Chapter 5
The Glories of Lord Nityānanda Balarāma
This chapter is chiefly devoted to describing the essential nature and glories of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Personality of Godhead, and His first expansion in a form for pastimes is Śrī Balarāma.
Beyond the limitation of this material world is the spiritual sky, paravyoma, which has many spiritual planets, the supreme of which is called Kṛṣṇaloka. Kṛṣṇaloka, the abode of Kṛṣṇa, has three divisions, which are known as Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula. In that abode the Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four plenary portions-Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Pradyumna (the transcendental Cupid) and Aniruddha. They are known as the original quadruple forms.
In Kṛṣṇaloka is a transcendental place known as Śvetadvīpa or Vṛndāvana. Below Kṛṣṇaloka in the spiritual sky are the Vaikuṇṭha planets. On each Vaikuṇṭha planet a four-handed Nārāyaṇa, expanded from the first quadruple manifestation, is present. The Personality of Godhead known as Śrī Balarāma in Kṛṣṇaloka is the original Saṅkarṣaṇa (attracting Deity), and from this Saṅkarṣaṇa expands another Saṅkarṣaṇa, called Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who resides in one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets. By His internal potency, Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa maintains the transcendental existence of all the planets in the spiritual sky, where all the living beings are eternally liberated souls. The influence of the material energy is conspicuous there by its absence. On those planets the second quadruple manifestation is present.
Outside of the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the impersonal manifestation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which is known as the Brahmaloka. On the other side of the Brahmaloka is the spiritual kāraṇa-samudra, or Causal Ocean. The material energy exists on the other side of the Causal Ocean, without touching it. In the Causal Ocean is Mahā-Viṣṇu, the original puruṣa expansion from Saṅkarṣaṇa. This Mahā-Viṣṇu places His glance over the material energy, and by a reflection of His transcendental body He amalgamates Himself within the material elements.
As the source of the material elements, the material energy is known as pradhāna, and as the source of the manifestations of the material energy it is known as māyā. But material nature is inert in that she has no independent power to do anything. She is empowered to make the cosmic manifestation by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Therefore the material energy is not the original cause of the material manifestation. Rather, the transcendental glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu over material nature produces that cosmic manifestation.
Mahā-Viṣṇu again enters every universe as the reservoir of all living entities, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul of every living entity. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu also has His own Vaikuṇṭha planet in every universe, where He lives as the Supersoul or supreme controller of the universe. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu reclines in the midst of the watery portion of the universe and generates the first living creature of the universe, Brahmā. The imaginary universal form is a partial manifestation of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.
In the Vaikuṇṭha planet in every universe is an ocean of milk, and within that ocean is an island called Śvetadvīpa, where Lord Viṣṇu lives. Therefore this chapter describes two Śvetadvīpas-one in the abode of Kṛṣṇa and the other in the ocean of milk in every universe. The Śvetadvīpa in the abode of Kṛṣṇa is identical with Vṛndāvana-dhāma, which is the place where Kṛṣṇa appears Himself to display His loving pastimes. In the Śvetadvīpa within every universe is a Śeṣa form of Godhead who serves Viṣṇu by assuming the form of His umbrella, slippers, couch, pillows, garments, residence, sacred thread, throne and so on.
Lord Baladeva in Kṛṣṇaloka is Nityānanda Prabhu. Therefore Nityānanda Prabhu is the original Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa and His expansions as the puruṣas in the universes are plenary expansions of Nityānanda Prabhu.
In this chapter the author has described the history of his leaving home for a personal pilgrimage to Vṛndāvana and his achieving all success there. In this description it is revealed that the author's original paternal home and birthplace were in the district of Katwa, in the village of Jhāmaṭapura, which is near Naihāṭī. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja's brother invited Śrī Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa, a great devotee of Lord Nityānanda, to his home, but a priest named Guṇārṇava Miśra did not receive him well, and Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī's brother, not recognizing the glories of Lord Nityānanda, also took sides with the priest. Therefore Rāmadāsa became sorry, broke his flute and went away. This was a great disaster for the brother of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. But on that very night Lord Nityānanda Prabhu Himself graced Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī in a dream and ordered him to leave on the next day for Vṛndāvana.
TEXT 1
vande 'nantādbhutaiśvaryaṁ
śrī-nityānandam īśvaram
yasyecchayā tat-svarūpam
ajñenāpi nirūpyate
SYNONYMS
vande—let me offer my obeisances; ananta—unlimited; adbhuta—and wonderful; aiśvaryam—whose opulence; śrī-nityānandam—unto Lord Nityānanda; īśvaram—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yasya—whose; icchayā—by the will; tat-svarūpam—His identity; ajñena—by the ignorant; api—even; nirūpyate—can be ascertained.
TRANSLATION
Let me offer my obeisances to Lord Śrī Nityānanda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose opulence is wonderful and unlimited. By His will, even a fool can understand His identity.
TEXT 2
jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
SYNONYMS
jaya jaya—all glories; śrī-caitanya—to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; jaya nityānanda—all glories to Lord Nityānanda; jaya advaita-candra—all glories to Advaita Ācārya; jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda—all glories to the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
TRANSLATION
All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. All glories to Lord Nityānanda. All glories to Advaita Ācārya. And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
TEXT 3
ei ṣaṭ-śloke kahila kṛṣṇa-caitanya-mahimā
pañca-śloke kahi nityānanda-tattva-sīmā
SYNONYMS
ei—this; ṣaṭ-śloke—in six verses; kahila—described; kṛṣṇa-caitanya-mahimā—the glories of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; pañca-śloke—in five verses; kahi—let me explain; nityānanda—of Lord Nityānanda; tattva—of the truth; sīmā—the limitation.
TRANSLATION
I have described the glory of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya in six verses. Now, in five verses, I shall describe the glory of Lord Nityānanda.
TEXT 4
sarva-avatārī kṛṣṇa svayaṁ bhagavān
tāṅhāra dvitīya deha śrī-balarāma
SYNONYMS
sarva-avatārī—the source of all incarnations; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; svayam—personally; bhagavān—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; tāṅhāra—His; dvitīya—second; deha—expansion of the body; śrī-balarāma—Lord Balarāma.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarāma is His second body.
PURPORT
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is the primeval Lord, the original form of Godhead, and His first expansion is Śrī Balarāma. The Personality of Godhead can expand Himself in innumerable forms. The forms that have unlimited potency are called svāṁśa, and forms that have limited potencies (the living entities) are called vibhinnāṁśa.
TEXT 5
eka-i svarūpa doṅhe, bhinna-mātra kāya
ādya kāya-vyūha, kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya
SYNONYMS
eka-i—one; svarūpa—identity; doṅhe—both of Them; bhinna-mātra kāya—only two different bodies; ādya—original; kāya-vyūha—quadruple expansions; kṛṣṇa-līlāra—in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa; sahāya—assistance.
TRANSLATION
They are both one and the same identity. They differ only in form. He is the first bodily expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and He assists in Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental pastimes.
PURPORT
Balarāma is a svāṁśa expansion of the Lord, and therefore there is no difference in potency between Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. The only difference is in Their bodily structure. As the first expansion of Godhead, Balarāma is the chief Deity among the first quadruple forms, and He is the foremost assistant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental activities.
TEXT 6
sei kṛṣṇa--navadvīpe śrī-caitanya-candra
sei balarāma--saṅge śrī-nityānanda
SYNONYMS
sei kṛṣṇa—that original Kṛṣṇa; navadvīpe—at Navadvīpa; śrī-caitanya-candra—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; sei balarāma—that Lord Balarāma; saṅge—with Him; śrī-nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda.
TRANSLATION
That original Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared in Navadvīpa as Lord Caitanya, and Balarāma appeared with Him as Lord Nityānanda.
TEXT 7
saṅkarṣaṇaḥ kāraṇa-toya-śāyī
garbhoda-śāyī ca payobdhi-śāyī
śeṣaś ca yasyāṁśa-kalāḥ sa nityā-
nandākhya-rāmaḥ śaraṇaṁ mamāstu
SYNONYMS
saṅkarṣaṇaḥ—Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa in the spiritual sky; kāraṇa-toya-śāyī—Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lies in the Causal Ocean; garbha-uda-śāyī—Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lies in the Garbhodaka Ocean of the universe; ca—and; payaḥ-abdhi-śāyī—Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lies in the ocean of milk; śeṣaḥ—Śeṣa Nāga, the couch of Viṣṇu; ca—and; yasya—whose; aṁśa—plenary portions; kalāḥ—and parts of the plenary portions; saḥ—He; nityānanda-ākhya—known as Lord Nityānanda; rāmaḥ—Lord Balarāma; śaraṇam—shelter; mama—my; astu—let there be.
TRANSLATION
May Śrī Nityānanda Rāma be the object of my constant remembrance. Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śeṣa Nāga and the Viṣṇus who lie on the Kāraṇa Ocean, Garbha Ocean and ocean of milk are His plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions.
PURPORT
Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has recorded this verse in his diary to offer his respectful obeisances to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. This verse also appears as the seventh of the first fourteen verses of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
TEXT 8
śrī-balarāma gosāñi mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa
pañca-rūpa dhari' karena kṛṣṇera sevana
SYNONYMS
śrī-balarāma—Balarāma; gosāñi—the Lord; mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa—the original Saṅkarṣaṇa; pañca-rūpa dhari'—accepting five bodies; karena—does; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; sevana—service.
TRANSLATION
Lord Balarāma is the original Saṅkarṣaṇa. He assumes five other forms to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 9
āpane karena kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya
sṛṣṭi-līlā-kārya kare dhari' cāri kāya
SYNONYMS
āpane—personally; karena—performs; kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya—assistance in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa; sṛṣṭi-līlā—of the pastimes of creation; kārya—the work; kare—does; dhari'-accepting; cāri kāya—four bodies.
TRANSLATION
He Himself helps in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and He does the work of creation in four other forms.
TEXT 10
sṛṣṭy-ādika sevā,--tāṅra ājñāra pālana
'śeṣa'-rūpe kare kṛṣṇera vividha sevana
SYNONYMS
sṛṣṭi-ādika sevā—service in the matter of creation; tāṅra—His; ājñāra—of the order; pālana—execution; śeṣa-rūpe—the form of Lord Śeṣa; kare—does; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; vividha sevana—varieties of service.
TRANSLATION
He executes the orders of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the work of creation, and in the form of Lord Śeṣa He serves Kṛṣṇa in various ways.
PURPORT
According to expert opinion, Balarāma, as the chief of the original quadruple forms, is also the original Saṅkarṣaṇa. Balarāma, the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa, expands Himself in five forms: (1) Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, (2) Kāraṇābdhiśāyī, (3) Garbhodakaśāyī, (4) Kṣīrodakaśāyī, and (5) Śeṣa. These five plenary portions are responsible for both the spiritual and material cosmic manifestations. In these five forms Lord Balarāma assists Lord Kṛṣṇa in His activities. The first four of these forms are responsible for the cosmic manifestations, whereas Śeṣa is responsible for personal service to the Lord. Śeṣa is called Ananta, or unlimited, because He assists the Personality of Godhead in His unlimited expansions by performing an unlimited variety of services. Śrī Balarāma is the servitor Godhead who serves Lord Kṛṣṇa in all affairs of existence and knowledge. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, who is the same servitor Godhead, Balarāma, performs the same service to Lord Gaurāṅga by constant association.
TEXT 11
sarva-rūpe āsvādaye kṛṣṇa-sevānanda
sei balarāma--gaura-saṅge nityānanda
SYNONYMS
sarva-rūpe—in all these forms; āsvādaye—tastes; kṛṣṇa-sevā-ānanda—the transcendental bliss of serving Kṛṣṇa; sei balarāma—that Lord Balarāma; gaura-saṅge—with Gaurasundara; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda.
TRANSLATION
In all the forms He tastes the transcendental bliss of serving Kṛṣṇa. That same Balarāma is Lord Nityānanda, the companion of Lord Gaurasundara.
TEXT 12
saptama ślokera artha kari cāri-śloke
yāte nityānanda-tattva jāne sarva-loke
SYNONYMS
saptama ślokera—of the seventh verse; artha—the meaning; kari—I do; cāri-śloke—in four verses; yāte—in which; nityānanda-tattva—the truth of Lord Nityānanda; jāne—one knows; sarva-loke—all over the world.
TRANSLATION
I have explained this seventh verse in four subsequent verses. By these verses all the world can know the truth about Lord Nityānanda.
TEXT 13
māyātīte vyāpi-vaikuṇṭha-loke
pūrṇaiśvarye śrī-catur-vyūha-madhye
rūpaṁ yasyodbhāti saṅkarṣaṇākhyaṁ
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
māyā-atīte—beyond the material creation; vyāpi—all-expanding; vaikuṇṭha-loke—in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the spiritual world; pūrṇa-aiśvarye—endowed with full opulence; śrī-catuḥ-vyūha-madhye—in the quadruple expansions (Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha); rūpam—form; yasya—whose; udbhāti—appears; saṅkarṣaṇa-ākhyam—known as Saṅkarṣaṇa; tam—to Him; śrī-nityānanda-rāmam—to Lord Balarāma in the form of Lord Nityānanda; prapadye—I surrender.
TRANSLATION
I surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, who is known as Saṅkarṣaṇa in the midst of the catur-vyūha [consisting of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha]. He possesses full opulences and resides in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, far beyond the material creation.
PURPORT
This is a verse from Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī's diary. It appears as the eighth of the first fourteen verses of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
TEXT 14
prakṛtira pāra 'paravyoma'-nāme dhāma
kṛṣṇa-vigraha yaiche vibhūty-ādi-guṇavān
SYNONYMS
prakṛtira—the material nature; pāra—beyond; para-vyoma—the spiritual sky; nāme—in name; dhāma—the place; kṛṣṇa-vigraha—the form of Lord Kṛṣṇa; yaiche—just as; vibhūti-ādi—like the six opulences; guṇa-vān—full with transcendental attributes.
TRANSLATION
Beyond the material nature lies the realm known as paravyoma, the spiritual sky. Like Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, it possesses all transcendental attributes, such as the six opulences.
PURPORT
According to Sāṅkhya philosophy, the material cosmos is composed of twenty-four elements: the five gross material elements, the three subtle material elements, the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five active senses, the five objects of sense pleasure, and the mahat-tattva (the total material energy). Empiric philosophers, unable to go beyond these elements, speculate that anything beyond them must be avyakta, or inexplicable. But the world beyond the twenty-four elements is not inexplicable, for it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as the eternal (sanātana) nature. Beyond the manifested and unmanifested existence of material nature (vyaktāvyakta) is the sanātana nature, which is called the paravyoma, or the spiritual sky. Since that nature is spiritual in quality, there are no qualitative differences there; everything there is spiritual, everything is good, and everything possesses the spiritual form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. That spiritual sky is the manifested internal potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; it is distinct from the material sky manifested by His external potency.
The all-pervading Brahman, the impersonal glowing ray of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, exists in the spiritual world with the Vaikuṇṭha planets. We can get some idea of that spiritual sky by a comparison to the material sky, for the rays of the sun in the material sky can be compared to the brahmajyoti, the glowing rays of the Personality of Godhead. In the brahmajyoti there are unlimited Vaikuṇṭha planets, which are spiritual and therefore self-luminous, with a glow many times greater than that of the sun. The Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, His innumerable plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions dominate each Vaikuṇṭha planet. In the highest region of the spiritual sky is the planet called Kṛṣṇaloka, which has three divisions, namely Dvārakā, Mathurā and Goloka.
To a gross materialist this kingdom of God, Vaikuṇṭha, is certainly a mystery. But to an ignorant man everything is a mystery for want of sufficient knowledge. The kingdom of God is not a myth. Even the material planets, which float over our heads in the millions and billions, are still a mystery to the ignorant. Material scientists are now attempting to penetrate this mystery, and a day may come when the people of this earth will be able to travel in outer space and see the variegatedness of these millions of planets with their own eyes. In every planet there is as much material variegatedness as we find in our own planet.
This planet earth is but an insignificant spot in the cosmic structure. Yet foolish men, puffed up by a false sense of scientific advancement, have concentrated their energy in a pursuit of so-called economic development on this planet, not knowing of the variegated economic facilities available on other planets. According to modern astronomy, the gravity of the moon is different from that of earth. Therefore one who goes to the moon will be able to pick up large weights and jump vast distances. In the Rāmāyaṇa, Hanumān is described as being able to lift huge weights as heavy as hills and jump over the ocean. Modern astronomy has confirmed that this is indeed possible.
The disease of the modern civilized man is his disbelief of everything in the revealed scriptures. Faithless nonbelievers cannot make progress in spiritual realization, for they cannot understand the spiritual potency. The small fruit of a banyan contains hundreds of seeds, and in each seed is the potency to produce another banyan tree with the potency to produce millions more of such fruits. This law of nature is visible before us, although how it works is beyond our understanding. This is but an insignificant example of the potency of Godhead; there are many similar phenomena that no scientist can explain.
Everything, in fact, is inconceivable, for the truth is revealed only to the proper persons. Although there are varieties of personalities, from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, all of whom are living beings, their development of knowledge is different. Therefore we have to gather knowledge from the right source. Indeed, in reality we can get knowledge only from the Vedic sources. The four Vedas, with their supplementary Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa and their corollaries, which are known as smṛtis, are all authorized sources of knowledge. If we are at all to gather knowledge, we must gather it from these sources without hesitation.
Revealed knowledge may in the beginning be unbelievable because of our paradoxical desire to verify everything with our tiny brains, but the speculative means of attaining knowledge is always imperfect. The perfect knowledge propounded in the revealed scriptures is confirmed by the great ācāryas, who have left ample commentations upon them; none of these ācāryas has disbelieved in the śāstras. One who disbelieves in the śāstras is an atheist, and we should not consult an atheist, however great he may be. A staunch believer in the śāstras, with all their diversities, is the right person from whom to gather real knowledge. Such knowledge may seem inconceivable in the beginning, but when put forward by the proper authority its meaning is revealed, and then one no longer has any doubts about it.
TEXT 15
sarvaga, ananta, vibhu--vaikuṇṭhādi dhāma
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-avatārera tāhāñi viśrāma
SYNONYMS
sarva-ga—all-pervading; ananta—unlimited; vibhu—greatest; vaikuṇṭha-ādi dhāma—all the places known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka; kṛṣṇa—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; kṛṣṇa-avatārera—of the incarnations of Lord Kṛṣṇa; tāhāñi—there; viśrāma—the residence.
TRANSLATION
That Vaikuṇṭha region is all-pervading, infinite and supreme. It is the residence of Lord Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations.
TEXT 16
tāhāra upari-bhāge 'kṛṣṇa-loka'-khyāti
dvārakā-mathurā-gokula--tri-vidhatve sthiti
SYNONYMS
tāhāra—of all of them; upari-bhāge—on the top; kṛṣṇa-loka-khyāti—the planet known as Kṛṣṇaloka; dvārakā-mathurā-gokula—the three places known as Dvārakā, Mathurā and Vṛndāvana; tri-vidhatve—in three departments; sthiti—situated.
