Srimad Bhagavatam – 2.6.33 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Oct 13, 2026
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2 Chapter 6 Verse 33.
ŚB 2.6.33
इति तेऽभिहितं तात यथेदमनुपृच्छसि ।
नान्यद्भगवत: किंचिद्भाव्यं सदसदात्मकम् ॥ ३३ ॥
iti te ’bhihitaṁ tāta
yathedam anupṛcchasi
nānyad bhagavataḥ kiñcid
bhāvyaṁ sad-asad-ātmakam
Synonyms
iti — thus; te — unto you; abhihitam — explained; tāta — my dear son; yathā — as; idam — all these; anupṛcchasi — as you have inquired; na — never; anyat — anything else; bhagavataḥ — beyond the Personality of Godhead; kiñcit — nothing; bhāvyam — to be thought ever; sat — cause; asat — effect; ātmakam — in the matter of.
Translation
My dear son, whatever you inquired from me I have thus explained unto you, and you must know for certain that whatever there is (either as cause or as effect, both in the material and spiritual worlds) is dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Purport
The complete cosmic situation, both in the material and in the spiritual manifestations of the energies of the Lord, is working and moving first as the cause and then as the effect. But the original cause is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Effects of the original cause become the causes of other effects, and thus everything, either permanent or temporary, is working as cause and effect. And because the Lord is the primeval cause of all persons and all energies, He is called the cause of all causes, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā as well as in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1) affirms:
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
And in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.8) it is said:
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
So the original primeval cause is vigraha, the personal, and the impersonal spiritual effulgence, brahmajyoti, is also an effect of the Supreme Brahman (brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham), Lord Kṛṣṇa.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here, this verse speaks of cause and effect. So, of course, all these causes and effects come from the Supreme Lord. So, in the material world it is, when we look at things, we see in terms of cause and effect. Certain substances are the cause of other substances. And in fact, the whole material world is based upon cause and effect. If we just have prakriti, by itself, nothing is visible. Even the gunas are not distinguished. But when we look at our material world, we see so much variety here. And we can also assume that all the other universes are going to have as much variety, and the universes are infinite.
So, how did that one prakriti with no differences or individuality turn into so much variety? So, it is based on cause and effect. But of course, prakriti by itself does nothing. So, the Bhagavatam describes that prakriti, of course, has no variety in it but when the Lord glances, variety manifests. So, Supreme Lord is the cause and the effect is prakriti begins to manifest as Maha-tattva, all the material elements, then the universes, etc. So, as Prabhupada mentions, causes produce effects, those effects become causes and produce more effects, so this is how the world operates. But the ultimate cause is the glance of Vishnu. So without that, nothing happens. So therefore, the Lord is the cause of the variety within this universe.
Of course, we also have the spiritual world. And, of course, it is not exactly everything the Lord, there is dhama, there is objects there, there is devotees there, so many varieties also there. Of course, there is a little difference there because everything is eternal. So, we cannot say that at a certain point they came into existence from a cause. Still, we say that Bhagavan is the cause of everything in the spiritual world. Why? Without him, it doesn’t exist. Without the Supreme Lord, the spiritual world does not exist. So, we explain that in terms of the Lord being the Shaktimaan, possessor of Shaktis, and then the Shaktis manifest the spiritual world.
Of course, there as I said, everything is eternal. But it operates under the will of the Supreme Lord. So, in either case, the Lord is the cause of the spiritual world and material world. In the material world, then, we have sub-causes. And then, sub-sub-causes [Laughs]. Though, we say that all the forms of the Lord are eternal and they are non-different, still, we differentiate Purusa avatars from Bhagavan. So, we say that the Purusa avatars are expansions or ‘amsas’ of the Supreme Lord. And we distinguish the Supreme Lord by calling him ‘amsi’. But all the forms of the Lord are also eternal, so there is no initial creation of the amsas. But the amsas don’t exist unless the amsi exists. So, the Purusa avatars cannot exist independently of Bhagavan and the spiritual world.
