Pada 3
Adhikarana 1
Ether Is Created
Introduction by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana vyomadi-visayam gobhir
bibharti vijaghana yah sa tam mad-visayam bhasvan krsnah pranihanisyati
May the brilliant sun of Lord Krsna, who with rays of logic destroys a host of misconceptions about ether and the other elements, destroy the misconceptions in my heart.
In the Second Pada were revealed the fallacies present in the theories of they who say pradhana is the the first cause and they who claim something other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the first cause. In the Third Pada will be shown the truth that the various elements of the material world are manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that they merge into Him at the end, that the individual spirit souls always existed, there not being a point in time when they were created, that the
individual spirit souls have spiritual bodies full of knowledge, that the individual spirit souls are atomic in size although by their consciousness they are all-pervading within the material body, that the individual spirit souls are part-and-parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that Matsya-avatara and the other avataras are directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that the variety of situations into which the conditioned souls are placed is caused by the previous karma. These will all be proved by refuting the ideas of they who claim that these statements are not true. The various aspects of the material world are created in the following sequence: 1. pradhana, 2. mahat-tattva, 3. false-ego, 4. the tan-matras, 5. the senses, and 6. the gross elements, beginning with ether. This sequence is given in the Subala-sruti and other scriptures. The sequence found in the Taittiriya Upanisad and other scriptures will also be discussed in order to show that sequence does not contradict what has already been said. Chandogya Upanisad (6.2.1) explains:
sad eva saumyedyam agra asit
"O gentle one, in the beginning the Supreme Personality of Godhead alone existed." Chandogya Upanisad (6.2.3-4) continues:
tad aiksata bahu syam prajayeyeti tat tejo 'srjata. tat teja aiksata bahu syam prajayeyeti tad apo 'srjata . . . ta apa aiksanta bahvayah syama prajayemahiti ta annam asrjanta.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead thought: I shall become many. I shall father children.' Then He created fire. Then fire thought: I shall become many. I shall father children.' Then fire created water. . . . Then water thought: 'I shall become many. I shall father children.' Then water created grains."
In this way it is clearly shown that fire, water, and grains were created. In this, however, there is a doubt.
Samcaya (doubt): Was ether ever created or not?
Purvapaksa (the opponent speaks): Because the Sruti-sastra does not mention any creation of ether, therefore ether was never created, but was always existing.
This idea is expressed in the following sutra.