66 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 13

PURPORT

Brahma was completely mystified. He could not understand what he
was seeing, and then he was not even able to see. Lord Krsna, under-
standing Brahma’s position, then removed that yogamé@ya covering. In
this verse, Brahma is referred to as iresa. Ird means Sarasvati, the god-
dess of learning, and Iresa is her husband, Lord Brahma. Brahma,
therefore, is most intelligent. But even Brahma, the lord of Sarasvati,
was bewildered about Krsna. Although he tried, he could not understand
Lord Krsna. In the beginning the boys, the calves and Krsna Himself had
been covered by yogamayd, which later displayed the second set of
calves and boys, who were Krsna’s expansions, and which then displayed
so many four-armed forms. Now, seeing Brahma’s bewilderment, Lord
Krsna caused the disappearance of that yogamayd. One may think that
the mdyd taken away by Lord Krsna was mahdaémayé, but Srila
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura comments that it was yogamdy4, the po-
tency by which Krsna is sometimes manifest and sometimes not
manifest. The potency which covers the actual reality and displays some-
thing unreal is mahamaya, but the potency by which the Absolute Truth
is sometimes manifest and sometimes not is yogamdyd. Therefore, in
this verse the word aja refers to yogamaya.

Krsna’s energy —His ma@yd-sakti, or svariipa-sakti—is one, but it is
manifested in varieties. Pardsya Saktir vividhaiva srityate (Svetasvatara
Up. 6.8). The difference between Vaisnavas and Mayavadis is that
Mayavadis say that this maya is one, whereas Vaisnavas recognize its
varieties. There is unity in variety. For example, in one tree, there are
varieties of leaves, fruits and flowers. Varieties of energy are required
for performing the varieties of activity within the creation. To give
another example, in a machine all the parts may be iron, but the machine
includes varied activities. Although the whole machine is iron, one part
works in one way, and other parts work in other ways. One who does not
know how the machine is working may say that it is all iron; nonetheless,
in spite of its being iron, the machine has different elements, all working
differently to accomplish the purpose for which the machine was made.
One wheel runs this way, another wheel runs that way, functioning
naturally in such a way that the work of the machine goes on. Conse-
quently we give different names to the different parts of the machine,
saying, “This is a wheel,”’ “This is a screw,” “This is a spindle,” “This
