234 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 9

nidhanam—annihilation; sthitih—maintenance; iksanam—manifesta-
tion; ca—and; tat—that; va—or; etat—this; eva—certainly; vasukdla-
vat —like the quality of being the earth and, beyond that, the subtle ele-
ment of the earth (smell); asti-tarvoh—the seed (the cause) and the tree
(the effect of the cause).

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, the entire
cosmic creation is caused by You, and the cosmic manifestation is
an effect of Your energy. Although the entire cosmos is but You
alone, You keep Yourself aloof from it. The conception of “‘mine
and yours,” is certainly a type of illusion [maya] because every-
thing is an emanation from You and is therefore not different
from You. Indeed, the cosmic manifestation is nondifferent from
You, and the annihilation is also caused by You. This relationship
between Your Lordship and the cosmos is illustrated by the exam-
ple of the seed and the tree, or the subtle cause and the gross
manifestation.

PURPORT
In Bhagavad-gita (7.10) the Lord says:

bijam mam sarva-bhiitanam
viddhi partha sanatanam

“O son of Prtha, know that I am the original seed of all existences.” In
the Vedic literature it is said, iSadvasyam idam sarvam, yato va imani
bhiitani jayante and sarvam khalv idam brahma. All this Vedic informa-
tion indicates that there is only one God and that there is nothing else but
Him. The Mayavadi philosophers explain this in their own way, but the
Supreme Personality of Godhead asserts the truth that He is everything
and yet is separate from everything. This is the philosophy of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which is called acintya-bhedabheda-tattva.
Everything is one, the Supreme Lord, yet everything is separate from the
Lord. This is the understanding of oneness and difference.

The example given in this regard —vasukdlavad asti-tarvoh—is very
easy to understand. Everything exists in time, yet there are different
