I have briefly explained the eighth verse. Now please listen with attention as I explain the ninth verse. (49) I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, whose partial representation called Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean, is the original puruṣa, the master of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all the universes. (50) Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and beyond that effulgence is the Kāraṇa Ocean, or Causal Ocean. (51) Surrounding Vaikuṇṭha is a mass of water that is endless, unfathomed and unlimited. (52) The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there. (53) The water of the Kāraṇa Ocean, which is the original cause, is therefore spiritual. The sacred Ganges, which is but a drop of it, purifies the fallen souls. (54)
In that ocean lies a plenary portion of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. (55) He is known as the first puruṣa, the creator of the total material energy. He, the cause of the universes, the first incarnation, casts His glance over māyā.(56) Māyā- śakti resides outside the Kāraṇa Ocean. Māyā cannot touch its waters. (57) Māyā has two varieties of existence. One is called pradhāna or prakṛti. It supplies the ingredients of the material world.(58) Because prakṛti is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. But Lord Kṛṣṇa shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature.(59) Thus prakṛti, by the energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red- hot by the energy of fire. (60) Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. Prakṛti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.(61)
The māyā aspect of material nature is the immediate cause of the cosmic manifestation. But it cannot be the real cause, for the original cause is Lord Nārāyaṇa.(62) Just as the original cause of an earthen pot is the potter, so the creator of the material world is the first puruṣa incarnation [Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu]. (63) Lord Kṛṣṇa is the creator, and māyā only helps Him as an instrument, just like the potter’s wheel and other instruments, which are the instrumental causes of a pot. (64) The first puruṣa casts His glance at māyā from a distance, and thus He impregnates her with the seed of life in the form of the living entities. (65) The reflected rays of His body mix with māyā, and thus māyā gives birth to myriad universes. (66) The puruṣa enters each and every one of the countless universes. He manifests Himself in as many separate forms as there are universes. (67)
When the puruṣa exhales, the universes are manifested with each outward breath. (68) Thereafter, when He inhales, all the universes again enter His body. (69) Just as atomic particles of dust pass through the openings of a window, so the networks of universes pass through the pores of the skin of the puruṣa. (70) “The Brahmās and other lords of the mundane worlds appear from the pores of Mahā- Viṣṇu and remain alive for the duration of His one exhalation. I adore the primeval Lord, Govinda, of whom Mahā- Viṣṇu is a portion of a plenary portion.” (71)
“Where am I, a small creature of seven spans the measure of my own hand? I am enclosed in the universe composed of material nature, the total material energy, false ego, ether, air, water and earth. And what is Your glory? Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just like particles of dust passing through the opening of a window.” (72) A part of a part of a whole is called a kalā. Śrī Balarāma is the counterform of Lord Govinda. (73) Balarāma’s own expansion is called Mahā- saṅkarṣaṇa, and His fragment, the puruṣa, is counted as a kalā, or a part of a plenary portion. (74) I say that this kalā is Mahā- Viṣṇu. He is the Mahā- puruṣa, who is the source of the other puruṣas and who is all- pervading. (75)
Garbhodaśāyī and Kṣīrodaśāyī are both called puruṣas. They are plenary portions of Kāraṇodaśāyī Viṣṇu, the first puruṣa, who is the abode of all the universes. (76) Viṣṇu has three forms called puruṣas. The first, Mahā- Viṣṇu, is the creator of the total material energy [mahat], the second is Garbhodaśāyī, who is situated within each universe, and the third is Kṣīrodaśāyī, who lives in the heart of every living being. He who knows these three becomes liberated from the clutches of māyā.” (77) Although Kāraṇodaśāyī Viṣṇu is called a kalā of Lord Kṛṣṇa, He is the source of Matsya, Kūrma and the other incarnations. (78)
“All these incarnations of Godhead are either plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions of the puruṣa- avatāras. But Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In every age He protects the world through His different features when the world is disturbed by the enemies of Indra.” (79) That puruṣa [Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] is the performer of creation, maintenance and destruction. He manifests Himself in many incarnations, for He is the maintainer of the world. (80) That fragment of the Supreme Lord, known as the Mahā- puruṣa, appears for the purpose of creation, maintenance and annihilation and is called an incarnation. (81)
That Mahā- puruṣa is identical with the Personality of Godhead. He is the original incarnation, the seed of all others, and the shelter of everything. (82) “The puruṣa [Mahā-Viṣṇu] is the primary incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Time, nature, prakṛti (as cause and effect), the mind, the material elements, false ego, the modes of nature, the senses, the universal form, complete independence and the moving and nonmoving beings appear subsequently as His opulences.” (83) “In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes.” (84)
Although the Lord is the shelter of everything and although all the universes rest in Him, He, as the Supersoul, is also the support of everything. (85) Although He is thus connected with the material energy in two ways, He does not have the slightest contact with it. (86) “This is the opulence of the Lord. Although situated within the material nature, He is never affected by the modes of nature. Similarly, those who have surrendered to Him and have fixed their intelligence upon Him are not influenced by the modes of nature.” (87) Thus the Bhagavad- gītā also states again and again that the Absolute Truth always possesses inconceivable power. (88)
[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] “I am situated in the material world, and the world rests in Me. But at the same time I am not situated in the material world, nor does it rest in Me in truth. (89) “O Arjuna, you should know this is My inconceivable opulence.” This is the meaning propagated by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad- gītā. (90) That Mahā- puruṣa [Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] is known as a plenary part of Him who is Lord Nityānanda Balarāma, the favorite associate of Lord Caitanya. (91)
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