Adi-lila, Chapter 5 413
pansions (ndnyad yat sad-asat-param). The Karma Purana also confirms, deha-dehi-
vibhedo ’yarh nesvare vidyate kvacit: “There is no difference between body and
soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Cause and effect are material. For
example, it is seen that a father’s body is the cause of a son’s body, but the soul
is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences
we find in cause and effect. Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of God-
head are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of material nature. Stand-
ing on the fourth dimension, They are predominating figures on the transcendental
platform. There is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions because
material laws cannot influence Them. There is no such rule as cause and effect out-
side of the material world. Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot
approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. The Vedic literature proves this:

orm pairnam adah pirnam idarh
pirndt pirnam udacyate
plrnasya plurnam dddya
plrnam evdvasisyate

“The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely
perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly
equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also
complete by itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete
units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.” (Brhad-dranyaka
Upanisad, 5.1) \t is most apparent that nondevotees violate the rules and regulations
of devotional service to equate the whole cosmic manifestation, which is the external
feature of Visnu, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the controller
of mdyd, or with His quadruple expansions. The equalization of mdyd and spirit,
or mdyd and the Lord, is a sign of atheism. The cosmic creation, which manifests
life in forms from Brahma to the ant, is the external feature of the Supreme Lord.
It comprises one fourth of the Lord’s energy, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita
(ekarhsena sthito jagat). The cosmic manifestation of the illusory energy is material
nature, and everything within material nature is made of matter. Therefore, one
should not try to compare the expansions of material nature to the catur-vyiha, the
quadruple expansions of the Personality of Godhead, but unfortunately the
Mayavadt school unreasonably attempts to do this.

(4) To answer Sahkaracarya’s commentary on the forty-fifth verse, the substance
of the transcendental qualities and their spiritual nature is described in the Laghu-
bhagavatamrta, verses 97 through 99, as follows: “Some say that transcendence
must be void of all qualities because qualities are manifested only in matter. Accord-
ing to them, all qualities are like temporary, flickering mirages. But this is not
acceptable. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, His qualities are
nondifferent from Him. His form, name, qualities and everything else pertaining to
Him are as spiritual as He is. Every qualitative expansion of the absolute Personality