TRANSLATION
In the highest region of that spiritual sky is the spiritual planet called Kṛṣṇaloka. It has three divisions-Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula.
TEXT 17
sarvopari śrī-gokula--vrajaloka-dhāma
śrī-goloka, śvetadvīpa, vṛndāvana nāma
SYNONYMS
sarva-upari—above all of them; śrī-gokula—the place known as Gokula; vraja-loka-dhāma—the place of Vraja; śrī-goloka—the place named Goloka; śveta-dvīpa—the white island; vṛndāvana nāma—also named Vṛndāvana.
TRANSLATION
Śrī Gokula, the highest of all, is also called Vraja, Goloka, Śvetadvīpa and Vṛndāvana.
TEXT 18
sarvaga, ananta, vibhu, kṛṣṇa-tanu-sama
upary-adho vyāpiyāche, nāhika niyama
SYNONYMS
sarva-ga—all-pervading; ananta—unlimited; vibhu—the greatest; kṛṣṇa-tanu-sama—exactly like the transcendental body of Kṛṣṇa; upari-adhaḥ—up and down; vyāpiyāche—expanded; nāhika—there is no; niyama—regulation.
TRANSLATION
Like the transcendental body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Gokula is all-pervading, infinite and supreme. It expands both above and below, without any restriction.
PURPORT
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the great authority and philosopher in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, has discussed the abode of Kṛṣṇa in his Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord refers to "My abode." Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, examining the nature of Kṛṣṇa's abode, refers to the Skanda Purāṇa, which states:
yā yathā bhuvi vartante
puryo bhagavataḥ priyāḥ
tās tathā santi vaikuṇṭhe
tat-tal-līlārtham ādṛtāḥ
"The abodes of Godhead in the material world, such as Dvārakā, Mathurā and Goloka, are facsimiles representing the abodes of Godhead in the kingdom of God, Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma." The unlimited spiritual atmosphere of that Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma is far above and beyond the material cosmos. This is confirmed in the Svāyambhuva-tantra in a discussion between Lord Śiva and Pārvatī regarding the effect of chanting the mantra of fourteen syllables. There it is stated:
nānā-kalpa-latākīrṇaṁ
vaikuṇṭhaṁ vyāpakaṁ smaret
adhaḥ sāmyaṁ guṇānāṁ ca
prakṛtiḥ sarva-kāraṇam
"While chanting the mantra, one should always remember the spiritual world, which is very extensive and full of desire trees that can yield anything one desires. Below that Vaikuṇṭha region is the potential material energy, which causes the material manifestation." The places of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, such as Dvārakā, Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, eternally and independently exist in Kṛṣṇaloka. They are the actual abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and there is no doubt that they are situated above the material cosmic manifestation.
The abode known as Vṛndāvana or Gokula is also known as Goloka. The Brahma-saṁhitā states that Gokula, the highest region of the kingdom of God, resembles a lotus flower with thousands of petals. The outer portion of that lotuslike planet is a square place known as Śvetadvīpa. In the inner portion of Gokula there is an elaborate arrangement for Śrī Kṛṣṇa's residence with His eternal associates such as Nanda and Yaśodā. That transcendental abode exists by the energy of Śrī Baladeva, who is the original whole of Śeṣa, or Ananta. The tantras also confirm this description by stating that the abode of Śrī Anantadeva, the plenary portion of Baladeva, is called the kingdom of God. Vṛndāvana-dhāma is the innermost abode within the quadrangular realm of Śvetadvīpa, which lies outside of the boundary of Gokula Vṛndāvana.
According to Jīva Gosvāmī, Vaikuṇṭha is also called Brahmaloka. The Nārada-pañcarātra, in a statement concerning the mystery of Vijaya, describes:
tat sarvopari goloke
tatra lokopari svayam
viharet paramānandī
govindo 'tula-nāyakaḥ
"The predominator of the gopīs, Govinda, the principal Deity of Gokula, always enjoys Himself in a place called Goloka in the topmost part of the spiritual sky."
From the authoritative evidence cited by Jīva Gosvāmī we may conclude that Kṛṣṇaloka is the supreme planet in the spiritual sky, which is far beyond the material cosmos. For the enjoyment of transcendental variety, the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa there have three divisions, and these pastimes are performed in the three abodes Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula. When Kṛṣṇa descends to this universe, He enjoys the pastimes in places of the same name. These places on earth are nondifferent from those original abodes, for they are facsimiles of those original holy places in the transcendental world. They are as good as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself and are equally worshipable. Lord Caitanya declared that Lord Kṛṣṇa, who presents Himself as the son of the King of Vraja, is worshipable, and Vṛndāvana-dhāma is equally worshipable.
TEXT 19
brahmāṇḍe prakāśa tāra kṛṣṇera icchāya
eka-i svarūpa tāra, nāhi dui kāya
SYNONYMS
brahmāṇḍe—within the material world; prakāśa—manifestation; tāra—of it; kṛṣṇera icchāya—by the supreme will of Lord Kṛṣṇa; eka-i—it is the same; svarūpa—identity; tāra—of it; nāhi—not; dui—two; kāya—bodies.
TRANSLATION
That abode is manifested within the material world by the will of Lord Kṛṣṇa. It is identical to that original Gokula; they are not two different bodies.
PURPORT
The above-mentioned dhāmas are movable, by the omnipotent will of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa appears on the face of the earth, He can also make His dhāmas appear, without changing their original structure. One should not discriminate between the dhāmas on the earth and those in the spiritual sky, thinking those on earth to be material and the original abodes to be spiritual. All of them are spiritual. Only for us, who cannot experience anything beyond matter in our present conditioned state, do the dhāmas and the Lord Himself, in His arcā form, appear before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see spirit with material eyes. In the beginning this may be difficult for a neophyte to understand, but in due course, when one is advanced in devotional service, it will be easier, and he will appreciate the Lord's presence in these tangible forms.
TEXT 20
cintāmaṇi-bhūmi, kalpa-vṛkṣa-maya vana
carma-cakṣe dekhe tāre prapañcera sama
SYNONYMS
cintāmaṇi-bhūmi—the land of touchstone; kalpa-vṛkṣa-maya—full of desire trees; vana—forests; carma-cakṣe—the material eyes; dekhe—see; tāre—it; prapañcera sama—equal to the material creation.
TRANSLATION
The land there is touchstone [cintāmaṇi], and the forests abound with desire trees. Material eyes see it as an ordinary place.
PURPORT
By the grace of the Lord His dhāmas and He Himself can all be present simultaneously, without losing their original importance. Only when one fully develops in affection and love of Godhead can one see those dhāmas in their original appearance.
Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a great ācārya in the preceptorial line of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, has said for our benefit that one can perfectly see the dhāmas only when one completely gives up the mentality of lording it over material nature. One's spiritual vision develops proportionately to one's giving up the debased mentality of unnecessarily enjoying matter. A diseased person who has become diseased because of a certain bad habit must be ready to follow the advice of the physician, and as a natural sequence he must attempt to give up the cause of the disease. The patient cannot indulge in the bad habit and at the same time expect to be cured by the physician. Modern material civilization, however, is maintaining a diseased atmosphere. The living being is a spiritual spark, as spiritual as the Lord Himself. The only difference is that the Lord is great and the living being is small. Qualitatively they are one, but quantitatively they are different. Therefore, since the living being is spiritual in constitution, he can be happy only in the spiritual sky, where there are unlimited spiritual spheres called Vaikuṇṭhas. A spiritual being conditioned by a material body must therefore try to get rid of his disease instead of developing the cause of the disease.
Foolish persons engrossed in their material assets are unnecessarily proud of being leaders of the people, but they ignore the spiritual value of man. Such illusioned leaders make plans covering any number of years, but they can hardly make humanity happy in a state conditioned by the threefold miseries inflicted by material nature. One cannot control the laws of nature by any amount of struggling. One must at last be subject to death, nature's ultimate law. Death, birth, old age and illness are symptoms of the diseased condition of the living being. The highest aim of human life should therefore be to get free from these miseries and go back home, back to Godhead.
TEXT 21
prema-netre dekhe tāra svarūpa-prakāśa
gopa-gopī-saṅge yāṅhā kṛṣṇera vilāsa
SYNONYMS
prema-netre—with the eyes of love of Godhead; dekhe—one sees; tāra—its; svarūpa-prakāśa—manifestation of identity; gopa—cowherd boys; gopī-saṅge—with the cowherd damsels; yāṅhā—where; kṛṣṇera vilāsa—the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
TRANSLATION
But with the eyes of love of Godhead one can see its real identity as the place where Lord Kṛṣṇa performs His pastimes with the cowherd boys and cowherd girls.
TEXT 22
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
SYNONYMS
cintāmaṇi—touchstone; prakara—groups made of; sadmasu—in abodes; kalpa-vṛkṣa—of desire trees; lakṣa—by millions; āvṛteṣu—surrounded; surabhīḥ—surabhi cows; abhipālayantam—tending; lakṣmī—of goddesses of fortune; sahasra—of thousands; śata—by hundreds; sambhrama—with great respect; sevyamānam—being served; govindam—Govinda; ādi-puruṣam—the original person; tam—Him; aham—I; bhajāmi—worship.
TRANSLATION
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending cows yielding all desires in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune."
PURPORT
This is a verse from the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29). This description of the abode of Kṛṣṇa gives us definite information of the transcendental place where not only is life eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, but there are ample vegetables, milk, jewels, and beautiful homes and gardens tended by lovely damsels who are all goddesses of fortune. Kṛṣṇaloka is the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, and below it are innumerable spheres, a description of which can be found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the beginning of Lord Brahmā's self-realization he was shown a transcendental vision of the Vaikuṇṭha spheres by the grace of Nārāyaṇa. Later, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, he was shown a transcendental vision of Kṛṣṇaloka. This transcendental vision is like the reception of television from the moon via a mechanical system for receiving modulated waves, but it is achieved by penance and meditation within oneself.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Second Canto) states that in Vaikuṇṭhaloka the material modes of nature, represented by the qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, have no influence. In the material world the highest qualitative manifestation is goodness, which is characterized by truthfulness, mental equilibrium, cleanliness, control of the senses, simplicity, essential knowledge, faith in God, scientific knowledge and so on. Nevertheless, all these qualities are mixed with passion and imperfection. But the qualities in Vaikuṇṭha are a manifestation of God's internal potency, and therefore they are purely spiritual and transcendental, with no trace of material infection. No material planet, even Satyaloka, is comparable in quality to the spiritual planets, where the five inherent qualities of the material world-namely, ignorance, misery, egoism, anger and envy-are completely absent.
In the material world, everything is a creation. Anything we can think of within our experience, including even our own bodies and minds, was created. This process of creation began with the life of Brahmā, and the creative principle is prevalent all over the material universe because of the quality of passion. But since the quality of passion is conspicuous by its absence in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, nothing there is created: everything there is eternally existent. And because there is no mode of ignorance, there is also no question of annihilation or destruction. In the material world one may try to make everything permanent by developing the above-mentioned qualities of goodness, but because the goodness in the material world is mixed with passion and ignorance, nothing here can exist permanently, despite all the good plans of the best scientific brains. Therefore in the material world we have no experience of eternity, bliss and fullness of knowledge. But in the spiritual world, because of the complete absence of the qualitative modes, everything is eternal, blissful and cognizant. Everything can speak, everything can move, everything can hear, and everything can see in fully blessed existence for eternity. The situation being so, naturally space and time, in the forms of past, present and future, have no influence there. In the spiritual sky there is no change because time has no influence. Consequently, the influence of māyā, the total external energy, which induces us to become more and more materialistic and forget our relationship with God, is also absent there.
As spiritual sparks of the beams emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord, we are all permanently related with Him and equal to Him in quality. The material energy is a covering of the spiritual spark, but in the absence of that material covering, the living beings in Vaikuṇṭhaloka are never forgetful of their identities: they are eternally cognizant of their relationship with God in their constitutional position of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord. Because they constantly engage in the transcendental service of the Lord, it is natural to conclude that their senses are also transcendental, for one cannot serve the Lord with material senses. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭhaloka do not possess material senses with which to lord it over material nature.
Persons with a poor fund of knowledge conclude that a place void of material qualities must be some sort of formless nothingness. In reality, however, there are qualities in the spiritual world, but they are different from the material qualities because everything there is eternal, unlimited and pure. The atmosphere there is self-illuminating, and thus there is no need of a sun, a moon, fire electricity and so on. One who can reach that abode does not come back to the material world with a material body. There is no difference between atheists and the faithful in the Vaikuṇṭha planets because all who settle there are freed from the material qualities, and thus suras and asuras become equally obedient loving servitors of the Lord.
The residents of Vaikuṇṭha have brilliantly black complexions much more fascinating and attractive than the dull white and black complexions found in the material world. Their bodies, being spiritual, have no equals in the material world. The beauty of a bright cloud when lightning flashes on it merely hints at their beauty. Generally the inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha dress in yellow clothing. Their bodies are delicate and attractively built, and their eyes are like the petals of lotus flowers. Like Lord Viṣṇu, the residents of Vaikuṇṭha have four hands decorated with a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower. Their chests are beautifully broad and fully decorated with necklaces of a brilliant diamondlike metal surrounded by costly jewels never to be found in the material world. The residents of Vaikuṇṭha are always powerful and effulgent. Some of them have complexions like red coral cat's eyes and lotus flowers, and each of them has earrings of costly jewels. On their heads they wear flowery crowns resembling garlands.
In the Vaikuṇṭhas there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only, and the residents of Vaikuṇṭha fly in them with their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore these airplanes, full of residents of Vaikuṇṭha, both male and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky. We cannot imagine how beautiful they are, but their beauty may be compared to the clouds in the sky accompanied by silver branches of electric lightning. The spiritual sky of Vaikuṇṭhaloka is always decorated in this way.
The full opulence of the internal potency of Godhead is always resplendent in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, where goddesses of fortune are ever-increasingly attached to serving the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead. These goddesses of fortune, accompanied by their friends, always create a festive atmosphere of transcendental mirth. Always singing the glories of the Lord, they are not silent even for a moment.
There are unlimited Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky, and the ratio of these planets to the material planets in the material sky is three to one. Thus the poor materialist is busy making political adjustments on a planet that is most insignificant in God's creation. To say nothing of this planet earth, the whole universe, with innumerable planets throughout the galaxies, is comparable to a single mustard seed in a bag full of mustard seeds. But the poor materialist makes plans to live comfortably here and thus wastes his valuable human energy in something that is doomed to frustration. Instead of wasting his time with business speculations, he might have sought the life of plain living and high spiritual thinking and thus saved himself from perpetual materialistic unrest.
Even if a materialist wants to enjoy developed material facilities, he can transfer himself to planets where he can experience material pleasures much more advanced than those available on earth. The best plan is to prepare oneself to return to the spiritual sky after leaving the body. However, if one is intent on enjoying material facilities, one can transfer himself to other planets in the material sky by utilizing yogic powers. The playful spaceships of the astronauts are but childish entertainments and are of no use for this purpose. The aṣṭāṅga-yoga system is a materialistic art of controlling air by transferring it from the stomach to the navel, from the navel to the heart, from the heart to the collarbone, from there to the eyeballs, from there to the cerebellum and from there to any desired planet. The velocities of air and light are taken into consideration by the material scientist, but he has no information of the velocity of the mind and intelligence. We have some limited experience of the velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer our minds to places hundreds of thousands of miles away. Intelligence is even finer. Finer than intelligence is the soul, which is not matter like mind and intelligence but is spirit, or antimatter. The soul is hundreds of thousands of times finer and more powerful than intelligence. We can thus only imagine the velocity of the soul in its traveling from one planet to another. Needless to say, the soul travels by its own strength and not with the help of any kind of material vehicle.
The bestial civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing and sense-gratifying has misled modern man into forgetting how powerful a soul he has. As we have already described, the soul is a spiritual spark many, many times more illuminating, dazzling and powerful than the sun, moon or electricity. Human life is spoiled when man does not realize his real identity with his soul. Lord Caitanya appeared with Lord Nityānanda to save man from this type of misleading civilization.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also describes how yogīs can travel to all the planets in the universe. When the vital force is lifted to the cerebellum, there is every chance that this force will burst out from the eyes, nose, ears, etc., as these are places that are known as the seventh orbit of the vital force. But the yogīs can block these holes by complete suspension of air. The yogī then concentrates the vital force in the middle position, that is, between the eyebrows. At this position, the yogī can think of the planet into which he wants to enter after leaving the body. He can then decide whether he wants to go to the abode of Kṛṣṇa in the transcendental Vaikuṇṭhas, from which he will not be required to descend into the material world, or to travel to higher planets in the material universe. The perfect yogī is at liberty to do either.
For the perfect yogī who has attained success in the method of leaving his body in perfect consciousness, transferring from one planet to another is as easy as an ordinary man's walking to the grocery store. As already discussed, the material body is just a covering of the spiritual soul. Mind and intelligence are the undercoverings, and the gross body of earth, water, air and so on is the overcoating of the soul. As such, any advanced soul who has realized himself by the yogic process, who knows the relationship between matter and spirit, can leave the gross dress of the soul in perfect order and as he desires. By the grace of God, we have complete freedom. Because the Lord is kind to us, we can live anywhere-either in the spiritual sky or in the material sky, upon whichever planet we desire. However, misuse of this freedom causes one to fall down into the material world and suffer the threefold miseries of conditioned life. The living of a miserable life in the material world by dint of the soul's choice is nicely illustrated by Milton in Paradise Lost. Similarly, by choice the soul can regain paradise and return home, back to Godhead.
At the critical time of death, one can place the vital force between the two eyebrows and decide where he wants to go. If he is reluctant to maintain any connection with the material world, he can, in less than a second, reach the transcendental Vaikuṇṭha and appear there completely in his spiritual body, which will be suitable for him in the spiritual atmosphere. He has simply to desire to leave the material world both in finer and in grosser forms and then move the vital force to the topmost part of the skull and leave the body from the hole in the skull called the brahma-randhra. This is easy for one perfect in the practice of yoga.
Of course, man is endowed with free will, and as such if he does not want to free himself from the material world he may enjoy the life of brahma-pada (occupation of the post of Brahmā) and visit Siddhaloka, the planet of materially perfect beings who have full capacities to control gravity, space and time. To visit such higher planets in the material universe, one need not give up his mind and intelligence (finer matter), but need only give up grosser matter (the material body).
Each and every planet has its particular atmosphere, and if one wants to travel to any particular planet within the material universe, one has to adapt his material body to the climatic condition of that planet. For instance, if one wants to go from India to Europe, where the climatic condition is different, one has to change his dress accordingly. Similarly, a complete change of body is necessary if one wants to go to the transcendental planets of Vaikuṇṭha. However, if one wants to go to the higher material planets, he can keep his finer dress of mind, intelligence and ego, but has to leave his gross dress (body) made of earth, water, fire, etc.
When one goes to a transcendental planet, it is necessary to change both the finer and gross bodies, for one has to reach the spiritual sky completely in a spiritual form. This change of dress will take place automatically at the time of death if one so desires.
