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gandha—smell; akrti—form; sparsa—touch; rasa—taste; sravamsi—and sound; visarga—evacuating; rati—sexual intercourse; arti—movement; abhijalpa—speaking; silpah—grasping or releasing; ekadasam—eleventh; svikaranam—accepting as; mama—mine; iti—thus; sayyam—this body; aham—I; dvadasam—twelfth; eke—some; ahuh—have said.

Sound, touch, form, taste and smell are the objects of the five knowledge-acquiring senses. Speech, touch, movement, evacuation and sexual intercourse are the objects of the working senses. Besides this, there is another conception by which one thinks, “This is my body, this is my society, this is my family, this is my nation,” and so forth. This eleventh function, that of the mind, is called the false ego. According to some philosophers, this is the twelfth function, and its field of activity is the body.

There are different objects for the eleven items. Through the nose we can smell, by the eyes we can see, by the ears we can hear, and in this way we gather knowledge. Similarly, there are the karmendriyas, the working senses—the hands, legs, genitals, rectum, mouth and so forth. When the false ego expands, it makes one think. “This is my body, family, society, country,” etc.

SB5.11.11

TEXT 11

dravya-svabhavasaya-karma-kalair

ekadasami manaso vikarah

sahasrasah satasah kotisas ca

ksetrajnato na mitho na svatah syuh

dravya—by physical objects; sva-bhava—by nature as the cause of development; asaya—by culture; karma—by predestined resultant actions; kalaih—by time; ekadasa—eleven; ami—all these; manasah—of the mind; vikarah—transformations; sahasrasah—in thousands; satasah—in hundreds; kotisah ca—and in millions; ksetra-jnatah—from the original Supreme Personality of Godhead; na—not; mithah—one another; na—nor; svatah—from themselves; syuh—are.

The physical elements, nature, the original cause, culture, destiny and the time element are all material causes. Agitated by these material causes, the eleven functions transform into hundreds of functions and then into thousands and then into millions. But all these transformations do not take place automatically by mutual combination. Rather, they are under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

ksetrajna eta manaso vibhutir

One should not think that all the interactions of the physical elements, gross and subtle, that cause the transformation of mind and consciousness are working independently. They are under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita (15.15), Krsna says that the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart (sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca). As mentioned herein, Supersoul (ksetrajna) is directing everything. The living entity is also ksetrajna, but the supreme ksetrajna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the witness and order giver. Under His direction, everything takes place. The different inclinations of the living entity are created by his own nature or his expectations, and he is trained by the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the agency of material nature. The body, nature and the physical elements are under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They do not function automatically. Nature is neither independent nor automatic. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is behind nature.

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

“This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.” (Bg. 9.10)

SB5.11.12

TEXT 12

jivasya maya-racitasya nityah

avirhitah kvapi tirohitas ca

suddho vicaste hy avisuddha-kartuh

ksetra-jnah—the individual soul; etah—all these; manasah—of the mind; vibhutih—different activities; jivasya—of the living entity; maya-racitasya—created by the external, material energy; nityah—from time immemorial; avirhitah—sometimes manifested; kvapi—somewhere; tirohitah ca—and not manifested; suddhah—purified; vicaste—sees this; hi—certainly; avisuddha—unpurified; kartuh—of the doer.

The individual soul bereft of Krsna consciousness has many ideas and activities created in the mind by the external energy. They have been existing from time immemorial. Sometimes they are manifest in the wakening state and in the dream state, but during deep sleep [unconsciousness] or trance, they disappear. A person who is liberated in this life [jivan-mukta] can see all these things vividly.

