Srimad Bhagavatam – 3.16.27 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Goloka Eco farm, Italy | Aug 15, 2025
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 3 Chapter 16 Verse 27.
ŚB 3.16.27
brahmovāca
atha te munayo dṛṣṭvā
nayanānanda-bhājanam
vaikuṇṭhaṁ tad-adhiṣṭhānaṁ
vikuṇṭhaṁ ca svayaṁ-prabham
Synonyms
brahmā uvāca — Lord Brahmā said; atha — now; te — those; munayaḥ — sages; dṛṣṭvā — after seeing; nayana — of the eyes; ānanda — pleasure; bhājanam — producing; vaikuṇṭham — the Vaikuṇṭha planet; tat — of Him; adhiṣṭhānam — the abode; vikuṇṭham — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ca — and; svayam–prabham — self-illuminating.
Translation
Lord Brahmā said: After seeing the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the self-illuminated Vaikuṇṭha planet, the sages left that transcendental abode.
Purport
The transcendental abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā and confirmed in this verse, is self-illuminated. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that in the spiritual world there is no need of sun, moon or electricity. This indicates that all the planets there are self-illuminated, self-sufficient and independent; everything there is complete. Lord Kṛṣṇa says that once one goes to that Vaikuṇṭha planet, he never returns. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha never return to the material world, but the incident of Jaya and Vijaya was a different case. They came to the material world for some time, and then they returned to Vaikuṇṭha.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj :
So here we have a description of these sages, the Kumaras, who had the opportunity to go to Vaikuntha and see the person, the Lord. This is a special privilege of great devotees. Most persons cannot just go at will to the spiritual world. And that is why, in the material world, we have to do a special process called Sadhana Bhakti. So this qualifies us for entering into the spiritual world. So, the scriptures talk about two different realms, the material realm and the spiritual realm. It’s a little bit difficult for us to conceive of…
However we do have so many conceptions of other dimensions even now in common language. And, of course, even in science, they have a theory of not just three dimensions or four dimensions, up to nine dimensions are there [Laughs]. So, we, in the present time, conceive of and perceive in three dimensions. So, it is difficult for us to conceive. What would it look like if we saw four dimensions? What is that [Laughs]? That is difficult for us. So, we are speaking here of material dimensions. And, of course, spiritual dimension is much beyond even the ninth dimension [Laughs]. And, thus, it is rather inconceivable for us.
Of course, the Vedic literature’s talk about other realms within the material world, which we can call other dimensions. And, the Vedic literature’s like Srimad Bhagavatam talk about something called Svargaloka. And, it is often equated with the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, etc. But, if we go to those places, as maybe people went to the Moon, or they send, what do you call it [Laughs], probes up there, and they photograph the Moon or Mars or whatever, those places look like dead rocks, nothing else and, those are not heavenly planets [Laughs]. So, that is obviously not the place that is spoken of in Vedic literature when they talk about heavenly planets [Laughs]. So, that is one level. And, you have to be qualified to enter into that world or that dimension. And, there are higher and higher levels. We have Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Brahmaloka, which are more subtle. And, to go to those places, you have to be more qualified. But, all of this, of course, is material, It is not spiritual world at all. But, if you were to go there, then you would think, ah, this is spiritual world, so much different from our Earth.
So, even these material worlds or dimensions are difficult for us to conceive of. But, we do have people that get a slight experience of such a thing. We have people who have near-death experiences. And, their heart stops and their brain stops dead. But, they are able to experience other places. So, they are not experiencing with their eyes and their ears, because they are dead, no brain is operating. Nevertheless, they do have experiences. They can see and they can hear. They can smell [Laughs]. And, they actually communicate with beings in these strange worlds [Laughs]. And, of course, the people, when they go there, that they are not in heaven. Whatever heaven is, they are not there, they are in this other world [Laughs]. But, then later on, they come back, they leave that world. So, they have a slight glimpse of some other world or some other dimension at that time. So, they, of course, may think, ok, this is a spiritual world, they think like that. But, probably it isn’t, because you don’t return from the spiritual world [Laughs], you never return. So, it’s somewhat equivalent to these heavenly planets that look like they are spiritual world [Laughs]. So, these worlds are full of light. They can communicate without having to speak [Laughs]. So, it is quite different from our normal experience now. We may think, oh, that’s a spiritual world [Laughs]. But, you cannot really go to the spiritual world unless you are very, very, very qualified [Laughs]. And, if you go to the spiritual world, you don’t return. So, therefore, we concluded some more subtle dimension or subtle realm within the material world.
