View source for Mahat-tattva (SB, Canto 3)

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[[Category:Mahat-tattva|1]]
[[Category:Compilations from Books]]
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_3" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 3"><h3>SB Canto 3</h3>
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<div id="SB3215_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="60" link="SB 3.2.15" link_text="SB 3.2.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.2.15|SB 3.2.15, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Personality of Godhead, the all-compassionate controller of both the spiritual and material creations, is unborn, but when there is friction between His peaceful devotees and persons who are in the material modes of nature, He takes birth just like fire, accompanied by the mahat-tattva.</p>
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<div id="SB3215_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="60" link="SB 3.2.15" link_text="SB 3.2.15">
<div class="heading">There are many instances of such harassment of the peaceful devotees of the Lord by the itaras. When such friction takes place, the Lord, out of His great compassion towards His pure devotees, appears in person, accompanied by His plenary portions controlling the mahat-tattva.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.2.15|SB 3.2.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs have their particular mentalities in the modes of nature, and therefore they are called itara or nondevotees. These itaras, including even the yogīs, sometimes harass the devotees of the Lord. Durvāsā Muni, a great yogī, harassed Mahārāja Ambarīṣa because the latter was a great devotee of the Lord. And the great karmī and jñānī Hiraṇyakaśipu even harassed his own Vaiṣṇava son, Prahlāda Mahārāja. There are many instances of such harassment of the peaceful devotees of the Lord by the itaras. When such friction takes place, the Lord, out of His great compassion towards His pure devotees, appears in person, accompanied by His plenary portions controlling the mahat-tattva.</p>
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<div id="SB3527_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="170" link="SB 3.5.27" link_text="SB 3.5.27">
<div class="heading">The mahat-tattva is directly connected with the supreme consciousness of the Supreme Being, but still it appears as matter. The mahat-tattva, or shadow of pure consciousness, is the germinating place of all creation.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.27|SB 3.5.27, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Thereafter, influenced by the interactions of eternal time, the supreme sum total of matter called the mahat-tattva became manifested, and in this mahat-tattva the unalloyed goodness, the Supreme Lord, sowed the seeds of universal manifestation out of His own body.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>In due course of time, the impregnated material energy was manifested first as the total material ingredients. Everything takes its own time to fructify, and therefore the word kāla-coditāt, "influenced by time," is used herein. The mahat-tattva is the total consciousness because a portion of it is represented in everyone as the intellect. The mahat-tattva is directly connected with the supreme consciousness of the Supreme Being, but still it appears as matter. The mahat-tattva, or shadow of pure consciousness, is the germinating place of all creation. It is pure goodness with the slight addition of the material mode of passion, and therefore activity is generated from this point.</p>
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</div><div id="SB3528_3" class="quote qod_candidate" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="171" link="SB 3.5.28" link_text="SB 3.5.28">
<div class="heading">The mahat-tattva is the via medium between pure spirit and material existence. It is the junction of matter and spirit wherefrom the false ego of the living entity is generated.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.28|SB 3.5.28, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Thereafter the mahat-tattva differentiated itself into many different forms as the reservoir of the would-be entities. The mahat-tattva is chiefly in the mode of ignorance, and it generates the false ego. It is a plenary expansion of the Personality of Godhead, with full consciousness of creative principles and time for fructification.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>The mahat-tattva is the via medium between pure spirit and material existence. It is the junction of matter and spirit wherefrom the false ego of the living entity is generated. All living entities are differentiated parts and parcels of the Personality of Godhead. Under the pressure of false ego, the conditioned souls, although parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, claim to be the enjoyers of material nature. This false ego is the binding force of material existence. The Lord again and again gives a chance to the bewildered conditioned souls to get free from this false ego, and that is why the material creation takes place at intervals. He gives the conditioned souls all facilities for rectifying the activities of the false ego, but He does not interfere with their small independence as parts and parcels of the Lord.</p>
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<div id="SB3529_4" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="172" link="SB 3.5.29" link_text="SB 3.5.29">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.29|SB 3.5.29, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Mahat-tattva, or the great causal truth, transforms into false ego, which is manifested in three phases—cause, effect and the doer. All such activities are on the mental plane and are based on the material elements, gross senses and mental speculation. The false ego is represented in three different modes—goodness, passion and ignorance.</p>
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<div id="SB3550_5" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="193" link="SB 3.5.50" link_text="SB 3.5.50">
