Text 3] Fundamental Principles of Material Nature 1065
perceived within the limit of our particular body, but the Superconscious-
ness, or the existence of God, is perceived everywhere. He is present
everywhere by His energy. It is stated in the Visnu Purana that whatever
we find, anywhere and everywhere, is the distribution of the energy of the
Supreme Lord. In Bhagavad-gita also it is confirmed that the Lord is all-
pervading and exists everywhere by His two kinds of energy, one spiritual
and the other material. Both the spiritual and material energies are spread
everywhere, and that is the proof of the existence of the Supreme Person-
ality of Godhead.

The existence of consciousness everywhere is not temporary. It is
without beginning. And because it is without beginning, it is also without
end. The theory that consciousness develops at a certain stage of material
combination is not accepted herein, for the consciousness which exists
everywhere is said to be without beginning. The materialistic or atheistic
theory stating that there is no soul, that there is no God, and that
consciousness is the result of a combination of matter is not acceptable.
Matter is not beginningless; it has a beginning. As this material body has a
beginning, so the universal body does also. And as our material body has
begun on the basis of our soul, similarly, the entire gigantic universal body
has begun on the basis of the Supreme Soul. The Vedanta-sutra says,
janmady asya. This entire material exhibition—its creation, its growth, its
maintenance, and its dissolution—is an emanation from the Supreme
Person. In Bhagavad-gita also, the Lord says, ‘“‘l am the beginning and the
source of birth of everything.”

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described here. He is not a
temporary person, nor does He have a beginning. He is without a cause,
and He is the cause of all causes. Parah means transcendental, beyond the
creative energy. The Lord is the creator of the creative energy. We can see
that there is a creative energy in the material world, but He is not under
this energy. He is prakrti-parah, beyond this energy. He is not subjected to
the threefold miseries created by the material energy because He is beyond
it. The modes of material nature do not touch Him. It is explained here,
svayam-jyoti: He is light Himself. We have experience in the material world
of one light’s being a reflection of another, just as moonlight is a reflection
of the sunlight. Sunlight is also the reflection of the brahmajyoti. Similarly,
brahmajyoti, the spiritual effulgence, is a reflection of the body of the
Supreme Lord. This is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita: yasya prabha
prabhavatah. The brahmajyoti, or Brahman effulgence, is due to His bodily
luster. Therefore it is said here, svayam-jyoti: He Himself is light. His light
is distributed in different ways, as the brahmajyoti, as sunlight and as
