COVERED BY DARKNESS AND ILLUSION

COVERED BY DARKNESS AND ILLUSION

“The living entity is tightly wrapped up in illusion,
just like a coconut is wrapped up and covered by its husk.“

 

„The whole universe is covered by the gigantic material elements; it is just like a coconut covered by a shell and half-filled with water.” (Śrī Īśopaniṣad Mantra 12)

Purport: The whole universe is covered by the gigantic material elements; it is just like a coconut covered by a shell and half-filled with water. Since its covering is airtight, the darkness within is dense, and therefore the sun and the moon are required for illumination. Outside the universe is the vast and unlimited brahmajyoti expansion, which is filled with Vaikuṇṭhalokas. The biggest and highest planet in the brahmajyoti is Kṛṣṇaloka, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, resides. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa never leaves Kṛṣṇaloka. Although He dwells there with His eternal associates, He is omnipresent throughout the complete material and spiritual cosmic manifestations. This fact has already been explained in Mantra Four. The Lord is present everywhere, just like the sun, yet He is situated in one place, just as the sun is situated in its own undeviating orbit.

THIS UNIVERSE IS JUST LIKE THE COCONUT

“The round thing which we see in the sky, that is the covering. Just like a coconut shell. A coconut shell, within and without. Within the coconut shell it is darkness, and without it is light. “ Similarly, this universe is just like the coconut. We are within. As in within coconut there is water, half water, similarly, within this universe there is half water. (SB Lecture London, August 24, 1971)

COMPARISON – COMMENTS

The coconut is covered by its husk, which can only be removed with a sharp knife or chopper (Bolo). Similarly the living entity is covered by dense, dark illusion, which can be cut through only with the sharp sword of transcendental knowledge.

Another comparison to the coconut can be made in this way; the coconut is protected from the outside with an impenetrable husk. As for us, if we remain outside, there is snow, ice and cold. The only way to make one self warm and comfortable is to put on a very thick, warm, long coat. By putting on this very warm coat one is at once protected from the blistering cold.

This nice, warm coat can also be compared to transcendental knowledge which destroys ignorance and darkness. The difference between the protective covering of the coconut, its husk, and the protective coat of transcendental knowledge is that transcendental knowledge, like the warm coat, immediately gives full protection, whereas the husk of the coconut grows slowly before it can give full protection to the coconut.

The question than arises where to get this special warm coat for the blistering cold of material existence? The warm coat of transcendental knowledge, in this day and age of Kali-yuga, is being handed out as transcendental literature by the pure Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord.

By freely distributing this special, warm, protective coat of spiritual knowledge, in the form of transcendental books, the pure devotees are giving everybody the chance to stay warm and comfortable in the freezing cold of the dark winter of the material world.

A Vaiṣṇava is always thinking about how the fallen conditioned souls can be delivered and is always involved in making plans to do so. The Gosvāmīs, the chief disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, were such Vaiṣṇavas. That is the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He wanted to deliver these fallen souls, the conditioned souls rotting in this material world. So sometimes Kṛṣṇa comes Himself, and sometimes Kṛṣṇa sends His devotees — just to execute this mission to reclaim the fallen souls from the clutches of illusory energy, material world, and bring them back home, back to the spiritual world.

 

 

Similarly, this universe is just like the coconut. We are within. As in within coconut there is water, half water, similarly, within this universe there is half water. On that water, Lord Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is lying. And from His navel, a lotus stem is sprouted. Just imagine within the coconut there is water, and somebody’s lying, and there is some stem out of the navel. Exactly this universe is like that. But outside the universe there is light. Here, within the universe, because it is covered, light is required. Sunlight is required. Moonlight is required. Electricity is required. But in the spiritual world there is no necessity of light. They’re self effulgent. Therefore tamo ‘ndham. Those who are actually serious about going out of this darkness and come to the light, tamasi mā jyotir gama: “Don’t remain in this darkness. Come to the light.”