So, of course, there are more higher and more subtle of these material worlds also. Where do they exist? Now, Bhagavatam describes so many kilometers above that we have Svargaloka, above that we’ll have Maharloka. So, it looks like a physical distance higher and higher in the world [Laughs]. However, we also know that physical distance itself is not a good measure of subtle things. We can’t really measure, we are in our particular world and our dimensions. How can we measure other dimensions using our miles and kilometers or whatever?
So, there is another experience, a more conscious experience of people. We know that mystics and yogis and great sages sometimes can travel to other places [Laughs]. That’s also not spiritual. It’s what we call Yoga Siddhi, It’s material. But, at will, they seem to be able to travel out of their gross body, in their subtle body, to other places and have experiences and see things. And, if you read works by Yogananda, he has this Autobiography of a Yogi. So, he describes it in Himalayas that he kind of went to these other realms. So, that’s one thing. But, in the modern world, there are people who can also, in the western world, not yogis, can cultivate a similar power. So, this is something called remote viewing [Laughs]. It was first practiced in the American military. They studied clairvoyance in the western world. People just had a disability and then they made up a program on how you can cultivate mystic abilities without being a yogi [Laughs]. So, they developed some techniques, which also depend on some sort of meditation. And, if I’m like doing that, you could project your mind instantaneously to any place in the world. Of course, this was rather limited, they could gather information from that place. They also found that it wasn’t limited to the earth. You could go to the moon, see what’s on the other side of the moon. You could go to Mars, see what’s on Mars. You could go to Jupiter and see what’s on Jupiter [Laughs]. You could go anywhere in the universe and observe what’s there and come back instantaneously and tell everybody, this is what I saw [Laughs]. And, interestingly enough, you’re not bound by space. You’re also not bound by time. So, you could go into the future or into the past. So, in other words, once you’re out of the gross body and the gross brain and your three dimensions, and you’re in a more subtle body with your subtle senses, you could go [Laughs] past material dimensions and material time. So, this is only to say that we have a conception of our world like a round globe with oceans and continents [Laughs] and whatever we’re populating. This is a conception, but it may actually be, materially speaking, quite different from what we think it is [Laughs].
Nevertheless, the Bhagavatam tries to explain this mysterious world [Laughs]. And we have a very fantastic description of our Earth and the other planets, the lower planets and things like that in the Fifth Canto of Bhagavatam. And when we read it, we always say, well, this does not correspond to modern science [Laughs]. In the last few hundred years, we have a certain conception of what the world looks like. It’s a spherical globe that turns around like this and it’s got continents on it like that, so that’s our conception. But in the Bhagavatam, it is quite different [Laughs]. And plus, we have higher worlds and lower worlds. So, many devotees even find it very difficult to understand what this is [Laughs]. And perhaps one of the reasons is that we cannot approach that description from our normal type of perception. As I said, yogis and others, they can see in a different way. So, therefore, they can see the world, but it may be quite different from what we see. So, that’s one thing. If we get to the spiritual world, of course, that is even more difficult for us to conceive of. You cannot go in your gross body or in your subtle body. In our subtle body, maybe we can go up to something below Svargaloka. We can’t even go there, we need a finer gross body and a finer subtle body [Laughs] to go to Svargaloka and Brahmaloka.
