Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Five

SB2.5.30

TEXT 30

vaikarikan mano jajne

deva vaikarika dasa

dig-vatarka-praceto ’svi-

vahnindropendra-mitra-kah

SYNONYMS

vaikarikat—from the mode of goodness; manah—the mind; jajne—generated; devah—demigods; vaikarikah—in the mode of goodness; dasa—ten; dik—the controller of directions; vata—the controller of air; arka—the sun; pracetah—Varuna; asvi—the Asvini-kumaras; vahni—the fire-god; indra—the King of heaven; upendra—the deity in heaven; mitra—one of the twelve Adityas; kah—Prajapati Brahma.

TRANSLATION

From the mode of goodness the mind is generated and becomes manifest, as also the ten demigods controlling the bodily movements. Such demigods are known as the controller of directions, the controller of air, the sun-god, the father of Daksa Prajapati, the Asvini-kumaras, the fire-god, the King of heaven, the worshipable deity in heaven, the chief of the Adityas, and Brahmaji, the Prajapati. All come into existence.

PURPORT

Vaikarika is the neutral stage of creation, and tejas is the initiative of creation, while tamas is the full display of material creation under the spell of the darkness of ignorance. Manufacture of the “necessities of life” in factories and workshops, excessively prominent in the age of Kali, or in the age of the machine, is the summit stage of the quality of darkness. Such manufacturing enterprises by human society are in the mode of darkness because factually there is no necessity for the commodities manufactured. Human society primarily requires food for subsistence, shelter for sleeping, defense for protection, and commodities for satisfaction of the senses. The senses are the practical signs of life, as will be explained in the next verse. Human civilization is meant for purifying the senses, and objects of sense satisfaction should be supplied as much as absolutely required, but not for aggravating artificial sensory needs. Food, shelter, defense and sense gratification are all needs in material existence. Otherwise, in his pure, uncontaminated state of original life, the living entity has no such needs. The needs are therefore artificial, and in the pure state of life there are no such needs. As such, increasing the artificial needs, as is the standard of material civilization, or advancing the economic development of human society, is a sort of engagement in darkness, without knowledge. By such engagement, human energy is spoiled, because human energy is primarily meant for purifying the senses in order to engage them in satisfying the senses of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord, being the supreme possessor of spiritual senses, is the master of the senses, Hrsikesa. Hrsika means the senses, and isa means the master. The Lord is not the servant of the senses, or, in other words, He is not directed by the dictation of the senses, but the conditioned souls or the individual living entities are servants of the senses. They are conducted by the direction or dictation of the senses, and therefore material civilization is a kind of engagement in sense gratification only. The standard of human civilization should be to cure the disease of sense gratification, and one can do this simply by becoming an agent for satisfying the spiritual senses of the Lord. The senses are never to be stopped in their engagements, but one should purify them by engaging them in the pure service of sense gratification of the master of the senses. This is the instruction of the whole Bhagavad-gita. Arjuna wanted first of all to satisfy his own senses by his decision not to fight with his kinsmen and friends, but Lord Sri Krsna taught him the Bhagavad-gita just to purify Arjuna’s decision for sense gratification. Therefore Arjuna agreed to satisfy the senses of the Lord, and thus he fought the Battle of Kuruksetra, as the Lord desired.

The Vedas instruct us to get out of the existence of darkness and go forward on the path of light (tamasi ma jyotir gama). The path of light is therefore to satisfy the senses of the Lord. Misguided men, or less intelligent men, follow the path of self-realization without any attempt to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord by following the path shown by Arjuna and other devotees of the Lord. On the contrary, they artificially try to stop the activities of the senses (yoga system), or they deny the transcendental senses of the Lord (jnana system). The devotees, however, are above the yogis and the jnanis because pure devotees do not deny the senses of the Lord; they want to satisfy the senses of the Lord. Only because of the darkness of ignorance do the yogis and jnanis deny the senses of the Lord and thus artificially try to control the activities of the diseased senses. In the diseased condition of the senses there is too much engagement of the senses in increasing material needs. When one comes to see the disadvantage of aggravating the sense activities, one is called a jnani, and when one tries to stop the activities of the senses by the practice of yogic principles, he is called a yogi, but when one is fully aware of the transcendental senses of the Lord and tries to satisfy His senses, one is called a devotee of the Lord. The devotees of the Lord do not try to deny the senses of the Lord, nor do they artificially stop the actions of the senses. But they do voluntarily engage the purified senses in the service of the master of the senses, as was done by Arjuna, thereby easily attaining the perfection of satisfying the Lord, the ultimate goal of all perfection.

