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Puruṣa-sūkta Confirmed
329
TRANSLATION
Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu is the first incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and He is the master of eternal time, space, cause and effects, mind, elements, material ego, modes of nature, senses, the universal form of the Lord, Garbhodakśāyī Viṣṇu, and the sum total of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.
PURPORT
That the material creation is not permanent has been discussed many times hereinbefore. The material creation is but a temporary exhibition of the material energy of the Almighty God. This material manifestation is necessary to give a chance to the conditioned souls who are unwilling to associate with the Lord in the relationship of loving transcendental service. Such unwilling conditioned souls are not allowed to enter into the liberated life of spiritual existence because at heart they are not willing to serve. Instead, they want to enjoy themselves as imitation Gods. The living entities are constitutionally eternal servitors of the Lord, but some of them, because of misusing their independence, do not wish to serve; therefore they are allowed to enjoy the material nature, which is called  māyā , or illusion. It is called illusion because the living beings under the clutches of  māyā  are not factually enjoyers, although they think that they are, being illusioned by  māyā . Such illusioned living entities are given a chance at intervals to rectify their perverted mentality of becoming false masters of the material nature, and they are imparted lessons from the  Vedas  about their eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa ( vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ ). So the temporary creation of the material manifestation is an exhibition of the material energy of the Lord, and to manage the whole show the Supreme Lord incarnates Himself as the Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu just as a magistrate is deputed by the government to manage affairs temporarily. This Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu causes the manifestation of material creation by looking over His material energy ( sa aikṣataḥ ). In the first volume of this book we have already discussed to some extent the explanation of the verse  jagṛhe pauruṣam rūpam . The duration of the illusory play of material creation is called a  kalpa , and we have already discussed the creation's taking place in  kalpa  after  kalpa . By His incarnation and potential activities, the complete ingredients of creation, namely time, space, cause, result, mind, the gross and subtle elements and their interactional modes of nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—