To go to the spiritual world, you can’t go in any gross body or any subtle body, they are all material. You have to develop a spiritual body. And, of course, in that spiritual body you will have spiritual senses, spiritual brain, spiritual eyes, nose, ears, etc. In a spiritual body, you have a spiritual sense, a spiritual body, a spiritual mind, etc. But it is very, very different from any material body. So, actually, it is, we could say, impossible to describe the experience in that body. And it is also impossible to describe that spiritual world [Laughs]. However, scriptures, by some sort of analogy and use of words, they can give us some idea of what the spiritual world is, of what the spiritual body is. But we cannot really understand it unless we get to a high spiritual level. Nevertheless, those descriptions are useful for us because, at least, they are pointing us in the right direction. So, we will actually understand how Krishna is blue and how he has lotus eyes [Laughs] when we actually realize it in the spiritual world. Obviously, it is not the material blue color, it is not a material lotus [Laughs] . But we get some idea of the beauty of Krishna. So, that is important for us because the basis of the Bhagavatam is to establish a beautiful form of the Lord. And if we are to establish that, we have to know something about that beautiful form [Laughs]. And that form, obviously, is in a place and is doing activities [Laughs]. So, the Srimad Bhagavatam gives us some indication of the form, qualities and activities of the Supreme Lord. And with such descriptions, we can set our goal on realizing that. Whatever we concentrate on, we can achieve. So, we concentrate on the Supreme Lord with a particular form that we can achieve. So, for that reason, we have these various descriptions.
In this verse, it is talking about everything being self-illuminating [Laughs] . The Upanishads often say that there is no need of sun, moon, stars or fire in the spiritual world, those are material things, so we don’t need it [Laughs] . So, when it is dark out, there is no light, there is no moonlight even, whatever. Then our eye cannot see. Of course, maybe cats can see in the dark, or owls can see in the dark. They have different mechanisms in their eyes. But all of this is dependency of material things like the eye on material states like light and darkness. So, such material states of dependency do not exist in the spiritual world. We have spiritual eyes, they don’t require any light to see [Laughs]. In fact, when they talk about illumination and light in the spiritual world, they often equate that with knowledge. And of course, we use this word enlightenment or whatever to indicate that we have a spiritual vision or whatever.
So, we have some sort of similarity in the material world. In the material elements light is very mysterious. It is very strange because we have the photons and the photons go so quickly and whatever like that, very difficult to understand. But according to the Vedic literature, light obviously illuminates things. It is luminous and it illuminates other things [Laughs]. So, similarly, consciousness illuminates things. It gives us knowledge of things. So, consciousness is like light [Laughs]. But there is also a little bit of a difference. Light can illuminate other objects, but it is not aware of itself. But the Atma or the Jiva, the soul, can illuminate other things, be aware of other things, it is also aware of itself [Laughs]. So, it is often described that the Atma or the Jiva is self-illuminating, It illuminates things and it also illuminates itself. Jiva is aware of things, has knowledge and is also aware of itself. So, that is why the word self-illuminating is often used for the Atma or the Jiva. Of course it also refers to the supreme lord, who is also self illuminating [Laughs] .
But then, the whole spiritual world is not dull matter also. It is also cit [Laughs], conscious. It is not like the matter of this world, which is definitely not conscious. So, the whole spiritual world also is self-illuminating [Laughs]. So when we hear this word you know self illuminating, spiritual world like light, that is one idea but actually everything is full of knowledge. That, of course, is difficult for us to conceive of because we don’t have that experience here [Laughs] . So, that spiritual world is obviously very, very different from our material world.
Now, the amazing thing is that the Jiva, as I said, by nature, is conscious of itself and other things. The nature of us in the material world, we are Jiva’s, conscious particles but we are all in illusion, covered over with material bodies. And we don’t even realize we are a spirit soul [Laughs] . We think we are a material body. And this gives rise to all of our problems and our suffering and karma and rebirth [Laughs]. So, in other words, though we are, by nature, conscious of whatever is self-illuminating, we are not really aware of that in the material world. However, it is possible for the human being to realize that Atma. We have to get rid of the ignorance of thinking we are the body and understand we are Atma or soul. So, that is a big step for the human being [Laughs]. Many philosophers don’t even get that far [Laughs] . Some philosophers do. Many religions don’t get that far [Laughs]. Some almost realize it. But as I mentioned last night, actually, Bhagavad Gita very clearly states in the second chapter [Laughs] of this fact, this is the obvious fact [Laughs]. So, this is our first type of knowledge which is beneficial for our realization.
