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Chapter 6: Creation of the Universal Form

Verse 4 of 40
SB 3.6.4

प्रबुद्धकर्मा दैवेन त्रयोविंशतिको गणः प्रेरितो ऽजनयत्स्वाभिर्मात्राभिरधिपूरुषम्

prabuddha-karmā daivena trayoviṁśatiko gaṇaḥ prerito 'janayat svābhir mātrābhir adhipūruṣam

Synonyms

prabuddhaawakened; karmāactivities; daivenaby the will of the Supreme; trayoviṁśatikaḥby the twenty-three principal ingredients; gaṇaḥcombination; preritaḥinduced by; ajanayatmanifested; svābhiḥby His personal; mātrābhiḥby plenary expansion; adhipūruṣamthe gigantic universal form (viśva-rūpa)..

Translation

When the twenty-three principal elements were set in action by the will of the Supreme, the gigantic universal form, or the viśva-rūpa body of the Lord, came into existence.

Purport

The virāṭa-rūpa or viśva-rūpa, the gigantic universal form of the Lord, which is very much appreciated by the impersonalist, is not an eternal form of the Lord. It is manifested by the supreme will of the Lord after the ingredients of material creation. Lord Kṛṣṇa exhibited this virāṭa or viśva-rūpa to Arjuna just to convince the impersonalists that He is the original Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa exhibited the virāṭa-rūpa; it is not that Kṛṣṇa was exhibited by the virāṭa-rūpa. The virāṭa-rūpa is not, therefore, an eternal form of the Lord exhibited in the spiritual sky; it is a material manifestation of the Lord. The arca-vigraha, or the worshipable Deity in the temple, is a similar manifestation of the Lord for the neophytes. But in spite of their material touch, such forms of the Lord as the virāṭa and arca are all nondifferent from His eternal form as Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Verse 4 of 40
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