Material creation (CC and other books)

Expressions researched:
"creation of the material world" |"material cosmic creation" |"material creation"

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Introduction:

An analogy will help us understand the distincion between ourselves and God. From the ground we may see only clouds in the sky, but if we fly above the clouds we can see the sun shining. From the sky, skyscrapers and cities seem very tiny; similarly, from God's position this entire material creation is insignificant.

CC Introduction:

The subject matter of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta primarily deals with what is beyond this material creation.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.8, Translation:

I surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, who is known as Saṅkarṣaṇa in the midst of the catur-vyūha (consisting of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha). He possesses full opulences and resides in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, far beyond the material creation.

CC Adi 1.53, Purport:

The word "creation" refers to the material creation because in the spiritual world everything exists eternally and there is no creation or dissolution.

CC Adi 1.53, Purport:

The Lord indicates herein that before the material creation He existed in fullness with all transcendental opulences, including all strength, all wealth, all beauty, all knowledge, all fame and all renunciation.

CC Adi 1.56, Purport:

Those who are serious about the knowledge of the transcendental world, which is far beyond the material cosmic creation, must approach a bona fide spiritual master to learn the science both directly and indirectly.

CC Adi 2.36, Purport:

The conditioned souls, who remain within the material cosmic creation, are subjected to the threefold miseries and pangs of material nature.

CC Adi 2.53, Translation and Purport:

“"In the material world the Lord is designated as virāṭ, hiraṇyagarbha and kāraṇa. But beyond these three designations, the Lord is ultimately in the fourth dimension."

Virāṭ (the phenomenal manifestation of the Supreme Whole), hiraṇyagarbha (the numinous soul of everything), and kāraṇa (the cause, or causal nature) are all but designations of the puruṣas, who are responsible for material creation.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The exploration of space has demanded the work of the greatest scientists of the world, yet there are countless problems regarding even fundamental knowledge of the material creation that bewilder scientists who confront them. Such material knowledge is far removed from the spiritual nature, and therefore the acts and arrangements of the Absolute Truth are, beyond all doubts, inconceivable.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The primary potencies of the Absolute Truth are mentioned to be three: internal, external and marginal. By the acts of His internal potency, the Personality of Godhead in His original form exhibits the spiritual cosmic manifestations known as the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, which exist eternally, even after the destruction of the material cosmic manifestation. By His marginal potency the Lord expands Himself as living beings who are part of Him, just as the sun distributes its rays in all directions. By His external potency the Lord manifests the material creation, just as the sun with its rays creates fog.

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The material creation is but a perverse reflection of the eternal Vaikuṇṭha nature.

CC Adi 5.13, Translation:

I surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, who is known as Saṅkarṣaṇa in the midst of the catur-vyūha (consisting of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha). He possesses full opulences and resides in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, far beyond the material creation.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

Pradyumna, the third manifestation, appears from Saṅkarṣaṇa. Those who are especially intelligent worship this Pradyumna expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa as the principle of the intelligence. The goddess of fortune always chants the glories of Pradyumna in the place known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa, and she always serves Him with great devotion. His complexion appears sometimes golden and sometimes bluish like new monsoon clouds in the sky. He is the origin of the creation of the material world, and He has invested His creative principle in Cupid.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

"All the varied expansions of the Personality of Godhead are transcendental and eternal, and all of them repeatedly descend to all the different universes of the material creation. Their bodies, composed of eternity, bliss and knowledge, are everlasting; there is no chance of their decaying, for they are not creations of the material world. Their forms are concentrated spiritual existence, always complete with all spiritual qualities and devoid of material contamination."

CC Adi 5.51, Purport:

Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lies on the Causal Ocean, creates the universes merely by glancing upon material nature. Therefore Kṛṣṇa personally has nothing to do with the material creation.

CC Adi 5.51, Purport:

The Bhagavad-gītā confirms that the Lord glances over material nature and thus she produces the many material universes. Neither Kṛṣṇa in Goloka nor Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha comes directly in contact with the material creation. They are completely aloof from the material energy.

CC Adi 5.51, Purport:

It is the function of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa in the form of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu to glance over the material creation, which is situated beyond the limits of the Causal Ocean.