Hiraṇmaya – The Golden Egg

hiraṇmayād aṇḍa-kośād – utthāya salile śayāt
tam āviśya mahā-devo – bahudhā nirbibheda kham

hiraṇmayāt—golden; aṇḍa-kośāt—from the egg; utthāya—arising; salile—on the water; śayāt—lying; tam—in it; āviśya—having entered; mahā-devaḥ—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; bahudhā—in many ways; nirbibheda—divided; kham—apertures.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the virāṭ-puruṣa, situated Himself in that golden egg, which was lying on the water, and He divided it into many departments.

From these seven principles, roused into activity and united by the presence of the Lord, an unintelligent egg arose, from which appeared the celebrated Cosmic Being. (SB 3.26.51)

This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered by pradhāna. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary systems are parts. (SB 3.26.52)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the virāṭ–puruṣa, situated Himself in that golden egg, which was lying on the water, and He divided it into many departments. (SB 3.26.53)

This universe, or the universal sky which we can visualize with its innumerable planets, is shaped just like an egg. As an egg is covered by a shell, the universe is also covered by various layers. The first layer is water [that’s why the sky is blue], the next is fire, then air, then sky, and the ultimate holding crust is pradhāna. Within this egglike universe is the universal form of the Lord as the virāṭ-puruṣa. All the different planetary situations are parts of His body. It is also stated that this description is of only one egglike universe. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and some of them are many, many times greater.

The Lord (Mahā-Viṣṇu), although lying in the Causal Ocean, came out of it, and dividing Himself as Hiraṇyagarbha, He entered into each universe and assumed the virāṭ-rūpa, with thousands of legs, arms, mouths, heads, etc. (SB 2.5.35, Purport)

So this Mahā-Viṣṇu is the first incarnation in the creation, and from Him all the universes are generated and all material manifestations are produced, one after another. The Causal Ocean is created by the Lord as the mahat-tattva, as a cloud in the spiritual sky, and is only a part of His different manifestations. The spiritual sky is an expansion of His personal rays, and He is the mahat-tattva cloud also. He lies down and generates the universes by His breathing, and again, by entering into each universe as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He creates Brahmā, Śiva and many other demigods for maintenance of the universe and again absorbs the whole thing into His person. (SB 2.6.39, Purport)

COVERT BY IGNORANCE AND ILLUSION

Divided into varieties by her threefold modes, material nature creates the forms of the living entities, and the living entities, seeing this, are illusioned by the knowledge—covering feature of the illusory energy. (SB 3.26.5)

Material energy has the power to cover knowledge, but this covering cannot be applied to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is applicable only to the prajāḥ, or those who are born with material bodies, the conditioned souls.

Because they were created by the material energy, their bodies are made of the material elements. Covered by the material body, the spiritual identity is lost, and therefore the word mumuhe is used here, indicating that they have forgotten their own spiritual identity. This forgetfulness of spiritual identity is present in the jīvas, or souls, who are conditioned, being subject to be covered by the energy of material nature. Jñāna-gūhayā is another word used. Gūhā means “covering.” Because the knowledge of the minute conditioned souls is covered, they are exhibited in so many species of life.

It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Chapter, First Canto, “The living entities are illusioned by the material energy.” In the Vedas also it is stated that the eternal living entities are covered by different modes and that they are called tricolored—red, white and blue—living entities. Red is the representation of the mode of passion, white is the representation of the mode of goodness, and blue is the representation of the mode of ignorance. These modes of material nature belong to the material energy, and therefore the living entities under these different modes of material nature have different kinds of material bodies. Because they are forgetful of their spiritual identities, they think the material bodies to be themselves. To the conditioned soul, “me” means the material body. This is called moha, or bewilderment.

THE COVERING OF THE SOUL

There are two things: matter and spirit. Two things. Just like this table is matter and we living entities, we are spirit, the spirit soul. This material body is my covering, just like dress. Every one of us is dressed, covered by some kind of dress. Similarly, all living beings, they are dressed by the material covering. The gross dress or coat and the subtle dress. The gross dress is made of five material elements: earth, water, air, fire, ether, and the subtle dress is mind, intelligence and ego.

