Category:God's Internal Potency
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category defines the supreme, transcendental energy of the Lord: His internal potency (antaranga-śakti or cit-śakti). While the external potency (māyā) manages the temporary, inferior material world, the internal potency exclusively manages the eternal, spiritual reality. This internal potency manifests the vast Vaikuṇṭha planets, which comprise seventy-five percent of the Lord's total creation. The internal potency is composed of three distinct features: the existence potency (sandhinī), the knowledge potency (samvit), and the pleasure potency (hlādinī). The living entities (jīvas) belong to the marginal potency; when they surrender to the Lord, they are placed under the protection of the internal potency and engage in eternal, blissful service. Furthermore, whenever the Supreme Lord or His pure devotees descend to the material world, they never accept material bodies. They appear strictly by the agency of the internal potency (ātma-māyā). The specific action of this internal potency that arranges the Lord's intimate, loving pastimes is known as yogamāyā, which sometimes beautifully bewilders even the pure devotees—like Mother Yaśodā—so they forget the Lord's supreme majesty and simply love Him as their child or friend.
- The Three Main Potencies: The Supreme Lord possesses innumerable energies, but they are categorized primarily into three: the internal potency (spiritual world), the external potency (material world), and the marginal potency (the living entities).
- Manifestation of Vaikuṇṭha: The internal potency is responsible for manifesting the eternal, illuminated spiritual sky (Vaikuṇṭhaloka), which constitutes seventy-five percent (tripād-vibhūti) of the Lord's entire creation.
- The Three Features of the Internal Potency: The internal potency operates in three distinct phases: hlādinī (the pleasure-giving potency), sandhinī (the existential potency), and samvit (the cognitive or knowledge potency).
- Divine Appearances: Unlike conditioned souls who are forced to take material bodies by the external energy, whenever the Supreme Lord incarnates, He does so in His original, spiritual form by the power of His internal potency (ātma-māyā).
- The Action of Yogamāyā: The specific working of the internal potency in the Lord's personal pastimes is called yogamāyā. Yogamāyā arranges everything perfectly, even making devotees forget God's supreme majesty so they can exchange pure, uninhibited love with Him.
- The Goal of the Living Entity: Because the living entity is marginal, it can choose its shelter. The ultimate goal of human life is to escape the bewilderment of the external potency and take permanent shelter under the blissful protection of the internal potency.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Internal Potency Manifests the Eternal Spiritual World.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God's Internal Potency"
The following 149 pages are in this category, out of 149 total.
A
- A bona fide spiritual master like Sukadeva Gosvami does not speak about the Lord only in the matter of His internal potencies, but also explains how He associates with His external potencies
- All the activities of the Yadus and Bhojas were executed by the internal potency of the Lord because He wanted them to be dispatched to their respective abodes after He had finished His mission of descent
- Although belonging to the marginal potency, known as jiva-sakti, the spiritual sparks known as the living entities are subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is because these sparks are related with both the internal and external potencies
- Although born out of the so-called dead body of King Vena, King Prthu was still an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by the Lord's internal potency
- Although He (the Lord) is not of the material world, He is much more than simply a negation of material variegatedness. He is positively the supreme enjoyer of spiritual variegatedness, of which Laksmi, the internal potency, is the fountainhead
- Although the creation of the internal potency was manifested, the other potency appeared to be sleeping, and the Lord wanted to awaken her to activity, just as a husband wants to awaken his wife from the sleeping state for enjoyment
- As His (Caitanya's) associate Nityananda, He is the first expansion of God; as Advaita, He is an incarnation; as Gadadhara, He is the internal potency; and as Srivasa, He is the marginal living entity in the role of a devotee - CC Intro
- As stated in BG 4.7, God appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord Ramacandra appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of God's internal potency, and by Laksmiji Sitadevi
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita, the Lord appears through His internal potencies. We should therefore reject the Mayavada explanation that the Lord appears in a body given by the external potency, the material energy
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita, the Lord descends on the earth by His own internal potency, and therefore there is no question of His becoming materially contaminated, changed or otherwise affected by the modes of material nature
