मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृति: सूयते सचराचरम् |
हेतुनानेन कौन्तेय जगद्विपरिवर्तते || 10||
mayādhyakṣheṇa prakṛitiḥ sūyate sa-charācharam
hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate
mayā—by Me; adhyakṣheṇa—direction; prakṛitiḥ—material energy; sūyate—brings into being; sa—both; chara-acharam—the animate and the inanimate; hetunā—reason; anena—this; kaunteya—Arjun, the son of Kunti; jagat—the material world; viparivartate—undergoes the changes
Translation:
Prakriti, under My guidance, gives birth to all things, moving and unmoving; and because of this, Ο son of Kunti, the world revolves.
Commentary:
Prakriti is Jada insentient; Paramatma is consciousness. By the immediate presence of Paramatma, Prakriti produces the entire universe. In the vicinity of a magnet, the iron needle moves. The magnet has no particular agency in this. It is just where it is. This Paramatma is in the universe like an unconcerned entity Udasina. But His immediate proximity enables Prakriti to create things. The word adhyakshena is used here to indicate the non-attachment and the consciousness – Principle of the Lord. An assembly, so to say, has no life till the president takes the chair. A Court, so to say, has no life till the judge takes his seat. When he takes the seat, the whole assembly is animated with life and goes into action. So also, Prakriti remains inert till it is animated by the presence of the Lord and brings forth the whole universe. Without Him, the universe would simply be inert matter and nothing more.
We may take the illustration of the Sun. As the Sun rises in the east, each man wakes up and carries on his work, whatever it may be. Good people do good work and bad people do bad work. The Sun has nothing to do with their nature or their actions.
The material world is inert. It has no life or activity by itself. What gives life to it is the Supreme Consciousness – Principle of the Lord Himself. This is not visible to the gross vision. It is the eye of Knowledge that sees it. That is Paramatma. The whole world is super-imposed on the Lord who is the basic adhishtana (support). What is super-imposed (aropitam) cannot be different from the original (adhishtana). All the powers that we see exhibited in the universe are derived from the Lord. And yet the Lord is in no way concerned with or affected by the actions of people in the world. The physical and the mental forces are only the grosser manifestation of the Atmic power of the Lord, which is the one power from which all others are produced by Prakriti. The wise man should not be deceived or destroyed by the temptations of the little force or power that he may have in him. He should know that, small or great, the power is the Lord’s and not his own. All the various forms of Cosmic energy, such as matter, thought, force, intelligence and so forth, are simply the manifestation of the Cosmic intelligence the Supreme Lord.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
What then is this Purusha? It is neither intelligence nor will, but it is the cause of all these. It is its presence that sets them all going and combining. It does not mix with nature; it is not intelligence, or Mahat; but the Self, the pure, is Purusha. “I am the witness, and through my witnessing, nature is producing all that is sentient and all that is insentient.”[Source]
Question: What is the supervising intelligence of the world?
Answer: Paramatma.
Question: How is the world brought forth?
Answer: It is produced by Prakriti being animated by the power of the Lord.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 9 🔻 (34 Verses)