In the same way, we can take all the forms in the spiritual world and we take Krishna, He is the amsi and they are the amsas [Laughs]. So, of course, they are all eternal. Furthermore, they are all one. But, we call Him the Amsi because He is the fullest manifestation of all aspects of Bhagavan. All the amsas show partial qualities. So, that is the sense of calling them amsas and calling Krishna the amsi. So, in this way, we can also say Krishna is the cause of all the other expansions of the Lord. We never put any time factor in there because they are all eternal.
So, His Shaktis, of course, are dependent on the Lord. He is the Shaktimaan and then He has His Shakti. The Shaktis don’t exist unless we have the Shaktimaan. So, spiritual world exists because of the Shaktimaan. But, we have material world, we have the external energy, Bahiranga Shakti, it also does not exist unless we have the Shaktimaan. So, in that sense, we say the Supreme Lord is the cause of everything in the material world. Then we have the Tatastha Shakti which produces Jivas and ultimately Shaktimaan is Supreme Lord. So, again, they are related to the Supreme Lord by being His amsas.
Of course, the amsas who are the expansions of Bhagavan are different from the Jivas who are amsas. All the forms in the spiritual world we can say are Bhagavan, but the Jivas in the spiritual world or the material world are not Bhagavan so there is a difference also. But, they are eternally dependent on the Lord. So, all three Shaktis, internal energy, external energy and Tatastha Shakti are eternal also, but dependent on the Lord. So, we can say, Krishna is the cause of spiritual world and all the forms in the spiritual world. He is the cause of the Jivas. And He is the cause of everything in the material world. But ultimately, Prakriti is eternal, Jiva is eternal, spiritual world is eternal, all the forms are eternal, but He is the ultimate cause. Why? Because everything is ultimately dependent on Him. So, we distinguish cause and effect in this way, finally to point out who is Supreme Lord.
In the material world, we also look for causes. So, in science, they look for the cause of that, the cause, the cause, the cause, the cause, and then finally what happens, what is the final cause? Big Bang [Laughs]! But then, the next question is, what caused the Big Bang? So, even some scientists ask that question. So, of course, then they think, ok, before that there was another universe, another universe, another Big Bang, another Big Bang, so, we are back to Mahavishnu creating and destroying material worlds [Laughs]. Who is behind that creation, destruction, creation, destruction? Mahavishnu. And then behind Mahavishnu, finally we get Krishna.
So, we have many different levels of cause. But, if we go by Bhagavatam, the ultimate cause is not material, it is spiritual. And it’s not the individual Jiva consciousness, it is a bigger consciousness, the Supreme Lord. Of course, we can ask, why does the Lord want to create a material world at all? And to answer that, then we do have Supreme Lord as Mahavishnu, desiring to create and then we have Bhagavan in spiritual world, no desire to create at all, He is just simply sitting there. So, in conclusion of course, we see that there is a conscious entity planning everything out nicely in this material world and in the spiritual world.
But the big question is, why does He do it? So, of course, we can speculate about it or we can go by scripture. But even if we use logic, we can come to a good answer. So, if God creates the spiritual world, why does He do it? It cannot be for nothing, God should do it for a purpose. But because it is the spiritual world, it cannot have a material purpose. But within the material world, all purposes are material and when we start thinking of spiritual purpose, how can we think of anything? So, what is a spiritual purpose? It has nothing to do with eating, sleeping, mating, defending, material bodies, maintenance, nothing like that because it is all eternal and perfect [Laughs]. So, ultimately, all we can say is that there is no purpose as such, it is the very nature of the Lord to do that, manifest the spiritual world. But still, why? So, then we have to examine the nature of the Lord. What is His very nature? What is His nature that causes Him to manifest and maintain eternally a spiritual world? So, of course, the spiritual answer is bliss.