The Bhagavad-gītā confirms that one will attain his next material body according to his desires at the time he leaves his body. The desire of the mind carries the soul to a suitable atmosphere as the wind carries aromas from one place to another. Unfortunately, those who are not yogīs but gross materialists, who throughout their lives indulge in sense gratification, are puzzled by the disarrangement of the bodily and mental condition at the time of death. Such gross sensualists, encumbered by the main ideas, desires and associations of the lives they have led, desire something against their interest and thus foolishly take on new bodies that perpetuate their material miseries.
Systematic training of the mind and intelligence is therefore needed so that at the time of death one may consciously desire a suitable body, either on this planet or another material planet or even a transcendental planet. A civilization that does not consider the progressive advancement of the immortal soul merely fosters a bestial life of ignorance.
It is foolish to think that every soul that passes away goes to the same place. Either the soul goes to a place he desires at the time of death, or upon leaving his body he is forced to accept a position according to his acts in his previous life. The difference between the materialist and the yogī is that a materialist cannot determine his next body, whereas a yogī can consciously attain a suitable body for enjoyment in the higher planets. Throughout his life, the gross materialist who is constantly after sense gratification spends all day earning his livelihood to maintain his family, and at night he wastes his energy in sex enjoyment or else goes to sleep thinking about all he has done in the daytime. That is the monotonous life of the materialist. Although differently graded as businessmen, lawyers, politicians, professors, judges, coolies, pickpockets, laborers and so on, materialists all simply engage in eating, sleeping, fearing and sense gratification and thus spoil their valuable lives pursuing luxury and neglecting to perfect their lives through spiritual realization.
Yogīs, however, try to perfect their lives, and therefore the Bhagavad-gītā enjoins that everyone should become a yogī. Yoga is the system for linking the soul in the service of the Lord. Only under superior guidance can one practice such yoga in his life without changing his social position. As already described, a yogī can go anywhere he desires without mechanical help, for a yogī can place his mind and intelligence within the air circulating inside his body, and by practicing the art of breath control he can mix that air with the air that blows all over the universe outside his body. With the help of this universal air, a yogī can travel to any planet and get a body suitable for its atmosphere. We can understand this process by comparing it to the electronic transmission of radio messages. With radio transmitters, sound waves produced at a certain station can travel all over the earth in seconds. But sound is produced from the ethereal sky, and as already explained, subtler than the ethereal sky is the mind, and finer than the mind is the intelligence. Spirit is still finer than the intelligence, and by nature it is completely different from matter. Thus we can just imagine how quickly the spirit soul can travel through the universal atmosphere.
To come to the stage of manipulating finer elements like mind, intelligence and spirit, one needs appropriate training, an appropriate mode of life and appropriate association. Such training depends upon sincere prayers, devotional service, achievement of success in mystic perfection, and the successful merging of oneself in the activities of the soul and Supersoul. A gross materialist, whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success through blunt efforts and word jugglery.
Materialists who perform yajñas, or great sacrifices, are comparatively better than grosser materialists who do not know anything beyond laboratories and test tubes. The advanced materialists who perform such sacrifices can reach the planet called Vaiśvānara, a fiery planet similar to the sun. On this planet, which is situated on the way to Brahmaloka, the topmost planet in the universe, such an advanced materialist can free himself from all traces of vice and its effects. When such a materialist is purified, he can rise to the orbit of the pole star (Dhruvaloka). Within this orbit, which is called the Śiśumāra-cakra, are situated the Āditya-lokas and the Vaikuṇṭha planet within this universe.
A purified materialist who has performed many sacrifices, undergone severe penances and given the major portion of his wealth in charity can reach such planets as Dhruvaloka, and if he becomes still more qualified there, he can penetrate still higher orbits and pass through the navel of the universe to reach the planet Maharloka, where sages like Bhṛgu Muni live. In Maharloka one can live even to the time of the partial annihilation of the universe. This annihilation begins when Anantadeva, from the lowest position in the universe, produces a great blazing fire. The heat of this fire reaches even Maharloka, and then the residents of Maharloka travel to Brahmaloka, which exists for twice the duration of parārdha time.
In Brahmaloka there is an unlimited number of airplanes that are controlled not by yantra (machine) but mantra (psychic action). Because of the existence of the mind and intelligence on Brahmaloka, its residents have feelings of happiness and distress, but there is no cause of lamentation from old age, death, fear or distress. They feel sympathy, however, for the suffering living beings who are consumed in the fire of annihilation. The residents of Brahmaloka do not have gross material bodies to change at death, but they transform their subtle bodies into spiritual bodies and thus enter the spiritual sky. The residents of Brahmaloka can attain perfection in three different ways. Virtuous persons who reach Brahmaloka by dint of their pious work become masters of various planets after the resurrection of Brahmā, those who have worshiped Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu are liberated with Brahmā, and those who are pure devotees of the Personality of Godhead at once push through the covering of the universe and enter the spiritual sky.
The numberless universes exist together in foamlike clusters, and so only some of them are surrounded by the water of the Causal Ocean. When agitated by the glance of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, material nature produces the total elements, which are eight in number and which gradually evolve from finer to gross. A part of ego is the sky, a part of which is air, a part of which is fire, a part of which is water, a part of which is earth. Thus one universe inflates to an area of four billion miles in diameter. A yogī who desires gradual liberation must penetrate all the different coverings of the universe, including the subtle coverings of the three qualitative modes of material nature. One who does this never has to return to this mortal world.
According to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the above description of the material and spiritual skies is neither imaginary nor utopian. The actual facts are recorded in the Vedic hymns, and Lord Vāsudeva disclosed them to Lord Brahmā when Brahmā satisfied Him. One can achieve the perfection of life only when he has a definite idea of Vaikuṇṭha and the Supreme Godhead. One should always think about and describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for this is recommended in both the Bhagavad-gītā and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, which are two authorized commentaries upon the Vedas. Lord Caitanya has made all these subject matters easier for the fallen people of this age to accept, and Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta has therefore presented them for the easy understanding of all concerned.
TEXT 23
mathurā-dvārakāya nija-rūpa prakāśiyā
nānā-rūpe vilasaye catur-vyūha haiñā
SYNONYMS
mathurā—in Mathurā; dvārakāya—in Dvārakā; nija-rūpa—personal body; prakāśiyā—manifesting; nānā-rūpe—in various ways; vilasaye—enjoys pastimes; catuḥ-vyūha haiñā—expanding into four wonderful forms.
TRANSLATION
He manifests His own, form in Mathurā and Dvārakā. He enjoys pastimes in various ways by expanding into the quadruple forms.
TEXT 24
vāsudeva-saṅkarṣaṇa-pradyumnāniruddha
sarva-catur-vyūha-aṁśī, turīya, viśuddha
SYNONYMS
vāsudeva—Lord Vāsudeva; saṅkarṣaṇa—Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa; pradyumna—Lord Pradyumna; aniruddha—and Lord Aniruddha; sarva-catuḥ-vyūha—of all other quadruple expansions; aṁśī—source; turīya—transcendental; viśuddha—pure.
TRANSLATION
Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are the primary quadruple forms from whom all other quadruple forms are manifested. They are all purely transcendental.
TEXT 25
ei tina loke kṛṣṇa kevala-līlā-maya
nija-gaṇa lañā khele ananta samaya
SYNONYMS
ei—these; tina—three; loke—in the locations; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; kevala—only; līlā-maya—consisting of pastimes; nija-gaṇa lañā—with His personal associates; khele—He plays; ananta samaya—unlimited time.
TRANSLATION
Only in these three places [Dvārakā, Mathurā and Gokula] does the all-sporting Lord Kṛṣṇa perform His endless pastimes with His personal associates.
TEXT 26
para-vyoma-madhye kari' svarūpa prakāśa
nārāyaṇa-rūpe karena vividha vilāsa
SYNONYMS
para-vyoma-madhye—within the spiritual sky; kari'-making; svarūpa prakāśa—manifesting His identity; nārāyaṇa-rūpe—the form of Lord Nārāyaṇa; karena—performs; vividha vilāsa—varieties of pastimes.
TRANSLATION
In the Vaikuṇṭha planets of the spiritual sky the Lord manifests His identity as Nārāyaṇa and performs pastimes in various ways.
TEXTS 27-28
svarūpa-vigraha kṛṣṇera kevala dvi-bhuja
nārāyaṇa-rūpe sei tanu catur-bhuja
śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-padma, mahaiśvarya-maya
śrī-bhū-nīlā-śakti yāṅra caraṇa sevaya
SYNONYMS
svarūpa-vigraha—personal form; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; kevala—only; dvi-bhuja—two hands; nārāyaṇa-rūpe—in the form of Lord Nārāyaṇa; sei—that; tanu—body; catuḥ-bhuja—four-handed; śaṅkha-cakra—conchshell and disc; gadā—club; padma—lotus flower; mahā—very great; aiśvarya-maya—full of opulence; śrī—named śrī; bhū—named bhū; nīlā—named nīlā; śakti—energies; yāṅra—whose; caraṇa sevaya—serve the lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
Kṛṣṇa's own form has only two hands, but in the form of Lord Nārāyaṇa He has four hands. Lord Nārāyaṇa holds a conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower, and He is full of great opulence. The śrī, bhū and nīlā energies serve at His lotus feet.
PURPORT
In the Rāmānuja and Madhva sects of Vaiṣṇavism there are extensive descriptions of the śrī, bhū and nīlā energies. In Bengal the nīlā energy is sometimes called the līlā energy. These three energies are employed in the service of four-handed Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha. Relating how three of the Alwars, namely Bhūta-yogī, Sara-yogī and Bhrānta-yogī, saw Nārāyaṇa in person when they took shelter at the house of a brāhmaṇa in the village of Gehalī, the Prapannāmṛta of the Śrī-sampradāya describes Nārāyaṇa as follows:
tārkṣyādhirūḍhaṁ taḍid-ambudābhaṁ
lakṣmī-dharaṁ vakṣasi paṅkajākṣam
hasta-dvaye śobhita-śaṅkha-cakraṁ
viṣṇuṁ dadṛśur bhagavantam ādyam
ā-jānu-bāhuṁ kamanīya-gātraṁ
pārśva-dvaye śobhita-bhūmi-nīlam
pītāmbaraṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣitāṅgaṁ
catur-bhujaṁ candana-ruṣitāṅgam
"They saw the lotus-eyed Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mounted on Garuḍa and holding Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, to His chest. He resembled a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of His four hands He held a conchshell and disc. His arms stretched down to His knees, and all His beautiful limbs were smeared with sandalwood and decorated with glittering ornaments. He wore yellow clothes, and by either side stood His energies Bhūmi and Nīlā."
There is the following reference to the śrī, bhū and nīlā energies in the Sītopaniṣad: mahā-lakṣmīr deveśasya bhinnābhinna-rūpā cetanācetanātmikā. sā devī tri-vidhā bhavati, śakty-ātmanā icchā-śaktiḥ kriyā-śaktiḥ sākṣāc-chaktir iti. icchā-śaktis tri-vidhā bhavati, śrī-bhūmi-nīlātmikā. "Mahā-Lakṣmī, the supreme energy of the Lord, is experienced in different ways. She is divided into material and spiritual potencies, and in both features she acts as the willing energy, creative energy and the internal energy. The willing energy is again divided into three, namely śrī, bhū and nīlā."
Quoting from the revealed scriptures in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), Madhvācārya has stated that mother material nature, which is conceived of as the illusory energy, Durgā, has three divisions, namely śrī, bhū and nīlā. She is the illusory energy for those who are weak in spiritual strength because such energies are created energies of Lord Viṣṇu. Although each energy has no direct relationship with the unlimited, they are subordinate to the Lord because the Lord is the master of all energies.
In his Bhagavat-sandarbha (Part 23, Texts 8-9), Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhu states: "The Padma Purāṇa refers to the eternally auspicious abode of Godhead, which is full in all opulences, including the energies śrī, bhū and nīlā. The Mahā-saṁhitā, which discusses the transcendental name and form of Godhead, also mentions Durgā as the potency of the Supersoul in relationship with the living entities. The internal potency acts in relation with His personal affairs, and the material potency manifests the three modes." Quoting elsewhere from the revealed scriptures, he states that śrī is the energy of Godhead that maintains the cosmic manifestation, bhū is the energy that creates the cosmic manifestation, and nīlā, Durgā, is the energy that destroys the creation. All these energies act in relation with the living beings, and thus they are together called jīva-māyā.
TEXT 29
yadyapi kevala tāṅra krīḍā-mātra dharma
tathāpi jīvere kṛpāya kare eka karma
SYNONYMS
yadyapi—although; kevala—only; tāṅra—His; krīḍā-mātra—pastime only; dharma—characteristic function; tathāpi—still; jīvere—to the fallen souls; kṛpāya—by the causeless mercy; kare—does; eka—one; karma—activity.
TRANSLATION
Although His pastimes are His only characteristic functions, by His causeless mercy He performs one activity for the fallen souls.
TEXT 30
sālokya-sāmīpya-sārṣṭi-sārūpya-prakāra
cāri mukti diyā kare jīvera nistāra
SYNONYMS
sālokya—the liberation called sālokya; sāmīpya—the liberation called sāmīpya; sārṣṭi—the liberation called sārṣṭi; sārūpya—the liberation called sārūpya; prakāra—varieties; cāri—four; mukti—liberation; diyā—giving; kare—does; jīvera—of the fallen souls; nistāra—deliverance.
TRANSLATION
He delivers the fallen living entities by offering them the four kinds of liberation-sālokya, sāmīpya, sārṣṭi and sārūpya.
PURPORT
There are two kinds of liberated souls-those who are liberated by the favor of the Lord and those who are liberated by their own effort. One who gets liberation by his own effort is called an impersonalist, and he merges in the glaring effulgence of the Lord, the brahmajyoti. But devotees of the Lord who qualify themselves for liberation by devotional service are offered four kinds of liberation, namely sālokya (status equal to that of the Lord), sāmīpya (constant association with the Lord), sārṣṭi (opulence equal to that of the Lord) and sārūpya (features like those of the Lord).
TEXT 31
brahma-sāyujya-muktera tāhā nāhi gati
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire haya tā'-sabāra sthiti
SYNONYMS
brahma-sāyujya—of merging into the Supreme Brahman; muktera—of the liberation; tāhā—there (in Vaikuṇṭha); nāhi—not; gati—entrance; vaikuṇṭha-bāhire—outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets; haya—there is; tā'-sabāra sthiti—the residence of all of them.
TRANSLATION
Those who attain brahma-sāyujya liberation cannot gain entrance into Vaikuṇṭha; their residence is outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets.
TEXT 32
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire eka jyotir-maya maṇḍala
kṛṣṇera aṅgera prabhā, parama ujjvala
SYNONYMS
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire—outside the Vaikuṇṭhalokas; eka—one; jyotiḥ-maya maṇḍala—the atmosphere of the glowing effulgence; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; aṅgera—of the body; prabhā—rays; parama—supremely; ujjvala—bright.
TRANSLATION
Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the atmosphere of the glowing effulgence, which consists of the supremely bright rays of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 33
'siddha-loka' nāma tāra prakṛtira pāra
cit-svarūpa, tāṅhā nāhi cic-chakti vikāra
SYNONYMS
'siddha-loka'—the region of the Siddhas; nāma—named; tāra—of the effulgent atmosphere; prakṛtira pāra—beyond this material nature; cit-svarūpa—full of knowledge; tāṅhā—there; nāhi—there is not; cit-śakti-vikāra—change of the spiritual energy.
TRANSLATION
That region is called Siddhaloka, and it is beyond the material nature. Its essence is spiritual, but it does not have spiritual varieties.
TEXT 34
sūrya-maṇḍala yena bāhire nirviśeṣa
bhitare sūryera ratha-ādi saviśeṣa
SYNONYMS
sūrya-maṇḍala—the sun globe; yena—like; bāhire—externally; nirviśeṣa—with out varieties; bhitare—within; sūryera—of the sun-god; ratha-ādi—opulences like chariots and other things; sa-viśeṣa—full of varieties.
TRANSLATION
It is like the homogeneous effulgence around the sun. But inside the sun are the chariots, horses and other opulences of the sun-god.
PURPORT
Outside of Vaikuṇṭha, the abode of Kṛṣṇa, which is called paravyoma, is the glaring effulgence of Kṛṣṇa's bodily rays. This is called the brahmajyoti. The transcendental region of that effulgence is called Siddhaloka or Brahmaloka. When impersonalists achieve liberation, they merge into that Brahmaloka effulgence. This transcendental region is undoubtedly spiritual, but it contains no manifestations of spiritual activities or variegatedness. It is compared to the glow of the sun. Within the sun's glow is the sphere of the sun, where one can experience all sorts of varieties.
TEXT 35
kāmād dveṣād bhayāt snehād
yathā bhaktyeśvare manaḥ
āveśya tad aghaṁ hitvā
bahavas tad gatiṁ gatāḥ
SYNONYMS
kāmāt—influenced by lusty desire; dveṣāt—by envy; bhayāt—by fear; snehāt—or by affection; yathā—as; bhaktyā—by devotion; īśvare—in the Supreme Personality of Godhead; manaḥ—the mind; āveśya—fully absorbing; tat—that; agham—sinful activity; hitvā—giving up; bahavaḥ—many; tat—that; gatim—destination; gatāḥ—achieved.
TRANSLATION
"As through devotion to the Lord one can attain His abode, many have attained that goal by abandoning their sinful activities and absorbing their minds in the Lord through lust, envy, fear or affection."
PURPORT
As the powerful sun, by its glowing rays, can purify all kinds of impurities, so the all-spiritual Personality of Godhead can purify all material qualities in a person He attracts. Even if one is attracted by Godhead in the mode of material lust, such attraction is converted into spiritual love of Godhead by His grace. Similarly, if one is related to the Lord in fear and animosity, he also becomes purified by the spiritual attraction of the Lord. Although God is great and the living entity small, they are spiritual individuals, and therefore as soon as there is a reciprocal exchange by the living entity's free will, at once the great spiritual being attracts the small living entity, thus freeing him from all material bondage. This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.1.30).
TEXT 36
yad arīṇāṁ priyāṇāṁ ca
prāpyam ekam ivoditam
tad brahma-kṛṣṇayor aikyāt
kiraṇārkopamā-juṣoḥ
SYNONYMS
yat—that; arīṇām—of the enemies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; priyāṇām—of the devotees, who are very dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ca—and; prāpyam—destination; ekam—one only; iva—thus; uditam—said; tat—that; brahma—of impersonal Brahman; kṛṣṇayoḥ—and of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; aikyāt—due to the oneness; kiraṇa—the sunshine; arka—and the sun; upamā—the comparison; juṣoḥ—which is understood by.
TRANSLATION
"Where it has been stated that the Lord's enemies and devotees attain the same destination, this refers to the ultimate oneness of Brahman and Lord Kṛṣṇa. This may be understood by the example of the sun and the sunshine, in which Brahman is like the sunshine and Kṛṣṇa Himself is like the sun."