CC Adi 5.66, Purport:

The origin of creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), the cosmic manifestation is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who invests the material energy with three material qualities. Agitated by these qualities, the elements supplied by the material energy produce varieties of things, just as an artist produces varieties of pictures by mixing the three colors red, yellow and blue. Yellow represents the quality of goodness, red represents passion, and blue represents ignorance. Therefore the colorful material creation is but an interaction of these three qualities, represented in eighty-one varieties of mixtures (3 x 3 equaling 9, 9 x 9 thus equaling 81).

CC Adi 5.83, Purport:

Material nature gets the power to supply the material elements from the glance of the supreme puruṣa, Mahā-Viṣṇu, and when empowered by Him she is called the cause of the material manifestation. Both features of material nature, as the cause of the material creation and as the source of its elements, exist due to the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

CC Adi 5.84, Translation:

"In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes."

CC Adi 6.14-15, Purport:

“Materialists sometimes give the argument that as straw eaten by a cow produces milk automatically, so material nature, under different circumstances, produces varieties of manifestations. Thus originally matter is the cause. In refuting this argument, we may say that an animal of the same species as the cow—namely, the bull—also eats straw like the cow but does not produce milk. Under the circumstances, it cannot be said that straw in connection with a particular species produces milk. The conclusion should be that there is superior management, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), where the Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: "This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings." The Supreme Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa ("under My superintendence"). When He desires that the cow produce milk by eating straw, there is milk, and when He does not so desire it, the mixture of such straw cannot produce milk. If the way of material nature had been that straw produced milk, a stack of straw could also produce milk. But that is not possible. And the same straw given to a human female also cannot produce milk. That is the meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā’s statement that only under superior orders does anything take place. Matter itself has no power to produce independently. The conclusion, therefore, is that matter, which has no self-knowledge, cannot be the cause of the material creation. The ultimate creator is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

CC Adi 7.112, Purport:

In the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (5.1.1) it is said, pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate. This indicates that the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is spiritual, for even though He expands in many ways, He remains the same. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.8) the Lord says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "I am the origin of all. Everything emanates from Me." Māyāvādī philosophers materialistically think that if the Supreme Truth expands Himself in everything, He must lose His original form. Thus they think that there cannot be any form other than the expansive gigantic body of the Lord. But the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad confirms, pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate: "Although He expands in many ways, He keeps His original personality. His original spiritual body remains as it is." Similarly, elsewhere it is stated, vicitra-śaktiḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person (puruṣa), has multifarious energies." And the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad declares, sa vṛkṣa-kālākṛtibhiḥ paro ’nyo yasmāt prapañcaḥ parivartate ’yaṁ dharmāvahaṁ pāpanudaṁ bhageśam: "He is the origin of material creation, and it is due to Him only that everything changes. He is the protector of religion and annihilator of all sinful activities. He is the master of all opulences."

CC Adi 7.112, Purport:

(Śvet. Up. 6.6) Vedāham etaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntam āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt: "Now I understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the greatest of the great. He is effulgent like the sun and is beyond this material world." (Śvet. Up. 3.8) Patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastāt: "He is the master of all masters, the superior of all superiors." (Śvet. Up. 6.7) Mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥ: "He is the supreme master and supreme person." (Śvet. Up. 3.12) Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: "We can understand His opulences in different ways." (Śvet. Up. 6.8 (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)) Similarly, in the Ṛg Veda it is stated, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ: "Viṣṇu is the Supreme, and those who are actually learned think only of His lotus feet." In the Praśna Upaniṣad (6.3) it is said, sa īkṣāṁ cakre: "He glanced over the material creation."

CC Adi 7.112, Purport:

In the Aitareya Upaniṣad (1.1.1–2) it is said, sa aikṣata—"He glanced over the material creation"—and sa imāl lokān asṛjata—"He created this entire material world."

CC Adi 7.115, Purport:

Lord Kṛṣṇa explains very clearly in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14) that His material energy is very difficult to overcome: daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā. Māyā’s influence is so strong that even learned scholars and spiritualists are also covered by māyā and think themselves to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually, however, to free oneself from the influence of māyā one must surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as Kṛṣṇa also states in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14): mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. It is to be concluded, therefore, that Lord Viṣṇu does not belong to this material creation but to the spiritual world.

