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TEXT 8 raso 'ham apsu kaunteya
SYNONYMS  rasah--taste;
aham--I; apsu--in water; kaunteya--O son of Kunti;
prabha asmi--I am the light; sasi-suryayoh--in the sun and
the moon; pranavah--the letters A.U.M.; sarva--in
all; vedesu--in the Vedas; sabdah--sound vibration;
khe--in the ether; paurusam--ability; nrsu--in man.
TRANSLATION O son of
Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon,
the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability
in man.
PURPORT This verse explains
how the Lord is all-pervasive by His diverse material and spiritual energies.
The Supreme Lord can be preliminarily perceived by His different energies,
and in this way He is realized impersonally. As the demigod in the sun
is a person and is perceived by his all-pervading energy, the sunshine,
similarly, the Lord, although in His eternal abode, is perceived by His
all-pervading, diffusive energies. The taste of water is the active principle
of water. No one likes to drink sea water because the pure taste of water
is mixed with salt. Attraction for water depends on the purity of the taste,
and this pure taste is one of the energies of the Lord. The impersonalist
perceives the presence of the Lord in water by its taste, and the personalist
also glorifies the Lord for His kindly supplying water to quench man's
thirst. That is the way of perceiving the Supreme. Practically speaking,
there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows
God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously
present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord
Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya-bheda and abheda-tattvam--simultaneously
one and different.
The light
of the sun and the moon is also originally emanating from the brahmajyoti,
which is the impersonal effulgence of the Lord. Similarly pranava
or the omkara transcendental sound used in the beginning of every
Vedic hymn to address the Supreme Lord also emanates from Him. Because
the impersonalists are very much afraid of addressing the Supreme Lord
Krsna by His innumerable names, they prefer to vibrate the transcendental
sound omkara. But they do not realize that omkara is the
sound representation of Krsna. The jurisdiction of Krsna consciousness
extends everywhere, and one who knows Krsna consciousness is blessed. Those
who do not know Krsna are in illusion, and so knowledge of Krsna is liberation,
and ignorance of Him is bondage.
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