So, to realize we are not the body but the soul is one level. And if a person gets that far, then they think, that’s the goal, that’s the end. I am Atma, I am spirit, I am not the body. Of course many people are content with that [Laughs]. And this is the level of Yoga and Jnana. They realize atma and then, we are finished. But Bhagavatam tells us beyond that not only we have atma, but Supreme atma, the Supreme lord. And if we can realize the form and qualities and activities of that Atma, then we can experience the highest bliss. So everyone wants to be happy in the material world but we don’t get happiness. So, if we get to the level of Atma, at least we get satisfaction that we are at a certain level of truth and we have no suffering. But then, there is a higher level of no suffering and a higher level of happiness. And that is establishing a loving relationship. So, that has to be spiritual [Laughs]. So, the best spiritual relationship we can have is a relationship with the Supreme Lord. So, this gives rise to spiritual bliss. That is eternal and complete. So, that is the message of Bhagavatam, we should establish the relationship with the Supreme Lord.
Why we have to establish relationship with the Supreme Lord? Why not with somebody else in the spiritual world [Laughs]?
- The Supreme Lord is the most beautiful.
- He is the most attractive in all of his qualities.
- He performs the most remarkable activities.
So, he is the ideal person in the spiritual world. So, why not have a personal relationship with him [Laughs]?
Of course, you say, how can the Lord have a personal relationship with everybody?
But the nature of the Lord is that he is infinite, so he can have infinite relationships with an infinite number of people. And each relationship can be very intimate. So, therefore, we should establish a relationship with the Supreme Lord.
So, a person in the material world has to do a lot of work to get rid of the material body, material conception, subtle body, etc., and develop spiritual body. If we do Jnana Yoga, we can get rid of the gross and subtle material bodies. But we don’t develop our spiritual body. If we do Bhakti Yoga, we can destroy the gross and subtle bodies and develop our spiritual body. So, this is the process recommended by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. This is the only process that works, that is also quick.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A
1) So, we know from spiritual scriptures that we are spiritual sparks, so we are full of light. And this is our, we say, the Jiva, atma, is like this. But also we know from scriptures, from Srimad Bhagavatam, that our Svarupa siddhi is like a Gopa, like a human form in spiritual realm. So, how can we consider that we know that we are spiritual sparks, full of light, infinite, but in the spiritual world we will be with Krishna, we will play with Krishna and we are like a spiritual form, it’s like a human being form. So, how we can conceive this apparent difference?
We know that we are infinite souls, full of light, very small particles of Krishna, full of light, but at the same time, in the Vedic literature, we know that we are in the spiritual world, we would be once back home, in the original situation, and we have a form that looks like a human being, a shepherd, or a Gopa, etc.
So, in the material world we are spiritual spark, which does not manifest its full potency. And, of course, when we are in this body, all that manifests are our consciousness.
If we do jñāna or yoga, we can get rid of all of our gross and subtle bodies and that spiritual spark remains. It remains a state of liberation in the Brahman. But it doesn’t have spiritual form qualities, it doesn’t exist there in the Brahman.
So, only through the sadhana of bhakti will that atma not only destroy the gross body and subtle body, but also start manifesting a spiritual form. So, obviously, our desire is to serve the Lord eternally. So, in order to serve the Lord eternally, we need some sort of body to do that. And it also has to be suitable to the form of the Lord. So, if we worship Vishnu, then we have to be similar to Vishnu, to worship Vishnu. If we are going to worship Rama, then we have to have a body suitable to worship Ramachandra. And if we worship Krishna, then we have to have a body, a cowherd body, suitable to worship Krishna and serve Krishna. So, according to our particular bhakti, focused on a particular form of the Lord, a particular rasa, then we will develop, manifest a spiritual form. Yes.
2) Where do the Jivas come from?
