162 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila, Ch. 20

Brahma; hafid—having become; srsti—the material creation; karila srjana—cre-
ated.

TRANSLATION

“In the stem of that lotus flower the fourteen worlds were generated. Then
He became Lord Brahma and created the entire universe.

TEXT 289

‘Tage -AA See] SCA GAS ACTA |
tS fags—mvvef ale ara-Acay h ae-> |

‘visnu’-rdpa hafid kare jagat palane
gunatita visnu—sparsa nahi mayd-sane

SYNONYMS
visnu-rdpa—Lord Krsna in His form as Visnu; hafid—becoming; kare—does;
jagat palane—maintenance of the material world; guna-atita—beyond the ma-
terial qualities, transcendental; visnu—Lord Visnu; sparsa—touching; nahi—there
is not; maya-sane—with mdyda, the material energy.

TRANSLATION

“In this way, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of Visnu
maintains the entire material world. Since He is always beyond the material
qualities, the material nature cannot touch Him.

PURPORT

The influence of the material energy cannot touch Lord Visnu as she touches
Lord Brahmi and Lord Siva. Therefore it is said that Lord Visnu is transcendental to
the material qualities. The incarnations of the material qualities —Lord Siva and
Lord Brahma—are under the jurisdiction of the external energy. Lord Visnu,
however, is different. In the mantras of the Rg Veda it is said: om tad visnoh
paramam padam (Rg Veda-samhita 1.22.20). The words paramam padam indicate
that He is transcendental to the material qualities. Because Lord Visnu is not with-
in the jurisdiction of the material qualities, He is always superior to the living en-
tities who are controlled by material energy. This is one of the differences be-
tween the Supreme Lord and the living entities. Lord Brahma is a very powerful
living entity, and Lord Siva is even more powerful. Therefore Lord Siva is not ac-
cepted as a living entity, but at the same time is not considered to be on the level
of Lord Visnu.
