Phenomenal world

Expressions researched:
"phenomenal material world" |"phenomenal world"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

The complete whole, Personality of Godhead, has immense potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). How Kṛṣṇa is acting in different potencies is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā. This phenomenal world or material world in which we are placed is also complete in itself because the twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation, according to Sāṅkhya philosophy, are completely adjusted to produce complete resources which are necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. There is nothing extraneous, nor is there anything needed.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 7.2, Purport:

Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.24, Translation:

This gigantic manifestation of the phenomenal material world as a whole is the personal body of the Absolute Truth, wherein the universal resultant past, present and future of material time is experienced.

SB 2.4.6, Purport:

In every inquisitive mind the important question of the creation of the phenomenal world arises, and therefore for a personality like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was to know all the activities of the Lord from his spiritual master, such an inquiry is not uncommon. For every unknown thing, we have to learn and inquire from a learned personality. The question of creation is also one of such inquiries to be made to the right person. The spiritual master, therefore, must be one who is sama jña, as stated hereinbefore in connection with Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

SB 2.4.7, Translation:

Kindly describe how the Supreme Lord, who is all-powerful, engages His different energies and different expansions in maintaining and again winding up the phenomenal world in the sporting spirit of a player.

SB 2.5.2, Purport:

Transcendental knowledge regarding the soul and the Supersoul includes knowledge of the phenomenal world and the basis of its creation. In the phenomenal world three things are factually observed by any intelligent man: the living beings, the manifest world, and the ultimate control over them. The intelligent man can see that neither the living entity nor the phenomenal world are creations of chance. The symmetry of creation and its regulative actions and reactions suggests the plan of an intelligent brain behind them, and by genuine inquiry one may find out the ultimate cause with the help of one who knows them factually.

SB 2.5.3, Purport:

Three principal items, namely the living being, the phenomenal world and the controller, are all in continuous action—past, present and future—and the direct manager is supposed to know everything of such actions and reactions, as one knows about a walnut within the grip of one's palm. The direct manufacturer of a particular thing is supposed to know how he learned the art of manufacturing, where he got the ingredients, how he set it up and how the products in the manufacturing process are being turned out. Because Brahmā is the firstborn living being, naturally he is supposed to know everything about creative functions.

SB 2.5.14, Purport:

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).

SB 2.7.52, Purport:

The ultimate goal of life is not to pass a life of irresponsibility like the animals and indulge in a polished way in the four animal principles, namely eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. For such a blind human society in the darkness of ignorance, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the torchlight to see things in proper perspective. Therefore it was necessary to describe the science of God from the very beginning, or from the very birth of the phenomenal world.

SB 2.10.21, Purport:

The universe is by nature dense darkness, and therefore the total creation is called tamas, or darkness. The night is the real feature of the universe, for then one cannot see anything, including oneself. The Lord, out of His causeless mercy, first desired to see Himself and all the creation as well, and thus the sun became manifested, the power of vision for all living entities became possible, and the objects of vision were also manifested. This means that the whole phenomenal world became visible after the creation of the sun.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.5.30, Translation and Purport:

The false ego is transformed into mind by interaction with the mode of goodness. All the demigods who control the phenomenal world are also products of the same principle, namely the interaction of false ego and the mode of goodness.

False ego interacting with the different modes of material nature is the source of all materials in the phenomenal world.

SB 3.11.40, Translation:

This phenomenal material world is expanded to a diameter of four billion miles, as a combination of eight material elements transformed into sixteen further categories, within and without, as follows.

SB 3.29.45, Translation:

The eternal time factor has no beginning and no end. It is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maker of the criminal world. It brings about the end of the phenomenal world, it carries on the work of creation by bringing one individual into existence from another, and likewise it dissolves the universe by destroying even the lord of death, Yamarāja.

