The Supreme Authority Of The Whole Cosmic Manifestation

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.4)

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मया ततम् इदं सर्वं
जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि
न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

“You hear this from people sometimes, that they are open to the idea of philosophy, inquisitiveness, asking questions about the origin, and the like, but they are not down with worship, no pun intended. They are not ready to submit to anything.

“Perhaps they view it as weakness. They want to exude power and strength. They want to be relied upon. They do not want to admit weakness or frailty. They are not comfortable with acknowledging shortcomings.

“For this reason, they are hesitant to accept religion. Maybe they give some lip service to the prevailing practices of the given territory, but in their heart they are against the idea of an Almighty being who accepts worship from a faithful clan.

“What arguments can be made to convince such a person? Is there a way to appeal to their understanding, to use their hesitancy in a positive way? Or is there no hope for such a person?”

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada says a person cannot logically and scientifically deny the supreme authority of the whole cosmic manifestation. That is saying a lot in a short sentence, but if we break down the individual concepts we begin to realize the undeniable truth.

A person may not want to bow down before a deity, to acknowledge the supremacy of another being, but they are forced to submit, all the same. Perhaps it is the wife in the home. She yells and screams on occasion. She cannot apply physical force to get her way, but for some reason the husband is known to obey.

Why is that? Is the husband not acknowledging weakness? Are they not submitting to the demands of another force? The same applies to sleeping at night. The body takes over. The demands cannot be ignored. The body has to be appeased.

There is the weather. Illness. Mental anguish and pain. Violence from forces gathering as a collective, such as in an armed military conflict. In every direction you turn, you see that man is humbled.

Gather all of the forces together and you have the whole cosmic manifestation. No one can deny that this exists. To do so would be silly. It would be like saying that there is no neighborhood. The collection of houses and the people living within them is merely a figment of the imagination. It is mythology or folklore. No one should believe in it.

Only a crazy person would think that way. The entire cosmic manifestation is there. It exists. It is also the supreme authority. No one can control the universe. People have certainly tried, but the end result is always the same: failure.

Within Vedic teachings, the cosmic manifestation is known as the avyakta-murtina. It is an object of worship which is unmanifest. We know that it is there. We know that it exists. It is difficult to pinpoint or locate on a map. You cannot really see it.

The human being has dormant obeisances for the supreme authority. We see this when people escape a harrowing situation. If they get cured of a terminal illness. If they emerge from an otherwise deadly accident. If they know that some other force was involved in their survival, they pay respect. They are thankful. They appreciate what the higher power has done for them.

The descending tradition of Vedic culture is like a standardized way of showing this appreciation, but not limited to times of desperation or difficulty. On a regular basis, within timely intervals, the mature human being formally acknowledges the supreme authority of the cosmic manifestation.

If they are fortunate, if they go a little beyond the basic understanding, they come to know of the personal side to the supreme authority. They know that the personal is the source of the impersonal. The unmanifest is due to the manifest, who is capable of showing the cosmic manifestation within a single exhibition, as He did in front of the bow-warrior named Arjuna.

मन्यसे यदि तच् छक्यं
मया द्रष्टुम् इति प्रभो
योगेश्वर ततो मे त्वं
दर्शयात्मानम् अव्ययम्

manyase yadi tac chakyaṁ
mayā draṣṭum iti prabho
yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ
darśayātmānam avyayam

“If You think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that universal self.” (Arjuna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.4)

If we are already inclined towards offering obeisances to the supreme authority, why not indulge that inclination? Why artificially suppress it? Why not work in alignment with our nature, which is to worship the highest being, irrespective of time or circumstance?

In Closing:

Declared that of nothing fearing,
Every obstacle myself clearing.

Except from cosmic manifestation,
Where failure my destination.

To humble and work in force,
Rules without mercy to enforce.

Obeisances to that concept to pay,
Progressing through bhakti’s way.