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sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca
yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha
vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā
sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute

SYNONYMS

sambhūtim—the eternal Personality of Godhead, His transcendental name, form, pastimes, qualities and paraphernalia, the variegatedness of His abode, etc.; ca—and; vināśam—the temporary material manifestation of demigods, men, animals, etc., with their false names, fame, etc.; ca—also; yaḥ—one who; tat—that; veda—knows; ubhayam—both; saha—along with; vināśena—with everything liable to be vanquished; mṛtyum—death; tīrtvā—surpassing; sam-bhūtyā—in the eternal kingdom of God; amṛtam—deathlessness; aśnute—enjoys.

TRANSLATION

One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge.

PURPORT

Modern civilization has made much so-called advancement, including killer satellites and atomic weapons, by increasing material knowledge. But it cannot create freedom from old age, disease, death and rebirth in this world of suffering. Foolish people do not even question this sad state of affairs. But when an actually intelligent man raises this question, the scientists very cleverly reply that material science is making much progress, and soon it will be able to free us from disease, old age and death.

Such evasive answers and empty promises prove only that the scientists are completely ignorance of the natural laws of material life. Everyone in material existence is compelled to experience seven stages of existence: conception and gestation, birth, growth, maintenance, reproduction, deterioration and finally death. No one in material existence is beyond these ironclad laws of transformation driven by the unconquerable force of time. Therefore no one―no matter how intelligent, wealthy or powerful―can survive forever in this material world.

Objectively, the duration of life varies according to the evolutionary level of the species. A tiny microbe lives only for a few hours; a human being may live up to a century; Lord Brahma, the original living being in this material universe, lives literally until the end of time. But no one in the material world can survive eternally. All material things are born or created at a certain time; they grow, exist for some interval, eventually gradually dwindle, and finally vanish. Even Lord Brahma is liable to death; then what is the chance of us tiny, weak humans becoming exempt from these laws? Therefore in the Esoteric Teaching, the entire material creation with its innumerable universes is called Martyaloka, or the place of death.

Material scientists and politicians hatch foolish schemes and make false promises to make this world of death deathless. These sound hopeful, because as spirit souls, we intuitively know that we are eternal. But the materialists have no real information of the deathless spiritual nature. This is due to ignorance of the Esoteric Teaching, which contains full spiritual knowledge confirmed by the mature transcendental experience of the Master Teachers of its ancient lineage. Unfortunately, contemporary people hypnotized by the relentless barrage of material media are averse to receiving real knowledge from the transcendental scriptures of the Esoteric Teaching.

We receive the following information from the eternal Esoteric Teaching:

viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā
kṣetra-jñākhyā tathā parā
avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā
tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate

“Lord Visnu, the Personality of Godhead, possesses different energies, known as para (superior) and apara (inferior). The living entities belong to the superior energy. The material energy in which we are presently entangled is the inferior energy. The material creation is made possible by this energy, which covers the living entities with ignorance (avidya) and induces them to perform fruitive activities. Yet there is another part of the Lord's superior energy that is different from both this material, inferior energy and the living entities. That superior energy constitutes the eternal, deathless abode of the Lord.” [Visnu Purana 6.7.61 as quoted in Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 6.154]

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita:

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu
naśyatsu na vinaśyati

“There is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.” [Bhagavad-gita 8.20]

The material universe is divided into upper, middle and lower planetary systems, according to the consciousness of the beings that live there. This earth planet is part of the middle planetary system. Time is experienced differently on the upper planets: a day there equals an entire terrestrial year. The four Vedic historical ages (Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali yugas) last a total of 6,405,000 years on earth, but only twelve thousand years on the upper planets. Two thousand yuga cycles is one day and night of Brahma, and Brahma lives for one hundred such years. The upper, lower and intermediate material planets exist only for the lifetime of Brahma. At the end of Brahma’s life, the universal manifestation is completely destroyed by the dance of Lord Siva.

Some lower planets are destroyed at the end of Brahma’s day and recreated the next day. During the night of Brahma, the living beings on the material planets merge into the waters of devastation. They remain unmanifest, although they continue to exist spiritually. This unmanifested state is called avyakta. When the entire universe is dissolved at the end of Brahma’s life, the materially conditioned living beings remain in another avyakta state until the next material creation.

