Sutra 23
prakrtic ca pratijYa drstantanuparodhat
prakrtih - material nature; ca - and; pratijYa - the proposition to be proved; drstanta - example; anuparodhat - because of not contradicting.
Brahman is also the material nature (prakrti) because this view is not contradicted by the statements and examples (given in the scriptures).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
Brahman is the material nature (prakrti), the ingredient of the world. How is that? It is so because 2}pratijYa-drstantanuparodhat, which means {.sy 168}Because this view is not contradicted by the statements and examples of the scriptures." An example may be given from the Chandogya Upanisad 6.1.3:
cvetaketo yan nu saumyedam maha-mana anucana-mani stabdho 'sy uta tam adecam apraksir yenacrutam crutam bhavaty amatam matam avijYatam vijYatam ity eka-vij{.sy 241}anena sarva-vijnana-visaya pratijYa
"Gentle Cvetaketu, you are now very proud and arrogant, thinking yourself a great Vedic scholar. Did you ask for the teaching that makes the unheard heard, the unthinkable thinkable, and the unknown known?"
Here the statement is the existence of a single teaching, the knowledge of which makes everything known. This teaching must be about the ingredient of the world for only that knowledge would not contradict the description in this passage. That ingredient of the world is not different from the original creator of the world. They are one, unlike the pot and the potter, which are different from each other.
The following example is given (Chandogya Upanisad 1} 6.1.10): yatha saumyaikena mrt-pindena sarvam mrn-mayam vijYatam syat
"O gentle one, as by knowing the nature of clay, everything made of clay becomes known, in the same way by understanding this one teaching everything becomes known."
These words of the sruti must refer to the ingredient of the world. they cannot refer to only the original creator of the world, for by understanding only the potter one does not understand the pot. Therefore, to avoid contradicting these words of the scripture, it must be concluded that Brahman is not only the original creator of the world, but the ingredient of which the world is made as well.
Sutra 24
abhidhyopadecac ca
abhidhya - will; upadecac - because of the teaching; ca - and.
Because (the scriptures) teach (that in this age the world was created by His) will and (in previous creations the world was also created by His will, it must be concluded that Brahman is both the original cause of creation and the ingredient of the creation as well).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
In this sutra the word ca (and) means "and many other things that are not explicitly mentioned here."
The Taittiriya Upanisad (2.6.1) explains:
so 'kamayata bahu syam prajayeya sa tapo 'tapyata tapas taptva idam sarvam asrjat. yad idam kiYcana tat srstva tad evanupravicat. tad anupravicya sac ca tyac cabhavat.
"He desired: I will become many. I will father many children. He performed austerities and created everything. Then He entered within the world He had created. After He entered He became all that is manifest and all that is unmanifest."
Because it is here taught that by His own desire He resides as Paramatma within all conscious living entities and unconscious matter, and because it is also taught here that he is the creator of everything, it must be concluded that He is both the ingredient of the which the creation is made and the original creator and as well.
Sutra 25
saksac cobhayamnanat
saksat - directly; ca - certainly; ubhaya - both; amnanat - because of direct statement.
(Brahman is both creator and the ingredient of creation) because both (truths) are directly stated (in the scriptures).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
The word ca here means "certainly." The Taittiriya Brahmana (2.8.9.6) explains:
kimsvid vanam ka u sa vrksa asit
yato dyava-prthivi nistataksuh manisino manasa prcchataitat yad adhyatisthad bhuvanani dharayan
brahma vanam brahma sa vrksa asit
yato dyava-prthivi nistataksuh manisino manasa prabravimi vo brahmadhyatisthad buvanani dharayan
"What was the forest? What was the tree? From what tree in what forest did He fashion heaven and earth? Ask these questions, O wise ones. Where did He stand when He created the worlds? Brahman was the forest. Brahman was the tree. From Brahman He created heaven and earth. O wise ones, I tell you, He stood on Brahman when He created the worlds."