PURPORT
This verse is from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.278) of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, who further discusses this same topic in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.41). There he refers to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (4.15.1), where Maitreya Muni asked Parāśara, in regard to Jaya and Vijaya, how it was that Hiraṇyakaśipu next became Rāvaṇa and enjoyed more material happiness than the demigods but did not attain salvation, although when he became Śiśupāla, quarreled with Kṛṣṇa and was killed, he attained salvation and merged into the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Parāśara replied that Hiraṇyakaśipu failed to recognize Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva as Lord Viṣṇu. He thought that Nṛsiṁhadeva was some living entity who had acquired such opulence by various pious activities. Being overcome by the mode of passion, he considered Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva an ordinary living entity, not understanding His form. Nevertheless, because Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed by the hands of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, in his next life he became Rāvaṇa and had proprietorship of unlimited opulence. As Rāvaṇa, with unlimited material enjoyment, he could not accept Lord Rāma as the Personality of Godhead. Therefore even though he was killed by Rāma, he did not attain sāyujya, or oneness with the body of the Lord. In his Rāvaṇa body he was too much attracted to Rāma's wife, Jānakī, and because of that attraction he was able to see Lord Rāma. But instead of accepting Lord Rāma as an incarnation of Viṣṇu, Rāvaṇa thought Him an ordinary living being. When killed by the hands of Rāma, therefore, he got the privilege of taking birth as Śiśupāla, who had such immense opulence that he could think himself a competitor to Kṛṣṇa. Although Śiśupāla was always envious of Kṛṣṇa, he frequently uttered the name of Kṛṣṇa and always thought of the beautiful features of Kṛṣṇa. Thus by constantly thinking and chanting of Kṛṣṇa, even unfavorably, he was cleansed of the contamination of his sinful activities. When Śiśupāla was killed by the Sudarśana cakra of Kṛṣṇa as an enemy, his constant remembrance of Kṛṣṇa dissolved the reactions of his vices, and he attained salvation by becoming one with the body of the Lord.
From this incident one can understand that even a person who thinks of Kṛṣṇa as an enemy and is killed by Him may be liberated by becoming one with the body of Kṛṣṇa. What then must be the destination of devotees who always think favorably of Kṛṣṇa as their master or friend? These devotees must attain a situation better than Brahmaloka, the impersonal bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. Devotees cannot be situated in the impersonal Brahman effulgence, into which impersonalists desire to merge. The devotees are placed in Vaikuṇṭhaloka or Kṛṣṇaloka.
This discussion between Maitreya Muni and Parāśara Muni centered on whether devotees come down into the material world in every millennium like Jaya and Vijaya, who were cursed by the Kumāras to that effect. In the course of these instructions to Maitreya about Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa and Śiśupāla, Parāśara did not say that these demons were formerly Jaya and Vijaya. He simply described the transmigration through three lives. It is not necessary for the Vaikuṇṭha associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to come to take the roles of His enemies in all the millenniums in which He appears. The "falldown" of Jaya and Vijaya occurred in a particular millennium; Jaya and Vijaya do not come down in every millennium to act as demons. To think that some associates of the Lord fall down from Vaikuṇṭha in every millennium to become demons is totally incorrect.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all the tendencies that may be found in the living entity, for He is the chief living entity. Therefore it is natural that sometimes Lord Viṣṇu wants to fight. Just as He has the tendencies to create, to enjoy, to be a friend, to accept a mother and father, and so on, He also has the tendency to fight. Sometimes important landlords and kings keep wrestlers with whom they practice mock fighting, and Viṣṇu makes similar arrangements. The demons who fight with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the material world are sometimes His associates. When there is a scarcity of demons and the Lord wants to fight, He instigates some of His associates of Vaikuṇṭha to come and play as demons. When it is said that Śiśupāla merged into the body of Kṛṣṇa, it should be noted that in this case he was not Jaya or Vijaya; he was actually a demon.
In his Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has explained that the attainment of salvation by merging into the Brahman effulgence of the Lord cannot be accepted as the highest success in life, because demons like Kaṁsa, who were famous for killing brāhmaṇas and cows, attained that salvation. For devotees such salvation is abominable. Devotees are actually in a transcendental position, whereas nondevotees are candidates for hellish conditions of life. There is always a difference between the life of a devotee and the life of a demon, and their realizations are as different as heaven and hell.
Demons are always accustomed to be malicious toward devotees and to kill brāhmaṇas and cows. For demons, merging in the Brahman effulgence may be very glorious, but for devotees it is hellish. A devotee's aim in life is to attain perfection in loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who aspire to merge into the Brahman effulgence are as abominable as demons. Devotees who aspire to associate with the Supreme Lord to render Him transcendental loving service are far superior.
TEXT 37
taiche para-vyome nānā cic-chakti-vilāsa
nirviśeṣa jyotir-bimba bāhire prakāśa
SYNONYMS
taiche—in that way; para-vyome—in the spiritual sky; nānā—varieties; cit-śakti-vilāsa—pastimes of spiritual energy; nirviśeṣa—impersonal; jyotiḥ—of the effulgence; bimba—reflection; bāhire—externally; prakāśa—manifested.
TRANSLATION
Thus in the spiritual sky there are varieties of pastimes within the spiritual energy. Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets appears the impersonal reflection of light.
TEXT 38
nirviśeṣa-brahma sei kevala jyotir-maya
sāyujyera adhikārī tāṅhā pāya laya
SYNONYMS
nirviśeṣa-brahma—the impersonal Brahman effulgence; sei—that; kevala—only; jyotiḥ-maya—effulgent rays; sāyujyera—the liberation called sāyujya (oneness with the Supreme); adhikārī—one who is fit for; tāṅhā—there (in the impersonal Brahman effulgence); pāya—gets; laya—merging.
TRANSLATION
That impersonal Brahman effulgence consists only of the effulgent rays of the Lord. Those fit for sāyujya liberation merge into that effulgence.
TEXT 39
siddha-lokas tu tamasaḥ
pāre yatra vasanti hi
siddhā brahma-sukhe magnā
daityāś ca hariṇā hatāḥ
SYNONYMS
siddha-lokaḥ—Siddhaloka, or impersonal Brahman; tu—but; tamasaḥ—of darkness; pāre—beyond the jurisdiction; yatra—where; vasanti—reside; hi—certainly; siddhāḥ—the spiritually perfect; brahma-sukhe—in the transcendental bliss of becoming one with the Supreme; magnāḥ—absorbed; daityāḥ ca—as well as the demons; hariṇā—by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; hatāḥ—killed.
TRANSLATION
"Beyond the region of ignorance [the material cosmic manifestation] lies the realm of Siddhaloka. The Siddhas reside there, absorbed in the bliss of Brahman. Demons killed by the Lord also attain that realm."
PURPORT
Tamas means darkness. The material world is dark, and beyond the material world is light. In other words, after passing through the entire material atmosphere, one can come to the luminous spiritual sky, whose impersonal effulgence is known as Siddhaloka. Māyāvādī philosophers who aspire to merge with the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as well as demoniac persons who are killed by Kṛṣṇa, such as Kaṁsa and Śiśupāla, enter that Brahman effulgence. Yogīs who attain oneness through meditation according to the Patañjali yoga system also reach Siddhaloka. This is a verse from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa.
TEXT 40
sei para-vyome nārāyaṇera cāri pāśe
dvārakā-catur-vyūhera dvitīya prakāśe
SYNONYMS
sei—that; para-vyome—in the spiritual sky; nārāyaṇera—of Lord Nārāyaṇa; cāri pāśe—on four sides; dvārakā—Dvārakā; catur-vyūhera—of the quadruple expansions; dvitīya—the second; prakāśe—manifestation.
TRANSLATION
In that spiritual sky, on the four sides of Nārāyaṇa, are the second expansions of the quadruple expansions of Dvārakā.
PURPORT
Within the spiritual sky is a second manifestation of the quadruple forms of Dvārakā from the abode of Kṛṣṇa. Among these forms, which are all spiritual and immune to the material modes, Śrī Baladeva is represented as Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa.
The actions in the spiritual sky are manifested by the internal potency in pure spiritual existence. They expand in six transcendental opulences, which are all manifestations of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the ultimate reservoir and objective of all living entities. Although belonging to the marginal potency known as jīva-śakti, the spiritual sparks known as the living entities are subjected to the conditions of material energy. It is because these sparks are related with both the internal and external potencies of the Lord that they are known as belonging to the marginal potency.
In considering the quadruple forms of the absolute Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, the impersonalists, headed by Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, have interpreted the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra in a way suitable for the impersonalist school. To provide the intrinsic import of such aphorisms, however, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, the leader of the six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, has properly replied to the impersonalists in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, which is a natural commentary on the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra.
The Padma Purāṇa, as quoted by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, describes that in the spiritual sky there are four directions, corresponding to east, west, north and south, in which Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna are situated. The same forms are also situated in the material sky. The Padma Purāṇa also describes a place in the spiritual sky known as Vedavatī-pura, where Vāsudeva resides. In Viṣṇuloka, which is above Satyaloka, Saṅkarṣaṇa resides. Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa is another name of Saṅkarṣaṇa. Pradyumna lives in Dvārakā-pura, and Aniruddha lies on the eternal bed of Śeṣa, generally known as ananta-śayyā, on the island called Śvetadvīpa, in the ocean of milk.
TEXT 41
vāsudeva-saṅkarṣaṇa-pradyumnāniruddha
'dvitīya catur-vyūha' ei--turīya, viśuddha
SYNONYMS
vāsudeva—the expansion named Vāsudeva; saṅkarṣaṇa—the expansion named Saṅkarṣaṇa; pradyumna—the expansion named Pradyumna; aniruddha—the expansion named Aniruddha; dvitīya catuḥ-vyūha—the second quadruple expansion; ei—this; turīya—transcendental; viśuddha—free from all material contamination.
TRANSLATION
Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha constitute this second quadruple. They are purely transcendental.
PURPORT
Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has misleadingly explained the quadruple form (catur-vyūha) in his interpretation of the forty-second aphorism of Chapter Two of the second khaṇḍa of the Vedānta-sūtra (utpatty-asambhavāt). In verses 41 through 47 of this chapter of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī answers Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya's misleading objections to the personal feature of the Absolute Truth.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is not like a material object that can be known by experimental knowledge or sense perception. In the Nārada-pañcarātra this fact has been explained by Nārāyaṇa Himself to Lord Śiva. But Śaṅkarācārya, the incarnation of Śiva, under the order of Nārāyaṇa, his master, had to mislead the monists, who favor ultimate extinction. In the conditioned stage of existence, all living entities have four basic defects, of which one is the cheating propensity. Śaṅkarācārya has carried this cheating propensity to the extreme to mislead the monists.
Actually, the quadruple forms explained in the Vedic literature cannot be understood by the speculation of a conditioned soul. The quadruple forms should therefore be accepted just as They are described. The authority of the Vedas is such that even if one does not understand something by his limited perception, he should accept the Vedic injunction and not create interpretations to suit his imperfect understanding. In his Śārīraka-bhāṣya, however, Śaṅkarācārya has increased the misunderstanding of the monists.
The quadruple forms have a spiritual existence that can be realized in vāsudeva-sattva (śuddha-sattva), or unqualified goodness, which accompanies complete absorption in the understanding of Vāsudeva. The quadruple forms, who are full of the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are the enjoyers of the internal potency. Thinking the absolute Personality of Godhead to be poverty-stricken or to have no potency-or, in other words, to be impotent-is simply rascaldom. This rascaldom is the profession of the conditioned soul, and it increases his bewilderment. One who cannot understand the distinctions between the spiritual world and the material world has no qualification to examine or know the situation of the transcendental quadruple forms. In his commentary on Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.42-45, His Holiness Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has made a futile attempt to nullify the existence of these quadruple forms in the spiritual world.
Śaṅkarācārya says (sūtra 42) that devotees think the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, to be one, to be free from material qualities and to have a transcendental body full of bliss and eternal existence. He is the ultimate goal of the devotees, who believe that the Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four other eternal transcendental forms-Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. From Vāsudeva, who is the primary expansion, come Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha in that order. Another name of Vāsudeva is Paramātmā, another name of Saṅkarṣaṇa is jīva (the living entity), another name of Pradyumna is mind, and another name of Aniruddha is ahaṅkāra (false ego). Among these expansions, Vāsudeva is considered the origin of material nature. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya says that Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha must be creations of that original cause.
Great souls assert that Nārāyaṇa, who is known as Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is beyond material nature, and this is in accordance with the statements of the Vedic literature. Māyāvādīs also agree that Nārāyaṇa can expand Himself in various forms. Śaṅkara says that he does not attempt to argue that portion of the devotees' understanding, but he must protest the idea that Saṅkarṣaṇa is produced from Vāsudeva, Pradyumna is produced from Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Aniruddha is produced from Pradyumna, for if Saṅkarṣaṇa is understood to represent the living entities created from the body of Vāsudeva, the living entities would have to be noneternal. The living entities are supposed to be freed from material contamination by engaging in prolonged temple worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, reading Vedic literature and performing yoga and pious activities to attain the Supreme Lord. But if the living entities had been created from material nature at a certain point, they would be noneternal and would have no chance to be liberated and associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a cause is nullified, its results are nullified. In the second chapter of the Vedānta-sūtra's second khaṇḍa, Ācārya Vedavyāsa has also refuted the conception that the living beings were ever born (nātmā śruter nityatvāc ca tābhyaḥ). Because there is no creation for the living entities, they must be eternal.
Śaṅkarācārya says (sūtra 43) that devotees think that Pradyumna, who is considered to represent the senses, has sprung from Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is considered to represent the living entities. But we cannot actually experience that a person can produce senses. Devotees also say that from Pradyumna has sprung Aniruddha, who is considered to represent the ego. But Śaṅkarācārya says that unless the devotees can show how ego and the means of knowledge can generate from a person, such an explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra cannot be accepted, for no other philosophers accept the sūtras in that way.
Śaṅkarācārya also says (sūtra 44) that he cannot accept the devotees' idea that Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are equally as powerful as the absolute Personality of Godhead, full in the six opulences of knowledge, wealth, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation, and free from the flaw of generation at a certain point. Even if They are full expansions, the flaw of generation remains. Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, being distinct individual persons, cannot be one. Therefore if They are accepted as absolute, full and equal, there would have to be many Personalities of Godhead. But there is no need to accept that there are many Personalities of Godhead, because acceptance of one omnipotent God is sufficient for all purposes. The acceptance of more than one God is contradictory to the conclusion that Lord Vāsudeva, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. Even if we agree to accept that the quadruple forms of Godhead are all identical, we cannot avoid the incongruous flaw of noneternity. Unless we accept that there are some differences among the personalities, there is no meaning to the idea that Saṅkarṣaṇa is an expansion of Vāsudeva, Pradyumna is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Aniruddha is an expansion of Pradyumna. There must be a distinction between cause and effect. For example, a pot is distinct from the earth from which it is made, and therefore we can ascertain that the earth is the cause and the pot is the effect. Without such distinctions, there is no meaning to cause and effect. Furthermore, the followers of the Pañcarātric principles do not accept any differences in knowledge and qualities between Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. The devotees accept all these expansions to be one, but why should they restrict oneness to these quadruple expansions? Certainly we should not do so, for all living entities, from Brahmā to the insignificant ant, are expansions of Vāsudeva, as accepted in all the śrutis and smṛtis.
Śaṅkarācārya also says (sūtra 45) that the devotees who follow the Pañcarātra state that God's qualities and God Himself, as the owner of the qualities, are the same. But how can the Bhāgavata school state that the six opulences-wisdom, wealth, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation-are identical with Lord Vāsudeva? This is impossible.
In his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.165-193), Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has refuted the charges directed against the devotees by Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya regarding their explanation of the quadruple forms Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He says that these four expansions of Nārāyaṇa are present in the spiritual sky, where They are famous as Mahāvastha. Among Them, Vāsudeva is worshiped within the heart by meditation because He is the predominating Deity of the heart, as explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.3.23).
Saṅkarṣaṇa, the second expansion, is Vāsudeva's personal expansion for pastimes, and since He is the reservoir of all living entities, He is sometimes called jīva. The beauty of Saṅkarṣaṇa is more than that of innumerable full moons radiating light beams. He is worshipable as the principle of ego. He has invested Anantadeva with all the potencies of sustenance. For the dissolution of the creation, He also exhibits Himself as the Supersoul in Rudra, irreligiosity, sarpa (the snake), antaka (death) and the demons.
Pradyumna, the third manifestation, appears from Saṅkarṣaṇa. Those who are especially intelligent worship this Pradyumna expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa as the principle of the intelligence. The goddess of fortune always chants the glories of Pradyumna in the place known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa, and she always serves Him with great devotion. His complexion appears sometimes golden and sometimes bluish like new monsoon clouds in the sky. He is the origin of the creation of the material world, and He has invested His creative principle in Cupid. It is by His direction only that all men and demigods and other living entities function with energy for regeneration.
Aniruddha, the fourth of the quadruple expansions, is worshiped by great sages and psychologists as the principle of the mind. His complexion is similar to the bluish hue of a blue cloud. He engages in the maintenance of the cosmic manifestation and is the Supersoul of Dharma (the deity of religiosity), the Manus (the progenitors of mankind) and the devatās (demigods). The Mokṣa-dharma Vedic scripture indicates that Pradyumna is the Deity of the total mind, whereas Aniruddha is the Deity of the total ego, but previous statements regarding the quadruple forms are confirmed in the Pañcarātra tantras in all respects.
In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.86-100), there is a lucid explanation of the inconceivable potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Negating Śaṅkarācārya's statements, the Mahā-varāha Purāṇa declares:
sarve nityāḥ śāśvatāś ca
dehās tasya parātmanaḥ
hānopādāna-rahitā
naiva prakṛti-jāḥ kvacit
"All the varied expansions of the Personality of Godhead are transcendental and eternal, and all of them repeatedly descend to all the different universes of the material creation. Their bodies, composed of eternity, bliss and knowledge, are everlasting; there is no chance of their decaying, for they are not creations of the material world. Their forms are concentrated spiritual existence, always complete with all spiritual qualities and devoid of material contamination."
Confirming these statements, the Nārada-pañcarātra asserts:
maṇir yathā vibhāgena
nīla-pītādibhir yutaḥ
rūpa-bhedam avāpnoti
dhyāna-bhedāt tathācyutaḥ
"The infallible Personality of Godhead can manifest His body in different ways according to different modes of worship, just as the vaidūrya gem can manifest itself in various colors, such as blue and yellow." Each incarnation is distinct from all the others. This is possible by the Lord's inconceivable potency, by which He can simultaneously represent Himself as one, as various partial forms and as the origin of these partial forms. Nothing is impossible for His inconceivable potencies.
