Perceived World Is Not the Same for Everyone
Now there is one more difference. Since the material world around is a perceived world, it varies from person to person. Then the instruments of perception, the senses — eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin — the signals of perception and the medium for them to travel — sound, light, taste, smell, and touch — should also be contained in Mahat Tatva.
In addition to the physical materials required for creating the material world — that is, the Panch Bhutas, five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Akasha.
When there are signals coming and instruments receiving them, the data should be processed and understood — the need for mind, intelligence, the awareness of self — that I am me and that is that. All these are contained in Mahat Tatva. It is important to understand here that the Mahat Tatva is not a mixture of all these.
Mahat Tatva is also undifferentiated. It is one base material out of which the entire creation comes out during a Chaturyuga.
And this Mahat Tatva creates and dissolves innumerable universes at the same time. Like the universe that you can perceive — Earth, sky, planets, solar system, Milky Way — the galaxy in which we are.
The Milky Way is estimated to have a diameter of 1 lac or more light years. It contains about 400 billion stars — all estimates. Modern astronomy says that there are probably 100 billion such galaxies in the universe, probably two hundred billion. The estimate depends on the power of the telescope that we have. And this is one universe in which we are.
There are innumerable such universes coming out and going back into the Mahat Tatva. And Mahat Tatva is like a small speck in the whole endless sky called Narayana.
So at the end of His Yoganidra in the Karanodaka (causal water), He wakes up and from every pore in His skin numerous universes come out.
तत्सृष्ट्वा तदेवानुप्राविशत्
He enters each and every one of them. He permeates each and every one of them as Garbhodaka Shayee Mahavishnu.
In His form as Garbhodaka Shayee Mahavishnu, from His navel (nabhi) comes out the lotus upon which sits Brahma the Creator. Then the 14 worlds are created. All the beings — living and non-living — are created. The collective Atma, the Paramatma of all the beings, is called Ksheerodakashayee Maha Vishnu, the one we look at as the Mahavishnu lying on top of the thousand-hooded Anantashesha in the Milky Ocean. Ksheeroda or Ksheerarnava means the Milky Ocean.
Even when we perceive Him as the Ksheerodashayee — the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient Lord — it is worthwhile to keep in mind His other two Purushavataras: Karanodakashayee and Garbhodakashayee. This will give us an idea of how limited our perception is. How little you can perceive with your mind. Even when we talk about Him with all these descriptions, it is like the ant trying to describe what a mountain is.
He is present in it everywhere. Omnipresent. Being the cause of Vishvam, He is Vishvam.
स एवेदं ससर्जाग्रे भगवानात्ममायया
सदसद्रूपया चासौ गुणमय्याऽगुणो विभुः
He doesn’t have attributes — the Sattva, Rajas, Tamo Gunas — He is beyond them. But His Maya has got the attributes. With that Maya, He created.
तया विलसितेष्वेषु गुणेषु गुणवानिव
अन्तः प्रविष्ट आभाति विज्ञानेन विजृंभितः
And after entering all that is created with that Maya, He behaves as if He has got Gunas — that He is Saguna.
असौ गुणमयैर्भावैर्भूतसूक्ष्मेन्द्रियात्मभिः
स्वनिर्मितेषु निर्विष्टो भुङ्क्ते भूतेषु तद्गुणान्
And through those beings that He created, He enjoys and undergoes the experiences derived from those Gunas.
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Vishnu Sahasranama
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