CC Adi 7.121, Purport:

Nondevotees factually appreciate the wonderful creation of material nature, but they cannot appreciate the intelligence and energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is behind this material creation.

CC Adi 7.122, Purport:

The material creation is manifested by the energy of the Lord, but He is still the same person.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 8.64, Purport:

Between the two creations—the material creation and the spiritual creation—is a river known as Virajā, as well as a place known as Brahmaloka.

CC Madhya 9.49, Purport:

The Buddhists argue that the world is false, but this is not valid. The world is temporary, but it is not false. As long as we have the body, we must suffer the pleasures and pains of the body, even though we are not the body. We may not take these pleasures and pains very seriously, but they are factual nonetheless. We cannot actually say that they are false. If the bodily pains and pleasures were false, the creation would be false also, and consequently no one would take very much interest in it. The conclusion is that the material creation is not false or imaginary, but it is temporary.

CC Madhya 15.179, Purport:

Being very eager to enjoy the fruits of their activities, conditioned souls become involved in the actions and reactions of material life. Consequently they enjoy and suffer the results of karma. However, if a conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, the karma of his pious and impious activities is completely destroyed. Simply by becoming a devotee, one is freed of all the reactions of karma. Similarly, simply by the desire of a devotee, a conditioned soul can attain liberation and transcend the results of karma. Since everyone can be liberated in this way, one may conclude that it is according to the sweet will of the devotee whether the material world exists or does not exist. Ultimately, however, it is not the sweet will of the devotee but the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, if He so desires, can completely annihilate the material creation.

CC Madhya 17.132, Purport:

There is no such thing as māyā Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is not a product of the material creation.

CC Madhya 18.109, Purport:

Actually an ordinary human being cannot become Nārāyaṇa. As the chief Māyāvādī sannyāsī, Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, says, nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa is not a creation of this material world. Nārāyaṇa is above the material creation."

CC Madhya 20.151, Purport:

Under the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the entire mahat-tattva is existing. Since everything is under Śrī Kṛṣṇa's protection, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called āśraya-tattva. Everything else is called āśrita-tattva. The material creation is also called āśrita-tattva. Liberation from material bondage and the attainment of the spiritual platform are also āśrita-tattva. Kṛṣṇa is the only āśraya-tattva. In the beginning of the creation there are Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. They are also āśraya-tattva. Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)). To understand Kṛṣṇa perfectly, one has to make an analytical study of āśraya-tattva and āśrita-tattva.

CC Madhya 20.266, Translation:

“"In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes."

CC Madhya 20.268, Translation:

“That original Personality of Godhead, named Saṅkarṣaṇa, first lies down in the river Virajā, which serves as a border between the material and the spiritual world. As Kāraṇābdhiśāyī Viṣṇu, He is the original cause of the material creation.

CC Madhya 20.273, Purport:

The word svāṅga-viśeṣābhāsa-rūpe, indicating the form by which the Lord begets living entities in the material world, is explained herein. He is Lord Śiva. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that Lord Śiva, who is another form of Mahā-Viṣṇu, is like yogurt. Yogurt is nothing but milk, yet it is not milk. Similarly, Lord Śiva is considered the father of this universe, and material nature is considered the mother. The father and mother are known as Lord Śiva and goddess Durgā. Together, Lord Śiva's genitals and the vagina of goddess Durgā are worshiped as the śiva-liṅga. This is the origin of the material creation.

CC Madhya 20.273, Purport:

The innumerable brahmāṇḍas, or universes, come from the pores of the Lord's body, and innumerable living entities also come from the pores of the transcendental body of the Lord. This is the process of material creation.

CC Madhya 20.274, Purport:

Over and above the twenty-eight elements of the material creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes.

CC Madhya 20.290, Translation:

“The Supreme Lord in His form of Rudra (Lord Śiva) brings about the dissolution of this material creation. In other words, only by His will are there creation, maintenance and dissolution of the whole cosmic manifestation.

CC Madhya 20.359, Translation and Purport:

“"O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth."