- As the Lord appears by His own internal potency, so He also brings all His paraphernalia by the same internal potency, without extraneous help
B
- Because of her (mother Yasoda's) deep affection for Krsna, she could never think that her very son was Narayana, the Personality of Godhead Himself. That is the action of yogamaya, the internal potency of the Supreme Lord
- Because they are between the internal and external potencies, the eternally transcendental living entities are called the marginal potency of the Lord
- Before Brahma took up the task of creation, he found the Lord sleeping on the serpent bed in the waves of the water of devastation. Therefore, sleeping exists in the internal potency of the Lord, and this is not denied by pure devotees of the Lord
- Being so favored by the Lord, Brahma's schemes and plans are all infallible. If sometimes Brahma is seen to be bewildered, he is bewildered by seeing the action of the internal potency, that is also for his further advancement in transcendental service
- Bhagavad-gita also confirms that when the Lord appears He appears as He is by His internal potency. He is not contaminated by the material energy because He is the Lord of material energy. BG 1972 purports
- Both the internal and external potencies are under the control of the Supreme, so He does not come under the control of either of these potencies
- Both the spiritual and the material skies and their paraphernalia are emanations of the internal and external energies of the Lord. External energy is comparatively inferior, whereas the internal potency is superior
- Brahma continued: My dear Lord, You are infallible. Please kill this sinful demon before the demoniac hour arrives and he presents another formidable approach favorable to him. You can kill him by Your internal potency without doubt
- By expanding His internal potency, the Lord enjoys His spiritual paraphernalia. In the highest spiritual realization, therefore, the Lord is not impersonal or void, as empiric philosophers conceive Him to be
- By His (God's) sweet will He reveals Himself by His internal potency, being satisfied by the transcendental loving service of the devotee
- By His internal potency, Maha-sankarsana maintains the transcendental existence of all the planets in the spiritual sky, where all the living beings are eternally liberated souls. The influence of the material energy is conspicuous there by its absence
- By impartially judging, one can find that the internal potencies of the Supreme Lord who are engaged in conjugal love with the Lord are the best of all devotees
- By the acts of His internal potency, the Personality of Godhead in His original form exhibits the spiritual cosmic manifestations known as the Vaikunthalokas, which exist eternally, even after the destruction of the material cosmic manifestation
D
- Delusion is the perverted image of reality and is the hallmark of maya, the Lord's external energy. This delusion is totally absent in His internal, spiritual potency
- Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Maharaja Iksvaku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sita
H
- He (King Kulasekhara) first addresses the Lord as Sri-vallabha, "He who is very dear to Laksmi." The Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His consort, Laksmi, is a manifestation of His internal potency
- His internal potency is exhibited first as sat, or existence - or, in other words, as the portion that expands the existence function of the Lord. When the same potency displays full knowledge it is called cit, or samvit
I
- If it is possible for a devotee to remain transcendental, it is certainly possible for the SP of Godhead to remain in His internal potency without being attached to the external potency. There should be no difficulty in understanding this situation
- In spite of their (empiric philosophers and yogis) strict adherence to the principles of yama, niyama, asana, dhyana, dharana and pranayama, the great yogis and jnanis are unable to enter into the internal potency of the Lord
- In the material world, the external potency (material energy) can act only after one endeavors at great length, but when the Supreme Lord desires, everything is performed automatically by the internal potency
- In the spiritual world there is no need of sunshine or moonshine, for the whole spiritual sky is illuminated by the internal potency of the Supreme Lord. That supreme abode can be achieved only by surrender and by no other means. BG 1972 purports
- In the very first verse of the First Chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam Vyasadeva says that the internal potency is factual reality, whereas the external manifested energy in the form of material existence is temporary and illusory, no more real than a mirage
- In the Visnu Purana also, the internal potency of Visnu is described as para sakti. The Lord is never detached from the association of para sakti. This para sakti and her manifestations are described in the Brahma-samhita - BS 5.38
- In the Visnu Purana where it is said (while describing God's energies) that the living being is equal in quality to the internal potency, whereas the external potency is indirectly controlled by the chief cause of all causes
- Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own internal potency, O Supreme Person, origin of all, Lord of all beings, God of gods, Lord of the universe!
