Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now Krishna after describing this material world and its temporary nature now He starts describing the spiritual world:

Bg 8.20

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu
naśyatsu na vinaśyati

Word for word: 

paraḥ — transcendental; tasmāt — to that; tu — but; bhāvaḥ — nature; anyaḥ — another; avyaktaḥ — unmanifest;avyaktāt — to the unmanifest; sanātanaḥ — eternal; yaḥ saḥ — that which; sarveṣu — all; bhūteṣu — manifestation; naśyatsu — being annihilated; na — never; vinaśyati — is annihilated.

Translation: 

Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

 

Paras, there is a transcendental nature,  tasmāt tu

 Bhāvo, nature, ’nyo, there is another nature that is there

’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ, there is un-manifest and there is manifest
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu, in this world so much that exist sarveṣu bhūteṣu, 

When everything in this world is destroyed that na vinaśyati, that stays as it is. So Sri Krishna is reassuring us that although the Brahma’s abode is destructible but that doesn’t mean that all the existence is destructible there is paras tasmāt tu bhāvo, there is another nature which is not destroyed Krishna is actually referring to it in a anya (’nyo), very categorically different, so in this world there is ’vyakto ’vyaktāt there is manifest and un-manifest nature but both are temporary and there is another nature which is eternal, actually it is only spiritual which is eternal and in this world many people mistake mental to be the spiritual and what is inside is spiritual but no Krishna is telling the mental is unmanifest to us but although it is unmanifest it is not spiritual, it is also material, so like that in material world something are manifest and something are un-manifest but neither of them is eternal, what is ultimately eternal is that which is spiritual, naśyatsu na vinaśyati, that is the nature, and that is the eternal nature when all in this world is destroyed.

Srila Prabhupada: 

Kṛṣṇa’s superior energy is completely opposite in quality to material nature.

What does completely opposite means? In science there is conception of anti-matter and Srila Prabhupada use this notion of anti-matter to present spirit and He wrote a book called easy journey to other planets in which he said actually anti-matter is described in the Bhagavad Gita and it is spirit, and scientists has the conception of anti matter as something which when matter and anti matter come together both will be destroyed but Srila Prabhupada said this anti matter is not really anti, it is not adequately anti, for anti matter to be truly anti it has to be completely opposed to matter so it is not that when matter and anti matter comes both will be destroyed if anti-matter is truly anti of matter then its property should be matter should be destructible and anti-matter should not destructible, so matters generally drags us down and spirit itself lifts up and lifts other things up, matter is unconscious and spirit is conscious, so there is radical difference between the two and that understanding is highlighted by the point now that matter may be manifest to unmanifest but paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo, but there is another bhava which is beyond the two.

End of transcription.