This verse, quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1), links the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with the Vedānta-sūtra with the words janmādy asya yataḥ. It is stated that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, is the Absolute Truth beyond the material creation. This has been accepted by all ācāryas. Even Śaṅkarācārya, the most elevated impersonalist, says in the beginning of his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā: nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt.

CC Madhya 20.359, Purport:

When this material creation is not yet manifested from the mahat-tattva, it is called avyakta, and when it is demonstrated from that total energy, it is called vyakta. Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond this vyakta-avyakta, manifested and unmanifested material nature. This is the chief qualification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead when He assumes a particular incarnation. Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that although they both took birth many, many times before, Kṛṣṇa remembers everything about His previous appearances but Arjuna does not remember. Since Kṛṣṇa is beyond the cosmic creation, He is in the exalted position of being able to remember everything in the past.

CC Madhya 20.359, Purport:

Everything within the cosmic creation has a material body, but Kṛṣṇa, being beyond the material cosmic creation, always has a spiritual body.

CC Madhya 21.36, Translation:

“The primary predominating deities of this material creation are Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu. Nonetheless, they simply carry out the orders of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is master of them all.

CC Madhya 21.38, Translation:

“This is only a general description. Please try to understand another meaning of tryadhīśa. The three puruṣa incarnations of Viṣṇu are the original cause of the material creation.

CC Madhya 25.118, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always transcendental to this material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

On the ground we may see only clouds in the sky, but if we fly above the clouds we can see the sun shining. From the sky, skyscrapers and cities seem very tiny; similarly, from God's position this entire material creation is insignificant.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

The subject matter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta primarily deals with what is beyond this material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

Lord Caitanya continued to explain to Sanātana Gosvāmī that the expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa who come to the material creation are called avatāras, or incarnations.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

The first descent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa is the puruṣa incarnation, Mahā-Viṣṇu. It is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.1) that when the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends as the first puruṣa incarnation of the material creation, He immediately manifests sixteen elementary energies.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 9:

The Lord next explained the situation of different spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. The spiritual planets are also known as Vaikuṇṭha planets. The universes of the material creation have a limited length and breadth, but as far as the Vaikuṇṭha planets are concerned, there is no limitation to their dimensions because they are spiritual.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 9:

As the cause of all causes, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the cause of the Mahā-Viṣṇu, the first incarnation and controller of this material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 9:

Kṛṣṇa further informed Brahmā, "This material creation is only a quarter manifestation of My creative potency. Three quarters of My creative potency is in the spiritual kingdom."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 16:

Even in the material creation, the living entities are innumerable.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

The living entities are not as great as Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, who is beyond this material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Even Śaṅkarācārya accepts Nārāyaṇa to be beyond the material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Since neither Viṣṇu nor the living entity are of the material creation, someone may inquire, "Why were the small particles of spirit created at all?" The answer is that the Supreme Absolute Truth is complete in His perfection when He is both infinite and infinitesimal. If He is simply infinite and is not infinitesimal, He is not perfect. The infinite portion is the Viṣṇu-tattva, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the infinitesimal portion is the living entity.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 22:

The Lord existed before the material creation; therefore the material ingredients, nature and the living entities all emanated from Him, and after dissolution they rest in Him.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

In actuality no one is independent in the material creation; the hand of the Supreme Lord is everywhere.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24:

In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (5.2.3), it is said that when the Supreme Personality of Godhead desires to become many, He turns over material nature. As also confirmed in Aitareya Upaniṣad (1.1), sa aikṣata: "The Lord glanced at material nature." The cosmic manifestation did not exist before His glance; therefore His glance is not materially contaminated. His seeing power existed before the material creation; therefore His body is not material. His thinking, feeling and acting are all transcendental. In other words, it should be concluded that the mind by which the Lord thinks, feels and wills is transcendental, and the eyes by which He glances over material nature are also transcendental. Since His transcendental body and all His senses existed before the material creation, the Lord also has a transcendental mind and transcendental thinking, feeling and willing. This is the conclusion of all Vedic literature.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 30:

The demigods are actually order carriers of the Supreme Lord, and they help manage the material creation.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 30:

One cannot fully realize the essence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by understanding the name of the creator because this material creation is a function of the external energy of the Supreme Lord.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 22:

One devotee said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, when You order Brahmā, 'Now you may create the universe,' and when You order Lord Śiva, 'Now you dissolve this material manifestation,' You are in this way creating and dissolving the material creation Yourself. Simply by Your orders and by Your partial representation of Viṣṇu, You are maintaining the universes.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Full details of the antimaterial universe can be known only from the infallible source of liberated authorities who have thoroughly realized the constitution of the antimaterial principle. This information is received by aural reception by a submissive disciple of the Personality of Godhead.

