Verse 1.13.136-137

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.13.136-137:

কর্ম, জ্ঞান, বিদ্যা, শুভ-অশুভাদি যত দৃষ্যাদৃষ্য,—তোমারে বা কহিবাঙ কত সকল প্রলয (প্রবর্ত) হয, শুন, যাঙ্’হ হৈতে সেই প্রভু বিপ্র-রূপে দেখিলা সাক্ষাতে ॥ ১৩৬-১৩৭ ॥

कर्म, ज्ञान, विद्या, शुभ-अशुभादि यत दृष्यादृष्य,—तोमारे वा कहिबाङ कत सकल प्रलय (प्रवर्त) हय, शुन, याङ्’ह हैते सेइ प्रभु विप्र-रूपे देखिला साक्षाते ॥ १३६-१३७ ॥

karma, jñāna, vidyā, śubha-aśubhādi yata dṛṣyādṛṣya,—tomāre vā kahibāṅa kata sakala pralaya (pravarta) haya, śuna, yāṅ’ha haite sei prabhu vipra-rūpe dekhilā sākṣāte || 136-137 ||

karma, jnana, vidya, subha-asubhadi yata drsyadrsya,—tomare va kahibana kata sakala pralaya (pravarta) haya, suna, yan’ha haite sei prabhu vipra-rupe dekhila saksate (136-137)

English translation:

(136-137) “Fruitive activities, mental speculation, material knowledge, pious and impious activities, direct and indirect perception, and more than I am able to say—all these are (created and) destroyed by that Lord you just met in the form of a brāhmaṇa.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The word karma refers to Vedic rituals such as the performance of fire sacrifices, which aim at enjoying the fruits of those activities in this world. The goal or destination of karma is bhukti, or material enjoyment; the goal or destination of jñāna, or speculating on impersonal Brahman, is mukti, or liberation; and the goal or destination of bhagavad-bhakti, or devotional service to the Supreme Lord, is one, not separate, or nondifferent; in other words, it is bhagavat-prema, or love of God. The word vidyā in this verse refers to material knowledge, the purpose of which is sense gratification. In the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.5) it is stated: tatrāparā ṛg-vedo yajur-vedaḥ sāma-vedo ‘tharva-vedaḥ śikṣā kalpo vyākaraṇaṃ niruktaṃ chando jyotiṣam iti.—“All the Vedas–Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda and their corollaries known as śikṣā, kalpa, vyākaraṇa, nirukta, chanda and jyotiṣa–belong to the inferior system of material knowledge [aparā vidyā].”

The word śubha-aśubhā means “auspicious and inauspicious,” or “good and bad.” As stated in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.28.4):

kiṃ bhadraṃ kim abhadraṃ vā dvaitasyāvastunaḥ kiyat vācoditaṃ tad anṛtaṃ manasā dhyātam eva ca

“That which is expressed by material words or meditated upon by the material mind is not ultimate truth. What, therefore, is actually good or bad within this insubstantial world of duality, and how can the extent of

such good and bad be measured?” In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 4.176) it is said:

‘dvaite’ bhadrābhadra-jñāna, saba——’manodharma’ ‘ei bhāla, ei manda’,——ei saba ‘bhrama’

“In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying, ‘This is good, and this is bad,’ is all a mistake.”

The word dṛṣyādṛṣya refers to all objects situated in direct or indirect perception. Another reading for this word is dūṣyādūṣya, which means “eatable and noneatable, or pure and impure, items of material enjoyment.”

Devotional service to the Lord is neither created nor destroyed. Everything else has a creation and a destruction. That object by whom this creation and destruction is accomplished is the Supreme Lord, Śrī Gaurasundara, whom you have seen as a young Bengali brāhmaṇa grammarian. Though He is the only cause of the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of this world, He is the controller of māyā and transcendental to the modes of nature. Therefore do not accept Him as Lord Brahmā, who creates all material objects under the shelter of passion, or Lord Śiva, who annihilates under the shelter of ignorance.

Another reading for karma is bhukti, or material enjoyment, and another reading for dṛṣyādṛṣya is dūṣyādūṣya. Those items that are seen through our mundane vision are called dṛṣya, and items that are beyond our mundane vision and most difficult to understand, yet are nevertheless material, are called adṛṣya. One’s perception of Yogamāyā, the spiritual potency of the Lord, from the platform of devotional service and another’s perception of Mahāmāyā, the material energy, from the platform of material enjoyment are not the same.