Causarum Cognitio (‘Seek Knowledge of Causes’).
The philosophers sought to know the supreme cause or the
cause of all causes (parama karana).
What is that entity from which all other entities derived meaning; what is that
supreme entity—is it time, is it material nature, is it vital air, is it mind
or is it some other entity, even greater
and ontologically even higher? Madhavadeva says in his Nama Ghosa, ‘parama karana narayana;’ the supreme
pure personality who is the shelter of all beings and indeed, of all categories
of existence, is the cause of all causes.
Now, as Krsna or Narayana is the cause of all causes, if one
does not know Him, then, in a certain sense, one cannot be said to really know
anything (as all causes emanate from Him). On a similar line, if one knows Krsna,
the cause of all causes, then one may be termed as knowing everything.
As Krsna is the ultimate cause, He is
represented in each of the material realms—manomaya,
pranamaya, etc.—as personally
handling and interacting with each of the material entities; although, in
reality, He may not do so literally but may do so only from the point of view
of ultimate cause—as the highest entity in the ladder of cause and effect.