The Vedic knowledge was thus imparted unto the heart of Brahmā, the first living being in the material creation.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

We may rightly say that God created this material world, and this indicates that God existed before the creation. This very word "created" suggests that before the creation of the cosmic manifestation, the Lord was existing. Therefore God is not under the creation. If God were under the creation, how could He have created? He would instead have been one of the objects of this material creation.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book Introduction:

For affairs of the material creation, Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa, is in charge. Thus, when the Lord descends, the incarnation emanates from Viṣṇu.

Krsna Book Introduction:

Mahā-Viṣṇu is the original cause of the material creation, and from Him Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands, and then Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.

Krsna Book 2:

Even the greatest impersonalist, Śaṅkarācārya, has admitted, nārāyaṇaḥ paro ’vyaktāt: the material creation is caused by the avyakta (impersonal) manifestation of matter, or the nonphenomenal total reservoir of matter, but Kṛṣṇa is transcendental to that material conception.

Krsna Book 3:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly and indirectly existing everywhere; He is outside this material creation, and He is also within it. He is within this material creation not only as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; He is also within the atom.

Krsna Book 3:

Devakī said, “My dear Lord, Your eternal forms, like Nārāyaṇa, Lord Rāma, Hayaśīrṣa, Varāha, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, Baladeva and millions of similar incarnations emanating from Viṣṇu, are described in the Vedic literature as original. You are original because all Your forms as incarnations are outside of this material creation.

Krsna Book 10:

“In this material world You make Yourself known only by Your different incarnations. Although You assume different types of bodies, these bodies are not part of the material creation.

Krsna Book 14:

“My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, those who deride You, claiming that You have a material body like an ordinary man, are described in the Bhagavad-gītā as demoniac and less intelligent. You are always transcendental. The nondevotees are cheated because they consider You to be a material creation.

Krsna Book 16:

You are the superintendent and maintainer of this whole universe, and You are its original cause. Although You are present within this universe by Your three qualitative incarnations, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara, You are transcendental to the material creation.

Krsna Book 46:

Uddhava continued: "Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are the original Personalities of Godhead, from whom the cosmic manifestation emanates. They are chief among all personalities. Each of Them is both the material and the efficient cause of this material creation. Material nature is conducted by the puruṣa incarnations, who all act under Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. By Their partial representation They enter the hearts of all living entities. They are the source of all knowledge and all forgetfulness also."

Krsna Book 46:

Since Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul, He regards everyone equally: He sees no one as His enemy, no one as His friend, and no one as lower or higher than Him. He actually has no father, mother, brother or relative, nor does He require society, friendship and love. He does not have a material body like us; He never appears or takes birth like an ordinary human being. He does not appear in higher or lower species of life like ordinary living entities, who are forced to take birth on account of their previous fruitive activities. He appears by His internal potency just to give protection to His devotees. He is never influenced by the modes of material nature, but when He appears within this material world He seems to act like an ordinary living entity under the spell of the modes of material nature. But in fact He is the overseer of this material creation, and while remaining unaffected by the material modes of nature, He creates, maintains and dissolves the whole cosmic manifestation.

Krsna Book 59:

“Actually, my Lord, You are the material nature, You are the father of the universe, and You are eternal time, which has caused the combination of the elements of nature and the manifestation of the material creation.

Krsna Book 77:

When Śālva ran swiftly to attack Kṛṣṇa with his club, Lord Kṛṣṇa cut off his hand, which fell to the ground with the club. Finally deciding to kill him, the Lord took up His wonderful disc, which shone like the brilliant sun at the time of the dissolution of the material creation.