SB 3.29.45, Purport:

Our lives last for one hundred years at the most, and similarly, although their lives may last for millions and billions of years, the demigods are not eternal. No one can live within this material world eternally. The phenomenal world is created, maintained and destroyed by the finger signal of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore a devotee does not desire anything in this material world. A devotee desires only to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This servitude exists eternally; the Lord exists eternally, His servitor exists eternally, and the service exists eternally.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.10.21, Translation and Purport:

You have said, "I am not fatigued from labor." Although the soul is different from the body, there is fatigue because of bodily labor, and it appears to be the fatigue of the soul. When you are carrying the palanquin, there is certainly labor for the soul. This is my conjecture. You have also said that the external behavior exhibited between the master and the servant is not factual, but although in the phenomenal world it is not factual, the products of the phenomenal world can actually affect things. That is visible and experienced. As such, even though material activities are impermanent, they cannot be said to be untrue.

This is a discussion on impersonal Māyāvāda philosophy and the practical philosophy of Vaiṣṇavas. The Māyāvāda philosophy explains this phenomenal world to be false, but Vaiṣṇava philosophers do not agree. They know that the phenomenal world is a temporary manifestation, but it is not false.

SB 5.12.8, Purport:

When we can understand by an analytical study that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all causes, our knowledge is perfect. Simply understanding the transformations of different energies is partial knowledge. We must come to the ultimate cause. Na te viduḥ svārtha gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). The knowledge of those who are not interested in knowing the original cause of all emanations is never perfect knowledge. There is nothing in the phenomenal world that is not produced by the supreme energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.19.4, Purport:

A devotee knows how to appreciate the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ

pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya

pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

(Īśo Invocation)

"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance." Therefore, to take shelter of the Supreme Lord is required. Whatever a devotee needs will be supplied by the complete Supreme Personality of Godhead (teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22)).

SB Canto 7

SB 7.3.26-27, Purport:

The words abhivyanag jagad idam refer to he who creates this cosmic manifestation. The original creator is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)); Lord Brahmā is the secondary creator. When Lord Brahmā is empowered by Lord Kṛṣṇa as the engineer to create the phenomenal world, he becomes the supremely powerful feature within this universe. The total material energy is created by Kṛṣṇa, and later, taking advantage of all that has necessarily been created, Lord Brahmā engineers the entire phenomenal universe. At the end of Lord Brahmā's day, everything up to Svargaloka is inundated with water, and the next morning, when there is darkness in the universe, Brahmā again brings the phenomenal manifestation into existence. Therefore he is described here as he who manifests this universe.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 3.71, Purport:

In the material world, if a fragment is taken from an original object, the original object is reduced by the removal of that fragment. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not at all affected by the actions of māyā. The Īśopaniṣad says:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ

pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya

pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance." (Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Invocation)

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

Cause and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences we find in cause and effect. Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of material nature. Standing on the fourth dimension, They are predominating figures on the transcendental platform. There is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions because material laws cannot influence Them. There is no such rule as cause and effect outside of the material world. Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature proves this:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

(Īśo Invocation)

"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete by itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance."

CC Adi 7.118, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is explained that the five elements earth, water, fire, air and ether constitute the gross energy of the Absolute Truth and that there are also three subtle energies, namely, the mind, intelligence and false ego, or identification with the phenomenal world. Thus the entire cosmic manifestation is divided into eight energies, all of which are inferior.

CC Adi 7.118, Purport:

As explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14)), the inferior energy, known as māyā, is so strong that although the living entity does not belong to this energy, due to the superior strength of the inferior energy the living entity (jīva-bhūta) forgets his real position and identifies with it. Kṛṣṇa says distinctly that beyond the material energy there is a superior energy which is known as the jīva-bhūta, or living entities. When in contact with the material energy, this superior energy conducts all the activities of the entire material, phenomenal world.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

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. Still, You are always transcendental to all these material activities. My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know that earth, water, fire, air, sky, the five sense objects, mind, the senses and their deities, egotism and the total material energy—everything animate and inanimate in this phenomenal world—rests upon You. Since everything is produced of You, nothing can be separate from You. Yet since You are transcendentally situated, nothing material can be identified with Your personality. Everything is therefore simultaneously one with You and different from You, and the philosophers who try to separate everything from You are certainly mistaken in their viewpoint."