These questions and answers clearly show that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient from which the creation is made. From the tree-ingredient the creation, designated by the word "heaven and earth" comes. The word 2}nistataksuh means "the Supreme Personality of Godhead created." Although nistataksuh is plural, the opposite, the singular, is intended here. This is a use of Vedic poetic license. The questions "What is the tree? What is the forest where the tree rests? Where does He stand when He created the worlds?" are asked in terms of the things of this world and the answers describe something beyond this world. In this way it may be understood that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of which the world is made. Sutra 26
atma-krteh parinamat
atma - self; krteh - because of making; parinamat - because of transformation.
(Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of the creation) because He transformed Himself (into the world).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana The Taittiriya Upanisad (2.6.2) says:
so 'kamayata
"He desired: I shall become many."
It also says (2.7.1):
tad atmanam svayam akuruta
"He created the world from His own Self."
In this way the scriptures explain that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient from which the creation is made.
Someone may object: How can the eternally-perfect creator be also the creation?
To answer this objection he says parinmat (because He has transformed Himself). This does not contradict the changelessness of Brahman for a certain kind of transformation is not incompatible with changelessness. Here is the truth of this. In the following passages the 2}sruti explains that Brahman has three potencies:
parasya saktir vividhaiva cruyate
"The Supreme has many potencies."
- Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8 pradhana-ksetrajYa-patir gunecah
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of 2}pradhana (material nature), ksetrajYa 1} (the individual spirit souls), and guna (the three material modes)."
- Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.16
The smrti (Visnu Purana) also explains: visnu-saktih para prokta
ksetrajYakhya tatha para avidya-karma-samjYanya trtiya saktir ucyate
"The potency of Lord Visnu is summarized in three categories: namely the spiritual potency, the living entities, and ignorance. The spiritual potency is full of knowledge; the living entitles, although belonging to the spiritual potency, are subject to bewilderment; and the third energy, which is full of ignorance, is always visible in fruitive activities."
In this way the scriptures explain that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of which the creation is made. He is the first (the creator) by the agency of His spiritual potency and He is the second (the ingredient of which the creation is made) by the agency of the other two potencies. This interpretation is confirmed by the aphorism sa-vicesena vidhi-nisedhau vicesanam upasagkramate (an adjective describes both what a noun is and what it is not).
The scriptures also explain (Svetasvatara Upanisad 4.1):
ya eko 'varno bahudha sakti-yogad
varnan anekan nihitartho dadhati vi caiti cante vicvam adau sa devah sa no buddhya cubhaya samyunaktau
"May the one, unrivalled Supreme Personality of Godhead, who for His own purpose created the many varieties of living entities by the agency of His potencies, who created everything in the beginning and into whom everything enters at the end, grant pure intelligence to us."
As the supreme unchangeable the Supreme Brahman is the original cause of creation, and as the parinami (the transformable) Brahman is also the ingredient of which the creation is made. In His subtle nature Brahman is the creator and in His nature as gross matter He is the creation itself. In this way it is established that the Supreme Brahman is both creator and creation. The creation is thus like a lump of clay that may be shaped in different ways. The word parinamat (because of transformation) in this sutra clearly refutes the theory that declares the material world a 2}vivarta (illusion) that has no reality. The statement that the material world is an illusion superimposed on Brahman just as the existence of silver is an illusion superimposed on an oyster shell with a silvery sheen cannot be accepted because the oyster shell is an object that can be placed before the viewer, but Brahman, because it is all-pervading cannot be placed before the viewer and therefore an illusion cannot be superimposed on it. One may object that although the sky is all-pervading illusions may be superimposed on it. However, Brahman is not like the sky in the sense that the sky may be approached by the material observer but Brahman remains beyond the reach of the material senses and therefore an illusion cannot be superimposed on it. Furthermore, the existence of an illusion implies the existence of something different from the thing on which the illusion is superimposed. Without the existence of something separate there is no possibility of an illusion. In the end, therefore, the vivarta theory postulates the existence of something different from Brahman. This is the fault in their theory. When the scriptures state that the material world is an illusion it should be understood these words are are a device intended to create renunciation. This is the opinion of they who know the truth. The material world, however, displays a complicated structure of different elements grouped in categories of higher and lower, and in this way it is very much unlike an illusion, where nothing is very stable and one things is continually changing into another. In this way it may be understood that the vivarta theory (that the material world isd an illusion) is untrue and the 2}parinama theory (that the material world is a transformation of Brahman) is the truth taught in the Vedic scriptures.