- It is clearly stated here (in SB 4.7.39), by His internal potency He is transcendental to all these material qualities. Similarly, in Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, "I appear by My internal potency
L
- Laksmiji Sita is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durga. Durga is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Siva
- Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descends to this material universe by the agency of His internal potency and personally exhibits the principles which, if followed, can lead one to achieve the ultimate goal of life
- Lord Sambhu (Siva) was not to be captivated by the external potency, but because Lord Visnu wanted to captivate Him also, He exhibited His internal potency to act the way that His external potency acts to captivate ordinary living entities
- Lord Siva cannot be victimized by maya. Therefore it is to be understood that Lord Siva was being thus harassed by Lord Visnu's internal potency (in the form of Mohini-murti)
- Lord Visnu has three principal potencies - internal, external and marginal
- Lord Visnu is powerful, and His activities are so glorious that He has created the spiritual world by His internal potency and the material world by His external potency
O
R
- Revealed the multiglories of the Supreme Personality through His internal potency, yogamaya
- Rsabhadeva, the master of all mystic power, understood King Indra's purpose and smiled a little. Then, by His own prowess, through yogamaya (His internal potency), He profusely poured water upon His own place, which was known as Ajanabha
S
- Simply by seeing the form of the Lord as He presents Himself by His own internal potency as Krsna or Rama or Kapila, one can directly see the brahmajyoti, because the brahmajyoti is no more than the effulgence of His bodily luster
- Since the Lord appears by His internal potency, His incarnations in different species of life are not the creation of the external potency, Maya
- Srila Vyasadeva makes a clear distinction between the internal and external potencies in the very first verse of the First Chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam
- Srimad-Bhagavatam is the narration of the svarupa of the Lord manifested by His internal potency, and this potency is distinguished from the external potency which has manifested the cosmic world, which is within our experience
- Stated in Brahma-samhita: "I worship the SPG, Govinda, who, by expansion of His internal potency of transcendental existence, knowledge & bliss, enjoys in His own & expanded forms. Simultaneously He enters into every atom of the creation"
- Such devotees of the Lord are all liberated souls, perfect representations of the marginal or internal potency in complete negation of the influence of the external potency
- Such penance (by which one can see the Personality of Godhead face to face) is the internal potency of the Lord and is nondifferent from Him. Such acts of internal potency are exhibited by nonattachment for material enjoyment
T
- The action of the internal potency (of God) is also described in this verse (SB 4.3.23) as apavrtah, free from any covering
- The activities of the Lord are eternal, and they are manifestations of His atma-maya, or internal potency
- The activities of the Lord's internal potency are inconceivable, but by a slight exhibition of this potency, the Lord, by His grace, can deliver one from nescience
- The almighty Personality of Godhead has three potencies - internal, external and marginal
- The cheap reciters of the Bhagavatam are very much enthusiastic about the Lord's internal potential activities, and the pseudodevotees, absorbed in material sense enjoyment, falsely jump to the stage of liberated souls and thus fall down
- The creation of His (God's) internal potency, the spiritual world, is not a temporary manifestation like the material world, but is eternal and full of transcendental knowledge, opulence, energy, strength, beauties and glories
- The devotee forgets, by the internal potency of the Lord, that his friend or son is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although sometimes the devotee is bewildered by the acts of the Lord
- The devotees headed by Gadadhara Pandita are to be considered incarnations of the internal potency of the Lord. They are confidential devotees engaged in the service of the Lord
- The difference is always there between God & the part-&-parcel living entities, but by the influence of God's internal potency, the understanding is covered. We can attain that position after many, many lives of pious activities. That is stated in the SB
- The distinction between the Lord and the living entity is definitely experienced when there is sufficient intelligence to understand His internal potency, as distinguished from the external potency by which He makes possible the material manifestation
