574 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 10

thinking can be given shape by the grace of the Lord, and therefore the
common saying is that man proposes and God disposes. The whole explana-
tion is on the subject of absolute dependence of the living entities and
absolute independence of the Supreme Lord. Less intelligent’ persons,
claiming to be on an equal level with God, first of all must prove them-
selves to be absolute and independent, and then they must substantiate
their claim as one with God.

TEXT 21
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fafies afaon ae SifeartoTe: 11221

yadatmani niralokam
atmdnam ca didrksatah

nirbhinne aksini tasya
jyotis caksur guna-grahah

yada—while; atmani—unto Himself; niralokam—without any light;
adtmanam—His own transcendental body; ca—also other bodily forms;
didrksatah—desired to look upon; nirbhinne—due to being sprouted;
ak sini—of the eyes; tasya—of Him; jyotith—the sun; caksuh—the eyes; guna-
grahah—the power of seeing.

TRANSLATION

Thus when everything existed in darkness, the Lord desired to see
Himself and all that was created. Then the eyes, the illuminating god Sun,
the power of vision and the object of sight all became manifested.

PURPORT

The universe is by nature dense darkness, and therefore the total crea-
tion is called tamas or darkness. The night is the real feature of the uni-
verse, for then no one can see anything, including oneself. The Lord, out
of His causeless mercy, first desired to see Himself and all the creation as
well, and thus the sun became manifested, the power of vision of all living
entities became possible, and the objects of vision were also manifested.
This means the whole phenomenal world became visible after the creation
of the sun.