Of course, the Lord has the quality of bliss, knowledge and eternity. But, of course, the spiritual world is eternal by nature. And the Lord and His nature are eternal by nature [Laughs]. So, that doesn’t really give us a clue of what is His nature that manifests spiritual world. And, of course, cit means knowledge, so the Lord is aware of everything. But that awareness does not create a reason also. So, therefore, bliss is the only reason. And that is, say the defining characteristic of the Supreme Lord.
Of course, we have these other forms. Brahman is ‘Sat’. Paramatma is Sat, Cit. So, Bhagavan, His defining character is Ananda. So the unique quality of Bhagavan is bliss. And, of course, the bliss is eternal. But bliss can never be static. So, it should increase eternally. So, therefore, the spiritual world is a manifestation of the ever-increasing bliss of Bhagavan. And how is that bliss created? Ultimately, it is created through exchange of rasa. So therefore, the Lord has a place and there are so many devotees there and then we have ‘Rasa’. And that Rasa produces the bliss. So, therefore ultimately, the cause of the spiritual world is the nature of the Lord which is bliss itself.
Of course, then we have to say, then why is there a material world which is opposite? And of course, we know there is a spiritual world because we have conditioned jivas. So, the Lord creates material world for conditioned jivas. And conditioned jiva means he wants material happiness so he gets material happiness. Material happiness means it cannot be eternal, it cannot be perfect, it has to be mixed. So, therefore, we never get perfect happiness in the material world. So, how does the Lord become blissful with the creation of material world? So, His bliss consists of entering into the material world as avatar and causing bliss there. So, through the entrance into the material world and displaying His pastimes, then more jivas become blissful. So in this way, the bliss in the spiritual world increases. So, ultimately, we see that the cause is the Supreme Lord and ultimately the cause of that is His bliss.
So, how to understand that bliss? Of course, because we are in a conditioned state, we cannot understand perfectly. But, because scripture is absolute and non-different from the Lord, like the Holy Name, by understanding scripture, we get some idea. So, by descriptions of the Lord in his pastimes with His devotees and consequently their Rasa, we get some idea of the bliss of spiritual world and Krishna. So, that is an important reason for getting knowledge of scripture.
So, the other day I explained that if we don’t know something about the goal, we are probably not going to achieve that goal, we get something else. So, for instance, a person desires some sweet. But of course, there are so many sweet things. So, if one is intelligent, he will say, I want not just sugar, I want some particular sweet rice or gulab jamuns or rasagullas or something [Laughs]. But, the person with the most primitive state says, I just want sweet, so then sugar is satisfying [Laughs]. He will just survive on sugar [Laughs]. And, he won’t strive for anything else, if you give him some sugar, he will eat the sugar [Laughs]. So, therefore, if we have a nice definition of bliss, a nice definition of Prema, etc., and rasa, then that becomes our goal and we can attain that goal. So we cannot speculate about this, we go by scriptures. And, Bhagavatam is our root scripture. So, all the works of the Goswamis are based on Bhagavatam. So therefore, we have to eventually come back to this Bhagavatam as our main scripture.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj we see there is the lord and there is many condition he has, avatars. And all avatars have same power although they manifest less power, less quality. But all are eternal. So how will we apply the cause of this eternity for the supreme lord? Because, all are Supreme Lord. In the material world, see, in the material world, because Jiva is eternal, but his activities are not eternal. So, Lord can be the cause for that. But, how the cause can be applied for the Lord?
So when we talk about cause and relation to the Lord and other expansions to the Lord, it is not a literal cause because in one sense they are all one [Laughs]. So, of course, in Nectar of Devotion, there is a famous verse that Vishnu, Krishna, Siddhanta, by Siddhanta, they are one, abhinna, one Bhagavan. But it is the nature of rasa of Krishna which shows his superiority over Vishnu. So, in other words, his rasa is more, we can say, profuse [Laughs] and sweet. So, all the forms of the Lord are Bhagavan, they are all Sat-cit-ananda, they are non-conditioned, whatever. But, again, each particular form manifests particular qualities, particular pastimes suitable for that form. So, Rama does not have Krishna’s pastimes, Narasimha does not have Rama’s pastimes, etc. So, they manifest different rasas in relation to their devotees. So, we can distinguish each particular form by different things like their abode, Vaikuntha or Ayodhya, whatever like that but ultimately, we distinguish them by their rasa because ananda is … So, we get all the rasas, all 12 rasas manifested in Krishna and his pastimes and then as we go upward, we get less and less and less [Laughs]. So, of course, we cannot say the others do not have all that because they are all one Bhagavan [Laughs]. But in that particular form, they do not manifest. So, then Krishna is the form that manifests all the rasas. And all the rasas completely. So, therefore, most bliss. So, therefore, we can say he is the cause of all the bliss [Laughs].