- The external energy, which now bewilders the living being into continuation of birth and death, is turned into internal potency by the will of the Lord to lead the living being to eternal life
- The external potency manifests this material world, the internal potency manifests the spiritual world, and the marginal potency manifests the living entities, who are mixtures of internal and external
- The form which I see is eternally freed from material contamination and has advented to show mercy to the devotees as a manifestation of internal potency
- The four brahmana sages were nevertheless extremely delighted to behold Him, and they experienced a thrill throughout their bodies. They then spoke as follows to the Lord, who had revealed the multiglories of the SP through His internal potency, yogamaya
- The froggish philosophers may go on with their mental speculations on the subject matter of the virat, the gigantic form exhibited by the yogamaya internal potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead but no one can measure such a vast exhibition
- The full opulence of the internal potency of Godhead is always resplendent in Vaikunthaloka, where goddesses of fortune are ever-increasingly attached to serving the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead
- The glories of the Lord, in the transcendental seventy-five percent of the Lord's internal potency, are stated in the Padma Purana - Uttara-khanda
- The gopis are predominated expansions of the internal potency, and therefore the Lord's participation in the rasa-lila dance is never to be considered like the mundane relationship of man and woman
- The human life, however, is an opportunity to get out of this repetition of creation and annihilation. It is a means whereby one may escape the Lord's external potency and enter into His internal potency
- The independent Personality of Godhead enjoys His pastimes by His internal potency and at the time of annihilation gives them up to the external potency, and He remains a witness to it all
- The internal potency acts in relation with His personal affairs, and the material potency manifests the three modes
- The internal potency of the Lord, which is called cit-sakti or antaranga-sakti, exhibits variegatedness in the transcendental Vaikuntha cosmos
- The internal potency of the Lord, which is called cit-sakti or antaranga-sakti, exhibits variegatedness in the transcendental Vaikuntha cosmos. Besides ourselves, there are unlimited numbers of liberated living beings
- The living being then engages himself in the service of the Lord in his eternal constitutional position, becoming liberated from the conditioned life. All this is executed by the Lord either through His external potency or directly by the internal potency
- The living entities, who are seen to utilize the inferior energy, originally belong to the superior energy, the internal potency of God. The eight inferior energies work grossly and subtly whereas the superior energy works as the central generating force
- The living entity is forced to appear in this material world under the direction of daiva-maya, but when the Lord appears, He comes by His own internal potency, atma-maya
- The living entity, being part and parcel of Para-brahman, is actually internal potency, but because of being in contact with the material energy, he is an emanation of material and spiritual energies
- The Lord and His pure devotees are always beyond the range of Maya's action. Even though they appear like action of Maya, we should understand their action of Yogamaya or the internal potency of the Lord
- The Lord can appear in any family. Sometimes He appears as a fish incarnation (matsya-avatara) or a boar incarnation (varaha-avatara). Thus the Lord is completely free and independent to appear anywhere and everywhere by His internal potency
- The Lord comes to this material world through the agency of His internal potency, and similarly, when a devotee or associate of the Lord descends to this material world, he does so through the action of the spiritual energy
- The Lord does not do so (transmigrates from one body to another). Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body, by His internal potency. BG 1972 purports
- The Lord has three kinds of potency, namely, internal, marginal, and external
- The Lord has various potencies, one of which is called ahladini-sakti, His internal pleasure potency. Only one who becomes a little conversant with this potency can taste such ecstasy
- The Lord is endowed with unlimited potencies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate (CC Madhya 13.65, purport)), which are summarized as three, namely external, internal and marginal
- The Lord is eternally enjoying transcendental bliss by His internal potency, whereas the external potency is suspended during the time of the dissolution of the cosmic manifestation
- The Lord is eternally manifested by His internal potency or spiritual energy just like the sun and its rays in the clear sky, but at times He creates the material energy, as the sun creates a cloud in the clear sky