So we, the spirit soul, part and parcel of God. At the present moment we are covered by two kinds of dresses—the subtle dress: mind, intelligence and ego; and the gross covering. Subtle means we know there is this thing, but we cannot see it. Just like you know I have got mind; I know you have got mind, but I don’t see your mind, you don’t see my mind. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence, but we don’t see what is that intelligence. Similarly, identification. I am this consciousness, that also you have got consciousness, I have got consciousness, but we don’t see. So things which are not visible to these material eyes, that is called subtle. And spirit soul is still subtler. So human life is meant for understanding that spirit soul and the Supreme Soul.

COVERED BY LUST

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust. (BG 3.38)

There are three degrees of covering of the living entity by which his pure consciousness is obscured. This covering is but lust under different manifestations like smoke in the fire, dust on the mirror, and the womb about the embryo. When lust is compared to smoke, it is understood that the fire of the living spark can be a little perceived. In other words, when the living entity exhibits his Kṛṣṇa consciousness slightly, he may be likened to the fire covered by smoke. Although fire is necessary where there is smoke, there is no overt manifestation of fire in the early stage. This stage is like the beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The dust on the mirror refers to a cleansing process of the mirror of the mind by so many spiritual methods.

The best process is to chant the holy names of the Lord. The embryo covered by the womb is an analogy illustrating a helpless position, for the child in the womb is so helpless that he cannot even move. This stage of living condition can be compared to that of the trees. The trees are also living entities, but they have been put in such a condition of life by such a great exhibition of lust that they are almost void of all consciousness. The covered mirror is compared to the birds and beasts, and the smoke covered fire is compared to the human being. In the form of a human being, the living entity may revive a little Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and, if he makes further development, the fire of spiritual life can be kindled in the human form of life. By careful handling of the smoke in the fire, the fire can be made to blaze. Therefore the human form of life is a chance for the living entity to escape the entanglement of material existence. In the human form of life, one can conquer the enemy, lust, by cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness under able guidance.

IGNORANCE, KNOWLEDGE AND LIBERATION

O Uddhava, both knowledge and ignorance, being products of māyā, are expansions of My potency. Both knowledge and ignorance are beginningless and perpetually award liberation and bondage to embodied living beings. (SB 11.11.3)

By the expansion of vidyā, or knowledge, a conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of māyā, and similarly, by the expansion of avidyā, or ignorance, the conditioned soul is driven further into illusion and bondage.

Both knowledge and ignorance are products of the mighty potency of the Personality of Godhead. The living being is bound by illusion when he considers himself the proprietor of the subtle and gross material bodies. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī the living entity may be designated as jīva-māyā, whereas matter is called guṇa-māyā. The living entity places his living potency (jīva-māyā) in the grip of the mundane qualitative potency (guṇa-māyā) and falsely dreams that he is part and parcel of the material world. Such an artificial mixture is called illusion or ignorance. When all of the Lord’s potencies are correctly perceived in their proper categories, the living entity is liberated from material bondage and returns to his blissful eternal residence in the spiritual sky.

The vidyā and avidyā potencies of the Lord are stated to be creations of māyā because they carry out the functions of the Lord’s potencies. The vidyā potency engages the living entities in the Lord’s pastimes, whereas the avidyā potency engages the living entities in forgetting the Lord and merging into darkness. Actually, both knowledge and ignorance are eternal alternatives of the marginal potency of the Lord, and in this sense it is not incorrect to state that the living entity is either eternally conditioned or eternally liberated. The material bondage and spiritual freedom are eternal options of the marginal potency of the Lord.

Māyā-Śhakti  =  The Lords Power of Illusion

Actually māyā means which has no existence. Māyā has no existence. But sometimes it is there. Just like the sky’s cover. This covering is not reality. The reality is this sky, clear sky, but somehow it is now covered. You cannot see the clear sky. So there is temporary, temporary illusion. Now, if I see the cloud only and if I say, “Oh, there is no sun. There is no illumination,” or “There is no clear sky,” that is insanity. Because I cannot see-under certain circumstances, I deny it—that is my insanity. Therefore you have to approach to a man who knows that there is sunlight, there is sun, there is clear sky… If you go there… You require all this education, knowledge. By knowledge one transcends māyā, or material existence.