ksetrajna atma purusah puranah

As stated in Bhagavad-gita (13.3), ksetrajnam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata. There are two kinds of ksetrajna, or living beings. One is the individual living being, and the other is the supreme living being. The ordinary living being knows about his body to some extent, but the Supreme, Paramatma, knows the condition of all bodies. The individual living being is localized, and the Supreme. Paramatma. is all-pervading. In this sloka the word ksetrajna refers to an ordinary living being, not the supreme living being. This ordinary living being is of two kinds—nitya-baddha or nitya-mukta. One is eternally conditioned and the other eternally liberated. The eternally liberated living being; are in the Vaikuntha jagat, the spiritual world, and they never fall into the material world. Those in the material world are conditioned souls, nitya-baddha. The nitya-baddhas can become liberated by controlling the mind because the cause of conditioned life is the mind. When the mind is trained and the soul is not under the mind’s control, the soul can be liberated even in this material world. When it is liberated, one is called jivan-mukta. A jivan-mukta knows how he has become conditioned; therefore he tries to purify himself and return home, back to Godhead. The eternally conditioned soul is eternally conditioned because he is controlled by the mind. The conditioned state and liberated state are compared to the sleeping, unconscious state and the awakened state. Those who are sleeping and unconscious are eternally conditioned, but those who are awake understand that they are eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Therefore even in this material world, they engage in Krsna’s service. As confirmed by Srila Rupa Gosvami: iha yasya harer dasye. If one takes to Krsna’s service, he is liberated, even though he appears to be a conditioned soul within the material world. Jivan-muktah sa ucyate. In any condition, one is to be considered liberated if his only business is to serve Krsna.

SB5.11.13-14

TEXTS 13–14

saksat svayam jyotir ajah paresah

narayano bhagavan vasudevah

sva-mayayatmany avadhiyamanah

yathanilah sthavara-jangamanam

atma-svarupena nivista iset

evam paro bhagavan vasudevah

ksetrajna atmedam anupravistah

ksetra-jnah—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; atma—all-pervading, present everywhere; purusah—the unrestricted controller, who has unlimited power; puranah—the original; saksat—perceivable by hearing from the authorities and by direct perception; svayam—personal; jyotih—manifesting His bodily rays (the Brahman effulgence); ajah—never born; paresah—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; narayanah—the resting place of all living entities; bhagavan—the Personality of Godhead with six full opulences; vasudevah—the shelter of everything, manifested and nonmanifest; sva-mayaya—by His own potency; atmani—in His own self, or in the ordinary living entities; avadhiyamanah—existing as the controller; yatha—as much as; anilah—the air; sthavara—of nonmoving living entities; jangamanam—and of the moving living entities; atma-svarupena—by His expansion as the Supersoul; nivistah—entered; iset—controls; evam—thus; parah—transcendental; bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vasudevah—the shelter of everything; ksetra-jnah—known as ksetrajna; atma—the vital force; idam—this material world; anupravistah—entered within.

There are two kinds of ksetrajna—the living entity, as explained above, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is explained as follows. He is the all-pervading cause of creation. He is full in Himself and is not dependent on others. He is perceived by hearing and direct perception. He is self-effulgent and does not experience birth, death, old age or disease. He is the controller of all the demigods, beginning with Lord Brahma. He is called Narayana, and He is the shelter of living entities after the annihilation of this material world. He is full of all opulences, and He is the resting place of everything material. He is therefore known as Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His own potency, He is present within the hearts of all living entities, just as the air or vital force is within the bodies of all beings, moving and nonmoving. In this way He controls the body. In His partial feature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters all bodies and controls them.

na yavad etam tanu-bhrn narendra

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (15.15). Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. Every living being is controlled by the supreme living being, Paramatma, who resides within everyone’s heart. He is the purusa, the purusa-avatara, who creates this material world. The first purusa-avatara is Maha-Visnu, and that Maha-Visnu is the plenary portion of the plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Krsna’s first expansion is Baladeva, and His next expansions are Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Vasudeva is the original cause of the brahmajyoti, and the brahmajyoti is the expansion of the rays of the body of Vasudeva.

yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-
kotisv asesa-vasudhadi-vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma niskalam anantam asesa-bhutam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes.” (Brahma-samhita 5.40) The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus described in Bhagavad-gita:

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Bg. 9.4)

This is the position of the plenary expansions of Krsna as the all-pervading Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.

SB5.11.15

TEXT 15

vidhuya mayam vayunodayena

vimukta-sango jita-sat-sapatno

vedatma-tattvam bhramatiha tavat