- The Lord is not directly attached to the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world, for He is eternally busy in the enjoyment of transcendental bliss with paraphernalia composed of His internal potencies
- The Lord is saguna by His own internal potency, but at the same time He is nirguna, since He is not in touch with the material energy
- The Lord is the cause of all causes. In other words, since there is nothing that caused Him, He is the original cause. Consequently He enjoys His own Self by manifesting His own internal potency
- The Lord's different potencies remain tightly under His control. In fact, the Lord actually has only one potency - namely, the internal potency - which He employs for different purposes. The situation is similar to how one uses electricity
- The Lord's family members were either incarnations of His plenary expansions or demigods from the heavenly planets, and thus before His departure He separated them by His internal potency
- The manifestation of His internal potency is not even exhibited in the kingdom of God or on the planets of Vaikuntha, but He does exhibit that internal potency within the universe when, through His inconceivable mercy, He descends from His personal abode
- The omnipotent Personality of Godhead has primarily three potential manifestations, namely internal, external, and marginal potencies, with unlimited expansions of these three energies
- The potencies (of the Supreme Lord) are divided into categories - internal, external, personal, marginal and so forth
- The pradhana, the chief cause of all causes in the impersonal vision, is none other than the Supreme Lord, whom one can see face to face in the internal potency. He takes the material all-pervasive form by His inconceivable power
- The primary potencies of the Absolute Truth are mentioned to be three: internal, external and marginal
- The quadruple forms, who are full in the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are the enjoyers of the internal potency
- The so-called appearance and disappearance of the Lord are not actions of material nature, but are demonstrations of the internal potency of the Lord. They are described by the great sages for the purpose of self-realization
- The SPG has no material birth, activities, name, form, qualities or faults. To fulfill the purpose for which this material world is created and destroyed, He comes in the form of a human being like Lord Rama or Lord Krsna by His original internal potency
- The spiritual potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears in three phases - internal, marginal and external. These are all engaged in His devotional service in love
- The spiritual sparks known as the living entities are subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is because these sparks are related with both the internal and external potencies of the Lord that they are known as belonging to the marginal potency
- The spiritual world is a manifestation of His (The Supreme Personality of Godhead) personal, internal potency, whereas the material world is a manifestation of His material, or differentiated, energy
- The spiritual world is the manifestation of His (God's) internal potency, and the material world is the manifestation of His external potency
- The Supreme Lord is eternally distinguished from the living entities by His internal potency, although He is also understood in His impersonal feature by self-realized intelligence
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not appear as an ordinary child; He appears as He is. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, He appears by His own internal potency, atma-maya
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead has three kinds of internal potency, namely the hladini-sakti, or pleasure potency, the sandhini-sakti, or existential potency, and the samvit-sakti, or cognitive potency
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead has three primary energies, or potencies. The first is called antaranga-sakti, or the internal potency. The second is called tatastha-sakti, or the marginal potency
- The total energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is classified in three divisions - namely, the spiritual or internal potency of the Lord, the marginal potency, or ksetra-jna (the living entity), & the material potency, which is separated from SPG
- The Vaikuntha planets are a manifestation of the Lord's internal potency, while the material world is a manifestation of His external potency
- The Vaikunthas are spiritual planets which are manifestations of the internal potency of the Lord, and the ratio of these planets to the material planets (external energy) in the material sky is three to one
- The Vaisnava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Radha-Krsna
- The Vedas inquire, Where does the Supreme Lord stand? And the reply is immediately given: He stands on His internal potency
