Srìmad Bhagavatam, first canto

[Surya]

Here I will, at the very least, study one verse each day, quote the text as well as purport by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, and possibly some reflections on it. I have already read the intro and first chapter. I’ll skip the intro here, but will start again from chapter one. 
 

I very much hope someone would like to participate in it. 
 

best wishes!

 

edit: apologies, the purport and Sanskrit is not available at vedabase, but as I have it in print as well, I might scan and include it by request!

Edited 15 hours ago by Surya

[Surya]

CHAPTER ONE

Questions by the Sages

Text 1: O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.

 

 

—————

 

Q: what does the term «Godhead» mean?

 

notes:

The last sentence stood out: «I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.»

 

It made me think about something a good friend of me once said: either you worship God, or you worship the mundane (ego, money and the like). I believe there is great truth to that.

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Surya

[Nungali]

" ...  universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. "  

 

I am taking the three forces as 'unreal' and  not the Universes .... no doubt a variation on the 'purport'    

 

    I have written a lot about this  ......  beyond the concept of the three Gunas  . 

 

They are 'unreal' as they  are not 'material '  ... solid  .... three- dimensional , but their existence is postulated as factual as their evidence is everywhere found .  The three modes of nature  interact  ( on which ever level we consider ; eg    the strong force, the weak force and the electromagnetic force  )  but  are 'beyond the veil' , 'above the abyss ' ,  'behind material existence ' .

 

But when these 'ideal' forces interact the produce  another thing that  is 'real'  and material  - or a 'multitude  of things '  ( everything )  which is the '4th' stage of the manifestation  ... connected to the other three but not in a way we can 'see'   ( to follow the above example  those three forces can fit into a 'unified field theory '  but the 4th  force, gravity ,  does not  - as it is a product of the first three , not part of their 'set' . ) 

 

Which is why, in the Tao . 'the three gave birth to all things '   ; people mostly consider the duality of yin and yang and acknowledge that 'signature' in creation , but  the 'principle of three' seems little discussed.  

 

And not only do these three lead inevitable to 4 , but these 4 operate in three modes ;  

 

have a look at the way your fingers are constructed .

 

"  Mysterious Energy, triform, mysterious Matter, in fourfold and sevenfold division, the interplay of which things weave the dance of the Veil of Life upon the Face of the Spirit ... " 

 

Here the sevenfold division relates to the planets and represents 7 forms of energy interacting within the 12 (3 x4 ) modes or 'fields' . 

 

  

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Edited 10 hours ago by Nungali