Pradhāna, the unmanifested, undifferentiated mass of all material elements
How does this material world come to be? We know that the creator is the Lord, but what is the material used in this creation? From what is the material creation made?
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We all know about Māyā, the illusory potency of the Lord that makes us attracted to this material world. As long as we are attracted to Māyā, we remain in this material world, chasing different material goals and desires, life after life.
Real as it may appear to us, this world is described in the Vedas as illusory. It has a beginning and an end, different from the spiritual realm that is eternal and immutable. However, how does this material world come to be? We know that the creator is the Lord, but what is the material used in this creation? From what is the material creation made?
Apart from Māyā, the illusory energy, another feature of the external potency of the Lord is pradhāna, the unmanifested, undifferentiated amalgamation of all material elements. Pradhāna is the material energy in its dormant state, with no variety, no activity, and no manifestation of the three material modes. Pradhāna exists beyond the causal ocean, on the material side. Sometimes it is described as being like a cloud on top of the waters, but without touching them.
Lord Kapila describes it on SB 3.26.10: “The unmanifested eternal combination of the three modes is the cause of the manifest state and is called pradhāna. It is called prakṛti when in the manifested stage of existence.”
Prabhupāda gives more details in his purport:
“The Lord points out material nature in its subtle stage, which is called pradhāna, and He analyzes this pradhāna. The explanation of pradhāna and prakṛti is that pradhāna is the subtle, undifferentiated sum total of all material elements. Although they are undifferentiated, one can understand that the total material elements are contained therein. When the total material elements are manifested by the interaction of the three modes of material nature, the manifestation is called prakṛti. Impersonalists say that Brahman is without variegatedness and without differentiation. 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. One adjective used in this connection is nitya, which indicates eternality. Therefore the condition of material nature immediately preceding its manifestation is called pradhāna.”
This pradhāna is agitated by the look of Lord Mahā-Viṣnu, which activates it, leading to the manifestation of the three material modes. The contact with kāla (eternal time) leads to a series of permutations, resulting in the appearance of the material elements. These elements amalgamate with the seeds of the universes that emanate from the breath of Mahā-Viṣnu, resulting in the many material universes in their inactive state.
This process is also described in the Brahma-samhitā:
“The prime divine avatāra lying in the spiritual Causal Ocean is such a great affair that in the pores of His divine form spring up myriads of seeds of the universes. Those series of universes are the perverted reflections of the infinite transcendental region. As long as they remain embedded in His divine form they embody the principle of spiritual reflection having the form of golden eggs. Nevertheless by the creative desire of Mahā-Viṣṇu the minute particles of the great elements, which are constituents of the mundane efficient and material causal principles, envelop them. When those golden sperms, coming out with the exhalation of Mahā-Viṣṇu, enter into the unlimited accommodating chamber of the limited potency (Māyā) they become enlarged by the nonconglomerate great elements.” (Brahma-samhitā 5.13 purport)
The “prime divine avatāra” mentioned here by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is Mahā-Viṣnu, lying on the spiritual waters of the causal ocean. He produces the seeds of the material universes, as reflections of the spiritual creation, and these universes are enveloped by the material elements, staying under the influence of Māyā, the illusory potency. Sometimes we think that Mahā-Viṣnu creates the universes already as balls of matter, but this view is not entirely correct. The universes are originally subtle, as reflections of the spiritual creation. They are covered by matter later on, as they move in the direction of the external potency.
These innumerable universes float on top of the causal ocean, just like many balls or bubbles floating on water. Another analogy that is sometimes made is with a board of styrofoam floating on water, since styrofoam is also composed of many small bubbles.
Once pradhāna becomes active (starting with the manifestation of the three material modes), it is called mahat-tattva, or prakṛti. These three words thus describe the same material nature, but in different stages. The word prakṛti is also used as a generic term for the material energy, as a potency of the Lord.
Once creation happens, the cosmic manifestation remains active for 311.04 trillion years, the lifetime of Brahma. When the creation is withdrawn, the souls merge back into the body of Mahā-Viṣnu for a very long sleep during the inactive phase of the material manifestation, and the material energy returns to its original state as pradhāna. In this way, the material energy is never really transformed; it is just assembled into the material manifestation, and later returns to its original state, just like a bar of gold hammered into different objects and later melted back into the original form.
This is described in Prabhupāda’s purport to SB 1.10.21:
“There are two types of dissolution of the manifested cosmos. At the end of every 4,320,000,000 solar years, when Brahmā, the lord of one particular universe, goes to sleep, there is one annihilation. And at the end of Lord Brahmā’s life, which takes place at the end of Brahmā’s one hundred years of age, in our calculation at the end of 8,640,000,000 × 30 × 12 × 100 solar years, there is complete annihilation of the entire universe, and in both the periods both the material energy called the mahat-tattva and the marginal energy called jīva-tattva merge in the person of the Supreme Lord. The living beings remain asleep within the body of the Lord until there is another creation of the material world, and that is the way of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the material manifestation.
The material creation is effected by the interaction of the three modes of material nature set in action by the Lord, and therefore it is said here that the Lord existed before the modes of material nature were set in motion. In the śruti-mantra it is said that only Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, existed before the creation, and there was no Brahmā, Śiva or other demigods. Viṣṇu means the Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is lying on the Causal Ocean. By His breathing only all the universes are generated in seeds and gradually develop into gigantic forms with innumerable planets within each and every universe. The seeds of universes develop into gigantic forms in the way seeds of a banyan tree develop into numberless banyan trees.”
The idea of the jīvas merging into the body of Mahā-Viṣnu may sound strange at first, but it doesn’t mean they lose their identity. It’s just like a fish entering the ocean, or a bird entering a tree. It just describes proximity, and not loss of identity. Prabhupāda explains this point later in the same purport:
“The merging of the living beings into the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu takes place automatically at the end of Brahmā’s one hundred years. But that does not mean that the individual living being loses his identity. The identity is there, and as soon as there is another creation by the supreme will of the Lord, all the sleeping, inactive living beings are again let loose to begin their activities in the continuation of past different spheres of life. It is called suptotthita-nyāya, or awakening from sleep and again engaging in one’s respective continuous duty. When a man is asleep at night, he forgets himself, what he is, what his duty is and everything of his waking state. But as soon as he awakens from slumber, he remembers all that he has to do and thus engages himself again in his prescribed activities. The living beings also remain merged in the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu during the period of annihilation, but as soon as there is another creation they arise to take up their unfinished work. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.18-19).”
In this way, we can see that all the components of the material creation are different potencies of the Lord. Mahā-Viṣnu is His expansion, who lies on the causal ocean, which is a feature of His spiritual potency. Both pradhāna and māyā are features of His external potency. The time-energy and the jīvas are also potencies of the Lord, just as Lord Sadaśiva. The material elements and the cosmic manifestation itself are nothing more than the same material energy previously present in the pradhāna after being agitated by the contact with these different potencies.
The material energy is also spiritual in nature, being one of the potencies of the Lord. However, the presence of Māyā, the illusory potency, makes the jīvas see it as separate from the Lord, as an object of their enjoyment. This is what makes the cosmic creation appear material. The material creation is thus illusory, due to the presence of Māyā, but it is not false. The Lord appears inside of it in many different incarnations, but He never comes in contact with the material energy and never falls under the control of Māyā. Because He remains transcendental, He can give liberation to the jīvas who so desire.
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