- The very same transcendental form of the Lord is manifested by His internal potency, and the formation of His multifarious manifestations of incarnations is always of the same transcendental quality, without any touch of the mahat-tattva
- The word apasrayam suggests that this energy of the Lord is under full control. The internal potency or superior energy is also called maya, but it is spiritual maya, or energy exhibited in the absolute realm
- The word sva-mayaya, "by His own internal potency," indicates that whenever the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends, He comes in His own energy
- The yogi should also meditate on the Lord's arched eyebrows, which are manifested by His internal potency in order to charm the sex-god for the good of the sages
- There are two kinds of nature, namely the material nature and the spiritual nature, or the external and internal potencies of the Lord. The material nature is called apara, or inferior, and the spiritual nature is called superior or transcendental
- There is another meaning of maya - that is, "causeless mercy." There are two kinds of maya-yogamaya and mahamaya. Mahamaya is an expansion of yogamaya, and both these mayas are different expressions of the Lord's internal potencies
- Therefore please precisely describe all the activities and pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is full of self-desire and who assumes all these activities by His internal potency
- They (fanatics) should not foolishly jump up to the activities of the internal energy, falsely attracted by the Lord's internal potential activities like His rasa-lila
- This spiritual enlivenment of Dhruva Maharaja's senses and mind was due to the action of the internal potency of the Lord
- Those planets in the spiritual sky, which comprises the seventy-five percent expansion of the internal potency of the Lord, are far, far greater than those planets in the total universes composed of the external potency of the Lord
- Those who think that the Supreme Lord appears in different forms by accepting a body made of material elements are wrong; their vision is imperfect because they do not understand how the Lord's internal potency works
- Tripad-vibhuti, or the seventy-five percent known as the internal potency of the Lord, is to be understood as the kingdom of God far beyond the material sky
W
- We should not understand the sleeping condition of the Lord to be the same as our sleep. Here the word yoga-nidra is specifically mentioned, which indicates that the Lord's sleeping condition is also a manifestation of His internal potency
- When Asvatthama destroyed the embryo of Maharaja Pariksit, the Lord, by His own internal potency, entered into the womb of Uttara by His plenary portion just to give audience to the would-be Maharaja Pariksit, who was in great danger
- When He (God) manifests His eternal transcendental form in the material world, He does so by His internal potency
- When he (the living entity) wants to engage in Krsna consciousness, a suitable body is offered to him by the internal potency, the spiritual energy of the Lord, and when he wants to satisfy his senses, a material body is offered
- When one is under the shelter of this internal potency, the darkness of material ignorance is at once dissipated. And even those who are atmarama, or fixed in trance, take shelter of this maya, or internal energy
- When the celestial beauties saw that the Lord (Nara-Narayana) can produce innumerable beauties by His mystic internal potency, there was consequently no need to be attracted by others externally
- When the Lord appears it is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita that He does so in His Own Internal Potency. This Internal Potency is called Yoga Maya
- When the Lord appears, He is not forced by the dictation of material nature; He appears as He likes by His own internal potency. That is the difference
- When the Lord descends to this earth, He assumes a form by His own internal potency. The form of the Lord, therefore, can never consist of material energy
- When the same potency (Krsna's internal potency) displays full knowledge it is called cit, or samvit, which expands the transcendental forms of the Lord
- When the Supreme Lord wants to derive transcendental pleasure, He has to create a woman from His internal potency
- When they (the jivatmas) are under the control of the internal potency, they display their natural, constitutional activity - namely, constant engagement in the devotional service of the Lord
- Whenever the Lord incarnates, He does so in His full internal potency (atma-maya), and less intelligent persons mistake Him to be one of the material creations
- Whether products of the external internal or marginal potencies of God are simply displays of the same effulgence of God just as light heat & smoke are displays of fire. None of them are separate from the fire all of them combine together to be fire