Kṛṣṇa is one without a second, but He manifests Himself in different bodies, as stated by Nārada in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:
citraṁ bataitad ekena
vapuṣā yugapat pṛthak
gṛheṣu dvy-aṣṭa-sāhasraṁ
striya eka udāvahat
"It is wonderful indeed that one Kṛṣṇa has simultaneously become different Kṛṣṇas in 16,000 palaces to accept 16,000 queens as His wives." (Bhāg. 10.69.2) The Padma Purāṇa also explains:
sa devo bahudhā bhūtvā
nirguṇaḥ puruṣottamaḥ
ekī-bhūya punaḥ śete
nirdoṣo harir ādi-kṛt
"The same Personality of Godhead, Puruṣottama, the original person, who is always devoid of material qualities and contamination, can exhibit Himself in various forms and at the same time lie down in one form."
In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, yajanti tvan-mayās tvāṁ vai bahu-mūrty-eka-mūrtikam: "O my Lord, although You manifest Yourself in varieties of forms, You are one without a second. Therefore pure devotees concentrate upon You and worship only You." (Bhāg. 10.40.7) In the Kūrma Purāṇa it is said:
asthūlaś cānaṇuś caiva
sthūlo 'ṇuś caiva sarvataḥ
avarṇaḥ sarvataḥ proktaḥ
śyāmo raktānta-locanaḥ
"The Lord is personal although impersonal, He is atomic although great, and He is blackish and has red eyes although He is colorless." By material calculation all this may appear contradictory, but if we understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has inconceivable potencies, we can accept these facts as eternally possible in Him. In our present condition we cannot understand the spiritual activities and how they occur, but although they are inconceivable in the material context, we should not disregard such contradictory conceptions.
Although it is apparently inconceivable, it is quite possible for the Absolute to reconcile all opposing elements. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam establishes this in the Sixth Canto (6.9.34-37):
"O my Lord, Your transcendental pastimes and enjoyments all appear inconceivable because they are not limited by the causal and effective actions of material thought. You can do everything without performing bodily work. The Vedas say that the Absolute Truth has multifarious potencies and does not need to do anything personally. My dear Lord, You are entirely devoid of material qualities. Without anyone's help, You can create, maintain and dissolve the entire qualitative material manifestation, yet in all such activities You do not change. You do not accept the results of Your activities, unlike ordinary demons and demigods, who suffer or enjoy the reactions of their activities in the material world. Unaffected by the reactions of work, You eternally exist with Your full spiritual potency. This we cannot fully understand.
"Because You are unlimited in Your six opulences, no one can count Your transcendental qualities. Philosophers and other thoughtful persons are overwhelmed by the contradictory manifestations of the physical world and the propositions of logical arguments and judgments. Because they are bewildered by word jugglery and disturbed by the different calculations of the scriptures, their theories cannot touch You, who are the ruler and controller of everyone and whose glories are beyond conception.
"Your inconceivable potency keeps You unattached to the mundane qualities. Surpassing all conceptions of material contemplation, Your pure transcendental knowledge keeps You beyond all speculative processes. By Your inconceivable potency, there is nothing contradictory in You.
"People may sometimes think of You as impersonal or personal, but You are one. For persons who are confused or bewildered, a rope may manifest itself as different kinds of snakes. For similar confused persons who are uncertain about You, You create various philosophical methods in pursuance of their uncertain positions."
We should always remember the differences between spiritual and material actions. The Supreme Lord, being all-spiritual, can perform any act without extraneous help. In the material world, if we want to manufacture an earthen pot, we need the ingredients, a machine and also a laborer. But we should not extend this idea to the actions of the Supreme Lord, for He can create anything in a moment without that which appears necessary in our own conception. When the Lord appears as an incarnation to fulfill a particular purpose, this does not indicate that He is unable to fulfill it without appearing. He can do anything simply by His will, but by His causeless mercy He appears to be dependent upon His devotees. He appears as the son of Yaśodāmātā not because He is dependent on her care but because He accepts such a role by His causeless mercy. When He appears for the protection of His devotees, He naturally accepts trials and tribulations on their behalf.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the Lord, being equally disposed toward every living being, has no enemies and no friends but He has special affection for a devotee who always thinks of Him in love. Therefore neutrality and partiality are both among the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and they are properly adjusted by His inconceivable energy. The Lord is Parabrahman, or the source of the impersonal Brahma, which is His all-pervading feature of neutrality. In His personal feature, however, as the owner of all transcendental opulences, the Lord displays His partiality by taking the side of His devotees. Partiality, neutrality and all such qualities are present in God; otherwise they could not be experienced in the creation. Since He is the total existence, all things are properly adjusted in the Absolute. In the relative world such qualities are displayed in a perverted manner, and therefore we experience nonduality as a perverted reflection. Because there is no logic to explain how things happen in the realm of spirit, the Lord is sometimes described as being beyond the range of experience. But if we simply accept the Lord's inconceivability, we can then adjust all things in Him. Nondevotees cannot understand the Lord's inconceivable energy, and consequently for them it is said that He is beyond the range of conceivable expression. The author of the Brahma-sūtras accepts this fact and says, śrutes tu śabda-mūlatvāt: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, being inconceivable to an ordinary man, can be understood only through the evidence of the Vedic injunctions. The Skanda Purāṇa confirms, acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet: "Matters inconceivable to a common man should not be a subject for argument." We find very wonderful qualities even in material jewels and drugs. Indeed, their qualities often appear inconceivable. Therefore if we do not attribute inconceivable potencies to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot establish His supremacy. It is because of these inconceivable potencies that the glories of the Lord have always been accepted as difficult to understand.
Ignorance and the jugglery of words are very common in human society, but they do not help one understand the inconceivable energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we accept such ignorance and word jugglery, we cannot accept the Supreme Lord's perfection in six opulences. For example, one of the opulences of the Supreme Lord is complete knowledge. Therefore, how could ignorance be conceivable in Him? Vedic instructions and sensible arguments establish that the Lord's maintaining the cosmic manifestation and simultaneously being indifferent to the activities of its maintenance cannot be contradictory, because of His inconceivable energies. To a person who is always absorbed in the thought of snakes, a rope always appears to be a snake, and similarly to a person bewildered by material qualities and devoid of knowledge of the Absolute, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears according to diverse bewildered conclusions.
Someone might argue that the Absolute would be affected by duality if He were both all-cognizance (Brahman) and the Personality of Godhead with six opulences in full (Bhagavān). To refute such an argument, the aphorism svarūpa-dvayam īkṣyate declares that in spite of appearances, there is no chance of duality in the Absolute, for He is but one in diverse manifestations. Understanding that the Absolute displays varied pastimes by the influence of His energies at once removes the apparent incongruity of His inconceivably opposite energies. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.4.16) gives the following description of the inconceivable potency of the Lord:
karmāṇy anīhasya bhavo 'bhavasya te
durgāśrayo 'thāri-bhayāt palāyanam
kālātmano yat pramadā-yutāśrayaḥ
svātman-rateḥ khidyati dhīr vidām iha
"Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do, He nevertheless acts; although He is always unborn, He nevertheless takes birth; although He is time, fearful to everyone, He flees Mathurā in fear of His enemy to take shelter in a fort; and although He is self-sufficient, He marries 16,000 women. These pastimes seem like bewildering contradictions, even to the most intelligent." Had these activities of the Lord not been a reality, sages would not have been puzzled by them. Therefore such activities should never be considered imaginary. Whenever the Lord desires, His inconceivable energy (yogamāyā) serves Him in creating and performing such pastimes.
The scriptures known as the Pañcarātra-śāstras are recognized Vedic scriptures that have been accepted by the great ācāryas. These scriptures are not products of the modes of passion and ignorance. Learned scholars and brāhmaṇas therefore always refer to them as sātvata-saṁhitās. The original speaker of these scriptures is Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is especially mentioned in the Mokṣa-dharma (349.68), which is part of the Śānti-parva of the Mahābhārata. Liberated sages like Nārada and Vyāsa, who are free from the four defects of conditioned souls, are the propagators of these scriptures. Śrī Nārada Muni is the original speaker of the Pañcarātra-śāstra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is also considered a sātvata-saṁhitā. Indeed, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu declared, śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalam: "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a spotless Purāṇa." Malicious editors and scholars who attempt to misrepresent the Pañcarātra-śāstras to refute their regulations are most abominable. In the modern age, such malicious scholars have even commented misleadingly upon the Bhagavad-gītā, which was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, to prove that there is no Kṛṣṇa. How the Māyāvādīs have misrepresented the pāñcarātrika-vidhi will be shown below.
(1) In commenting on Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.42, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has claimed that Saṅkarṣaṇa is a jīva, an ordinary living entity, but there is no evidence in any Vedic scripture that devotees of the Lord have ever said that Saṅkarṣaṇa is an ordinary living entity. He is an infallible plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Viṣṇu category, and He is beyond the creation of material nature. He is the original source of the living entities. The Upaniṣads declare, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām: "He is the supreme living entity among all the living entities." Therefore He is vibhu-caitanya, the greatest. He is directly the cause of the cosmic manifestation and the infinitesimal living beings. He is the infinite living entity, and ordinary living entities are infinitesimal. Therefore He is never to be considered an ordinary living being, for that would be against the conclusion of the authorized scriptures. The living entities are also beyond the limitations of birth and death. This is the version of the Vedas, and it is accepted by those who follow scriptural injunctions and who have actually descended in the disciplic succession.
(2) In answer to Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.43, it must be said that the original Viṣṇu of all the Viṣṇu categories, which are distributed in several ways, is Mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa. Mūla means "the original." Saṅkarṣaṇa is also Viṣṇu, but from Him all other Viṣṇus expand. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā, wherein it is said that just as a flame transferred from another flame acts like the original, so the Viṣṇus who emanate from Mūlasaṅkarṣaṇa are as good as the original Viṣṇu. One should worship that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who thus expands Himself.
(3) In reply to the commentary of Śaṅkarācārya on the forty-fourth aphorism, it may be said that no pure devotees strictly following the principles of Pañcarātra will ever accept the statement that all the expansions of Viṣṇu are different identities, for this idea is completely false. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, in his commentary on the forty-second aphorism, has accepted that the Personality of Godhead can automatically expand Himself variously. Therefore his commentary on the forty-second aphorism and his commentary on the forty-fourth aphorism are contradictory. It is a defect of Māyāvāda commentaries that they make one statement in one place and a contradictory statement in another place as a tactic to refute the Bhāgavata school. Thus Māyāvādī commentators do not even follow regulative principles. It should be noted that the Bhāgavata school accepts the quadruple forms of Nārāyaṇa, but that does not mean that it accepts many Gods. Devotees know perfectly well that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is one without a second. They are never pantheists, worshipers of many Gods, for this is against the injunction of the Vedas. Devotees completely believe, with strong faith, that Nārāyaṇa is transcendental and has inconceivable proprietorship of various transcendental potencies. We therefore recommend that scholars consult the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, where these ideas are explicitly stated. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has tried to prove that Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha expand through cause and effect. He has compared Them with earth and earthen pots. That is completely ignorant, however, for there is no such thing as cause and effect in Their expansions (nānyad yat sad-asat-param). The Kūrma Purāṇa also confirms, deha-dehi-vibhedo 'yaṁ neśvare vidyate kvacit: "There is no difference between body and soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Cause and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences we find in cause and effect. Since all the forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are spiritually supreme, They are equally controllers of material nature. Standing on the fourth dimension, They are predominating figures on the transcendental platform. There is no trace of material contamination in Their expansions because material laws cannot influence Them. There is no such rule as cause and effect outside of the material world. Therefore the understanding of cause and effect cannot approach the full, transcendental, complete expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature proves this:
oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete by itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance." (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.1) It is most apparent that nondevotees violate the rules and regulations of devotional service to equate the whole cosmic manifestation, which is the external feature of Viṣṇu, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the controller of māyā, or with His quadruple expansions. The equalization of māyā and spirit, or māyā and the Lord, is a sign of atheism. The cosmic creation, which manifests life in forms from Brahmā to the ant, is the external feature of the Supreme Lord. It comprises one fourth of the Lord's energy, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (ekāṁśena sthito jagat). The cosmic manifestation of the illusory energy is material nature, and everything within material nature is made of matter. Therefore, one should not try to compare the expansions of material nature to the catur-vyūha, the quadruple expansions of the Personality of Godhead, but unfortunately the Māyāvādī school unreasonably attempts to do this.
(4) To answer Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.45, the substance of the transcendental qualities and their spiritual nature is described in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.208-214) as follows: "Some say that transcendence must be void of all qualities because qualities are manifested only in matter. According to them, all qualities are like temporary, flickering mirages. But this is not acceptable. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, His qualities are nondifferent from Him. His form, name, qualities and everything else pertaining to Him are as spiritual as He is. Every qualitative expansion of the absolute Personality of Godhead is identical with Him. Since the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all pleasure, all the transcendental qualities that expand from Him are also reservoirs of pleasure. This is confirmed in the scripture known as Brahma-tarka, which states that the Supreme Lord Hari is qualified by Himself, and therefore Viṣṇu and His pure devotees and their transcendental qualities cannot be different from their persons. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped in the following words: 'Let the Supreme Personality of Godhead be merciful toward us. His existence is never infected by material qualities.' In the same Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is also said that all the qualities attributed to the Supreme Lord, such as knowledge, opulence, beauty, strength and influence, are known to be nondifferent from Him. This is also confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa, which explains that whenever the Supreme Lord is described as having no qualities, this should be understood to indicate that He is devoid of material qualities. In the First Chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.16.29) it is said: 'O Dharma, protector of religious principles, all noble and sublime qualities are eternally manifested in the person of Kṛṣṇa, and devotees and transcendentalists who aspire to become faithful also desire to possess such transcendental qualities.' " It is therefore to be understood that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental form of absolute bliss, is the fountainhead of all pleasurable transcendental qualities and inconceivable potencies. In this connection we may recommend references to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, Chapter Twenty-Six, verses 21, 25, 27 and 28.
Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya has also refuted the arguments of Śaṅkara in his own commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, which is known as the Śrī-bhāṣya: "Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has tried to equate the Pañcarātras with the philosophy of the atheist Kapila, and thus he has tried to prove that the Pañcarātras contradict the Vedic injunctions. The Pañcarātras state that the personality of jīva called Saṅkarṣaṇa has emerged from Vāsudeva, the supreme cause of all causes, that Pradyumna, the mind, has come from Saṅkarṣaṇa, and that Aniruddha, the ego, has come from Pradyumna. But one cannot say that the living entity (jīva) takes birth or is created, for such a statement is against the injunction of the Vedas. As stated in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.18), living entities, as individual spiritual souls, can have neither birth nor death. All Vedic literature declares that the living entities are eternal. Therefore when it is said that Saṅkarṣaṇa is jīva, this indicates that He is the predominating Deity of the living entities. Similarly, Pradyumna is the predominating Deity of the mind, and Aniruddha is the predominating Deity of the ego.
"It has been said that Pradyumna, the mind, was produced from Saṅkarṣaṇa. But if Saṅkarṣaṇa were a living entity, this could not be accepted, because a living entity cannot be the cause of the mind. The Vedic injunctions state that everything-including life, mind and the senses-comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is impossible for the mind to be produced by a living entity, for the Vedas state that everything comes from the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord.
"Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha have all the potent features of the absolute Personality of Godhead, according to the revealed scriptures, which contain undeniable facts that no one can refute. Therefore these quadruple forms are never to be considered ordinary living beings. Each of Them is a plenary expansion of the Absolute Godhead, and thus each is identical with the Supreme Lord in knowledge, opulence, energy, influence, prowess and potencies. The evidence of Pañcarātra cannot be neglected. Only untrained persons who have not genuinely studied the Pañcarātras think that the Pañcarātras contradict the śrutis regarding the birth or beginning of the living entity. In this connection, we must accept the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which says: 'The absolute Personality of Godhead, who is known as Vāsudeva and who is very affectionate toward His surrendered devotees, expands Himself in quadruple forms who are subordinate to Him and at the same time identical with Him in all respects.' The Pauṣkara-saṁhitā states: 'The scriptures that recommend that brāhmaṇas worship the quadruple forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are called āgamas [authorized works of Vedic literature].' In all Vaiṣṇava literature it is said that worshiping these quadruple forms is as good as worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, who in His different expansions, complete in six opulences, can accept offerings from His devotees of the results of their prescribed duties. Worshiping the expansions for pastimes, such as Nṛsiṁha, Rāma, Śeṣa and Kūrma, promotes one to the worship of the Saṅkarṣaṇa quadruple. From that position one is raised to the platform of worshiping Vāsudeva, the Supreme Brahman. In the Pauṣkara-saṁhitā it is said: 'If one fully worships according to the regulative principles, one can attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva.' It is to be accepted that Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are as good as Lord Vāsudeva, for They all have inconceivable power and can accept transcendental forms like Vāsudeva. Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are never born, but They can manifest Themselves in various incarnations before the eyes of pure devotees. This is the conclusion of all Vedic literature. That the Lord can manifest Himself before His devotees by His inconceivable power is not against the teaching of the Pañcarātra. Since Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are actually the predominating Deities of all living entities, the total mind and the total ego, the descriptions of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha as jīva, mind and ego are never contradictory to the statements of the scriptures. These names identify these Deities, just as the terms 'sky' and 'light' sometimes identify the Absolute Brahman.
"The scriptures completely deny the birth or production of the living entity. In the Parama-saṁhitā it is described that material nature, which is used for others' purposes, is factually inert and always subject to transformation. The field of material nature is the arena of the activities of fruitive actors, and since the material field is externally related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is also eternal. In every saṁhitā, the jīva (living entity) has been accepted as eternal, and in the Pañcarātra the birth of the jīva is completely denied. Anything that is produced must also be annihilated. Therefore if we accept the birth of the living entity, we also have to accept his annihilation. But since the Vedic literature says that the living entity is eternal, one should not think the living being to be produced at a certain time. In the beginning of the Parama-saṁhitā it is definitely stated that the face of material nature is constantly changeable. Therefore 'beginning,' 'annihilation' and all such terms are applicable only in the material nature.
"Considering all these points, one should understand that Śaṅkarācārya's statement that Saṅkarṣaṇa is born as a jīva is completely against the Vedic statements. His assertions are completely refuted by the above arguments. In this connection the commentary of Śrīdhara Svāmī on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.1.34) is very helpful."
For a detailed refutation of Śaṅkarācārya's arguments to prove Saṅkarṣaṇa an ordinary living being, one may refer to Śrīmat Sudarśanācārya's commentary on Śrī-bhāṣya, which is known as the Śruta-prakāśikā.
The original quadruple forms Kṛṣṇa, Baladeva, Pradyumna and Aniruddha expand into another quadruple, which is present in the Vaikuṇṭha planets of the spiritual sky. Therefore the quadruple forms in the spiritual sky are the second manifestation of the original quadruple in Dvārakā. As explained above, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are all changeless, transcendental plenary expansions of the Supreme Lord who have no relation to the material modes. The Saṅkarṣaṇa form in the second quadruple is not only a representation of Balarāma but also the original cause of the Causal Ocean, where Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu lies asleep, breathing out the seeds of innumerable universes.