Beyond these two avyakta states is another unmanifested state: the spiritual world. An unlimited number of spiritual planets exist there eternally, even when all material planets are annihilated at the end of Brahma’s life. Innumerable material universes manifest during the material creation, each controlled by a Lord Brahma. But this great material cosmic manifestation is only the Lord’s inferior energy. Beyond the material jurisdiction of the Brahmas is the spiritual world, which is three-fourths of the Lord’s creative energy. The spiritual world is the superior energy, or para-prakrti.

The predominator of the spiritual world is Lord Sri Krsna, the all-powerful Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can approach Him by pure bhakti (unalloyed devotional service), and not by the processes of jnana (speculative knowledge), yoga (mysticism) or karma (fruitive work). The karmis, or fruitive workers, can elevate themselves to the upper material planets, including the sun and moon. Jnanis and yogis can attain still higher planets, such as Maharloka, Tapoloka and even Brahmaloka, Lord Brahma’s planet. However, one can enter into the planets of the spiritual sky only by attaining pure devotional service.

In this material world, everyone is trying to control and enjoy material nature; this spiritual disease is the cause of material suffering. As long as the living entity remains diseased, he has to undergo periodic changes of the material body. Whatever material form he accepts, he has to become unmanifested during the night of Brahma and the universal dissolution at the end of Brahma’s life.

The only way to end the agonizing cycle of birth, old age, disease and death is to enter the spiritual planets, where we can live eternally with Lord Krsna or His plenary expansions. Lord Krsna and His plenary expansions dominate every one of these innumerable planets, a fact confirmed in the Vedic mantras:

eko vasi sarva-go ye ’nubhajanti dhiras
tesam sukham sasvatam netaresam

“He is the one omnipresent Lord and controller; only those wise souls who worship Him obtain eternal happiness, not anyone else.” [Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.21]

In this connection the great Master Teacher Srila Sridhara Svami prays,

sakala-veda-ganerita-sad-gunas
tvam iti sarva-manisi-jana ratah
tvayi subhadra-guna-sravanadibhis
tava pada-smaranena gata-klamah

“Because all the Vedas describe Your transcendental qualities, all thoughtful persons are attracted to hearing and chanting about Your all-auspicious qualities. Thus by remembering Your lotus feet, they are freed from material distress.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.87.16, Commentary]

No one is equal to or greater than Krsna, therefore no one can dominate Him. The foolish conditioned soul tries to dominate and enjoy material nature, and therefore becomes subject to the laws of material nature and the sufferings of repeated birth and death. The Lord kindly appears in this material world in every age to reestablish the principles of religion, and give us the knowledge we need to extricate ourselves from our precarious material position. The basic principle of spiritual deliverance is the attitude of surrender to Him.

The Lord’s final instruction is:

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

“Give up all other spiritual processes and surrender unto Me alone.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.66]

Unfortunate, foolish people misinterpret this prime spiritual directive, misleading the masses of people further into darkness. They urge people to open hospitals but not to learn how to enter the spiritual world by devotional service. They invest their interest and energy in temporary material welfare, which can never bring the living entity real happiness. They start many institutions to thwart the devastating power of nature, but ultimately they don’t know how to defy insurmountable time or avoid unconquerable death. Many false teachers advertise themselves as great scholars of Bhagavad-gita, but they change the Gita’s message. We can conquer material nature only by awakening God consciousness:

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.14]

Sri Isopanisad again emphasizes in this mantra that to attain the perfection of self-realization, one must know both sambhuti (the Personality of Godhead) and vinasa (the temporary material manifestation). One cannot attain release from suffering by knowing the material manifestation alone, for in the course of time devastation is certain.

Yamaraja once asked Maharaja Yudhisthira, “What is the most amazing thing in this world?” Maharaja Yudhisthira replied:

ahany ahani bhutani
gacchantiha yamalayam
sesah sthavaram icchanti
kim ascaryam atah param

“Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonderful thing in this world.” (Mahabharata, Vana-parva 313.116)

One can be relieved from the suffering of material existence only by complete realization of the eternal spiritual life of bliss and consciousness. The Esoteric Teaching educates us in the art of attaining eternal life. People in general are misguided by the temporary attractions of sense gratification, but service rendered to the objects of the senses is both illusory and degrading.

To save ourselves and our fellow human beings from further suffering in this world of death, we must know the spiritual Absolute Truth. There is no question of personal preference, of liking or disliking the Truth. The Absolute Truth is there in the Esoteric Teaching. If we want to be saved from repeated birth and death, we must engage in the devotional service of the Lord. There can be no compromise, for this is a matter of the utmost necessity. It is literally beyond life and death.