2.) Prabhupada quoted in Purport that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, that everything has come from the Supreme Lord. Even I think in purport somewhere in Bhagavatam they say, Lord is the cause for the Jiva also. But question is, Jiva‘s, soul is eternal. How can that for the eternal soul, the Supreme be the cause?
Not only Jiva is eternal, Prakriti is also eternal. So we cannot say that prakriti is produced by the lord. The Jiva is there already. So, it’s caused by dependence. They are all amsa’s or they are all shaktis in relation to the Shaktimaan or the amsi.
3.) See, previously you were saying that based on the rasa, you categorize that Krishna is the cause for all the avatars. But see, in the material point of view, if you think that those who are avatars and those who are reciprocating with their own devotees, the different rasas, but that devotees, those who are connected with the different avatars and with rasas, they are satisfied. Let me give you an example. In the material world, some people like sweet and they enjoy the sweet. And some people like bitter gourd also. They enjoy the bitter gourd. So, bitter gourd is like a sweet for them. So, similarly, those who are in the spiritual world, the spiritual devotees, they are also connected with different avatars, but they are satisfied. Then how do you categorize that, you know, that is highest or superior?
Because all the forms of the Lord are actually one Bhagavan, we cannot in that sense say superior or inferior. And bliss is bliss. It’s absolute. So, for objectivity’s sake, we can start analyzing. So, we have a whole category of avatars that show less powers. Prabhava, Vaibhava forms. We have Parvasta forms. Then we have Purna forms. Even though it’s one Bhagavan, we distinguish. And then the question is asked, why we have so many forms? Why not just one form? Of course, we can say, well, the Lord is all powerful, so why … So, we could ask, well, or we could answer that because the Lord is all powerful, yes he can manifest so many forms, but still the question is, why? And then the answer is because different Jivas have different desires of worship. And the Lord manifests different forms to satisfy different Jivas. So, those particular Jivas prefer that type of bliss with that particular form. And because it’s all spiritual, it’s all perfect.
But, from the objective point of view, if we analyze, then we will see there are higher forms, lesser forms, higher rasas, lesser rasas, etc. So, in this way, for each individual whatever they realize as the form of God and the rasa, that is perfect. And that is so even if it is Krishna. So, we said Madhurya rasa is the highest, but not every Jiva is in Madhurya rasa. Some are in Vatsalya rasa or Sakya rasa or Dasya rasa. Nevertheless, they are all satisfied with those particular rasas. If they were unsatisfied, there would only be Madhurya rasa. If they were unsatisfied, there would only be Madhurya rasa. There would be no other loka. No other form of God [Laughs].
4.) Maharaj, It is initially said that there is only one living being. To do pastimes, he expanded himself into different expansions and all those things. Is it correct, Maharaj? So, from the beginning itself, they all are separate entities.
So, all the forms are eternal.
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Actually, those who are worshipping Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan, they are so fortunate, can we say. I am not distinguishing, but…
Well, if we examine from the point of view of what is superior and inferior, then if it is Goloka, it is the highest planet. Yes, so they are more fortunate. But if you go to Hanuman, he will say, no, I am satisfied. I am most fortunate.