The serene sky, limitlessly expansive, is compared to the Absolute Truth. The living entities are truths manifested in relation with the modes of material nature. The deep bluish cloud covers only an insignificant portion of the limitless sky, and this fractional covering is compared to the quality of ignorance, or forgetfulness of the real nature of the living being.

A living entity is as pure as the limitless sky. He becomes covered by the cloud of forgetfulness, however, in his tendency for enjoying the material world. Because of this quality, called tamas (ignorance), he considers himself different from the Absolute Whole and forgets his purity, which is like that of the clear sky. This forgetfulness gives rise to separatism in false ego. Thus the forgetful living entities, individually and collectively, make sounds like thundering clouds: “I am this,” “It is ours,” or “It is mine.” This mood of false separatism is called the quality of rajas, and it gives rise to a creative force for separate lordship over the mode of tamas. The flash of lightning is the only beam of hope that can lead one to the path of knowledge, and therefore it is compared to the mode of sattva, or goodness.

The limitless sky, or the all-pervading Absolute Truth (Brahman), is nondifferent from the covered portion of the sky, but simultaneously the whole sky is different from the fractional portion that is liable to be covered by the dark cloud. The cloud, accompanied by thunder and lightning, cannot possibly cover the limitless sky. Therefore the Absolute Truth, which is compared to the whole sky, is simultaneously one with the manifested living being and different from him. The living being is only a sample of the Absolute Truth and is Prone to be covered by the circumstantial cloud of ignorance.

CONCLUSION

In this article we have compared three different coverings namely the impenetrable covering of the dense darkness of the universe, the impenetrable covering of the eternally conditioned living entity and the penetrable covering of the coconut.

The impenetrable covering of the universe namely: water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva,

is impossible for any conditioned  living entity to break through (the order of the material elements is not really of importance here, since they are mentioned in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam by Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Prabhupāda . So we accept different statements as valid).

Janārdana: I never see anywhere where it is mentioned that there’s an earth covering. It’s always water as the first. Water is the first layer that’s given. So there are four of the elements.
Prabhupāda: Then above water there is air.
Janārdana: Air, fire, ether. Water, fire, air, ether, and then  this pradhāna. So pradhāna is split up into the three: ahaṇkāra, mahat-tattva and… What’s…?
Prabhupāda: Pradhāna is material ingredients, material cause.
Janārdana: Material cause.

[Conversations Montreal October/27/1968]

The impenetrable covering of the dense darkness and illusion of the conditioned living entity can only be removed by the mercy of a pure Vaiṣṇava, a pure devotee of the Lord.

The penetrable, but hard to remove husk of the coconut is in comparison to the other coverings easy to remove.

Now, which one of the first two coverings, namely the covering of the universe and the covering of the dense illusion of the living entity is harder to remove?

It is the covering of illusion and darkness of the conditioned living entity which is harder to remove. There are 8.400.000 species of life and there are millions of quadrillions of eternally conditioned spirit souls, nitya-badhas , encaged in these species. What chance is there to actually meet a pure devotee? NONE ! Only the Lords transcendental mercy gives us the opportunity to get uncovered and disentangled from the darkness and illusion that the conditioned living entity is covered with since many millions and many billions of lifetimes.

What is this transcendental weapon with which to cut through the mystic illusions that keep all bound up? The transcendental weapon is the chanting of the transcendental names of the Lord, the transcendental HARE KṚṢṆA MAHĀ MANTRA !

Thus the  pure devotee of the Lord is enabling the fortunate living entity to free himself from the clutches of dense illusion and madness. By breaking free from the clutches of māyā, illusion, the little jīva is than able to break through the impenetrable, unimaginable dense coverings of the material universe on his way back to the spiritual world.

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