Krsna Book 63:

"You are the supreme cause of everything, but of You there is no cause. You Yourself cause Your own appearance and disappearance. Despite Your transcendental position, my Lord, in order to show Your six opulences and advertise Your transcendental qualities, You have appeared in Your different incarnations—fish, tortoise, boar, Nṛsiṁha, Keśava and others—by Your personal manifestation; and You have appeared as different living entities by Your separated manifestations. By Your internal potency You appear as the different incarnations of Viṣṇu, and by Your external potency You appear as the phenomenal world."

Krsna Book 84:

"The entire phenomenal world is a manifestation of Your impersonal energy, but You Yourself, as the original Personality of Godhead, are not manifested there. You are the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Brahman."

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 1:

In the language of Bhagavad-gītā, the spirit soul is called kṣetrajña, the knower or tiller of the field, whereas the body and mind, the coverings of the spirit soul, are called kṣetra, or the field. In the eleventh chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, discusses the subject matter of kṣetra, kṣetrajña, and also prakṛti (nature, or the phenomenal world, which is enjoyed) and puruṣa (the enjoyer of the phenomenal world). Lord Kṛṣṇa explains that all actions and reactions that take place in this phenomenal world are the actions and reactions of this combination of kṣetra and kṣetrajña, or nature and the enjoyer of nature. For instance, rice paddy is produced by the action and reaction of the field and the tiller, or a child is begotten by the combination of prakṛti, the enjoyed, and puruṣa, the enjoyer. In the same way, whatever we see in the phenomenal world is produced by this combination of kṣetra and kṣetrajña.

Message of Godhead 2:

As long as the living entity remains conditioned by material nature, he has to act according to his particular mode of nature. If these modes were not acting, then we would not have observed in the phenomenal world different varieties of activities. These different varieties of activities are conditioned by the different modes of nature.

Message of Godhead 2:

When one is in a state of freedom from the modes of nature, the phenomenal world manifests its noumenal feature—its spiritual aspect. With the world thus spiritually manifest, its modes of nature, such as goodness, passion, and ignorance, cannot present any obstacle to one's spiritual advancement. When such obstacles are surpassed, one attains to the absolute vision.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad Invocation:

The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

Sri Isopanisad Invocation:

The Complete Whole, the Personality of Godhead, has immense potencies, all of which are as complete as He is. Thus this phenomenal world is also complete in itself. The twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are arranged to produce everything necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. No other unit in the universe need make an extraneous effort to try to maintain the universe. The universe functions on its own time scale, which is fixed by the energy of the Complete Whole, and when that schedule is completed, this temporary manifestation will be annihilated by the complete arrangement of the Complete Whole.

Sri Isopanisad 16, Purport:

The living entities are also differentiated expansions of the Lord's Self, and because some of them desire to be lords and imitate the Supreme Lord, He allows them to enter into the cosmic creation with the option to fully utilize their propensity to lord it over nature. Because of the presence of His parts and parcels, the living entities, the entire phenomenal world is stirred into action and reaction. Thus the living entities are given full facilities to lord it over material nature, but the ultimate controller is the Lord Himself in His plenary feature as Paramātmā, the Supersoul, who is one of the puruṣas.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

The complete whole Personality of Godhead has immense potencies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). That is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā, how He is acting in different potencies. This phenomenal world, or the material world, where we are now put, is also complete by itself because pūrṇam idam (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). The 24 elements of which, according to Sāṅkhya philosophy, the 24 elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation, are completely adjusted to produce complete things which are necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

When one is actually advanced in spiritual knowledge, he is in transcendental position. In transcendental position he is called paṇḍita, or the real learned man. And what is that real learned man? How does he visualize this phenomenal world? He... Lord says that vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini: "When one is in the transcendental position, then he sees equally everyone, every living entity."