6.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. This is regarding the Catur–vyuha. In the second Catur–vyuha, from the Maha Sankarshan, we have the expansion Karnodakshaya, that is Maha Vishnu. And Pradyumna is Garbhodakshaya Vishnu and Aniruddha is Kshirodakshaya Vishnu. So, my doubt is, of course, we all know like, you know, according to the Lila, when Krishna is in Mathura, he is Vasudeva’s son, so he is Vasudeva. And Krishna’s son is Pradyumna and grandson is Aniruddha. So, I, as well as many people, have this doubt like regarding the first Catur–vyuha. How does Krishna expand as Vasudeva and more clarity on that first Catur–vyuha?
What is the first Catur-vyuha, ultimately is Vasudeva in Dwaraka with his Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Balarama. So, that’s the first Catur-vyuha. So, then what’s the question?
Devotee : [Not audible].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : Oh, yeah. Well, the activities is that it is non-different from Krishna, Vasudeva, but he manifests less sweetness and more aishwarya. And if we go to Vaikuntha form, the next expansion in the spiritual world, less, maybe no [Laughs] madhurya and all aishwarya. And those four forms expand into these different 24 forms in Vaikuntha, which are basically aishwarya.
7.) If everything comes from the Lord, who is the cause of all bad things and bad people in this world?
So, of course, we get cause and then effect and then cause and effect and cause and effect chain. So, the Lord ultimately is the cause of the Jiva Shakti, which produces Jivas, but it’s all eternal. So, the Lord has original knowledge, original activity, original bliss. Jiva has portion of knowledge, portion of bliss, portion of action. But nature of the Tatastha Shakti is, some Jivas are in ignorance, the minimum [Laughs] lack of knowledge, lack of cit [Laughs]. So, the material world itself is not good or bad or whatever, but the Jivas within the material world under ignorance do many things. So, ultimately we can say, yes, the Lord is at fault because he is the cause of Jivas. So, let there be no Jivas, then the Lord is perfect. But if there is no Jivas, where is the Rasa ? So, of course, we have Jivas to experience Rasa with the Lord and that gives bliss. But then, of course, we can say, well, the Lord can make Jivas, but why do they have to be affected by ignorance? So, the only way he can do that, maybe, is to make forms like himself. Then there wouldn’t be Jivas anymore. But then he couldn’t have Rasa, because they would be himself [Laughs].
8.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, in today’s class we learned the cause of spiritual world is the Ananda fact, is the Ananda, the Svabhava of the Lord, bliss, Rasa. So, when we read about the creation of spiritual world, Prabhupada talks about, it is the internal energy. So, how do we understand that even in internal energy, we have these three classifications, Samvat, Sandhini and Hladini. So, in this aspect, the Sat-cit is not exactly suiting for the Svabhava of the Lord or the cause of spiritual world. Only Ananda is suiting the Svabhava of the Lord for the spiritual world creation. So, how do we understand that only Hladini is responsible for the spiritual world, not the Sandhini or Samvat.
So, all aspects are intrinsic in the Lord. In that way, they are all natural to the Lord. But what distinguishes Bhagavan from Brahman and Paramatma is the Ananda. If we minimize the Ananda, then we are left with Paramatma who manifests Cit and Sat. And if we decrease the Cit, then we are left with Brahman [Laughs].
Devotee : Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, what he was asking is like, what is the role of Samvat and Sandhini in the creation of the spiritual world?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : Well, if the Lord is not eternal, then what’s up? So, He has to be Sat in His nature. If He is not conscious, you can’t have Rasa, you can’t have bliss.
In fact, you end up with matter. It ends up as matter only. Prakriti [Laughs]. That’s it.
9.) Can we pray the same prayer to the Lord every day?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : We do Hare Krishna every day [Laughs].
Devotees : [Laugh].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So, everything spiritual is absolute. So, even if you do it every day, there is nothing wrong with it. We read Bhagavatam every day. We don’t read a different scripture every day.
10.) We know that Krishna is the Supreme. But still, do we need to develop the knowledge of other forms of the Lord as well?
So, for the sadhaka, knowledge of the other forms of the Lord can be beneficial because then we see that Krishna manifests all the qualities.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!