Krsna Book 84:

Although You are transcendental to this entire material creation and are the Supreme Lord and the Supersoul of all living entities, You appear on this earth by Your internal potency to protect Your devotees and destroy the miscreants.

Krsna Book 86:

"My dear Lord," he said, "You are the Supreme Person, Puruṣottama, transcendentally situated beyond the manifested and unmanifested material creation. The activities of this material world and of the conditioned souls have nothing to do with Your position. We can appreciate that not only today have You given me Your audience, but You are associating with all the living entities as Paramātmā since the beginning of creation."

Krsna Book 87:

As for the material creation, Brahmā is the first created person. Before Brahmā there was no living creature within this material world; it was void and dark until Brahmā was born on the lotus flower that sprouted from the abdomen of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Saṅkarṣaṇa is an expansion of Balarāma, who is an immediate expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa. After the creation of Brahmā, the two kinds of demigods were born: demigods like the four brothers Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra, who are representatives of renunciation of the world, and demigods like Marīci and their descendants, who are meant to enjoy this material world. From these two kinds of demigods were gradually manifested all other living entities, including the human beings.

Krsna Book 87:

The Lord Himself as Paramātmā, or the spiritual master sitting within one's heart, gives the devotee exact directions by which he can gradually go back to Godhead. The conclusion of the Mīmāṁsaka philosophers is not actually the truth which can lead one to real understanding.

Similarly, there are Sāṅkhya philosophers, metaphysicians or materialistic scientists who study this cosmic manifestation by their invented scientific method and do not recognize the supreme authority of God as the creator of the cosmic manifestation. They wrongly conclude that the reactions of the material elements are the original cause of creation. The Bhagavad-gītā, however, does not accept this theory. It is clearly said therein that behind the cosmic activities is the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This fact is corroborated by the Vedic injunction sad vā saumyedam agra āsīt, which means that the origin of the creation existed before the cosmic manifestation. Therefore, the material elements cannot be the cause of the material creation.

Krsna Book 87:

One may argue that because this material world is created by the Lord, He is therefore responsible for its condition. Certainly He is indirectly responsible for the creation and maintenance of this material world, but He is never responsible for the different conditions of the living entities. The Lord's creation of this material world is compared to a cloud's creation of vegetation. In the rainy season the cloud creates different varieties of vegetation. The cloud pours water on the surface of the earth, but it never touches the earth directly. Similarly, the Lord creates this material world simply by glancing over the material energy. This is confirmed in the Vedas: "He threw His glance over the material nature, and thus there was creation." In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also confirmed that simply by His transcendental glance over the material nature, He creates different varieties of entities, both movable and immovable, living and dead.

The creation of the material world can therefore be taken as one of the pastimes of the Lord; it is called one of the Lord's pastimes because He creates this material world whenever He desires. This desire of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also extreme mercy on His part because it gives the conditioned souls another chance to develop their original consciousness and thus go back to Godhead. Therefore no one can blame the Supreme Lord for creating this material world.

Krsna Book 87:

The cessation of the variegatedness of the material world and the merging of the living entities into the body of the Supreme are not permanent because the creation will take place again, and the living entities who merged into the body of the Supreme without having developed their Kṛṣṇa consciousness will again appear in this material world when there is another creation. The Bhagavad-gītā confirms the fact that this material world is created and annihilated perpetually and that conditioned souls without Kṛṣṇa consciousness come back again and again, whenever the material creation is manifest. If such conditioned souls take advantage of this opportunity and develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direct instruction of the Lord, then they are transferred to the spiritual world and do not have to come back to the material creation.

Krsna Book 87:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is ever-existing with His varied energies. Because the material creation is an emanation from Him, we cannot say that this cosmic manifestation is a product of something void. Kṛṣṇa is not void. Whenever we speak of Kṛṣṇa, He is present with His form, qualities, name, entourage and paraphernalia. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. The original cause of everything is neither void nor impersonal but is the Supreme Person.

Krsna Book 87:

Demons may say that this material creation is anīśvara, without a controller or God, but such arguments ultimately cannot stand.

