Known as pradhana

Expressions researched:
"known as pradhana" |"known as the pradhana"

SB Canto 2

"The material nature, as the material cause, is known as pradhāna, and as efficient cause is known as māyā. But since it is inert matter, it is not the remote cause of creation."

SB 2.10.45, Purport:

The material nature is one of the energies of the Lord, and she can work under the direction of the Lord (adhyakṣeṇa). When the Lord throws His transcendental glance over the material nature, then only can the material nature act, as a father contacts the mother, who is then able to conceive a child. Although it appears to the layman that the mother gives birth to the child, the experienced man knows that the father gives birth to the child. The material nature therefore produces the moving and standing manifestations of the material world after being contacted by the supreme father, and not independently. Considering material nature to be the cause of creation, maintenance, etc., is called "the logic of nipples on the neck of a goat." The Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī describes this logic of ajā-gala-stana-nyāya as follows (as explained by His Divine Grace Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja): "The material nature, as the material cause, is known as pradhāna, and as efficient cause is known as māyā. But since it is inert matter, it is not the remote cause of creation."

SB Canto 3

The aggregate elements, namely the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the four internal senses, the five senses for gathering knowledge and the five outward organs of action, are known as the pradhāna.

SB 3.26.11, Translation and Purport:

The aggregate elements, namely the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the four internal senses, the five senses for gathering knowledge and the five outward organs of action, are known as the pradhāna.

According to Bhagavad-gītā, the sum total of the twenty-four elements described herein is called the yonir mahad brahma. The sum total of the living entities is impregnated into this yonir mahad brahma, and they are born in different forms, beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literatures, the sum total of the twenty-four elements, pradhāna, is also described as yonir mahad brahma; it is the source of the birth and subsistence of all living entities.

CC Adi-lila

As the source of the material elements, the material energy is known as pradhāna, and as the source of the manifestations of the material energy it is known as māyā.

CC Adi 5 Summary:

As the source of the material elements, the material energy is known as pradhāna, and as the source of the manifestations of the material energy it is known as māyā. But material nature is inert in that she has no independent power to do anything. She is empowered to make the cosmic manifestation by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Therefore the material energy is not the original cause of the material manifestation. Rather, the transcendental glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu over material nature produces that cosmic manifestation.

Māyā, the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is divided into two parts. Māyā is both the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the agent who supplies its ingredients. As the cause of the cosmic manifestation she is known as māyā, and as the agent supplying the ingredients of the cosmic manifestation she is known as pradhāna.

CC Adi 5.58, Purport:

Māyā, the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is divided into two parts. Māyā is both the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the agent who supplies its ingredients. As the cause of the cosmic manifestation she is known as māyā, and as the agent supplying the ingredients of the cosmic manifestation she is known as pradhāna. An explicit description of these divisions of the external energy is given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.24.1–4).