In the spiritual sky there is a spiritual creative energy technically called śuddha-sattva, which is a pure spiritual energy that sustains all the Vaikuṇṭha planets with the full opulences of knowledge, wealth, prowess, etc. All these actions of śuddha-sattva display the potencies of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the ultimate reservoir of all individual living entities who are suffering in the material world. When the cosmic creation is annihilated, the living entities, who are indestructible by nature, rest in the body of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa is therefore sometimes called the total jīva. As spiritual sparks, the living entities have the tendency to be inactive in the association of material energy, just as sparks of a fire have the tendency to be extinguished as soon as they leave the fire. The spiritual nature of the living being can be rekindled, however, in association with the Supreme Being. Because the living being can appear either in matter or in spirit, the jīva is called the marginal potency.
Saṅkarṣaṇa is the origin of Kāraṇa Viṣṇu, who is the original form who creates the universes, and that Saṅkarṣaṇa is but a plenary expansion of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma.
TEXT 42
tāṅhā ye rāmera rūpa--mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa
cic-chakti-āśraya tiṅho, kāraṇera kāraṇa
SYNONYMS
tāṅhā—there; ye—which; rāmera rūpa—the personal feature of Balarāma; mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa—Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa; cit-śakti-āśraya—the shelter of the spiritual potency; tiṅho—He; kāraṇera kāraṇa—the cause of all causes.
TRANSLATION
There the personal feature of Balarāma called Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa is the shelter of the spiritual energy. He is the primary cause, the cause of all causes.
TEXT 43
cic-chakti-vilāsa eka--'śuddha-sattva' nāma
śuddha-sattva-maya yata vaikuṇṭhādi-dhāma
SYNONYMS
cit-śakti-vilāsa—pastimes in the spiritual energy; eka—one; śuddha-sattva nāma—named śuddha-sattva, pure existence, free from material contamination; śuddha-sattva-maya—of purely spiritual existence; yata—all; vaikuṇṭha-ādi-dhāma—the spiritual planets, known as Vaikuṇṭhas.
TRANSLATION
One variety of the pastimes of the spiritual energy is described as pure goodness [viśuddha-sattva]. It comprises all the abodes of Vaikuṇṭha.
TEXT 44
ṣaḍ-vidhaiśvarya tāṅhā sakala cinmaya
saṅkarṣaṇera vibhūti saba, jāniha niścaya
SYNONYMS
ṣaṭ-vidha-aiśvarya—six kinds of opulences; tāṅhā—there; sakala cit-maya—everything spiritual; saṅkarṣaṇera—of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa; vibhūti saba—all different opulences; jāniha niścaya—know certainly.
TRANSLATION
The six attributes are all spiritual. Know for certain that they are all manifestations of the opulence of Saṅkarṣaṇa.
TEXT 45
'jīva'-nāma taṭasthākhya eka śakti haya
mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa--saba jīvera āśraya
SYNONYMS
jīva—the living entity; nāma—named; taṭa-sthā-ākhya—known as the marginal potency; eka—one; śakti—energy; haya—is; mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa—of the name Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa; saba—all; jīvera—of living entities; āśraya—the shelter.
TRANSLATION
There is one marginal potency, known as the jīva. Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa is the shelter of all jīvas.
TEXT 46
yāṅhā haite viśvotpatti, yāṅhāte pralaya
sei puruṣera saṅkarṣaṇa samāśraya
SYNONYMS
yāṅhā haite—from whom; viśva-utpatti—the creation of the material cosmic manifestation; yāṅhāte—in whom; pralaya—merging; sei puruṣera—of that Supreme Personality of Godhead; saṅkarṣaṇa—of the name Saṅkarṣaṇa; samāśraya—the original shelter.
TRANSLATION
Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original shelter of the puruṣa, from whom this world is created and in whom it is dissolved.
TEXT 47
sarvāśraya, sarvādbhuta, aiśvarya apāra
'ananta' kahite nāre mahimā yāṅhāra
SYNONYMS
sarva-āśraya—the shelter of everything; sarva-adbhuta—wonderful in every respect; aiśvarya—opulences; apāra—unfathomed; ananta—Ananta Śeṣa; kahite nāre—cannot speak; mahimā yāṅhāra—the glories of whom.
TRANSLATION
He [Saṅkarṣaṇa] is the shelter of everything. He is wonderful in every respect, and His opulences are infinite. Even Ananta cannot describe His glory.
TEXT 48
turīya, viśuddha-sattva, 'saṅkarṣaṇa' nāma
tiṅho yāṅra aṁśa, sei nityānanda-rāma
SYNONYMS
turīya—transcendental; viśuddha-sattva—pure existence; saṅkarṣaṇa nāma—named Saṅkarṣaṇa; tiṅho yāṅra aṁśa—of whom that Saṅkarṣaṇa is also a partial expansion; sei nityānanda-rāma—that person is known as Balarāma or Nityānanda.
TRANSLATION
That Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is transcendental pure goodness, is a partial expansion of Nityānanda Balarāma.
TEXT 49
aṣṭama ślokera kaila saṅkṣepe vivaraṇa
navama ślokera artha śuna diyā mana
SYNONYMS
aṣṭama—eighth; ślokera—of the verse; kaila—I have done; saṅkṣepe—in brief; vivaraṇa—description; navama—the ninth; ślokera—of the verse; artha—the meaning; śuna—please hear; diyā mana—with mental attention.
TRANSLATION
I have briefly explained the eighth verse. Now please listen with attention as I explain the ninth verse.
TEXT 50
māyā-bhartājāṇḍa-saṅghāśrayāṅgaḥ
śete sākṣāt kāraṇāmbhodhi-madhye
yasyaikāṁśaḥ śrī-pumān ādi-devas
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
māyā-bhartā—the master of the illusory energy; aja-aṇḍa-saṅgha—of the multitude of universes; āśraya—the shelter; aṅgaḥ—whose body; śete—He lies; sākṣāt—directly; kāraṇa-ambhodhi-madhye—in the midst of the Causal Ocean; yasya—whose; eka-aṁśaḥ—one portion; śrī-pumān—the Supreme Person; ādi-devaḥ—the original puruṣa incarnation; tam—to Him; śrī-nityānanda-rāmam—to Lord Balarāma in the form of Lord Nityānanda; prapadye—I surrender.
TRANSLATION
I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, whose partial representation called Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean, is the original puruṣa, the master of the illusory energy, and the shelter of all the universes.
TEXT 51
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire yei jyotir-maya dhāma
tāhāra bāhire 'kāraṇārṇava' nāma
SYNONYMS
vaikuṇṭha-bāhire—outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets; yei—that; jyotiḥ-maya dhāma—impersonal Brahman effulgence; tāhāra bāhire—outside that effulgence; kāraṇa-arṇava nāma—an ocean called Kāraṇa.
TRANSLATION
Outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and beyond that effulgence is the Kāraṇa Ocean, or Causal Ocean.
PURPORT
The impersonal glowing effulgence known as impersonal Brahman is the outer space of the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky. Beyond that impersonal Brahman is the great Causal Ocean, which lies between the material and spiritual skies. The material nature is a by-product of this Causal Ocean.
Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lies on the Causal Ocean, creates the universes merely by glancing upon material nature. Therefore Kṛṣṇa personally has nothing to do with the material creation. The Bhagavad-gītā confirms that the Lord glances over material nature and thus she produces the many material universes. Neither Kṛṣṇa in Goloka nor Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha comes directly in contact with the material creation. They are completely aloof from the material energy.
It is the function of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa in the form of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu to glance over the material creation, which is situated beyond the limits of the Causal Ocean. Material nature is connected with the Personality of Godhead by His glance over her and nothing more. It is said that she is impregnated by the energy of His glance. The material energy, māyā, never even touches the Causal Ocean, for the Lord's glance focuses upon her from a great distance away.
The glancing power of the Lord agitates the entire cosmic energy, and thus its actions begin at once. This indicates that matter, however powerful she may be, has no power by herself. Her activity begins by the grace of the Lord, and then the entire cosmic creation is manifested in a systematic way. The example of a woman's conception can help us understand this subject to a certain extent. The mother is passive, but the father puts his energy within the mother, and thus she conceives. She supplies the ingredients for the birth of the child in her womb. Similarly, the Lord activates material nature, which then supplies the ingredients for cosmic development.
Material nature has two different phases. The aspect called pradhāna supplies the material ingredients for cosmic development, and the aspect called māyā causes the manifestation of her ingredients, which are temporary, like foam in the ocean. In reality, the temporary manifestations of material nature are originally caused by the spiritual glance of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead is the direct, or remote, cause of creation, and material nature is the indirect, or immediate, cause. Materialistic scientists, puffed-up by the magical changes their so-called inventions have brought about, cannot see the real potency of Godhead behind matter. Therefore the jugglery of science is gradually leading people to a godless civilization at the cost of the goal of human life. Having missed the goal of life, materialists run after self-sufficiency, not knowing that material nature is already self-sufficient by the grace of God. Thus creating a colossal hoax in the name of civilization, they create an imbalance in the natural self-sufficiency of material nature.
To think of material nature as all in all, not knowing the original cause, is ignorance. Lord Caitanya appeared in order to dissipate this darkness of ignorance by igniting the spark of spiritual life that can, by His causeless mercy, enlighten the entire world.
To explain how māyā acts by Kṛṣṇa's power, the author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta gives the example that an iron rod in a fire, although it is not fire, becomes red-hot and acts like fire itself. Similarly, all the actions and reactions of material nature are not actually the work of material nature but are actions and reactions of the energy of the Supreme Lord manifested through matter. The power of electricity is transmitted through the medium of copper, but this does not mean that the copper is electricity. The power is generated at a powerhouse under the control of an expert living being. Similarly, behind all the jugglery of the natural laws is a great living being, who is a person like the mechanical engineer in the powerhouse. It is by His intelligence that the entire cosmic creation moves in a systematic way.
The modes of nature that directly cause material actions are also originally activated by Nārāyaṇa. A simple example will explain how this is so: When a potter manufactures a pot from clay, the potter's wheel, his tools and the clay are the immediate causes of the pot, but the potter is the chief cause. Similarly, Nārāyaṇa is the chief cause of all material creations, and the material energy supplies the ingredients of matter. Therefore without Nārāyaṇa, all other causes are useless, just as the potter's wheel and tools are useless without the potter himself. Since materialistic scientists ignore the Personality of Godhead, it is as if they were concerned with the potter's wheel and its rotation, the potter's tools and the ingredients for the pots, but had no knowledge of the potter himself. Therefore modern science has created an imperfect, godless civilization that is in gross ignorance of the ultimate cause. Scientific advancement should have a great goal to attain, and that great goal should be the Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that after conducting research for many, many births, great men of knowledge who stress the importance of experimental thought can know the Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes. When one knows Him perfectly, one surrenders unto Him and then becomes a mahātmā.
TEXT 52
vaikuṇṭha beḍiyā eka āche jala-nidhi
ananta, apāra--tāra nāhika avadhi
SYNONYMS
vaikuṇṭha—the spiritual planets of Vaikuṇṭha; beḍiyā—surrounding; eka—one; āche—there is; jala-nidhi—ocean of water; ananta—unlimited; apāra—unfathomed; tāra—of that; nāhika—no; avadhi—limitation.
TRANSLATION
Surrounding Vaikuṇṭha is a mass of water that is endless, unfathomed and unlimited.
TEXT 53
vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy-ādi sakala cinmaya
māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya
SYNONYMS
vaikuṇṭhera—of the spiritual world; pṛthivī-ādi—earth, water, etc.; sakala—all; cit-maya—spiritual; māyika—material; bhūtera—of elements; tathi—there; janma—generation; nāhi haya—there is not.
TRANSLATION
The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.
TEXT 54
cinmaya-jala sei parama kāraṇa
yāra eka kaṇā gaṅgā patita-pāvana
SYNONYMS
cit-maya—spiritual; jala—water; sei—that; parama kāraṇa—original cause; yāra—of which; eka—one; kaṇā—drop; gaṅgā—the sacred Ganges; patita-pāvana—the deliverer of fallen souls.
TRANSLATION
The water of the Kāraṇa Ocean, which is the original cause, is therefore spiritual. The sacred Ganges, which is but a drop of it, purifies the fallen souls.
TEXT 55
sei ta' kāraṇārṇave sei saṅkarṣaṇa
āpanāra eka aṁśe karena śayana
SYNONYMS
sei—that; ta'-certainly; kāraṇa-arṇave—in the ocean of cause, or Causal Ocean; sei—that; saṅkarṣaṇa—Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa; āpanāra—of His own; eka—one; aṁśe—by the part; karena śayana—lies down.
TRANSLATION
In that ocean lies one plenary portion of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa.
TEXT 56
mahat-sraṣṭā puruṣa, tiṅho jagat-kāraṇa
ādya-avatāra kare māyāya īkṣaṇa
SYNONYMS
mahat-sraṣṭā—the creator of the total material energy; puruṣa—the person; tiṅho—He; jagat-kāraṇa—the cause of the material cosmic manifestation; ādya—original; avatāra—incarnation; kare—does; māyāya—over the material energy; īkṣaṇa—glance.
TRANSLATION
He is known as the first puruṣa, the creator of the total material energy. He, the cause of the universes, the first incarnation, casts His glance over māyā.
TEXT 57
māyā-śakti rahe kāraṇābdhira bāhire
kāraṇa-samudra māyā paraśite nāre
SYNONYMS
māyā-śakti—material energy; rahe—remains; kāraṇa-abdhira—to the Causal Ocean; bāhire—external; kāraṇa-samudra—the Causal Ocean; māyā—material energy; paraśite nāre—cannot touch.
TRANSLATION
Māyā-śakti resides outside the Causal Ocean. Māyā cannot touch its waters.
TEXT 58
sei ta' māyāra dui-vidha avasthiti
jagatera upādāna 'pradhāna', prakṛti
SYNONYMS
sei—that; ta'-certainly; māyāra—of the material energy; dui-vidha—two varieties; avasthiti—existence; jagatera—of the material world; upādāna—the ingredients; pradhāna—named pradhāna; prakṛti—material nature.
TRANSLATION
Māyā has two varieties of existence. One is called pradhāna or prakṛti. It supplies the ingredients of the material world.
PURPORT
Māyā, the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is divided into two parts. Māyā is the cause and the ingredient of the cosmic manifestation. As the cause of the cosmic manifestation she is known as māyā, and as the agent supplying the ingredients of the cosmic manifestation she is known as pradhāna. An explicit description of these divisions of external energy is given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.24.1-4). Elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.63.26) the ingredients and cause of the material cosmic manifestation are described as follows:
kālo daivaṁ karma jīvaḥ svabhāvo
dravyaṁ kṣetraṁ prāṇa ātmā vikāraḥ
tat-saṅghāto bīja-roha-pravāhas
tvan-māyaiṣā tan-niṣedhaṁ prapadye
"O my Lord! Time, activity, providence and nature are four parts of the causal aspect [māyā] of the external energy. The conditioned vital force, the subtle material ingredients called the dravya, and material nature (which is the field of activity where the false ego acts as the soul), as well as the eleven senses and five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether), which are the sixteen ingredients of the body-these are the ingredient aspect of māyā. The body is generated from activity, and activity is generated from the body, just as a tree is generated from a seed that is generated from a tree. This reciprocal cause and effect is called māyā. My dear Lord, You can save me from this cycle of cause and effect. I worship Your lotus feet."
Although the living entity is primarily related to the causal portion of māyā, he is nevertheless conducted by the ingredients of māyā. Three forces work in the causal portion of māyā: knowledge, desire and activity. The material ingredients are a manifestation of māyā as pradhāna. In other words, when the three qualities of māyā are in a dormant stage, they exist as prakṛti, avyakta or pradhāna. The word avyakta, referring to the nonmanifest, is another name of pradhāna. In the avyakta stage, material nature is without varieties. Varieties are manifested by the pradhāna portion of māyā. The word pradhāna is therefore more important than avyakta or prakṛti.
TEXT 59
jagat-kāraṇa nahe prakṛti jaḍa-rūpā
śakti sañcāriyā tāre kṛṣṇa kare kṛpā
SYNONYMS
jagat—of the material world; kāraṇa—the cause; nahe—cannot be; prakṛti—the material nature; jaḍa-rūpā—dull, without action; śakti—energy; sañcāriyā—infusing; tāre—unto the dull material nature; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; kare—shows; kṛpā—mercy.
TRANSLATION
Because prakṛti is dull and inert, it cannot actually be the cause of the material world. But Lord Kṛṣṇa shows His mercy by infusing His energy into the dull, inert material nature.
TEXT 60
kṛṣṇa-śaktye prakṛti haya gauṇa kāraṇa
agni-śaktye lauha yaiche karaye jāraṇa
SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇa-śaktye—by the energy of Kṛṣṇa; prakṛti—the material nature; haya—becomes; gauṇa—indirect; kāraṇa—cause; agni-śaktye—by the energy of fire; lauha—iron; yaiche—just as; karaye—becomes; jāraṇa—powerful or red-hot.
TRANSLATION
Thus prakṛti, by the energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, becomes the secondary cause, just as iron becomes red-hot by the energy of fire.
TEXT 61
ataeva kṛṣṇa mūla-jagat-kāraṇa
prakṛti--kāraṇa yaiche ajā-gala-stana
SYNONYMS
ataeva—therefore; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; mūla—original; jagat-kāraṇa—the cause of the cosmic manifestation; prakṛti—material nature; kāraṇa—cause; yaiche—exactly like; ajā-gala-stana—nipples on the neck of a goat.
TRANSLATION
Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. Prakṛti is like the nipples on the neck of a goat, for they cannot give any milk.
PURPORT
The external energy, composed of pradhāna or prakṛti as the ingredient-supplying portion and māyā as the causal portion, is known as māyā-śakti. Inert material nature is not the actual cause of the material manifestation, for Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī, Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa, activates all the ingredients. It is in this way that material nature has the power to supply the ingredients. The example given is that iron has no power to heat or burn, but after coming in contact with fire the iron becomes red-hot and can then diffuse heat and burn other things. Material nature is like iron, for it has no independence to act without the touch of Viṣṇu, who is compared to fire. Lord Viṣṇu activates material nature by the power of His glance, and then the ironlike material nature becomes a material-supplying agent just as iron made red-hot becomes a burning agent. Material nature cannot independently become an agent for supplying the material ingredients. This is more clearly explained by Śrī Kapiladeva, an incarnation of Godhead, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.28.40):
yatholmukād visphuliṅgād
dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt
apy ātmatvenābhimatād
yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt
"Although smoke, flaming wood, and sparks are all considered together as ingredients of a fire, the flaming wood is nevertheless different from the fire, and the smoke is different from the flaming wood." The material elements (earth, water, fire, etc.) are like smoke, the living entities are like sparks, and material nature as pradhāna is like the flaming wood. But all of them together are recipients of power from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus able to manifest their individual capacities. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of all manifestations. Material nature can supply only when it is activated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Just as a woman can deliver a child after being impregnated by the semen of a man, so material nature can supply the material elements after being glanced upon by Mahā-Viṣṇu. Therefore pradhāna cannot be independent of the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10): mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. Prakṛti, the total material energy, works under the superintendence of the Lord. The original source of the material elements is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the attempt of the atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophers to consider material nature the source of these elements, forgetting Kṛṣṇa, is useless, like trying to get milk from the nipplelike bumps of skin hanging on the neck of a goat.