Krsna Book 87:

That the cosmic world is only temporarily manifested does not mean that it is false or that the source of its manifestation is false. Since the source of its manifestation is truth, the manifestation is also truth, but one must know how to utilize it. The example of the earthen pot may be cited again: the earthen pot produced from the whole earth is temporary, but when used for a proper purpose the earthen pot is not false. The Vaiṣṇava philosophers know how to utilize the temporary construction of this material world, just as a sane man knows how to utilize the temporary construction of the earthen pot. When the earthen pot is used for a wrong purpose, that is false. Similarly, the human body or the material world, when used for sense gratification, is false. But if the human body and the material creation are used for the service of the Supreme Lord, their activities are never false.

Krsna Book 88:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī addressed King Parīkṣit thus: “My dear King, Lord Brahmā, Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Śiva, the principal trio of the material creation, are able to bless or curse anyone.

Krsna Book 89:

After this, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna entered a vast spiritual water. This spiritual water is called the Kāraṇa Ocean, which means that this ocean is the origin of the creation of the material world; this place is also known as Virajā, because it is free from the influence of the three qualities of the material world.

Krsna Book 89:

In the Mṛtyuñjaya-tantra, a Vedic scripture, there is a vivid description of this Kāraṇa Ocean, or Virajā. It is stated there that the highest planetary system within the material world is Satyaloka, or Brahmaloka, beyond which are Rudraloka and Mahā-Viṣṇuloka. Regarding this Mahā-Viṣṇuloka, it is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, yaḥ kāraṇārṇava-jale bhajati sma yoga-nidrām ananta-jagad-aṇḍa-sa-roma-kūpaḥ: (Bs. 5.47) "Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu is lying in the Kāraṇa Ocean. When He exhales, innumerable universes come into existence, and when He inhales, innumerable universes enter within Him." In this way, the material creation is generated and again withdrawn.

Krsna Book 89:

The Lord was attended by His personal associates Nanda and Sunanda, and the personified Sudarśana disc was also standing by Him. As stated in the Vedas, the Lord has innumerable energies, and they also stood there in their personified forms. The most important among them were as follows: Puṣṭi, the energy for nourishment; Śrī, the energy of beauty; Kīrti, the energy of reputation; and Ajā, the energy of material creation.

Krsna Book 90:

After returning from the spiritual kingdom, which he was able to visit personally with Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna was very much astonished. He thought to himself that although he was only an ordinary living entity, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa it had been possible for him to see the spiritual world. Not only had he seen the spiritual world, but he had also personally seen the original Mahā-Viṣṇu, the cause of the material creation.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.3:

The grossly materialistic demons are so completely bereft of spiritual knowledge that although at every moment they perceive the transience of the material body, all their activities center on the body. They are unable to understand that the soul within the body is the permanent and essential substance and that the body is mutable and temporary. Becoming first enamoured of then deluded by vivartavāda (the theory of evolution), they conclude that the entire cosmic body also lacks a Soul. Since the fallacious theory they apply to their own physical existence leads them to reject any research into the existence of a soul residing within the body, they fail to perceive the presence of the Supersoul within the gigantic body of the cosmic manifestation. They falsely conclude that the body is everything, that there is nothing beyond it; similarly, they think that the material creation, which is the universal body, is factually governed only by the laws of nature.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.9:

The actions of the karma-yogī, or devotee, are always connected with the Absolute Truth. Hence the devotee remains situated on the transcendental platform, far beyond the mundane sphere. In such a realized position, he does not see this material creation as separate from the Supreme Lord but as a transformation of His energy.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.7:

By the influence of karma, one who is attached to the material body and mind has to change bodies life after life. In this way the soul roams the fourteen planetary systems within this material universe, sometimes going up and sometimes coming down. These planets are transitory—merely theatrical stages upon which the soul enacts his mundane existence. But when the living entity is elevated to spiritual perfection and is situated in his pure, eternal identity, devoid of all mundane designations, he attains the natural habitat of the spirit soul, the supramundane realm transcending this material creation and the intermediary zone of the unmanifested Brahman effulgence.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.8:

This material creation is manifested and subsequently destroyed during Lord Brahmā's day and night. But beyond this material world is an eternal existence—the spiritual sky—which is untouched by creation and annihilation. That spiritual abode is known as the Vaikuṇṭha planets.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.8:

Even when this material creation is destroyed, the Vaikuṇṭha planets remain unscathed and intact.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.8:

Then there are those so-called scholars who claim that they they alone know the scriptures and that all others are illiterate fools. Such "scholars" say that research of the holy texts clearly reveals that Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the cause of this material creation and that Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva and Devakī, is at best Viṣṇu's partial expansion.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.4:

In His unmanifested impersonal form Lord Kṛṣṇa pervades this entire universe, which is a transformation of His external energy. Therefore all living entities in the material creation rest on His energies.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 28, Translation and Purport:

The fully beautiful scenery after the rainy season was attractive to the eyes of everyone, including Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the cause of all causes.

