bhĹŤmiḼ - earth; ÄpaḼ - water; analaḼ - fire; vÄyuḼ - air; kham - ether; manaḼ - mind; buddhiḼ - intelligence; eva - certainly; ca - and; ahaáš kÄraḼ - false ego; iti - thus; iyam - all these; me - My; bhinnÄ - separated; prakáštiḼ - energies; aᚣášadhÄ - eightfold.
The science of God analyzes the constitutional position of God and His diverse energies. Material nature is called prakášti, or the energy of the Lord in His different puruᚣa incarnations (expansions) as described in the NÄrada PaĂącarÄtra, one of the SÄtvata-tantras:
viᚣášos tu trÄŤáši rĹŤpÄáši
puruᚣÄkhyÄny atho viduḼ
ekaáš tu mahataḼ sraᚣášáš
dvitÄŤyaáš tv aášá¸a-saášsthitam
táštÄŤyaáš sarva-bhĹŤta-sthaáš
tÄni jĂąÄtvÄ vimucyate
âFor material creation, Lord KášášŁášaâs plenary expansion assumes three Viᚣášus. The ďŹrst one, MahÄ-viᚣášu, creates the total material energy, known as the mahat-tattva. The second, Garbhodaka-ĹÄyÄŤ Viᚣášu, enters into all the universes to create diversities in each of them. The third, Kᚣčrodaka-ĹÄyÄŤ Viᚣášu, is diffused as the all-pervading Supersoul in all the universes and is known as ParamÄtmÄ. He is present even within the atoms. Anyone who knows these three Viᚣášus can be liberated from material entanglement.â
This material world is a temporary manifestation of one of the energies of the Lord. All the activities of the material world are directed by these three Viᚣášu expansions of Lord KášášŁáša. These puruᚣas are called incarnations. Generally one who does not know the science of God (KášášŁáša) assumes that this material world is for the enjoyment of the living entities and that the living entities are the puruᚣas â the causes, controllers and enjoyers of the material energy. According to Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ this atheistic conclusion is false. In the verse under discussion it is stated that KášášŁáša is the original cause of the material manifestation. ĹrÄŤmad-BhÄgavatam also conďŹrms this. The ingredients of the material manifestation are separated energies of the Lord. Even the brahma-jyotir, which is the ultimate goal of the impersonalists, is a spiritual energy manifested in the spiritual sky. There are no spiritual diversities in the brahma-jyotir as there are in the Vaikuášášha-lokas, and the impersonalist accepts this brahma-jyotir as the ultimate eternal goal. The ParamÄtmÄ manifestation is also a temporary all-pervasive aspect of the Kᚣčrodaka-ĹÄyÄŤ Viᚣášu. The ParamÄtmÄ manifestation is not eternal in the spiritual world. Therefore the factual Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead KášášŁáša. He is the complete energetic person, and He possesses different separated and internal energies.
In the material energy, the principal manifestations are eight, as above mentioned. Out of these, the ďŹrst ďŹve manifestations, namely earth, water, ďŹre, air and sky, are called the ďŹve gigantic creations or the gross creations, within which the ďŹve sense objects are included. They are the manifestations of physical sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Material science comprises these ten items and nothing more. But the other three items, namely mind, intelligence and false ego, are neglected by the materialists. Philosophers who deal with mental activities are also not perfect in knowledge because they do not know the ultimate source, KášášŁáša. The false ego â âI am,â and âIt is mine,â which constitute the basic principle of material existence â includes ten sense organs for material activities. Intelligence refers to the total material creation, called the mahat-tattva. Therefore from the eight separated energies of the Lord are manifest the twenty-four elements of the material world, which are the subject matter of SÄáš khya atheistic philosophy; they are originally offshoots from KášášŁášaâs energies and are separated from Him, but atheistic SÄáš khya philosophers with a poor fund of knowledge do not know KášášŁáša as the cause of all causes. The subject matter for discussion in the SÄáš khya philosophy is only the manifestation of the external energy of KášášŁáša, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ.