God's Breathing - The Cosmic Breath of Mahā-Viṣṇu
When human beings accomplish something great—whether it is building a skyscraper, launching a satellite, or discovering a new scientific principle—they tend to swell with immense pride. However, the Vedic literatures offer a cosmological perspective that instantly humbles the greatest human achievements. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the entire material creation, encompassing millions of universes and trillions of years of history, is generated and annihilated simply by the breathing of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By understanding the staggering magnitude of God's breath, we can properly appreciate our infinitesimal position and the supreme power of the Absolute Truth.
The Exhalation of the Universes
To initiate the material creation, the Supreme Lord expands Himself into the form of Mahā-Viṣṇu (also known as Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu). Lying in the vast Causal Ocean in a state of mystic slumber, He performs the ultimate act of creation simply by breathing out.
- When it is necessary to create the material universe, Visnu expands Himself as the Maha-Visnu. This Maha-Visnu lies down on the Causal Ocean and breathes all the universes from His nostrils.
- Here is a nice example. You have seen the sunshine entering your room through a hole of your window, and you will find so many atomic demonstration. So these brahmandas, the so many universes, they are emanating from the breathing of Maha-Visnu in that way.
- While Maha-visnu sleeps within the Causal Ocean, innumerable universes are generated along with His breathing. These universes are floating, and they are scattered all over the Causal Ocean.
- The Personality of Godhead who creates all such universes by His breathing period lies above the cluster of the universes. The water of the Causal Ocean is differently situated than the covering water of the universe.
The Breath of Annihilation
Just as the universes are created when the Lord exhales, they are completely destroyed when He inhales. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the entire lifespan of a universe, which seems incomprehensibly long to us, is merely the duration of one of God's breaths.
- Maha-visnu, from whose breathing millions of universes emanate and into whom they are again withdrawn, may be accepted as the Lord of the universe.
- This entire material creation comes from the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and at the time of annihilation again enters into Him. This process of creation and dissolution is made possible by the breathing of the Maha-Visnu, who is only a plenary portion of Krsna.
- The Brahmas live only during the breathing period of Maha-Visnu. So the exhaling and inhaling of Visnu are maha-kalpas, and all these are due to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for no one else is the master of all creations.
- Lord Brahma only lives for the duration of one breath, and according to our time scale 4,320,000,000 years constitute only twelve hours of Brahma, and Brahma lives one hundred of his years.
The Source of Transcendental Sound
The breath of the Supreme Lord does not merely produce physical universes; it also produces the absolute truth in the form of sound. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the original, eternal knowledge of the Vedas emanates directly from the Lord's breathing.
- The Lord has no material form, but His form is always understood in terms of the Vedas. The Vedas are said to be the breath of the Lord, and that breath was inhaled by Brahma, the original student of the Vedas.
- The Personality of Godhead produced the four Vedas by His breathing, and He is seen and realized through the transcendental sound of the Vedas.
- Directions in the Vedas are directly manifested from the breathing of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is said: asya mahato bhutasya nasvasitam etad yad rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama-vedo 'tharvan girasah.
- Narayana exists eternally and breathes eternally, and therefore dharma, the injunctions of Narayana, also exist eternally.
Smashing False Proprietorship
When confronted with the breathtaking scale of the Lord's power, the arrogance of materialistic humans and so-called "godmen" becomes laughably absurd. Śrīla Prabhupāda often uses the Lord's breathing to crush the false pride of those who claim to be God or proprietors of the earth.
- You can create one small sputnik, and take credit. But God can create innumerable universes simply by breathing. So your energy, your power, is different from God's power. But in quality, you are one with God.
- Simply by His breathing, millions of universes are created and dissolved. If this is the case, then how can the living entities claim proprietorship over anything.
- There are innumerable universes, and within one breath of the Maha-Visnu these universes are inhaled and dissolved within His body. How then can a living entity become God? God is not so cheap.
- God is not so cheap. We have got conception of God, that we get conception from the sastras, from the breathing of one of the portion of God, Maha-Visnu, innumerable universes are coming out, and just like we are exhaling, inhaling.
Conclusion
A true understanding of the Absolute Truth requires us to abandon our tiny, terrestrial perspective and view reality through the lens of the Vedic literature. Śrīla Prabhupāda systematically explains that while materialistic scientists take immense pride in launching a single, tiny satellite into orbit, the Supreme Personality of Godhead effortlessly generates millions of entire universes simply by exhaling. When the Lord expands as Mahā-Viṣṇu and rests in the Causal Ocean, His mystic slumber dictates the timeline of the cosmos. An entire cycle of creation and annihilation—which includes the 311-trillion-year lifespan of Lord Brahmā—is completed within just one of the Lord's breaths. Furthermore, because the Lord's body is completely spiritual and absolute, His breathing does not just produce physical matter; it is the origin of the eternal, transcendental sound vibration of the Vedas and the infallible laws of dharma. When a conditioned soul grasps the unfathomable magnitude of God's breathing power, the foolish desire to claim proprietorship over a small patch of land, or the absurd ambition to become God oneself, is immediately extinguished. The only sane response to witnessing the infinite power of the Supreme Magician is to humbly bow down and engage in His devotional service.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God's Breathing. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.