Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.5.14
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
This phenomenal world is impersonally the representation of Vāsudeva because the ingredients of its creation, their interaction and the enjoyer of the resultant action, the living being, are all produced by the external and internal energies of Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4-5). The ingredients, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, as well as the conception of material identity, intelligence and the mind, are produced of the external energy of the Lord. The living entity who enjoys the interaction of the above gross and subtle ingredients, as set up by eternal time, is an offshoot of internal potency, with freedom to remain either in the material world or in the spiritual world. In the material world the living entity is enticed by deluding nescience, but in the spiritual world he is in the normal condition of spiritual existence without any delusion. The living entity is known as the marginal potency of the Lord. But in all circumstances, neither the material ingredients nor the spiritual parts and parcels are independent of the Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, for all things, whether products of the external, internal or marginal potencies of the Lord, are simply displays of the same effulgence of the Lord, just as light, heat and smoke are displays of fire. None of them is separate from the fire — all of them combine together to be called fire. Similarly, all phenomenal manifestations, as well as the effulgence of the body of Vāsudeva, are His impersonal features, whereas He eternally exists in His transcendental form called sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, distinct from all conceptions of the material ingredients mentioned above.
Ten questions were asked about the universe, starting with its characteristics (yad-rūpam). To answer this, first it is explained that nothing exists other than the Lord. Dravyam means the elements, the substance of matter (upādāna). Karma is the cause of birth. Kāla is the agitator of the guṇas. Svabhāva is the cause of the change in the guṇas. Jīva is the enjoyer. None of these exist apart from the Lord, because the items, except the jīva, are the effects of māyā, and māyā and the jīva are energies of the Lord. The universe is thus a form of Vāsudeva. Thus the answer to the question about the characteristic of the universe (yad-rūpam) is given.
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- Do I experience matter, time, and my own nature as scattered, or as connected to one Person?
- What changes when I treat every element around me as belonging to Vāsudeva?
My note
Source: vedabase.io