<div class="heading">The mahat-tattva principle is the generating source of all the modes of material nature, and the living entities take birth in the material world in bodies supplied by the mother, material nature, in terms of their previous work.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.50|SB 3.5.50, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.3), the Lord impregnates the external or material energy, and thus the total living entities later come out in different gradations, beginning from Brahmā, the first demigod, down to the insignificant ant. All gradations of living entities are manifested by Brahmā and the external energy, but the Lord is the original father of everyone. The relationship of every living being with the Supreme Lord is certainly one of son and father and not one of equality. Sometimes in love the son is more than the father, but the relationship of father and son is one of the superior and the subordinate. Every living entity, however great he may be, even up to demigods like Brahmā and Indra, is an eternally subordinate servitor of the supreme father. The mahat-tattva principle is the generating source of all the modes of material nature, and the living entities take birth in the material world in bodies supplied by the mother, material nature, in terms of their previous work. The body is a gift of material nature, but the soul is originally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.</p>
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<div id="SB3551_6" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="194" link="SB 3.5.51" link_text="SB 3.5.51">
<div class="heading">O Supreme Self, please give us, who are created in the beginning from the mahat-tattva, the total cosmic energy, Your kind directions on how we shall act.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.51|SB 3.5.51, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O Supreme Self, please give us, who are created in the beginning from the mahat-tattva, the total cosmic energy, Your kind directions on how we shall act. Kindly award us Your perfect knowledge and potency so that we can render You service in the different departments of subsequent creation.</p>
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<div id="SB361_7" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="195" link="SB 3.6.1" link_text="SB 3.6.1">
<div class="heading">The Ṛṣi Maitreya said: The Lord thus heard about the suspension of the progressive creative functions of the universe due to the noncombination of His potencies, such as the mahat-tattva.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.1|SB 3.6.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Ṛṣi Maitreya said: The Lord thus heard about the suspension of the progressive creative functions of the universe due to the noncombination of His potencies, such as the mahat-tattva.</p>
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<div id="SB366_8" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="200" link="SB 3.6.6" link_text="SB 3.6.6">
<div class="heading">Before the manifestation takes place and after the entrance of Viṣṇu within the universe, there is a period of one thousand celestial years. All the living entities injected within the womb of the mahat-tattva are divided in all universes with the incarnation of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and all of them lie down with the Lord until Brahmā is born.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.6|SB 3.6.6, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">After the Lord entered each and every universe as the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, half of the universe was filled with water. The cosmic manifestation of the planetary systems, outer space, etc., which are visible to us, is only one half of the complete universe. Before the manifestation takes place and after the entrance of Viṣṇu within the universe, there is a period of one thousand celestial years. All the living entities injected within the womb of the mahat-tattva are divided in all universes with the incarnation of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and all of them lie down with the Lord until Brahmā is born. Brahmā is the first living being within the universe, and from him all other demigods and living creatures are born. Manu is the original father of mankind, and therefore, in Sanskrit, mankind is called mānuṣya. Humanity in different bodily qualities is distributed throughout the various planetary systems.</p>
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<div id="SB367_9" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="201" link="SB 3.6.7" link_text="SB 3.6.7">
<div class="heading">The total energy of the mahat-tattva, in the form of the gigantic virāṭ-rūpa, divided Himself by Himself into the consciousness of the living entities, the life of activity, and self-identification, which are subdivided into one, ten and three respectively.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.7|SB 3.6.7, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The total energy of the mahat-tattva, in the form of the gigantic virāṭ-rūpa, divided Himself by Himself into the consciousness of the living entities, the life of activity, and self-identification, which are subdivided into one, ten and three respectively.</p>
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<div id="SB3626_10" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="220" link="SB 3.6.26" link_text="SB 3.6.26">
<div class="heading">Thereafter, when His consciousness separately manifested itself, the total energy, mahat-tattva, entered with His conscious part. Thus the living entity is able to conceive specific knowledge.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.26|SB 3.6.26, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Thereafter, when His consciousness separately manifested itself, the total energy, mahat-tattva, entered with His conscious part. Thus the living entity is able to conceive specific knowledge.</p>
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<div id="SB3721_11" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="255" link="SB 3.7.21" link_text="SB 3.7.21">
<div class="heading">After creating the total material energy, the mahat-tattva, and thereby manifesting the gigantic universal form with senses and sense organs, the Supreme Lord entered within it.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.7.21|SB 3.7.21, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">After creating the total material energy, the mahat-tattva, and thereby manifesting the gigantic universal form with senses and sense organs, the Supreme Lord entered within it.</p>
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<div id="SB31015_12" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="367" link="SB 3.10.15" link_text="SB 3.10.15">
<div class="heading">Of the nine creations, the first one is the creation of the mahat-tattva, or the sum total of the material ingredients, wherein the modes interact due to the presence of the Supreme Lord.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.10.15|SB 3.10.15, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Of the nine creations, the first one is the creation of the mahat-tattva, or the sum total of the material ingredients, wherein the modes interact due to the presence of the Supreme Lord. In the second, the false ego is generated in which the material ingredients, material knowledge and material activities arise.</p>
