Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Ādi 6.14-15
The Supreme Lord Causes Both Worlds
“Just as the external energy consists of two parts — the efficient cause [nimitta] and the material cause [upādāna], māyā being the efficient cause and pradhāna the material cause — so Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes two forms to create the material world with the efficient and material causes.”
What the purport teaches
- The external energy has two parts: māyā is the efficient cause, and pradhāna is the material cause. Lord Viṣṇu assumes two forms to create the material world with these causes.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is indirectly the cause of the material cosmos and directly the cause of the spiritual world. The spiritual world includes innumerable Vaikuṇṭhas and His personal abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana.
- The Supreme Lord is the cause of both the material and spiritual worlds. The purport rejects as meaningless the argument that the cosmos comes from an inexplicable unmanifested void.
Try this today
Write down the two causes named in the translation and match each with māyā or pradhāna.
Ask yourself
How does recognizing the Supreme Lord as the cause of both worlds shape your understanding of creation?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.