So, in terms of philosophy or theology, we say that the Jivas come from the Tattastha Shakti, the Shakti of the Lord, called the Tattastha. It is different from the material Shakti, which manifests matter. It is also different from the internal energy of the Lord, which manifests the spiritual world and the Lord’s form, qualities and activities. And that’s because it manifests all these small particles of consciousness. But we could also not say that at a certain time there were no Jivas, and then the Lord said, Oh, the Tattastha Shakti manifest Jivas, there’s no time, because they’re eternal.
So, the term is used simply to explain that ultimately the Jivas are under the control of the Supreme Lord. And by His will, they exist. But they exist eternally by His will. And some are in the material world, some are in the spiritual world. Those in the spiritual world do not follow the material world. Those in the material world get a chance to go to the spiritual world if we perform bhakti. By bhakti we become sadhana siddha. And then we are fixed in the spiritual world.
We have exceptional cases like Jaya and Vijaya who are eternal associates. By the will of the Lord, they got cursed and whatever, and they came as demons for three lifetimes. Then they went back to the spiritual world. That’s an exceptional case.
3) We know that it’s very important to study Shastra and read Shastras. But at the same time, our limitations don’t allow us to understand and appreciate Shastras. So, what to do?
So, yes, if we’re purely materialistic, we’re not qualified to understand anything about scriptures. And therefore we say don’t preach to the faithless. So our qualification for scripture is willingness to accept the facts. That means we have faith.
So that faith, of course, in the beginning is weak. But there’s a method of increasing the strength of that faith. So in the Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami describes that we can increase that faith by knowledge of scripture. Rupa Goswami says that our faith can become stronger, increase that to the knowledge of scripture. So we have little bit of knowledge or very little knowledge in te beginning. With weak faith if we get more knowledge we get stronger faith. And with that stronger faith, our capacity to understand scripture also becomes more. And then we can reach a state where we have very thorough knowledge of scripture, with logical ability to understand properly and put things together properly. And our faith is very, very deep. So the more we progress in bhakti, and the more we study shastra, then we get a better capacity to understand it.
4) So I have a question. Because God is a person. God is a personality. There is personalism and impersonalism. I remember Prabhupada in a purport said that there are two. Transcendentalists are of two types, personalist and impersonalist. At one point Prabhupada says both are good because they’re both working towards some kind of transcendence. But in other parts, Prabhupada is very heavy. Many parts, we know, Prabhupada guards us against Mayavadism. So my question is, are Mayavadi asuras? Is it better to be a mayavad or asura? Are all mayavad asuras? What is the opposite of being a devotee? Is it being a mayavad? Or the opposite of being a devotee is being an asura?
We know from First Canto of Bhagavatam that there is one entity who manifests as Bhagavan, Paramatma and Brahman, which is the impersonal aspect. And we cannot really separate them.
They are advayas. They are one. At the same time, they appear different because the Brahman aspect has no form, qualities and activities and Bhagavan has form, qualities and activities. So we realize Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan is spiritual because we got the realization that something is spiritual. They are all spiritual.
But at the same time, we do distinguish that Brahman is like the light and Paramatma is a little bit more distinguished and that Bhagavan is all the details. So it is superior, because it has more details than the realization. Just as we can see a hill from 20 kilometers away and then it is a little bump on the horizon. So at least we distinguish it and give it a name. Hoo…that’s a Hill. But we do not know where it comes from. I am going to describe it very quickly. If we get next to the hill, at the foot of the hill, then we can give you the height of the hill, the rocks, maybe the type of rocks on the hill, the red rocks or black rocks or white rocks or whatever. We can describe the vegetation and even the animals and the bugs that are there. Massive details. So that is a better description of the mountains.
So if we do Jnana Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga, maximum we see the Lord from far away. So it is the Lord, but it is a distant perception of the Lord. If we do Bhakti Yoga, then we get the close up realization of the Lord. So therefore we can say they are both spiritual but nevertheless we prefer Bhagavan.