SB2.5.31

TEXT 31

taijasat tu vikurvanad

indriyani dasabhavan

jnana-saktih kriya-saktir

buddhih pranas ca taijasau

srotram tvag-ghrana-drg-jihva

vag-dor-medhranghri-payavah

SYNONYMS

taijasat—by the passionate egoism; tu—but; vikurvanat—transformation of; indriyani—the senses; dasa—ten; abhavan—generated; jnana-saktih—the five senses for acquiring knowledge; kriya-saktih—the five senses of activities; buddhih—intelligence; pranah—the living energy; ca—also; taijasau—all products of the mode of passion; srotram—the sense for hearing; tvak—the sense for touching; ghrana—the sense for smelling; drk—the sense for seeing; jihvah—the sense for tasting; vak—the sense for speaking; doh—the sense for handling; medhra—the genitals; anghri—the legs; payavah—the sense for evacuating.

TRANSLATION

By further transformation of the mode of passion, the sense organs like the ear, skin, nose, eyes, tongue, mouth, hands, genitals, legs, and the outlet for evacuating, together with intelligence and living energy, are all generated.

PURPORT

The living condition in material existence depends more or less on one’s intelligence and powerful living energy. Intelligence to counteract the hard struggle for existence is assisted by the senses for acquiring knowledge, and the living energy maintains himself by manipulating the active organs, like the hands and legs. But on the whole, the struggle for existence is an exertion of the mode of passion. Therefore all the sense organs, headed by intelligence and the living energy, prana, are different products and by-products of the second mode of nature, called passion. This mode of passion, however, is the product of the air element, as described before.

SB2.5.32

TEXT 32

yadaite ’sangata bhava

bhutendriya-mano-gunah

yadayatana-nirmane

na sekur brahma-vittama

SYNONYMS

yada—as long as; ete—all these; asangatah—without being assembled; bhavah—remained so situated; bhuta—elements; indriya—senses; manah—mind; gunah—modes of nature; yada—so long; ayatana—the body; nirmane—in being formed; na sekuh—was not possible; brahma-vit-tama—O Narada, the best knower of transcendental knowledge.

TRANSLATION

O Narada, best of the transcendentalists, the forms of the body cannot take place as long as these created parts, namely the elements, senses, mind and modes of nature, are not assembled.

PURPORT

The different types of bodily construction of the living entities are exactly like different types of motorcars manufactured by assembling the allied motor parts. When the car is ready, the driver sits in the car and moves it as he desires. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (18.61): the living entity is as if seated on the machine of the body, and the car of the body is moving by the control of material nature, just as the railway trains are moving under the direction of the controller. The living entities, however, are not the bodies; they are separate from the cars of the body. But the less intelligent material scientist cannot understand the process of assembling the parts of the body, namely the senses, the mind and the qualities of the material modes. Every living entity is a spiritual spark, part and parcel of the Supreme Being, and by the kindness of the Lord, for the Father is kind to His sons, the individual living beings are given a little freedom to act according to their will to lord it over the material nature. Just as a father gives some playthings to the crying child to satisfy him, the whole material creation is made possible by the will of the Lord to allow the bewildered living entities to lord it over things as they desire, although under the control of the agent of the Lord. The living entities are exactly like small children playing the material field under the control of the maidservant of the Lord (nature). They accept the maya, or the maidservant, as all in all and thus wrongly conceive the Supreme Truth to be feminine (goddess Durga, etc.). The foolish, childlike materialists cannot reach beyond the conception of the maidservant, material nature, but the intelligent grown-up sons of the Lord know well that all the acts of material nature are controlled by the Lord, just as a maidservant is under the control of the master, the father of the undeveloped children.

The parts of the body, such as the senses, are the creation of the mahat-tattva, and when they are assembled by the will of the Lord, the material body comes into existence, and the living entity is allowed to use it for further activities. This is explained as follows.

SB2.5.33

TEXT 33

tada samhatya canyonyam

bhagavac-chakti-coditah

sad-asattvam upadaya

cobhayam sasrjur hy adah

SYNONYMS

tada—all those; samhatya—being assembled; ca—also; anyonyam—one another; bhagavat—by the Personality of Godhead; sakti—energy; coditah—being applied; sat-asattvam—primarily and secondarily; upadaya—accepting; ca—also; ubhayam—both; sasrjuh—came into existence; hi—certainly; adah—this universe.

