Text 8

asatyam apratishtham te
jagad ahur anishvaram
aparaspara-sambhutam
kim anyat kama-haitukam

Translation

They say that this world is unreal, with no foundation, no God in control. They say it is produced of sex desire and has no cause other than lust.

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada

The demonic conclude that the world is phantasmagoria. There is no cause and effect, no controller, no purpose: everything is unreal. They say that this cosmic manifestation arises due to chance material actions and reactions. They do not think that the world was created by God for a certain purpose. They have their own theory: that the world has come about in its own way and that there is no reason to believe that there is a God behind it. For them there is no difference between spirit and matter, and they do not accept the Supreme Spirit. 

Everything is matter only, and the whole cosmos is supposed to be a mass of ignorance. According to them, everything is void, and whatever manifestation exists is due to our ignorance in perception. They take it for granted that all manifestation of diversity is a display of ignorance. Just as in a dream we may create so many things which actually have no existence, so when we are awake we shall see that everything is simply a dream. But factually, although the demons say that life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream. And so, instead of acquiring knowledge, they become more and more implicated in their dreamland. They conclude that as a child is simply the result of sexual intercourse between man and woman, this world is born without any soul. For them it is only a combination of matter that has produced the living entities, and there is no question of the existence of the soul. As many living creatures come out from perspiration and from a dead body without any cause, the whole living world has come out of the material combinations of the cosmic manifestation. Therefore material nature is the cause of this manifestation, and there is no other cause. They do not believe in the words of Krishna in Bhagavad-gita: mayadhyaksena prakritih suyate sa-caracaram. “Under My direction the whole material world is moving.” In other words, among the demons there is no perfect knowledge of the creation of the world; every one of them has some particular theory of his own. According to them, one interpretation of the scriptures is as good as another, for they do not believe in a standard understanding of the scriptural injunctions.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

This verse describes the thinking process of the asuras. They say that the world is an illusory conception, based on falsity (asatyam); that it is without shelter (apratistha), not having even the basis of a flower in the sky; that it is without creatorship of a controller since it is false (anisvaram). Because it has arisen from nowhere like entities from perspiration, it has not arisen from a cause (aparaspara sambhutam). What else can be said (kim anyat)? Its cause is just according to the desire of those who propound theories about it (kama haitukam). If they can imagine that the world arises only by illusion, then that becomes the cause.

Others explain the verse thus: It has no proof, no confirmation from the Vedas, Puranas or other sources of knowledge (asatyam). It is said:

trayo vedasya kartaro bhanda-dhurta-nisacara

The makers of the three Vedas are jackals imitating wise men.

It has no state of dharma or adharma (apratistham). The ideas of dharma and adharma are both mistaken conceptions. The Lord also is conceived on the basis of mistake or bhrama (anisvaram).

"It is observed that the world arises only from the mutual interactions of men and women." This is not a fact. The world does not arise from their interaction (aparaspara sarhbhutam). Though it is said that the child arises from the mother and father, it is a mistaken idea, like false knowledge that the pot has arisen from the potter. What should be said? The cause of the world is simply a speculation of one's whim (kama haitukam). By logic, whatever different persons speak about atoms, maya or God, they talk of that as the cause.