God Is The Cause - The Primeval Source of Everything
Śrīla Prabhupāda consistently teaches that nothing in existence is independent or self-created. Behind the intricate workings of the material cosmos and the boundless spiritual sky stands the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the primeval cause of all causes. Understanding God as the ultimate source of both matter and spirit is the foundational principle of absolute knowledge.
The Primeval Cause of All Causes
The Supreme Lord is the uncaused source from which everything emanates. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that whether one looks at the material universes or the eternal spiritual planets, Bhagavān is the root cause of all existence.
- According to Viraraghava Acarya: The original cause of the cosmic manifestation must be the oldest person and must be beyond material transformations. He is the enjoyer of all auspicious activities and is the cause of conditional life and also liberation.
- As in the material world there are innumerable planets and universes, so in the spiritual world there are also innumerable spiritual planets and universes, including Vaikunthas and Goloka. The Supreme Lord is the cause of both the material and spiritual worlds.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly the cause of the spiritual world, where there are innumerable spiritual planets known as Vaikunthas, as well as His personal abode, known as Goloka Vrndavana.
- Because both the material and antimaterial energies are emanations of the Supreme Transcendence, the Personality of Godhead, it is proper to conclude that I (Lord Krsna) am the ultimate cause of all creations and annihilations.
The Efficient Cause of the Cosmos
Material nature cannot create anything on its own. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that inert matter is simply the ingredient, while the active, efficient cause that sets the universe in motion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- The efficient cause of the manifestation of material creation is not matter, but the Lord Himself.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of the products of material nature. Without His contact, material nature cannot produce anything.
- Material nature is only the ingredient because actually the manifestation is caused by His energy. The material energy is also His energy.
- Just as the combination of father and mother is the cause of childbirth, so the combination of the material energy and the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of the manifestation of the material world.
Both Cause and Effect
Because the material world is created by the Lord's energy, the creation itself is not false; it is a manifestation of the Supreme. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Lord is simultaneously the original cause and the resulting effect.
- The Lord is the cause and also the effect. Whatever effect we see is the interaction of His energy, and because the energy is generated from Him, He is both cause and effect.
- Everything is preserved. Karya karanam, cause and effect. In the effect, the cause is there. Therefore Veda says, "Everything is Brahman." Because the cosmic manifestation is the effect of the cause, energy of God, therefore in the effect there is God.
- The Vaisnavas following Caitanya stress the doctrine of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which states that the Supreme Lord, being the cause and effect of everything, is inconceivably, simultaneously one with His manifestations of energy and different from them.
- This cosmic manifestation is a mixture of matter and spirit, but the cause is the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The Folly of Material Science
Atheistic scientists try to find the origin of the universe in chemicals or random combinations of matter. Śrīla Prabhupāda heavily refutes this, noting that such speculators are simply blind to the supreme intelligence that causes the chemicals to exist in the first place.
- Devotees can see that the original potencies causing the cosmic manifestation are not in chemicals but in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for He is the cause of the chemicals.
- As the materialists cannot find the soul and the Supersoul within the heart, similarly, for want of sufficient knowledge, they cannot see that the Supreme Soul is the cause of the universe.
- Captivated conditioned souls have no information of the Lord who is the primeval cause. Nor have they information that the parts and parcels of the body, being detached from the whole body, are no longer the same hand or leg as when attached to the body.
- Superficially it appears that a child is born due to the combination of the father and mother, but the ultimate cause of both the father and the mother is Krsna.
The Source of Brahman and Paramātmā
Even within spiritual realization, the Absolute Truth has different features. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the impersonal Brahman effulgence and the localized Paramātmā are not the ultimate causes; rather, they are caused by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān.
- The Absolute Truth exists in three phases of spiritual understanding - Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan (brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate). Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the cause of Brahman and Paramatma.
- The Brahman effulgence is impersonal, but the cause of that energy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. From Him, in His abode, the Vaikunthas, this brahma-jyotir emanates. He is never impersonal.
- The effulgent bodily luster of the Supreme Lord is the cause of the creation of infinite universes.
- Since the ingredients and the immediate cause of this material manifestation are Brahman, both of them are truth, satya; there is no validity to the expression brahma satyam jagan mithya. The world is not false.
The Cause of All Action and Benediction
Every action within the universe, whether it be the maintenance of the planets or the functioning of a living entity's senses, relies on the Lord's energy. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that recognizing God as the ultimate cause naturally directs one's worship toward Him alone.
- The five sense objects and eleven senses, including the mind, are His partial manifestations. He supplies all the necessities of life, which are His energy and thus nondifferent from Him, and He is the cause of everyone's bodily and mental prowess.
- Although the material causes are the place, the worker, the endeavor and the senses, the final cause is the Supreme, the Personality of Godhead.
- An intelligent person never goes to demigods to pray for anything. He goes directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all benediction.
- Narada Muni advises the Pracetas to worship the direct cause, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As stated before, when the root of a tree is watered, all the parts are energized.
The Inexhaustible Cause
A mundane cause often exhausts itself to produce an effect, just as wood turns to ash when burned. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that the Supreme Lord is so perfect that He produces unlimited universes and expansions without ever diminishing His original form.
- The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, is so complete that although innumerable Personalities of Godhead expand from Him, He remains the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate. Therefore He is the wonderful cause.
- In spite of producing unlimited quantities of gold, the touchstone remains the same. We therefore hear some sages say that the Supreme is the ingredient or cause of this cosmic manifestation.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described herein as the wonderful cause.
- O King, know Him who is causeless and yet is the cause of creation, maintenance and annihilation. He exists in the three states of consciousness - namely waking, dreaming and deep sleep - as well as beyond them.
Conclusion
To accurately understand the cosmic manifestation, one must look beyond the immediate material ingredients and recognize the supreme energetic source. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the primeval, efficient, and ultimate cause of all causes. He agitates the inert material nature with His glance, supplies the intelligence and necessities for all living entities, and maintains the entire creation without ever becoming depleted or entangled by it. Because Bhagavān is the root cause of everything, a sincerely intelligent person abandons the worship of subordinate demigods and material endeavors. By watering the root of the tree through unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Lord, the conditioned soul automatically satisfies all other obligations and successfully returns to the eternal, uncaused spiritual sky.
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