TEXT 62
māyā-aṁśe kahi tāre nimitta-kāraṇa
seha nahe, yāte kartā-hetu--nārāyaṇa
SYNONYMS
māyā-aṁśe—to the other portion of the material nature; kahi—I say; tāre—unto her; nimitta-kāraṇa—immediate cause; seha nahe—that cannot be; yāte—because; kartā-hetu—the original cause; nārāyaṇa—Lord Nārāyaṇa.
TRANSLATION
The māyā aspect of material nature is the immediate cause of the cosmic manifestation. But it also cannot be the real cause, for the original cause is Lord Nārāyaṇa.
TEXT 63
ghaṭera nimitta-hetu yaiche kumbhakāra
taiche jagatera kartā--puruṣāvatāra
SYNONYMS
ghaṭera—of the earthen pot; nimitta-hetu—original cause; yaiche—just as; kumbhakāra—the potter; taiche—similarly; jagatera kartā—the creator of the material world; puruṣa-avatāra—the puruṣa incarnation, or Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu.
TRANSLATION
Just as the original cause of an earthen pot is the potter, so the creator of the material world is the first puruṣa incarnation [Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu].
TEXT 64
kṛṣṇa--kartā, māyā tāṅra karena sahāya
ghaṭera kāraṇa--cakra-daṇḍādi upāya
SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; kartā—the creator; māyā—material energy; tāṅra—His; karena—does; sahāya—assistance; ghaṭera kāraṇa—the cause of the earthen pot; cakra-daṇḍa-ādi—the wheel, the rod, and so on; upāya—instruments.
TRANSLATION
Lord Kṛṣṇa is the creator, and māyā only helps Him as an instrument, just like the potter's wheel and other instruments, which are the instrumental causes of a pot.
TEXT 65
dūra haite puruṣa kare māyāte avadhāna
jīva-rūpa vīrya tāte karena ādhāna
SYNONYMS
dūra haite—from a distance; puruṣa—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; kare—does; māyāte—unto the material energy; avadhāna—glancing over; jīva-rūpa—the living entities; vīrya—seed; tāte—in her; karena—does; ādhāna—impregnation.
TRANSLATION
The first puruṣa casts His glance at māyā from a distance, and thus He impregnates her with the seed of life in the form of the living entities.
TEXT 66
eka aṅgābhāse kare māyāte milana
māyā haite janme tabe brahmāṇḍera gaṇa
SYNONYMS
eka—one; aṅga-ābhāse—bodily reflection; kare—does; māyāte—in the material energy; milana—mixture; māyā—the material energy; haite—from; janme—grows; tabe—then; brahma-aṇḍera gaṇa—the groups of universes.
TRANSLATION
The reflected rays of His body mix with māyā, and thus māyā gives birth to myriads of universes.
PURPORT
The Vedic conclusion is that the cosmic manifestation visible to the eyes of the conditioned soul is caused by the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, through the exertion of His specific energies, although in the conclusion of atheistic deliberations this manifested cosmic exhibition is attributed to material nature. The energy of the Absolute Truth is exhibited in three ways: spiritual, material and marginal. The Absolute Truth is identical with His spiritual energy. Only when contacted by the spiritual energy can the material energy work and the temporary material manifestations thus appear active. In the conditioned state the living entities of the marginal energy are a mixture of spiritual and material energies. The marginal energy is originally under the control of the spiritual energy, but, under the control of the material energy, the living entities have been wandering in forgetfulness within the material world since time immemorial.
The conditioned state is caused by misuse of the individual independence of the spiritual platform, for this separates the living entity from the association of the spiritual energy. But when the living entity is enlightened by the grace of the Supreme Lord or His pure devotee and becomes inclined to revive his original state of loving service, he is on the most auspicious platform of eternal bliss and knowledge. The marginal jīva, or living entity, misuses his independence and becomes averse to the eternal service attitude when he independently thinks he is not energy but the energetic. This misconception of his own existence leads him to the attitude of lording it over material nature.
Material nature appears to be just the opposite of the spiritual energy. The fact is that the material energy can work only when in contact with the spiritual energy. Originally the energy of Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, but it works in diverse ways, like electrical energy, which can exhibit the functions of refrigerating or heating through its manifestations in different ways. The material energy is spiritual energy covered by a cloud of illusion, or māyā. Therefore, the material energy is not self-sufficient in working. Kṛṣṇa invests His spiritual energy into material energy, and then it can act, just as iron can act like fire after being heated by fire. The material energy can act only when empowered by the spiritual energy.
When covered by the cloud of material energy, the living entity, who is also a spiritual energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, forgets about the activities of the spiritual energy and considers all that happens in the material manifestation to be wonderful. But a person who is engaged in devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness and who is therefore already situated in the spiritual energy can understand that the material energy has no independent powers: whatever actions are going on are due to the help of the spiritual energy. The material energy, which is a perverted form of the spiritual energy, presents everything pervertedly, thus causing misconceptions and duality. Material scientists and philosophers conditioned by the spell of material nature suppose that material energy acts automatically, and therefore they are frustrated, like an illusioned person who tries to get milk from the nipplelike bunches of skin on the neck of a goat. As there is no possibility of getting milk from these bunches of skin, there is similarly no possibility that anyone will be successful in understanding the original cause of creation by forwarding theories produced by the material energy. Such an attempt is a manifestation of ignorance.
The material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called māyā, or illusion, because in two capacities (by supplying the material elements and by causing the material manifestation) it makes the conditioned soul unable to understand the real truth of creation. When a living entity is liberated, however, from the conditioned life of matter, he can understand the two different activities of material nature, namely covering and bewildering.
The origin of creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), the cosmic manifestation is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who invests the material energy with three material qualities. Agitated by these qualities, the elements supplied by the material energy produce varieties of things, just as an artist produces varieties of pictures by mixing the three colors red, yellow and blue. Yellow represents the quality of goodness, red represents passion, and blue represents ignorance. Therefore the colorful material creation is but an interaction of these three qualities, represented in eighty-one varieties of mixtures (3 x 3 equaling 9, 9 x 9 thus equaling 81). Deluded by material energy, the conditioned soul, enamored by these eighty-one varieties of manifestation, wants to lord it over material energy, just as a moth wants to enjoy a fire. This illusion is the net result of the conditioned soul's forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with the Supreme personality of Godhead. When conditioned, the soul is impelled by the material energy to engage in sense gratification, whereas one enlightened by the spiritual energy engages himself in the service of the Supreme Lord in his eternal relationship.
Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of the spiritual world, and He is the covered cause of the material manifestation. He is also the original cause of the marginal potency, the living entities. He is both the leader and maintainer of the living entities, who are called the marginal potency because they can act under the protection of the spiritual energy or under the cover of the material energy. With the help of the spiritual energy we can understand that independence is visible only in Kṛṣṇa, who by His inconceivable energy is able to act in any way He likes.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Absolute Whole, and the living entities are parts of the Absolute Whole. This relationship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities is eternal. One should never mistakenly think that the spiritual whole can be divided into small parts by the small material energy. The Bhagavad-gītā does not support this Māyāvāda theory. Rather, it clearly states that the living entities are eternally small fragments of the supreme spiritual whole. As a part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole, the absolute Personality of Godhead. Although the Supreme Lord and the living entities are quantitatively related as the whole and the parts, the parts are nevertheless qualitatively one with the whole. Thus the living entities, although always qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, are in a relative position. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the controller of everything, and the living entities are always controlled, either by the spiritual energy or by the material energy. Therefore a living entity can never become the controller of material or spiritual energies. The natural position of the living being is always as a subordinate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one agrees to act in such a position, he attains perfection in life, but if one rebels against this principle, he is in the conditioned state.
TEXT 67
agaṇya, ananta yata aṇḍa-sanniveśa
tata-rūpe puruṣa kare sabāte prakāśa
SYNONYMS
agaṇya—innumerable; ananta—unlimited; yata—all; aṇḍa—universes; sanniveśa—groups; tata-rūpe—in as many forms; puruṣa—the Lord; kare—does; sabāte—in every one of them; prakāśa—manifestation.
TRANSLATION
The puruṣa enters each and every one of the countless universes. He manifests Himself in as many separate forms as there are universes.
TEXT 68
puruṣa-nāsāte yabe bāhirāya śvāsa
niśvāsa sahite haya brahmāṇḍa-prakāśa
SYNONYMS
puruṣa-nāsāte—in the nostrils of the Lord; yabe—when; bāhirāya—expels; śvāsa—breath; niśvāsa sahite—with that exhalation; haya—there is; brahmāṇḍa-prakāśa—manifestation of universes.
TRANSLATION
When the puruṣa exhales, the universes become manifest with each outward breath.
TEXT 69
punarapi śvāsa yabe praveśe antare
śvāsa-saha brahmāṇḍa paiśe puruṣa-śarīre
SYNONYMS
punarapi—thereafter; śvāsa—breath; yabe—when; praveśe—enters; antare—within; śvāsa-saha—with that inhaled breath; brahmāṇḍa—universes; paiśe—enter; puruṣa-śarīre—within the body of the Lord.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, when He inhales, all the universes again enter His body.
PURPORT
In His form as Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu the Lord impregnates material nature by His glance. The transcendental molecules of that glance are particles of spirit, or spiritual atoms, which appear in different species of life according to the seeds of their individual karma from the previous cosmic manifestation. And the Lord Himself, by His partial representation, creates a body of innumerable universes and again enters each of those universes as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. His coming in contact with māyā is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā by a comparison between air and the sky. The sky enters everything material, yet it is far away from us.
TEXT 70
gavākṣera randhre yena trasareṇu cale
puruṣera loma-kūpe brahmāṇḍera jāle
SYNONYMS
gavākṣera—of windows of a room; randhre—within the holes; yena—like; trasareṇu—six atoms together; cale—moves; puruṣera—of the Lord; loma-kūpe—in the holes of the hair; brahmāṇḍera—of universes; jāle—a network.
TRANSLATION
Just as atomic particles of dust pass through the openings of a window, so the networks of universes pass through the pores of the skin of the puruṣa.
TEXT 71
yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
jīvanti loma-vila-jā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
SYNONYMS
yasya—whose; eka—one; niśvasita—of breath; kālam—time; atha—thus; avalambya—taking shelter of; jīvanti—live; loma-vila-jāḥ—grown from the hair holes; jagat-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ—the masters of the universes (the Brahmās); viṣṇuḥ mahān—the Supreme Lord, Mahā-Viṣṇu; saḥ—that; iha—here; yasya—whose; kalā-viśeṣaḥ—particular plenary portion or expansion; govindam—Lord Govinda; ādi-puruṣam—the original person; tam—Him; aham—I; bhajāmi—worship.
TRANSLATION
"The Brahmās and other lords of the mundane worlds appear from the pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu and remain alive for the duration of His one exhalation. I adore the primeval Lord, Govinda, of whom Mahā-Viṣṇu is a portion of a plenary portion."
PURPORT
This description of the Lord's creative energy is from the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.48), which Lord Brahmā compiled after his personal realization. When Mahā-Viṣṇu exhales, the spiritual seeds of the universes emanate from Him in the form of molecular particles like those that are visible, three times the size of an atom, when sunlight is diffused through a small hole. In these days of atomic research it will be a worthwhile engagement for atomic scientists to learn from this statement how the entire creation develops from the spiritual atoms emanating from the body of the Lord.
TEXT 72
kvāhaṁ tamo-mahad-ahaṁ-kha-carāgni-vār-bhū-
saṁveṣṭitāṇḍa-ghaṭa-sapta-vitasti-kāyaḥ
kvedṛg-vidhāvigaṇitāṇḍa-parāṇu-caryā-
vātādhva-roma-vivarasya ca te mahitvam
SYNONYMS
kva—where; aham—I; tamaḥ—material nature; mahat—the total material energy; aham—false ego; kha—ether; cara—air; agni—fire; vāḥ—water; bhū—earth; saṁveṣṭita—surrounded by; aṇḍa-ghaṭa—a potlike universe; sapta-vitasti—seven vitastis; kāyaḥ—body; kva—where; īdṛk—such; vidha—like; avigaṇita—unlimited; aṇḍa—universes; para-aṇu-caryā—moving like the atomic dust; vāta-adhva—air holes; roma—of hair on the body; vivarasya—of the holes; ca—also; te—Your; mahitvam—greatness.
TRANSLATION
"Where am I, a small creature of seven spans the measure of my own hand? I am enclosed in the universe composed of material nature, the total material energy, false ego, ether, air, water and earth. And what is Your glory? Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just like particles of dust passing through the opening of a window."
PURPORT
When Lord Brahmā, after having stolen all Kṛṣṇa's cows and cowherd boys, returned and saw that the cows and boys were still roaming with Kṛṣṇa, he offered this prayer (Bhāg. 10.14.11) in his defeat. A conditioned soul, even one so great as Brahmā, who manages the affairs of the entire universe, cannot compare to the Personality of Godhead, for He can produce numberless universes simply by the spiritual rays emanating from the pores of His body. Material scientists should take lessons from the utterances of Śrī Brahmā regarding our insignificance in comparison to God. In these prayers of Brahmā there is much to learn for those who are falsely puffed up by the accumulation of power.
TEXT 73
aṁśera aṁśa yei, 'kalā' tāra nāma
govindera pratimūrti śrī-balarāma
SYNONYMS
aṁśera—of the part; aṁśa—part; yei—that which; kalā—a kalā, or part of the plenary portion; tāra—its; nāma—name; govindera—of Lord Govinda; prati-mūrti—counterform; śrī-balarāma—Lord Balarāma.
TRANSLATION
A part of a part of a whole is called a kalā. Śrī Balarāma is the counterform of Lord Govinda.
TEXT 74
tāṅra eka svarūpa--śrī-mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa
tāṅra aṁśa 'puruṣa' haya kalāte gaṇana
SYNONYMS
tāṅra—His; eka—one; svarūpa—manifestation; śrī-mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa—the great Lord Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa; tāṅra—His; aṁśa—part; puruṣa—the Mahā-Viṣṇu incarnation; haya—is; kalāte gaṇana—counted as a kalā.
TRANSLATION
Balarāma's own expansion is called Mahā-Saṅkarṣaṇa, and His fragment, the puruṣa, is counted as a kalā, or a part of a plenary portion.
TEXT 75
yāṅhāke ta' kalā kahi, tiṅho mahā-viṣṇu
mahā-puruṣāvatārī teṅho sarva-jiṣṇu
SYNONYMS
yāṅhāke—unto whom; ta'-certainly; kalā kahi—I say kalā; tiṅho—He; mahā-viṣṇu—Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu; mahā-puruṣāvatārī—Mahā-Viṣṇu, the source of other puruṣa incarnations; teṅho—He; sarva—jiṣṇu—all-pervading.
TRANSLATION
I say that this kalā is Mahā-Viṣṇu. He is the Mahā-puruṣa, who is the source of the other puruṣas and who is all-pervading.
TEXT 76
garbhoda-kṣīroda-śāyī doṅhe 'puruṣa' nāma
sei dui, yāṅra aṁśa,--viṣṇu, viśva-dhāma
SYNONYMS
garbha-uda—in the ocean known as Garbhodaka within the universe; kṣīra-uda-śāyī—one who lies in the ocean of milk; doṅhe—both of Them; puruṣa nāma—known as puruṣa, Lord Viṣṇu; sei—those; dui—two; yāṅra aṁśa—whose plenary portions; viṣṇu viśva-dhāma—Lord Viṣṇu, the abode of the total universes.
TRANSLATION
Garbhodaśāyī and Kṣīrodaśāyī are both called puruṣas. They are plenary portions of Kāraṇodaśāyī Viṣṇu, the first puruṣa, who is the abode of all the universes.
PURPORT
The symptoms of the puruṣa are described in Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta. While describing the incarnations of the Supreme personality of Godhead, the author has quoted from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.8.59), where it is said: "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Puruṣottama, Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is always free from the contamination of the six material dualities; whose plenary expansion, Mahā-Viṣṇu, glances over matter to create the cosmic manifestation; who expands Himself in various transcendental forms, all of which are one and the same; who is the master of all living entities; who is always free and liberated from the contamination of material energy; and who, when He appears in this material world, seems one of us, although He has an eternally spiritual, blissful, transcendental form." In summarizing this statement, Rūpa Gosvāmī has concluded that the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who acts in cooperation with the material energy is called the puruṣa.
TEXT 77
viṣṇos tu trīṇi rūpāṇi
puruṣākhyāny atho viduḥ
ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ
dvitīyaṁ tv aṇḍa-saṁsthitam
tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-sthaṁ
tāni jñātvā vimucyate
SYNONYMS
viṣṇoḥ—of Lord Viṣṇu; tu—certainly; trīṇi—three; rūpāṇi—forms; puruṣa-ākhyāni—celebrated as the puruṣa; atho—how; viduḥ—they know; ekam—one of them; tu—but; mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ—the creator of the total material energy; dvitīyam—the second; tu—but; aṇḍa-saṁsthitam—situated within the universe; tṛtīyam—the third; sarva-bhūta-stham—within the hearts of all living entities; tāni—these three; jñātvā—knowing; vimucyate—one becomes liberated.
TRANSLATION
"Viṣṇu has three forms called puruṣas. The first, Mahā-Viṣṇu, is the creator of the total material energy [mahat], the second is Garbhodaśāyī, who is situated within each universe, and the third is Kṣīrodaśāyī, who lives in the heart of every living being. He who knows these three becomes liberated from the clutches of māyā.
PURPORT
This verse appears in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 2.9), where it has been quoted from the Sātvata-tantra.
TEXT 78
yadyapi kahiye tāṅre kṛṣṇera 'kalā' kari
matsya-kūrmādy-avatārera tiṅho avatārī
SYNONYMS
yadyapi—although; kahiye—I say; tāṅre—to Him; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; kalā—part of the part; kari—making; matsya—the fish incarnation; kūrma-ādi—the tortoise incarnation and others; avatārera—of all these incarnations; tiṅho—He; avatārī—the original source.
TRANSLATION
Although Kṣīrodaśāyī Viṣṇu is called a kalā of Lord Kṛṣṇa, He is the source of Matsya, Kūrma and the other incarnations.
TEXT 79
ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ
mṛḍayanti yuge yuge
SYNONYMS
ete—all these; ca—also; aṁśa-kalāḥ—part or part of the part; puṁsaḥ—of the Supreme Person; kṛṣṇaḥ tu—but Lord Kṛṣṇa; bhagavān—the original Personality of Godhead; svayam—Himself; indra-ari—the demons; vyākulam—disturbed; lokam—all the planets; mṛḍayanti—makes them happy; yuge yuge—in different millenniums.
TRANSLATION
"All these incarnations of Godhead are either plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions of the puruṣa-avatāras. But Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In every age He protects the world through His different features when the world is disturbed by the enemies of Indra."
PURPORT
This quotation is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.28).
