SB 1.3.31 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 31
Yatha navasi meghougho renur ba parthibo anile
Ebam drastari drisyatwam aropitam abuddhivih.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Yatha—as it is, navasi—on the sky, meghougha—the bunch of clouds, renur—dust, ba—as well as, parthibo—muddiness, anile—in the air, ebam—thus, drastari—to the seer, drsyatmam—for the matter of seeing, aropitam—is implied, abuddhivih—by the less intelligent persons.
TRANSLATION
The cloud is carried by air and dirtiness is the appearance of the dust. But less intelligent persons say it that the cloud is in the sky and the air is dirty and as such they also implant material conception of body on the spirit self.
PURPORT
It is further confirmed herewith that with our material eyes or with our material senses we can not see the Lord who is all spirit. Even we can not detect the spiritual spark which exists within the material body of the living being. We look to the outward covering of the body or subtle mind of the living being but we cannot see the spiritual spark within the body and still we have to accept the living being's presence by the presence of his gross body. Similarly those who want to see the Lord with the present material eyes or perceive Him by the material senses, they are advised to see the Lord in His gigantic external feature called the Virata Rupa. For instance when a particular gentleman goes in his car which can be seen very easily we signify the car as the man within the car. The President of the state when he goes out by his particular car, we say there is the president. For the time being we call the car as the president. The car passing we call the president passing. We call the cart-man as cart. Similarly for less intelligent men who want to see God immediately without any necessary qualification they are shown first the gigantic material cosmos as the form of the Lord although the Lord is within and without. The example of the clouds in the air, of the colour of the sky as blue, are better appreciated in this connection. Although the bluish tint of the sky and the sky are different still we can conceive the colour of the sky as blue. That is a general conception for the laymen only