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Hawaii, February 4, 1975:

Now, the next characteristic is asatyam: "This world is simply phenomenal; it has no foundation." The Māyāvādīs, they directly say, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. So Māyāvādī, at least they say that "There is Brahman. He is truth, but this phenomenal world is not truth. Manifestation of material energy, that is not true." So, according to our philosophy, Vaiṣṇava philosophy, we don't say that this māyā, or the... Māyā means this temporary manifestation. This material world is fact, but it is temporary, not false. We cannot say it is false.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.26.30 -- Bombay, January 7, 1975:

There is spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ: (BG 8.20) "There is another bhāva, nature." What is the nature? Sarveṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati: "When the material world, this cosmic manifestation, the phenomenal world, will be finished, that will stay. That will not be finished." There are many example. Just like mirage in the desert. Sometimes you see there is vast mass of water in the desert. The animal runs after the water, being thirsty, but there is no water. Therefore the animal dies. But human being should not be like the animal. They should raise their standard.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ- (BG 10.8) "I am the origin." And Vedānta-sūtra says that janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). "Janma ādi, from whom, that is Brahman." That is Kṛṣṇa. Janma, this janma or the creation of this material cosmic manifestation, phenomenal world, who is the cause of janma? The cause is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

The original creator is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt, not this material. The material, there was no existence of the material. The materials are created by the Supreme Living Being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is to be understood. So the modern theory that the phenomenal world or this cosmic manifestation is due to chemical combination... They have written books, Chemical Evolution. The same example, that a solution of soda bicarb and solution of citric acid, mixed together, there is effervescence. But who is mixing? The mixture is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. This is to be understood.

Lecture on SB 3.26.41 -- Bombay, January 16, 1975:

So this is the way of physical manifestation of different ways. But on the background there is daiva-codita. Everything is coming into existence on account of superior management or superior impelling. That is the main proposition, that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ (BG 9.10). These things we..., physical transformation, different ways, we experience. That is the phenomenal world. But these things are taking place not automatically but daiva-coditāt, by superior intervention, impelled by the superior Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 3.26.41 -- Bombay, January 16, 1975:

So bhakti process is śravaṇam beginning. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). So we have to hear these subject matters described in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then we will understand how Kṛṣṇa is conducting this phenomenal world. That you have to learn by hearing.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: He says logically these are not fallacious; both sides are true. For instance, his first antimony is, "The world has a beginning in time and is enclosed in limits of space." This is the thesis. Then the antithesis is, "The world has no beginning in time and no limits in space, but is infinite with regard to both time and space." So he says reasonably both conclusions are true.

Prabhupāda: So how to adjust? How to adjust is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. It says this material phenomenal world is coming into existence and again annihilated. Again coming. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). So this material nature, coming in manifestation and again vanquished, this process, coming into existence and then vanquished, this is also true. Just like day and night, it is coming and going. This is true. But night is not day; day is not night.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Prabhupāda: That is confirming our theory of spiritual world as permanent. Just like here, the picture of a tree, that is phenomenon. But the picture, is that now original? Just like sometimes there are dolls, show dolls; that is phenomena. But the idea behind the dolls, that is permanent. Beautiful girl standing on the showcase, that is a doll. That is phenomenon. But a beautiful girl is not phenomenon; that is fact. This is a crude example. Similarly, this material world is phenomenon. That is explained by Śrīdhara Swami, that because the spiritual is true, fact, therefore the phenomenal expression of the spiritual world amidst matter appears to be true. This material world, phenomenal world, is not fact, but because it is representation of a fact, therefore it appears as fact. That is phenomenology.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Guest (Hṛdayānanda): He says that the unlimited is that which always was, is and always will be, and the limited is that which is in this material phenomenal world.

Prabhupāda: That means that limited is material, he says? And unlimited is spiritual?

Guest: i, pero... (Spanish)

Prabhupāda: So what is the conception of the spiritual?

Guest (Hṛdayānanda): That which is, has been and will be and which is not limited to form.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Limited to form. Then how he is unlimited?