this by material observation. Like a person who is passing away, his body, they measure the weight and they see the difference of the weight and they are saying the portion of the weight which is decreased after he passed the body is the weight of the consciousness. So, should we believe on this scientist, like how they are observing the things or it’s just like they want some fame?
So, difference in weight does not really prove anything. Of course, ultimately the atma has no weight anyway, so that doesn’t mean anything [Laughs]. It could be just some material gases leaving the body [Laughs]. Of course, you can say maybe the subtle body and the pranas leaving have some little weight. But still that’s not the atma [Laughs]. Of course, what we can conclude if it’s no gross physical air or whatever that’s going out of the body, that there is something else attached to the body that has a little weight and it separates from the body at death. But it’s obviously not the soul itself [Laughs]. It has no weight.
6.) Maharaj, the question is while we are alive, our body has a soul in it, so we can move the body with the presence of soul. After death, soul leaves the body. So to move the body, we need someone else’s help. Without their help, we cannot move the dead body because soul is not present. Why scientists are unable to understand this fundamental truth that soul is the cause of functioning of this body? Because a dead body cannot move on its own. We need someone else’s help because there is no soul present. Why scientists are unable to understand this fundamental truth?
You can simply explain it in terms of brain and heart stopping function. Then automatically, your body stops moving.
7.) If we keep Krishna and devatas on the same level in house altar like Krishna and devatas are kept on the same level and worshipped on the same level is it an anartha? Is it an anartha to worship?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, if you think Krishna and devatas are the same, it’s an aparadha [Laughs].
Devotee: We can think that devatas are the servant of God, then this is ok Maharaj?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, yeah.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!