Adi-lila, Chapter 2 149

space has demanded the work of the greatest scientists of the world, yet there are
countless problems regarding even fundamental knowledge of the material creation
that bewilder scientists who confront them. Such material knowledge is far removed
from the spiritual nature, and therefore the acts and arrangements of the Absolute
Truth are, beyond all doubts, inconceivable.

The primary potencies of the Absolute Truth are mentioned to be three: internal,
external and marginal. By the acts of His internal potency, the Personality of
Godhead in His original form exhibits the spiritual cosmic manifestations known
as the eternal Vaikunthalokas, which exist eternally, even after the destruction of
the material cosmic manifestation. By His marginal potency the Lord expands
Himself as living beings who are part of Him, just as the sun distributes its rays in
all directions. By His external potency the Lord manifests the material creation,
just as the sun with its rays creates fog. The material creation is but a perverse
reflection of the eternal Vaikuntha nature.

These three energies of the Absolute Truth are also described in the Visnu Purana,
where it is said that the living being is equal in quality to the internal potency,
whereas the external potency is indirectly controlled by the chief cause of all
causes. Maya, the illusory energy, misleads a living being as fog misleads a pedestrian
by blocking off the light of the sun. Although the potency of mdyd is inferior in
quality to the marginal potency, which consists of the living beings, who are part
and parcel of the Lord, it nevertheless has the power to control the living beings,
just as fog can block the actions of a certain portion of the sun’s rays although it
cannot cover the sun. The living beings covered by the illusory energy evolve in
different species of life, with bodies ranging from that of an insignificant ant to
that of Brahma, the constructor of the cosmos. The pradhana, the chief cause of
all causes in the impersonal vision, is none other than the Supreme Lord, whom
one can see face to face in the internal potency. He takes the material all-pervasive
form by His inconceivable power. Although all three potencies—namely, internal,
external and marginal—are essentially one in the ultimate issue, they are different
in action, like electric energy, which can produce both cold and heat under different
conditions. The external and marginal potencies are so called under various condi-
tions, but in the original internal potencies there are no such conditions, nor is it
possible for the conditions of the external potency to exist in the marginal, or vice
versa. One who is able to understand the intricacies of all these energies of the
Supreme Lord can no longer remain an empiric impersonalist under the influence
of a poor fund of knowledge.

TEXT 97

FcHy warty Sa ae fay faery:
BHSt-CaSa-ae7 fafay etary v9 o

krsnera svarupera haya sad-vidha vilasa
prabhava-vaibhava-riipe dvi-vidha prakasa
