466
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 11]
the duration of life is very great.  Ūrdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ : Great  ṛṣis , sages and  sannyāsīs  who maintain themselves in  sattva-guṇa , or the mode of material goodness, are elevated to a higher planetary system. Those who are transcendental even to the material modes of nature are situated in the mode of pure goodness; they attain eternal life in the spiritual world.
TEXT 17
निमित्तमात्रं तत्रासीभिर्गुणः पुरुषर्षमः । 
    न्यक्तान्यक्तमिदं विश्वं यत्र भ्रमति लोहवत् ॥१७॥
nimitta-mātram tatrāsīn 
    nirguṇaḥ puruṣarṣabhaḥ 
    vyaktāvyaktam idam viśvam 
    yatra bhramati lohavat
nimitta-mātram —remote cause;  tatra —then;  āsīt —was;  nirguṇaḥ —uncontaminated;  puruṣa-ṛṣabhaḥ —the Supreme Person;  vyakta —manifested;  avyaktam —unmanifested;  idam —this;  viśvam —world;  yatra —where;  bhramati —moves;  loha-vat —like iron.
TRANSLATION
My dear Dhruva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. He is the remote cause of the creation of this material cosmic manifestation. When He gives the impetus, many other causes and effects are produced, and thus the whole universe moves, just as iron moves by the integrated force of a magnet.
PURPORT
How the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead works within this material world is explained in this verse. Everything is happening by the energy of the Supreme Lord. The atheistic philosophers who do not agree to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the original cause of creation think that the material world moves by the action and reaction of different material elements. A simple example of the interaction of elements occurs when we mix soda and acid and the movement of effervescence is produced. But one cannot produce life by such interaction of chemicals. There are 8,400,000 different species of life, with different wishes and different actions. How the material force is working cannot be explained just on the basis of chemical reaction. A suitable example in this connection is that of the potter and the potter's wheel. The potter's wheel