TRANSLATION

Thus when all these became assembled by force of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this universe certainly came into being by accepting both the primary and secondary causes of creation.

PURPORT

In this verse it is clearly mentioned that the Supreme Personality of Godhead exerts His different energies in the creation; it is not that He Himself is transformed into material creations. He expands Himself by His different energies, as well as by His plenary portions. In a corner of the spiritual sky of brahmajyoti a spiritual cloud sometimes appears, and the covered portion is called the mahat-tattva. The Lord then, by His plenary portion as Maha-Visnu, lies down within the water of the mahat-tattva, and the water is called the Causal Ocean (Karana-jala). While Maha-Visnu sleeps within the Causal Ocean, innumerable universes are generated along with His breathing. These universes are floating, and they are scattered all over the Causal Ocean. They stay only during the breathing period of Maha-Visnu. In each and every universal globe, the same Maha-Visnu enters again as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and lies there on the serpentlike Sesa incarnation. From His navel sprouts a lotus stem, and on the lotus, Brahma, the lord of the universe, is born. Brahma creates all forms of living beings of different shapes in terms of different desires within the universe. He also creates the sun, moon and other demigods.

Therefore the chief engineer of the material creation is the Lord Himself, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.10). It is He only who directs the material nature to produce all sorts of moving and nonmoving creations.

There are two modes of material creation: the creation of the collective universes, as stated above, done by the Maha-Visnu, and the creation of the single universe. Both are done by the Lord, and thus the universal shape, as we can see, takes place.

SB2.5.34

TEXT 34

varsa-puga-sahasrante

tad andam udake sayam

kala-karma-svabhava-stho

jivo ’jivam ajivayat

SYNONYMS

varsa-puga—many years; sahasra-ante—of thousands of years; tat—that; andam—the universal globe; udake—in the causal water; sayam—being drowned; kala—eternal time; karma—action; svabhava-sthah—according to the modes of nature; jivah—the Lord of the living beings; ajivam—nonanimated; ajivayat—caused to be animated.

TRANSLATION

Thus all the universes remained thousands of eons within the water [the Causal Ocean], and the Lord of living beings, entering in each of them, caused them to be fully animated.

PURPORT

The Lord is described here as the jiva because He is the leader of all other jivas (living entities). In the Vedas He is described as the nitya, the leader of all other nityas. The Lord’s relation with the living entities is like that of the father with the sons. The sons and the father are qualitatively equal, but the father is never the son, nor is the son ever the father who begets. So, as described above, the Lord as Garbhodakasayi Visnu or Hiranyagarbha Supersoul enters into each and every universe and causes it to be animated by begetting the living entities within the womb of the material nature, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (14.3). After each annihilation of the material creation, all the living entities are merged within the body of the Lord, and after creation they are again impregnated within the material energy. In material existence, therefore, the material energy is seemingly the mother of the living entities, and the Lord is the father. When, however, the animation takes place, the living entities revive their own natural activities under the spell of time and energy, and thus the varieties of living beings are manifested. The Lord, therefore, is ultimately the cause of all animation in the material world.

SB2.5.35

TEXT 35

sa eva purusas tasmad

andam nirbhidya nirgatah

sahasrorv-anghri-bahv-aksah

sahasranana-sirsavan

SYNONYMS

sah—He (the Lord); eva—Himself; purusah—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; tasmat—from within the universe; andam—Hiranyagarbha; nirbhidya—dividing; nirgatah—came out; sahasra—thousands; uru—thighs; anghri—legs; bahu—arms; aksah—eyes; sahasra—thousands of; anana—mouths; sirsavan—with heads also.

TRANSLATION

The Lord [Maha-Visnu], although lying in the Causal Ocean, came out of it, and dividing Himself as Hiranyagarbha, He entered into each universe and assumed the virat-rupa, with thousands of legs, arms, mouths, heads, etc.

PURPORT

The expansions of the planetary systems within each and every universe are situated in the different parts of the virat-rupa (universal form) of the Lord, and they are described as follows.