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<div id="SB31015_13" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="367" link="SB 3.10.15" link_text="SB 3.10.15">
<div class="heading">The first emanation from the Supreme Lord for material creation is called the mahat-tattva. The interaction of the material modes is the cause of false identification, or the sense that a living being is made of material elements.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.10.15|SB 3.10.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The first emanation from the Supreme Lord for material creation is called the mahat-tattva. The interaction of the material modes is the cause of false identification, or the sense that a living being is made of material elements. This false ego is the cause of identifying the body and mind with the soul proper. Material resources and the capacity and knowledge to work are all generated in the second term of creation, after the mahat-tattva. Jñāna indicates the senses which are sources of knowledge, and their controlling deities. Work entails the working organs and their controlling deities.</p>
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<div id="SB31142_14" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="423" link="SB 3.11.42" link_text="SB 3.11.42">
<div class="heading">Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is resting in yoga-nidrā on the Causal Ocean and creating innumerable universes by His breathing process, only temporarily appears in the mahat-tattva for the temporary manifestation of the material worlds. He is a plenary portion of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus although He is nondifferent from Lord Kṛṣṇa, His formal appearance in the material world as an incarnation is temporary.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.11.42|SB 3.11.42, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is resting in yoga-nidrā on the Causal Ocean and creating innumerable universes by His breathing process, only temporarily appears in the mahat-tattva for the temporary manifestation of the material worlds. He is a plenary portion of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus although He is nondifferent from Lord Kṛṣṇa, His formal appearance in the material world as an incarnation is temporary. The original form of the Personality of Godhead is actually the svarūpa, or real form, and He eternally resides in the Vaikuṇṭha world (Viṣṇuloka).</p>
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<div id="SB32013_15" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="776" link="SB 3.20.13" link_text="SB 3.20.13">
<div class="heading">As impelled by the destiny of the jīva, the false ego, which is of three kinds, evolved from the mahat-tattva, in which the element of rajas predominates. From the ego, in turn, evolved many groups of five principles.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.20.13|SB 3.20.13, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">As impelled by the destiny of the jīva, the false ego, which is of three kinds, evolved from the mahat-tattva, in which the element of rajas predominates. From the ego, in turn, evolved many groups of five principles.</p>
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<div id="SB3269_16" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1055" link="SB 3.26.9" link_text="SB 3.26.9">
<div class="heading">The unmanifest material world is the subtle mahat-tattva, and from that mahat-tattva the material manifestation has emerged.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.9|SB 3.26.9, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Prakṛti, or material nature, is connected with both the Supreme Lord and the living entities, just as a woman is connected with her husband as a wife and with her children as a mother. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He impregnates mother nature with children, living entities, and thereafter all species of living entities become manifest. The relationship of all living entities with material nature has been explained. Now an understanding of the relationship between material nature and the Supreme Lord is sought by Devahūti. The product of that relationship is stated to be the manifest and unmanifest material world. The unmanifest material world is the subtle mahat-tattva, and from that mahat-tattva the material manifestation has emerged.</p>
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<div id="SB32610_17" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1056" link="SB 3.26.10" link_text="SB 3.26.10">
<div class="heading">One may argue that the mahat-tattva is also different from pradhāna because in the mahat-tattva there are manifestations. The actual explanation of pradhāna, however, is given here: when the cause and effect are not clearly manifested (avyakta), the reaction of the total elements does not take place, and that stage of material nature is called pradhāna.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.10|SB 3.26.10, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">One may say that pradhāna is the Brahman stage, but actually the Brahman stage is not pradhāna. pradhāna is distinct from Brahman because in Brahman there is no existence of the material modes of nature. One may argue that the mahat-tattva is also different from pradhāna because in the mahat-tattva there are manifestations. The actual explanation of pradhāna, however, is given here: when the cause and effect are not clearly manifested (avyakta), the reaction of the total elements does not take place, and that stage of material nature is called pradhāna. Pradhāna is not the time element because in the time element there are actions and reactions, creation and annihilation. Nor is it the jīva, or marginal potency of living entities, or designated, conditioned living entities, because the designations of the living entities are not eternal.</p>
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<div id="SB32619_18" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1065" link="SB 3.26.19" link_text="SB 3.26.19">
<div class="heading">This impregnation of material nature is described in Bhagavad-gītā, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 3. Material nature's primal factor is the mahat-tattva, or breeding source of all varieties.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.19|SB 3.26.19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This impregnation of material nature is described in Bhagavad-gītā, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 3. Material nature's primal factor is the mahat-tattva, or breeding source of all varieties. This part of material nature, which is called pradhāna as well as Brahman, is impregnated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and delivers varieties of living entities. Material nature in this connection is called Brahman because it is a perverted reflection of the spiritual nature.</p>
