188 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 5

ment like the other wives who are awake. The whole process is to enliven
the sleeping conditioned souls to the real life of spiritual consciousness so
that they may thus become as perfect as the ever-liberated souls in the
Vaikunthalokas. Since the Lord is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, He likes every
part and parcel of His different potencies to take part in the blissful rasa
because participation with the Lord in His eternal rdsa-lila is the highest
living condition, perfect in spiritual bliss and eternal knowledge.

TEXT 25

Ma Tae agry: Tha: aaalfenat |
Ba aT AeA Aas fray fra: eI!

sa va elasya samdrastuh
§aktih sad-asad-almika

maya nama mahabhaga
yayedam nirmame vibhuh

sd—that external energy; va—is either; etasya—of the Lord; sarndras-
tuh—of the perfect seer; saktih—energy; sal-asat-atmika—both as the
cause and the effect: maya n@ma—called by the name Maya; mahabhaga—
QO fortunate one; yaya—by which; idam—this material world; nirmame—
constructed; vibhuh—the Almighty.

TRANSLATION

The Lord is the seer, and the external energy, which is seen, works both
as cause and effect in the cosmic manifestation. O greatly fortunate
Vidura, this external energy is known as maya or illusion, and through her
agency only is the entire material manifestation made possible.

PURPORT

The material nature, known as maya, is both the material and efficient
cause of the cosmos, but in the background the Lord is the consciousness
for all activities. As in the individual body the consciousness is the source
of all energies of the body, so the supreme consciousness of the Lord is
the source of all energies in material nature. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-
gita (9.10) as follows:

mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sacaracaram
helunanena kaunteya jagad viparivartale