SB2.5.36

TEXT 36

yasyehavayavair lokan

kalpayanti manisinah

katy-adibhir adhah sapta

saptordhvam jaghanadibhih

SYNONYMS

yasya—whose; iha—in the universe; avayavaih—by the limbs of the body; lokan—all the planets; kalpayanti—imagine; manisinah—great philosophers; kati-adibhih—down from the waist; adhah—downwards; sapta—seven systems; sapta urdhvam—and seven systems upwards; jaghana-adibhih—front portion.

TRANSLATION

Great philosophers imagine that the complete planetary systems in the universe are displays of the different upper and lower limbs of the universal body of the Lord.

PURPORT

The word kalpayanti, or “imagine,” is significant. The virat universal form of the Absolute is an imagination of the speculative philosophers who are unable to adjust to the eternal two-handed form of Lord Sri Krsna. Although the universal form, as imagined by the great philosophers, is one of the features of the Lord, it is more or less imaginary. It is said that the seven upper planetary systems are situated above the waist of the universal form, whereas the lower planetary systems are situated below His waist. The idea impressed herein is that the Supreme Lord is conscious of every part of His body, and nowhere in the creation is there anything beyond His control.

SB2.5.37

TEXT 37

purusasya mukham brahma

ksatram etasya bahavah

urvor vaisyo bhagavatah

padbhyam sudro vyajayata

SYNONYMS

purusasya—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; mukham—mouth; brahma—is the brahmanas; ksatram—the royal order; etasya—of Him; bahavah—the arms; urvoh—the thighs; vaisyah—are the mercantile men; bhagavatah—of the Personality of Godhead; padbhyam—from His legs; sudrah—the laborer class; vyajayata—became manifested.

TRANSLATION

The brahmanas represent His mouth, the ksatriyas His arms, the vaisyas His thighs, and the sudras are born of His legs.

PURPORT

All living beings are stated to be the parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, and how they are so is explained in this verse. The four divisions of human society, namely the intelligent class (the brahmanas), the administrative class (the ksatriyas), the mercantile class (the vaisyas), and the laborer class (the sudras), are all in different parts of the body of the Lord. As such, no one is different from the Lord. The mouth of the body and the legs of the body are nondifferent constitutionally, but the mouth or the head of the body is qualitatively more important than the legs. At the same time, the mouth, the legs, the arms and the thighs are all component parts of the body. These limbs of the body of the Lord are meant to serve the complete whole. The mouth is meant for speaking and eating, the arms are meant for the protection of the body, the legs are meant for carrying the body, and the waist of the body is meant for maintaining the body. The intelligent class in society, therefore, must speak on behalf of the body, as well as accept foodstuff to satisfy the hunger of the body. The hunger of the Lord is to accept the fruits of sacrifice. The brahmanas, or the intelligent class, must be very expert in performing such sacrifices, and the subordinate classes must join in such sacrifices. To speak for the Supreme Lord means to glorify the Lord by means of propagating the knowledge of the Lord as it is, broadcasting the factual nature of the Lord and the factual position of all other parts of the whole body. The brahmanas, therefore, are required to know the Vedas, or the ultimate source of knowledge. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the end of it. According to Bhagavad-gita, the Lord is the source of everything (aham sarvasya prabhavah), and thus the end of all knowledge (Vedanta) is to know the Lord, to know our relationship with Him and to act according to that relationship only. The parts of the body are related to the body; similarly, the living being must know his relationship with the Lord. The human life is especially meant for this purpose, namely to know the factual relationship of every living being with the Supreme Lord. Without knowing this relationship, the human life is spoiled. The intelligent class of men, the brahmanas, are therefore especially responsible for broadcasting this knowledge of our relationship with the Lord and leading the general mass of people to the right path. The administrative class is meant for protecting the living beings so that they can serve this purpose; the mercantile class is meant for producing food grains and distributing them to the complete human society so that the whole population is given a chance to live comfortably and discharge the duties of human life. The mercantile class is also required to give protection to the cows in order to get sufficient milk and milk products, which alone can give the proper health and intelligence to maintain a civilization perfectly meant for knowledge of the ultimate truth. And the laborer class, who are neither intelligent nor powerful, can help by physical services to the other higher classes and thus be benefited by their cooperation. Therefore the universe is a complete unit in relationship with the Lord, and without this relationship with the Lord the whole human society is disturbed and is without any peace and prosperity. This is confirmed in the Vedas: brahmano ’sya mukham asid, bahu rajanyah krtah.

