(From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji)

Compiled by Swami Datta Pada Renu

"Know that these (two Natures) are the womb of all beings. I am the origin as well as the end of the entire Universe". (6-VII)

These two Natures, the higher and the lower, as have been described in the previous lesson constitute just one Prakriti (Nature) of the Lord. This Prakriti is the womb of all animate and inanimate objects of the world and the Lord alone is the cause of the origination, maintenance and destruction of the entire World. In other words, making use of Prakriti as the instrument, the Lord creates, maintains and destroys the whole Universe.

Creation constitutes the manifestation of the Universe through a process of evolution and destruction means dissolution of it into its original state through a process of involution. Thus, the Para and Apara Prakritis (higher and lower natures) of the Lord are eternally expressing as the cyclic process of manifestation and dissolution. Therefore the Lord says, "I am the origin and the end of the entire Universe’, which means that the entire Universe originates and dissolves in the Lord Himself.

As the Prakriti (Para and Apara) is the womb of all creation, it becomes the direct cause of the Universe. And as this Prakriti directly proceeds from the Lord, the Supreme Self of the Brahman, the Lord Himself is the ultimate cause of the Universe. Therefore, the Lord is the one Universal uncaused cause of all phenomena.
As everything springs from the Lord Himself, He is the instrumental and material cause of the whole Universe. The instrumental cause is also called as efficient cause. There are two causes in the making of an earthly object by any human being. But in the creation of this entire cosmos with its multifarious universes and objects, the Lord alone is the cause.

For instance, there are two causes in the making of a pot. First cause is the clay, which is the material cause and the second is the potter, the efficient cause of the clay out of which he makes the pot. But with regard to the creation of the world, the Lord is the only cause. As a spider spreads out the web that is non-different from it’s own body and withdraws it into itself, so also, this world comes out from the Lord, who does not depend upon any other auxiliary and in the end projected world is also absorbed back into the Lord Himself. The Lord is thus not only the efficient cause of creation but is also material.

Therefore, the Lord says, "O! Arjuna, there is nothing greater than Me. All this is strung on Me as a row of beads on a thread." (7-VII)

When Sri Krishna says that there is nothing greater than Him, He does not speak in his individual capacity as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. He is a full incarnation of God. As such, He speaks from the standpoint of the Eternal, all-pervading Supreme Divinity called Brahman, which He represents as an incarnation.

The whole Universe is resting on the Lord, that is, the Supreme Self or Brahman, who remains like a thread in a garland. If you want to make a garland, a piece of thread is indispensable. Any number of beads can be put together by a piece of thread. This whole cosmos with its different Universes and with its different objects like earth, water, fire, wind, ether, the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the different beings, in short, every object that is animate and inanimate, is like a garland and the Lord is the piece of thread running through them.

The beads strung together may be of different shapes and may be of different types or species. But the string or the thread that supports them is the same. Similarly, the different objects of the world may vary in different respects. However, the sustainer of all of them is the Lord.

The Lord thus pervades every phenomenal object. Even an atom is pervaded by that Supreme Being. He is immanent in everything and in every creature, high or low, and He resides in Nature. In fact we live move, and have our being in Him alone.