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<div id="SB32620_19" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1066" link="SB 3.26.20" link_text="SB 3.26.20">
<div class="heading">Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolution.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.20|SB 3.26.20, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolution.</p>
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<div id="SB32620_20" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1066" link="SB 3.26.20" link_text="SB 3.26.20">
<div class="heading">Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is ever existing, all-blissful and full of knowledge, His different energies are also ever existing in the dormant stage. Thus when the mahat-tattva was created, it manifested the material ego and swallowed up the darkness which covered the cosmic manifestation at the time of dissolution.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.20|SB 3.26.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is ever existing, all-blissful and full of knowledge, His different energies are also ever existing in the dormant stage. Thus when the mahat-tattva was created, it manifested the material ego and swallowed up the darkness which covered the cosmic manifestation at the time of dissolution. This idea can be further explained. A person at night remains inactive, covered by the darkness of night, but when he is awakened in the morning, the covering of night, or the forgetfulness of the sleeping state, disappears. Similarly, when the mahat-tattva appears after the night of dissolution, the effulgence is manifested to exhibit the variegatedness of this material world.</p>
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<div id="SB32621_21" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1067" link="SB 3.26.21" link_text="SB 3.26.21">
<div class="heading">He mode of goodness, which is the clear, sober status of understanding the Personality of Godhead and which is generally called vāsudeva, or consciousness, becomes manifest in the mahat-tattva.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.21|SB 3.26.21, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">He mode of goodness, which is the clear, sober status of understanding the Personality of Godhead and which is generally called vāsudeva, or consciousness, becomes manifest in the mahat-tattva.</p>
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<div id="SB32621_22" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1067" link="SB 3.26.21" link_text="SB 3.26.21">
<div class="heading">Here in the reappearance of the mahat-tattva the four expansions of Godhead occur. He who is seated within as Supersoul expands first as Vāsudeva.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.21|SB 3.26.21, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The vāsudeva manifestation, or the status of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is called pure goodness, or śuddha-sattva. In the śuddha-sattva status there is no infringement of the other qualities, namely passion and ignorance. In the Vedic literature there is mention of the Lord's expansion as the four Personalities of Godhead—Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Here in the reappearance of the mahat-tattva the four expansions of Godhead occur. He who is seated within as Supersoul expands first as Vāsudeva.</p>
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<div id="SB32621_23" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1067" link="SB 3.26.21" link_text="SB 3.26.21">
<div class="heading">This is another feature of the mahat-tattva. The vāsudeva expansion is also called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for it is free from all tinges of material passion and ignorance. This clear state of understanding helps one to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.21|SB 3.26.21, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The vāsudeva stage is free from infringement by material desires and is the status in which one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the objective which is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as adbhuta. This is another feature of the mahat-tattva. The vāsudeva expansion is also called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for it is free from all tinges of material passion and ignorance. This clear state of understanding helps one to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The vāsudeva status is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā as kṣetra-jña, which refers to the knower of the field of activities as well as the Superknower</p>
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<div id="SB32622_24" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1068" link="SB 3.26.22" link_text="SB 3.26.22">
<div class="heading">After the manifestation of the mahat-tattva, these features appear simultaneously. As water in its natural state, before coming in contact with earth, is clear, sweet and unruffled, so the characteristic traits of pure consciousness are complete serenity, clarity, and freedom from distraction.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.22|SB 3.26.22, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">After the manifestation of the mahat-tattva, these features appear simultaneously. As water in its natural state, before coming in contact with earth, is clear, sweet and unruffled, so the characteristic traits of pure consciousness are complete serenity, clarity, and freedom from distraction.</p>
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<div id="SB3262324_25" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1069" link="SB 3.26.23-24" link_text="SB 3.26.23-24">
<div class="heading">The material ego springs up from the mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lord's own energy. The material ego is endowed predominantly with active power of three kinds—good, passionate and ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the senses of perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.23-24|SB 3.26.23-24, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The material ego springs up from the mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lord's own energy. The material ego is endowed predominantly with active power of three kinds—good, passionate and ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the senses of perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.</p>
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<div id="SB32650_26" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1095" link="SB 3.26.50" link_text="SB 3.26.50">