SB2.5.38

TEXT 38

bhurlokah kalpitah padbhyam

bhuvarloko ’sya nabhitah

hrda svarloka urasa

maharloko mahatmanah

SYNONYMS

bhuh—the lower planetary systems up to the stratum of the earth; lokah—the planets; kalpitah—it is so imagined or said; padbhyam—out of the legs; bhuvah—the upper; lokah—the planetary system; asya—of Him (the Lord); nabhitah—from the navel abdomen; hrda—by the heart; svarlokah—the planetary systems occupied by the demigods; urasa—by the chest; maharlokah—the planetary system occupied by great sages and saints; maha-atmanah—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

The lower planetary systems, up to the limit of the earthly stratum, are said to be situated in His legs. The middle planetary systems, beginning from Bhuvarloka, are situated in His navel. And the still higher planetary systems, occupied by the demigods and highly cultured sages and saints, are situated in the chest of the Supreme Lord.

PURPORT

There are fourteen spheres of planetary systems within this universe. The lower systems are called Bhurloka, the middle systems are called Bhuvarloka, and the higher planetary systems, up to Brahmaloka, the highest planetary system of the universe, are called Svarloka. And all of them are situated on the body of the Lord. In other words, no one within this universe is without a relationship with the Lord.

SB2.5.39

TEXT 39

grivayam janaloko ’sya

tapolokah stana-dvayat

murdhabhih satyalokas tu

brahmalokah sanatanah

SYNONYMS

grivayam—up to the neck; janalokah—the Janaloka planetary system; asya—of Him; tapolokah—the Tapoloka planetary system; stana-dvayat—beginning from the breast; murdhabhih—by the head; satyalokah—the Satyaloka planetary system; tu—but; brahmalokah—the spiritual planets; sanatanah—eternal.

TRANSLATION

From the forefront of the chest up to the neck of the universal form of the Lord are situated the planetary systems named Janaloka and Tapoloka, whereas Satyaloka, the topmost planetary system, is situated on the head of the form. The spiritual planets, however, are eternal.

PURPORT

Many times in these pages we have discussed the spiritual planets situated beyond the material sky, and the description is corroborated in this verse. The word sanatana is significant. This very idea of eternity is expressed in the Bhagavad-gita (8.20), where it is said that beyond the material creation is the spiritual sky, where everything is eternal. Sometimes Satyaloka, the planet in which Brahma resides, is also called Brahmaloka. But the Brahmaloka mentioned here is not the same as the Satyaloka planetary system. This Brahmaloka is eternal, whereas the Satyaloka planetary system is not eternal. And to distinguish between the two, the adjective sanatana has been used in this case. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, this Brahmaloka is the loka or abode of Brahman, or the Supreme Lord. In the spiritual sky all the planets are as good as the Lord Himself. The Lord is all spirit, and His name, fame, glories, qualities, pastimes, etc., are all nondifferent from Him because He is absolute. As such, the planets in the kingdom of God are also nondifferent from Him. In those planets there is no difference between the body and the soul, nor is there any influence of time as we experience it in the material world. And in addition to there being no influence of time, the planets in, Brahmaloka, due to being spiritual, are never annihilated. All variegatedness in the spiritual planets is also one with the Lord, and therefore the Vedic aphorism ekam evadvitiyam is fully realized in that sanatana atmosphere of spiritual variegatedness. This material world is only a shadow phantasmagoria of the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, and because it is a shadow it is never eternal; the variegatedness in the material world of duality (spirit and matter) cannot be compared to that of the spiritual world. Because of a poor fund of knowledge, less intelligent persons sometimes mistake the conditions of the shadow world to be equivalent to those of the spiritual world, and thus they mistake the Lord and His pastimes in the material world to be one with the conditioned souls and their activities. The Lord condemns such less intelligent persons in the Bhagavad-gita (9.11):

avajananti mam mudha
manusim tanum asritam
param bhavam ajananto
mama bhuta-mahesvaram

Whenever the Lord incarnates, He does so in His full internal potency (atma-maya), and less intelligent persons mistake Him to be one of the material creations. Srila Sridhara Svami, therefore, rightly commenting on this verse, says that the Brahmaloka mentioned here is Vaikuntha, the kingdom of God, which is sanatana, or eternal, and is therefore not exactly like the material creations described above. The virat universal form of the Lord is an imagination for the material world. It has nothing to do with the spiritual world, or the kingdom of God.

