SB 3.20.16
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 16
- tasya nābher abhūt padmaṁ
- sahasrārkoru-dīdhiti
- sarva-jīvanikāyauko
- yatra svayam abhūt svarāṭ
SYNONYMS
tasya — of the Lord; nābheḥ — from the navel; abhūt — sprouted up; padmam — a lotus; sahasra-arka — a thousand suns; uru — more; dīdhiti — with dazzling splendor; sarva — all; jīva-nikāya — resting place of conditioned souls; okaḥ — place; yatra — where; svayam — himself; abhūt — emanated; sva-rāṭ — the omnipotent (Lord Brahmā).
TRANSLATION
From the navel of the Personality of Godhead Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu sprouted a lotus flower effulgent like a thousand blazing suns. This lotus flower is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, and the first living entity who came out of the lotus flower was the omnipotent Brahmā
PURPORT
It appears from this verse that the conditioned souls who rested within the body of the Personality of Godhead after the dissolution of the last creation came out in the sum total form of the lotus. This is called hiraṇyagarbha. The first living entity to come out was Lord Brahmā, who is independently able to create the rest of the manifested universe. The lotus is described here as effulgent as the glare of a thousand suns. This indicates that the living entities, as parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, are also of the same quality, since the Lord also diffuses His bodily glare, known as brahmajyoti. The description of Vaikuṇṭhaloka, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, is confirmed herewith. In Vaikuṇṭha, the spiritual sky, there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, electricity or fire. Every planet there is self-effulgent like the sun.