<div class="heading">At that time when the causes were unmixed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His feature of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, entered within each universe. Accompanying Him were all of the seven primary elements—the five material elements, the total energy (mahat-tattva) and the false ego. This entrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead involves His entering even the atoms of the material world.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.50|SB 3.26.50, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">After stating the generation of the causes, Kapiladeva speaks about the generation of the effects. At that time when the causes were unmixed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His feature of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, entered within each universe. Accompanying Him were all of the seven primary elements—the five material elements, the total energy (mahat-tattva) and the false ego. This entrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead involves His entering even the atoms of the material world. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.35): aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. He is not only within the universe, but within the atoms also. He is within the heart of every living entity. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, entered into everything.</p>
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<div id="SB32652_27" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1097" link="SB 3.26.52" link_text="SB 3.26.52">
<div class="heading">This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered by pradhāna. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary systems are parts.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.52|SB 3.26.52, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered by pradhāna. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary systems are parts.</p>
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<div id="SB32652_28" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1097" link="SB 3.26.52" link_text="SB 3.26.52">
<div class="heading">The dimensions of the universe are estimated here. The outer covering is made of layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva, and each layer is ten times greater than the one previous.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.52|SB 3.26.52, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The dimensions of the universe are estimated here. The outer covering is made of layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva, and each layer is ten times greater than the one previous. The space within the hollow of the universe cannot be measured by any human scientist or anyone else, and beyond the hollow there are seven coverings, each one ten times greater than the one preceding it. The layer of water is ten times greater than the diameter of the universe, and the layer of fire is ten times greater than that of water. Similarly, the layer of air is ten times greater than that of fire. These dimensions are all inconceivable to the tiny brain of a human being.</p>
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<div id="SB33229_29" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1340" link="SB 3.32.29" link_text="SB 3.32.29">
<div class="heading">From the total energy, the mahat-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.32.29|SB 3.32.29, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">From the total energy, the mahat-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.</p>
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<div id="SB33229_30" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1340" link="SB 3.32.29" link_text="SB 3.32.29">
<div class="heading">The Supreme Lord is described as mahat-pada, which means that the total material energy, known as the mahat-tattva, is lying at His lotus feet. The origin or the total energy of the cosmic manifestation is the mahat-tattva. From the mahat-tattva all the other twenty-four divisions have sprung, namely the eleven senses (including the mind), the five sense objects, the five material elements, and then consciousness, intelligence and false ego.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.32.29|SB 3.32.29, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Lord is described as mahat-pada, which means that the total material energy, known as the mahat-tattva, is lying at His lotus feet. The origin or the total energy of the cosmic manifestation is the mahat-tattva. From the mahat-tattva all the other twenty-four divisions have sprung, namely the eleven senses (including the mind), the five sense objects, the five material elements, and then consciousness, intelligence and false ego. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of the mahat-tattva, and therefore, in one sense, because everything is an emanation from the Supreme Lord, there is no difference between the Lord and the cosmic manifestation. But at the same time the cosmic manifestation is different from the Lord.</p>
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<div id="SB33229_31" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1340" link="SB 3.32.29" link_text="SB 3.32.29">
<div class="heading">The individual body is temporary; similarly, the entire universe, which is considered to be the body of the Supreme Lord, is also temporary, and both the individual and universal bodies are products of the mahat-tattva.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.32.29|SB 3.32.29, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The individual body is temporary; similarly, the entire universe, which is considered to be the body of the Supreme Lord, is also temporary, and both the individual and universal bodies are products of the mahat-tattva. One has to understand the differences with intelligence. Everyone knows that his material body has developed from a spiritual spark, and similarly the universal body has developed from the supreme spark, Supersoul. As the individual body develops from the individual soul, the gigantic body of the universe develops from the Supreme Soul. Just as the individual soul has consciousness, the Supreme Soul is also conscious. But although there is a similarity between the consciousness of the Supreme Soul and the consciousness of the individual soul, the individual soul's consciousness is limited, whereas the consciousness of the Supreme Soul is unlimited. This is described in Bhagavad-gītā (13.3). Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: the Supersoul is present in every field of activity, just as the individual soul is present in the individual body. Both of them are conscious.</p>
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