SB2.5.40-41

TEXTS 40–41

tat-katyam catalam klptam

urubhyam vitalam vibhoh

janubhyam sutalam suddham

janghabhyam tu talatalam

mahatalam tu gulphabhyam

prapadabhyam rasatalam

patalam pada-talata

iti lokamayah puman

SYNONYMS

tat—in His; katyam—waist; ca—also; atalam—the first planetary system below the earth; klptam—situated; urubhyam—on the thighs; vitalam—the second planetary system below; vibhoh—of the Lord; janubhyam—on the ankles; sutalam—the third planetary system below; suddham—purified; janghabhyam—on the joints; tu—but; talatalam—the fourth planetary system below; mahatalam—the fifth planetary system below; tu—but; gulphabhyam—situated on the calves; prapadabhyam—on the upper or front portion of the feet; rasatalam—the sixth planetary system below; patalam—the seventh planetary system below; pada-talatah—on the bottom or soles of the feet; iti—thus; loka-mayah—full of planetary systems; puman—the Lord.

TRANSLATION

My dear son Narada, know from me that there are seven lower planetary systems out of the total fourteen. The first planetary system, known as Atala, is situated on the waist; the second, Vitala, is situated on the thighs; the third, Sutala, on the knees; the fourth, Talatala, on the shanks; the fifth, Mahatala, on the ankles; the sixth, Rasatala, on the upper portion of the feet; and the seventh, Patala, on the soles of the feet. Thus the virat form of the Lord is full of all planetary systems.

PURPORT

Modern enterprisers (the astronauts who travel in space) may take information from Srimad-Bhagavatam that in space there are fourteen divisions of planetary systems. The situation is calculated from the earthly planetary system, which is called Bhurloka. Above Bhurloka is Bhuvarloka, and the topmost planetary system is called Satyaloka. These are the upper seven lokas, or planetary systems. And similarly, there are seven lower planetary systems, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala lokas. All these planetary systems are scattered over the complete universe, which occupies an area of two billion times two billion square miles. The modern astronauts can travel only a few thousand miles away from the earth, and therefore their attempt to travel in the sky is something like child’s play on the shore of an expansive ocean. The moon is situated in the third status of the upper planetary system, and in the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam we shall be able to know the distant situation of the various planets scattered over the vast material sky. There are innumerable universes beyond the one in which we are put, and all these material universes cover only an insignificant portion of the spiritual sky, which is described above as sanatana Brahmaloka. The Supreme Lord very kindly invites the intelligent human beings to return home, back to Godhead, in the following verse of the Bhagavad-gita (8.16):

a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino ’rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

Beginning from Satyaloka, the topmost planet of the universe, situated just below the eternal Brahmaloka, as described above, all the planets are material. And one’s situation in any of the many material planets is still subject to the laws of material nature, namely birth, death, old age and disease. But one can get complete liberation from all the above-mentioned material pangs when one enters into the eternal Brahmaloka sanatana atmosphere, the kingdom of God. Therefore liberation, as contemplated by the speculative philosophers and the mystics, is possible only when one becomes a devotee of the Lord. Anyone who is not a devotee cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Only by attainment of a service attitude in the transcendental position can one enter into the kingdom of Godhead. Therefore the speculative philosophers, as well as the mystics, must first of all be attracted to the devotional cult before they can factually attain liberation.

SB2.5.42

TEXT 42

bhurlokah kalpitah padbhyam

bhuvarloko ’sya nabhitah

svarlokah kalpito murdhna

iti va loka-kalpana

SYNONYMS

bhurlokah—the entire planetary system from Patala to the earthly planetary system; kalpitah—imagined; padbhyam—situated on the legs; bhuvarlokah—the Bhuvarloka planetary system; asya—of the universal form of the Lord; nabhitah—out of the navel abdomen; svarlokah—the higher planetary system, beginning with the heavenly planets; kalpitah—imagined; murdhna—from the chest to the head; iti—thus; va—either; loka—the planetary systems; kalpana—imagination.

TRANSLATION

Others may divide the whole planetary system into three divisions, namely the lower planetary systems on the legs [up to the earth], the middle planetary systems on the navel, and the upper planetary systems [Svarloka] from the chest to the head of the Supreme Personality.

PURPORT

The three divisions of the complete planetary systems are here mentioned; fourteen are imagined by others, and that is also explained.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Canto, Fifth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “The Cause of All Causes.”

Next chapter (SB 2.6)