It is said in the ancient Srimad Bhagavatam that “God” has always existed and His beloved, innumerable, inconceivable expansions called jiva souls who are expressions of His divine love, have as well (we are qualitatively one, but quantitatively different from Krishna). In the spiritual world, the jiva soul has no idea Krishna is “God” as there is no need for Krishna to be omnipotent in this realm; love and ecstasy is always manifesting in eternity; you were created just like a parent creates a child- to love and be loved. Love in its purest sense should always be unconditional and often times there is a chance of rejection. Some souls wanted to know how their beloved Krishna is the epicenter of “reality”, some wanted to become their own “Gods” and some even wanted to experience a reality separate from Him (this is the original meaning of free-will). Without this choice, there is no question of loving God, since love is necessarily an act of free will.
These souls, misusing their independence, desire to enjoy life without Krishna. Begrudgingly, Krishna assumed the form of Lord Vishnu to “dream” the material subatomic energy into “existence”. Since all energy comes from the Supreme, the illusion of separateness (material energy) has to be dreamed into existence! Edgar Allen Poe, the famous poet once said,
“Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?”
It is fascinating to note that it is only in the material energy that Krishna is omnipotent; as the soul leaves the spiritual world to find enjoyment as a separate individual, Krishna accompanies them as their eternal companion called the “paramatma” or super soul. As they search endlessly for material pleasure, souls inherit different levels of awareness due to various activities (karma) and they take on many different types of forms within the material creation; it is to fulfill—as well as to reform—this unnatural desire that Lord Krsna creates the material world. Walled within the shells of material universes, the independently-minded jivas are awarded bodies in any of the trillions of species and are allowed to forget their eternal life of bliss and knowledge. Curiously, the reason why we suffer in the material energy is because we know of a greater pleasure beyond our limited senses but the gross and subtle energies encase the soul into the illusion of a material form.
According to Bhagavad-gita, a soul is situated in each living body just as a driver is situated in an automobile. The driver is different from his car, although he directs its movements. Similarly, the jiva soul, although doggedly trying to enjoy a body made of the material elements, is separate from it. Each kind of body—from the microbe to the human being—affords the soul a particular kind of sense enjoyment, a different means for trying to satisfy his godless longings. Evolution, for example, was understood thousands of years ago to mean that the paramatma within all species is constantly making the souls within them happy and so many living entities desire so many unlimited things; when creatures desire, Krishna manifests it. Of all the billions and billions of life forms within the universe, it is understood that the human form of life is the most highly desired, as it is in this form you can regain your eternal identity. There are an infinite number of entities living in different dimensions within every universe and Krishna only appears on earth like planets – love versus fear – as this is frequency specific to bring forth the presence of an avatar of the Supreme. Krishna doesn’t appear in the higher realms as inter-dimensional beings (Demigods) are too centered on enjoying His opulent energy and some are trying to lord it over the material creation. He doesn’t go to the lower worlds below earth because there is too much suffering for souls there to contemplate divinity. According to this ancient text, the trillions of universes that exist comprise 1/4 of Krishnas energy. The other 3/4s constitute the spiritual world made of Sat-Chit-Ananda (eternity/bliss/knowledge). Within each manifested universe a “Brahma” engineers and manages each universe and hence not one universe is the same. He is the first created entity within the universe. The Supreme Person Krishna, in His role as Vishnu, creates the material world. He then empowers a Brahma to act as the engineer and manager within each universe. Of all the demigods in charge of generating various species of life and managing universal affairs, Brahma is the chief. Brahma is also the original spiritual mentor of everyone within the universe.
Krishna entrusts him with the sum total of all knowledge—the Vedas—by which everyone can attain success in life and ultimately return to the spiritual world. Brahma, in turn, sees to it that Vedic knowledge is spread everywhere by his representatives. This mission is known as the Brahma-sampradaya, or school of theistic thought originating from Brahma. The material world is a fraction of the whole creation. As far as you can see in the sky, you see this universe. But this is only one universe. There are unlimited universes clustered together, and that cluster is called the material world. Beyond that cluster is the spiritual sky. That fact is also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita: paras tasmat tu bhavo ‘nyo ‘vyakto ‘vyaktat sanatanah. The Lord says, “Beyond this material world is another nature, which is eternal.” There is no history of its beginning or end. That is eternal: no beginning, no end. Vedic knowledge is the perfection of yoga and it is called sanatana-dharma, “eternal knowing,” because no one can trace out when the Vedic philosophy began. When looking at these massive maps of the multidimensional universe, consider the laws of quantum science: energy precedes matter.
In intricate detail, I describe consciousness as three distinct energies of Krishna (Impersonal) Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan and they are discussed in the chapter: Vedas At A Glance. It is truly an incredible synthesis in understanding the extraordinarily bigger picture to reality.
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness,”
Max Planck, the originator of Quantum theory.