So why do we criticize the Mayavadis so much? Of course, we can say we criticize all the impersonalists because they are only they are going partial. They do not have complete realization. So more than just criticize, we can say they are unfortunate because they do not get the higher goal, they get the lower goal instead. Now we have different types of impersonalists. So the Mayavadis are followers of Shankaracharya who say ultimately matter does not exist and Jiva does not exist only impersonal Brahman exists. So they will say Bhagavan does not exist, Maya. So therefore this is Aparadh. No, if you say God is Maya, the form of God is Maya, then it is Aparadh. So that is similar to Asuras who do not like the existence of God like…. In that sense they are Asuras.
So our Acharyas explain that such a person who insults the Lord, who says he has no form, cannot even get liberation. They only think they are liberated but actually they are not. So a person who truly wants to get liberation and enter into Brahman, he also has to accept the Lord. So even if you want liberation, real liberation, you have to worship the Lord, accept the Lord. Of course we can say well why don’t they just worship the Lord and go to Vaikunta? Some Jivas prefer the peace of simply existing, so they are willing to worship the Lord to get that goal.
Devotee: So are there cases of Yogis not worshipping the Supreme Lord and going to impersonal [not clear]?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: You have to worship the Lord. You have to accept, it can be a little bit of worship, they accept the Lord, like Paramatma Yogis, they accept Paramatma and they worship him. Part of Yoga is Ishwara Pranidhan, worship the Lord, that’s one of the Niyamas in the Ashtanga Yoga process.
Devotee: And what about the Brahman or the Brahmananda Yogis?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Many of them, if they are actually fixed in Brahman, they must accept the Lord.
Devotee: So they are fixed in Brahman but they are accepting the Lord?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. But when in the Brahman state they don’t remember anything, it’s all oneness.
Devotee: So impersonalists, Sankaracharya, Sankaracharya…
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: If they deny the existence of the Lord, then it’s offensive, they don’t get liberation.
Devotee: They don’t get to impersonalize.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, yes, that’s what I was trying to say. You know the famous verse, “patanty adho ’nādṛta”, One who does not accept the Lord as the Lord, he falls down.
Devotee: So from your answer is it correct to associate mayavadis to asuras
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: We can [laughs]…Madhvacharya definitely does.
….But when he says impersonal, it doesn’t mean by that. They’re impersonal also, but they’re different categories. Purify yourself.
5) We see this famous Japanese scientist that put the water increases and showed that there’s consciousness in the water, there’s information in the water. Maybe there’s information in all the elements we don’t see, but can you explain? Because it’s out of hand.
So what we can say is that water is sensitive to consciousness. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is conscious, but it’s sensitive to our consciousness.
It picks up our, you know, our emotions and thoughts and whatever, and it can reflect that
if you have a certain mentality, and you look at the water, your mentality goes into the water. You see the crystals don’t form properly. And instead of that, you bless the water, and you have nice feelings about the water, and say, I love you, or whatever [laughs]. Then the water will form into very nice crystals. So in other words, it’s sensitive to our consciousness.
6) What about that we hear in Bhagavatham that every atom is conscious? There is atma in every atom?
Well, we have an atma there, within everything, all over the place. But that’s different from the atoms of matter, actually. So we can say there are souls or atmas everywhere in matter also. But that doesn’t mean that the material atom itself is an atma. No. But it could be an atma in there. That is a soul within the matter or whatever. Because it makes a clear distinction. The Bahiranga Shakti is not conscious. That’s its very definition.
Devotee: It’s not conscious, but it is a soul?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It can have souls, which are Jivas. That is the Tattva Shakti lodged in it. But in itself, it’s another Shakti with no consciousness at all. Whereas a Jiva is conscious, and of course, the Antaranga Shakti is conscious.
Devotee: No, I struggle with these things.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, for instance, we have a body which is made out of atoms also, but we’ve got atma here, so then it’s conscious, it spreads its consciousness through… Atma spreads its consciousness through matter.
Devotee: We know that Paramatma is entering every atom in creation. So we can say that every atom is inhabited by… Paramatma. He’s everywhere.
So of course, yes. Still, we have to distinguish matter from Paramatma and from Jiva.
So, when Paramatma is within matter, then he doesn’t give it life, so to speak. Nevertheless, he maintains his existence. Without Paramatma, it doesn’t exist at all.
Devotees: HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!