We should always appreciate the creative energy of the Supreme Lord. Beautiful nature, even though material and therefore temporary, is always full of the glories of the creator. There is a class of philosophers who condemn the material creation as false. They say that Brahman is truth but the creation is false. This is not good. The temporary creation is also a relative truth. It is in fact the temporary picture of the eternal creation. The forgetful soul has no information of the spiritual creation, known as the sanātana-dhāma, but the temporary creation gives an idea of this original creation. The devotees of the Lord, therefore, make the best use of the bad bargain by utilizing the temporary creation in the service of the Lord.

Light of the Bhagavata 28, Purport:

Everything emanates as different energies from the Lord, and thus everything should be engaged for His service only. As soon as even temporary things are engaged in His service, they take on permanent values. The process of such engagement in the service of the Lord is what the sages call cikitsitam, or "well treated." If we have some kind of trouble in the stomach from drinking milk, the physician prescribes the same milk in the form of yogurt, which is nothing but treated milk. Similarly, the temporary creation of the material world is undoubtedly full of miseries, but when accepted in terms of its relation with the Supreme Lord, the whole thing becomes as well treated as the yogurt. Everything accepted in full God consciousness has its spiritual value, and by the grace of the Almighty its material effects are diminished in terms of the increasing degree of spiritual consciousness. That is the process for cultivating the human spirit.

Light of the Bhagavata 47, Purport:

The universes within the material energy are called Devī-dhāma, and within Devī-dhāma the predominating Deity is Viṣṇu, who is assisted by Brahmā and Śiva. Devī-dhāma is controlled by three modes, namely goodness, passion, and ignorance. Viṣṇu is the incarnation of goodness, Brahmā of passion, and Śiva of ignorance. Brahmā creates, Viṣṇu maintains, and Śiva destroys the material creation.

Light of the Bhagavata 47, Purport:

The material creation comes into being by the will of the Lord, and it is again annihilated by His will. But although the universes of the material energy are thus created and annihilated, the planets in Hari-dhāma are ever existent.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 11, Translation and Purport:

Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.

Since the creation of the material world, everyone has been trying to attain a permanent life, but the laws of nature are so cruel that no one has been able to avoid the hand of death.

Sri Isopanisad 14, Translation:

One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge.

Sri Isopanisad 14, Purport:

Lord Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead, possesses different energies, known as parā (superior) and aparā (inferior). The living entities belong to the superior energy. The material energy, in which we are presently entangled, is the inferior energy. The material creation is made possible by this energy, which covers the living entities with ignorance (avidyā) and induces them to perform fruitive activities.

Sri Isopanisad 15, Purport:

"But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." Thus by His one plenary expansion, the all-pervading Paramātmā, the Lord maintains the complete material cosmic creation.

Sri Isopanisad 15, Purport:

Since it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vṛndāvana-dhāma, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.14-18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul.

Sri Isopanisad 15, Purport:

Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramātmā. Every living entity is known as ātmā, soul, and the principal ātmā who controls them all is Paramātmā, the Supersoul.

Sri Isopanisad 15, Purport:

This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sāṅkhya-yogīs can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they have very little information of the puruṣa, the Lord.

Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)

Mukunda-mala-stotra mantra 1, Purport:

The supreme "1" always wants to make our zero efforts valuable by His association, just as a loving father always wants an unhappy son to be in a prosperous position. A rebellious son, however, stubbornly refuses the cooperation of the loving father and thus suffers all sorts of miseries. The Lord, therefore, sends His bona fide representatives to all parts of the material creation, and sometimes He even comes Himself to reclaim His fallen sons.