TEXT 80
sei puruṣa sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralayera kartā
nānā avatāra kare, jagatera bhartā
SYNONYMS
sei—that; puruṣa—the Personality of Godhead; sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralayera—of creation, maintenance and annihilation; kartā—creator; nānā—various; avatāra—incarnations; kare—makes; jagatera—of the material world; bhartā—maintainer.
TRANSLATION
That puruṣa [Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] is the performer of creation, maintenance and destruction. He manifests Himself in many incarnations, for He is the maintainer of the world.
TEXT 81
sṛṣṭy-ādi-nimitte yei aṁśera avadhāna
sei ta' aṁśere kahi 'avatāra' nāma
SYNONYMS
sṛṣṭi-ādi-nimitte—for the cause of creation, maintenance and annihilation; yei—which; aṁśera avadhāna—manifestation of the part; sei ta'-that certainly; aṁśere kahi—I speak about that plenary expansion; avatāra nāma—by the name "incarnation."
TRANSLATION
That fragment of the Mahā-puruṣa who appears for the purpose of creation, maintenance and annihilation is called an incarnation.
TEXT 82
ādyāvatāra, mahā-puruṣa, bhagavān
sarva-avatāra-bīja, sarvāśraya-dhāma
SYNONYMS
ādya-avatāra—the original incarnation; mahā-puruṣa—Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu; bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead; sarva-avatāra-bīja—the seed of all different kinds of incarnations; sarva-āśraya-dhāma—the shelter of everything.
TRANSLATION
That Mahā-puruṣa is identical with the Personality of Godhead. He is the original incarnation, the seed of all others, and the shelter of everything.
TEXT 83
ādyo 'vatāraḥ puruṣaḥ parasya
kālaḥ svabhāvaḥ sad-asan manaś ca
dravyaṁ vikāro guṇa indriyāṇi
virāṭ svarāṭ sthāsnu cariṣṇu bhūmnaḥ
SYNONYMS
ādyaḥ avatāraḥ—original incarnation; puruṣaḥ—the Lord; parasya—of the Supreme; kālaḥ—time; svabhāvaḥ—nature; sat-asat—cause and effect; manaḥ ca—as well as the mind; dravyam—the five elements; vikāraḥ—transformation or the false ego; guṇaḥ—modes of nature; indriyāṇi—senses; virāṭ—the universal form; svarāṭ—complete independence; sthāsnu—immovable; cariṣṇu—movable; bhūmnaḥ—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
"The puruṣa is the primary incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Time, nature, prakṛti (as cause and effect), the mind, the material elements, false ego, the modes of nature, the senses, the universal form, complete independence and the moving and nonmoving beings appear subsequently as His opulences."
PURPORT
Describing the incarnations and their symptoms, the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta has stated that when Lord Kṛṣṇa descends to conduct the creative affairs of the material manifestation, He is an avatāra, or incarnation. The two categories of avatāras are empowered devotees and tad-ekātma-rūpa (the Lord Himself). An example of tad-ekātma-rūpa is Śeṣa, and an example of a devotee is Vasudeva, the father of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has commented that the material cosmic manifestation is a partial kingdom of God where God must sometimes come to execute a specific function. The plenary portion of the Lord through whom Lord Kṛṣṇa executes such actions is called Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is the primal beginning of all incarnations. Inexperienced observers presume that the material energy provides both the cause and the elements of the cosmic manifestation and that the living entities are the enjoyers of material nature. But the devotees of the Bhāgavata school, which has scrutinizingly examined the entire situation, can understand that material nature can independently be neither the supplier of the material elements nor the cause of the material manifestation. Material nature gets the power to supply the material elements from the glance of the supreme puruṣa, Mahā-Viṣṇu, and when empowered by Him she is called the cause of the material manifestation. Both features of material nature, as the cause of the material creation and as the source of its elements, exist due to the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The various expansions of the Supreme Lord who act to empower the material energy are known as plenary expansions or incarnations. As illustrated by the example of many flames lit from one flame, all these plenary expansions and incarnations are as good as Viṣṇu Himself; nevertheless, because of their activities in controlling māyā, sometimes they are known as māyika, or having a relationship with māyā. This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.6.42).
TEXT 84
jagṛhe pauruṣaṁ rūpaṁ
bhagavān mahad-ādibhiḥ
sambhūtaṁ ṣoḍaśa-kalam
ādau loka-sisṛkṣayā
SYNONYMS
jagṛhe—accepted; pauruṣam—the puruṣa incarnation; rūpam—the form; bhagavān—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; mahat-ādibhiḥ—by the total material energy etc.; sambhūtam—created; ṣoḍaśa—sixteen; kalam—energies; ādau—originally; loka—the material worlds; sisṛkṣayā—with the desire to create.
TRANSLATION
"In the beginning of the creation, the Lord expanded Himself in the form of the puruṣa incarnation, accompanied by all the ingredients of material creation. First He created the sixteen principal energies suitable for creation. This was for the purpose of manifesting the material universes."
PURPORT
This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.1). The commentary of Madhva on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mentions that the following sixteen spiritual energies are present in the spiritual world: (1) śrī, (2) bhū, (3) līlā, (4) kānti, (5) kīrti, (6) tuṣṭi, (7) gīr, (8) puṣṭi, (9) satyā (10) jñānājñānā, (11) jayā utkarṣiṇī, (12) vimalā, (13) yogamāyā, (14) prahvī, (15) īśānā and (16) anugrahā. In his commentary on the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has said that the above energies are also known by nine names: (1) vimalā, (2) utkarṣiṇī (3) jñānā, (4) kriyā, (5) yogā, (6) prahvī, (7) satyā, (8) īśānā and (9) anugrahā. In the Bhagavat-sandarbha of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī (Anuccheda 103) they are described as śrī, puṣṭi, gīr, kānti, kīrti, tuṣṭi, ilā, jaya; vidyāvidyā, māyā, samvit, sandhinī, hlādinī, bhakti, mūrti, vimalā, yogā, prahvī, īśānā, anugrahā, etc. All these energies act in different spheres of the Lord's supremacy.
TEXT 85
yadyapi sarvāśraya tiṅho, tāṅhāte saṁsāra
antarātmā-rūpe tiṅho jagat-ādhāra
SYNONYMS
yadyapi—although; sarva-āśraya—the shelter of everything; tiṅho—He (the Lord); tāṅhāte—in Him; saṁsāra—the material creation; antaḥ-ātmā-rūpe—in the form of the Supersoul; tiṅho—He; jagat-ādhāra—the support of the whole creation.
TRANSLATION
Although the Lord is the shelter of everything and although all the universes rest in Him, He, as the Supersoul, is also the support of everything.
TEXT 86
prakṛti-sahite tāṅra ubhaya sambandha
tathāpi prakṛti-saha nāhi sparśa-gandha
SYNONYMS
prakrti-sahite—with the material energy; tāṅra—His; ubhaya sambandha—both relationships; tathāpi—still; prakṛti-saha—with the material nature; nāhi—there is not; sparśa-gandha—even the slightest contact.
TRANSLATION
Although He is thus connected with the material energy in two ways, He does not have the slightest contact with it.
PURPORT
In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, commenting upon the Lord's transcendental position beyond the material qualities, says that Viṣṇu, as the controller and superintendent of material nature, has a connection with the material qualities. That connection is called yoga. However, the person who directs a prison is not also a prisoner. Similarly, although the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu directs or supervises the qualitative nature, He has no connection with the material modes of nature. The expansions of Lord Viṣṇu always retain their supremacy; they are never connected with the material qualities. One may argue that Mahā-Viṣṇu cannot have any connection with the material qualities, because if He were so connected, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would not state that material nature, ashamed of her thankless task of acting to induce the living entities to become averse to the Supreme Lord, remains behind the Lord in shyness. In answer to this argument, it may be said that the word guṇa means "regulation." Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are situated within this universe as the directors of the three modes, and their connection with the modes is known as yoga. This does not indicate, however, that these personalities are bound by the qualities of nature. Lord Viṣṇu specifically is always the controller of the three qualities. There is no question of His coming under their control.
Although the causal and element-supplying features exist in material nature by dint of the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord is never affected by glancing over the material qualities. By the will of the Supreme Lord the different qualitative changes in the material world take place, but there is no possibility of material affection, change or contamination for Lord Viṣṇu.
TEXT 87
etad īśanam īśasya
prakṛti-stho 'pi tad-guṇaiḥ
na yujyate sadātma-sthair
yathā buddhis tad-āśrayā
SYNONYMS
etat—this is; īśanam—opulence; īśasya—of the Lord; prakṛti-sthaḥ—within this material world; api—although; tat-guṇaiḥ—by the material qualities; na yujyate—never affected; sadā—always; ātma-sthaiḥ—situated in His own energy; yathā—as also; buddhiḥ—intelligence; tat—His; āśrayā—devotees.
TRANSLATION
"This is the opulence of the Lord. Although situated within the material nature, He is never affected by the modes of nature. Similarly, those who have surrendered to Him and have fixed their intelligence upon Him are not influenced by the modes of nature."
PURPORT
This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.11.38).
TEXT 88
ei mata gītāteha punaḥ punaḥ kaya
sarvadā īśvara-tattva acintya-śakti haya
SYNONYMS
ei mata—in this way; gītāteha—in the Bhagavad-gītā; punaḥ punaḥ—again and again; kaya—it is said; sarvadā—always; īśvara-tattva—the truth of the Absolute Truth; acintya-śakti haya—is inconceivable.
TRANSLATION
Thus the Bhagavad-gītā also states again and again that the Absolute Truth always possesses inconceivable power.
TEXT 89
āmi ta' jagate vasi, jagat āmāte
nā āmi jagate vasi, nā āmā jagate
SYNONYMS
āmi—I; ta'-certainly; jagate—in the material world; vasi—situated; jagat—the whole material creation; āmāte—in Me; nā—not; āmi—I; jagate—within the material world; vasi—situated; nā—nor; āmā—on Me; jagate—the material world.
TRANSLATION
"I am situated in the material world, and the world rests in Me. But at the same time I am not situated in the material world, nor does it rest on Me in truth.
PURPORT
Nothing in existence is possible unless energized by the will of the Lord. The entire manifested creation is therefore resting on the energy of the Lord, but one should not therefore presume that the material manifestation is identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A cloud may rest in the sky, but that does not mean that the sky and the cloud are one and the same. Similarly, the qualitative material nature and its products are never identical with the Supreme Lord. The tendency to lord it over material nature, or māyā, cannot be a feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When He descends to the material world, He maintains His transcendental nature, unaffected by the material qualities. In both the spiritual and material worlds, He is always the controller of all energies. The uncontaminated spiritual nature always exists within Him. The Lord appears and disappears in the material world in different features for His pastimes, yet He is the origin of all cosmic manifestations.
The material manifestation cannot exist separate from the Supreme Lord, yet Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in spite of His connection with material nature, cannot be subordinate to nature's influence. His original form of eternal bliss and knowledge is never subordinate to the three qualities of material nature. This is a specific feature of the Supreme Lord's inconceivable potencies.
TEXT 90
acintya aiśvarya ei jāniha āmāra
ei ta' gītāra artha kaila paracāra
SYNONYMS
acintya—inconceivable; aiśvarya—opulence; ei—this; jāniha—you must know; āmāra—of Me; ei ta'-this; gītāra artha—the meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā; kaila paracāra—Lord Kṛṣṇa propagated.
TRANSLATION
"O Arjuna, you should know this as My inconceivable opulence." This is the meaning propagated by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā.
TEXT 91
sei ta' puruṣa yāṅra 'aṁśa' dhare nāma
caitanyera saṅge sei nityānanda-rāma
SYNONYMS
sei ta'-that; puruṣa—Supreme Person; yāṅra—of whom; aṁśa—as part; dhare nāma—is known; caitanyera saṅge—with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; sei—that; nityānanda-rāma—Lord Nityānanda or Balarāma.
TRANSLATION
That Mahā-puruṣa [Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] is known as a plenary part of Him who is Lord Nityānanda Balarāma, the favorite associate of Lord Caitanya.
TEXT 92
ei ta' navama ślokera artha-vivaraṇa
daśama ślokera artha śuna diyā mana
SYNONYMS
ei ta'-thus; navama ślokera—of the ninth verse; artha-vivaraṇa—description of the meaning; daśama ślokera—of the tenth verse; artha—meaning; śuna—hear; diyā mana—with attention.
TRANSLATION
I have thus explained the ninth verse, and now I shall explain the tenth. Please listen with rapt attention.
TEXT 93
yasyāṁśāṁśaḥ śrīla-garbhoda-śāyī
yan-nābhy-abjaṁ loka-saṅghāta-nālam
loka-sraṣṭuḥ sūtikā-dhāma dhātus
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
yasya—whose; aṁśa-aṁśaḥ—portion of a plenary portion; śrīla-garbha-uda-śāyī—Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; yat—of whom; nābhi-abjam—the navel lotus; loka-saṅghāta—of the multitude of planets; nālam—having a stem that is the resting place; loka-sraṣṭuḥ—of Lord Brahmā, creator of the planets; sūtikā-dhāma—the birthplace; dhātuḥ—of the creator; tam—to Him; śrī-nityānanda-rāmam—to Lord Balarāma in the form of Lord Nityānanda; prapadye—I surrender.
TRANSLATION
I offer my full obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, a partial part of whom is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu sprouts the lotus that is the birthplace of Brahmā, the engineer of the universe. The stem of that lotus is the resting place of the multitude of planets.
PURPORT
In the Mahābhārata, Śānti-parva, it is said that He who is Pradyumna is also Aniruddha. He is also the father of Brahmā. Thus Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu are identical plenary expansions of Pradyumna, the original Deity of Brahmā, who is born from the lotus flower. It is Pradyumna who gives Brahmā direction for cosmic management. A full description of Brahmā's birth is given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.8.15-16).
Describing the features of the three puruṣas, the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta says that Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu has a four-handed form, and when He Himself enters the hollow of the universe and lies down in the ocean of milk He is known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is the Supersoul of all living entities, including the demigods. In the Sātvata-tantra it is said that the third puruṣa incarnation, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is situated as the Supersoul in everyone's heart. This Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu for pastimes.
TEXT 94
sei ta' puruṣa ananta-brahmāṇḍa sṛjiyā
saba aṇḍe praveśilā bahu-mūrti hañā
SYNONYMS
sei—that; ta'-certainly; puruṣa—incarnation; ananta-brahmāṇḍa—innumerable universes; sṛjiyā—creating; saba—all; aṇḍe—in the egglike universes; praveśilā—entered; bahu-mūrti hañā—taking multifarious forms.
TRANSLATION
After creating millions of universes, the first puruṣa entered into each of them in a separate form, as Śrī Garbhodakaśāyī.
TEXT 95
bhitare praveśi' dekhe saba andhakāra
rahite nāhika sthāna karila vicāra
SYNONYMS
bhitare—within the universe; praveśi'-entering; dekhe—He sees; saba—all; andhakāra—darkness; rahite—to stay; nāhika—there is not; sthāna—place; karila vicāra—considered.
TRANSLATION
Entering the universe, He found only darkness, with no place in which to reside. Thus He began to consider.
TEXT 96
nijāṅga-sveda-jala karila sṛjana
sei jale kaila ardha-brahmāṇḍa bharaṇa
SYNONYMS
nija-aṅga—of His own body; sveda-jala—water from perspiration; karila—did; sṛjana—creation; sei jale—with that water; kaila—did; ardha-brahmāṇḍa—half of the universe; bharaṇa—filling.
TRANSLATION
Then He created water from the perspiration of His own body and with that water filled half the universe.
TEXT 97
brahmāṇḍa-pramāṇa pañcāśat-koṭi-yojana
āyāma, vistāra, dui haya eka sama
SYNONYMS
brahmāṇḍa-pramāṇa—measurement of the universe; pañcāśat—fifty; koṭi—ten millions; yojana—lengths of eight miles; āyāma—length; vistāra—breadth; dui—both of them; haya—are; eka sama—one and the same.
TRANSLATION
The universe measures five hundred million yojanas. Its length and breadth are one and the same.
TEXT 98
jale bhari' ardha tāṅhā kaila nija-vāsa
āra ardhe kaila caudda-bhuvana prakāśa
SYNONYMS
jale—with water; bhari'-filling; ardha—half; tāṅhā—there; kaila—made; nija-vāsa—own residence; āra—other; ardhe—in the half; kaila—did; caudda-bhuvana—fourteen worlds; prakāśa—manifestation.
TRANSLATION
After filling half the universe with water, He made His own residence therein and manifested the fourteen worlds in the other half.
PURPORT
The fourteen worlds are enumerated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, Fifth Chapter. The upper planetary systems are (1) Bhū, (2) Bhuvar, (3) Svar, (4) Mahar, (5) Janas, (6) Tapas and (7) Satya. The seven lower planetary systems are (1) Tala, (2) Atala, (3) Vitala, (4) Nitala, (5) Talātala, (6) Mahātala and (7) Sutala. The lower planets, as a whole, are called Pātāla. Among the upper planetary systems, Bhū, Bhuvar and Svar constitute Svargaloka, and the rest are called Martya. The entire universe is thus known as Triloka.
TEXT 99
tāṅhāi prakaṭa kaila vaikuṇṭha nija-dhāma
śeṣa-śayana-jale karila viśrāma
SYNONYMS
tāṅhāi—there; prakaṭa—manifestation; kaila—did; vaikuṇṭha—the spiritual world; nija-dhāma—His own abode; śeṣa—of Lord Śeṣa; śayana—on the bed; jale—on the water; karila—did; viśrāma—rest.
TRANSLATION
There He manifested Vaikuṇṭha as His own abode and rested in the waters on the bed of Lord Śeṣa.
TEXTS 100-101
ananta-śayyāte tāṅhā karila śayana
sahasra mastaka tāṅra sahasra vadana
sahasra-caraṇa-hasta, sahasra-nayana
sarva-avatāra-bīja, jagat-kāraṇa
SYNONYMS
ananta-śayyāte—on Lord Ananta as a bed; tāṅhā—there; karila śayana—lay down; sahasra—thousands; mastaka—heads; tāṅra—His; sahasra vadana—thousands of faces; sahasra—thousands; caraṇa—legs; hasta—hands; sahasra-nayana—thousands of eyes; sarva-avatāra-bīja—the seed of all incarnations; jagat-kāraṇa—the cause of the material world.
TRANSLATION
He lay there with Ananta as His bed. Lord Ananta is a divine serpent having thousands of heads, thousands of faces, thousands of eyes and thousands of hands and feet. He is the seed of all incarnations and is the cause of the material world.
PURPORT
In the reservoir of water first created by the perspiration of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Lord lies on the Śeṣa plenary expansion of Viṣṇu, who is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in the four Vedas as follows:
sahasra-śīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasra-pāt
sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvātyatiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam
The Viṣṇu form called Ananta-śayana has thousands of hands and legs and thousands of eyes, and He is the active generator of all the incarnations within the material world.
TEXT 102
tāṅra nābhi-padma haite uṭhila eka padma
sei padme haila brahmāra janma-sadma
SYNONYMS
tāṅra—His; nābhi-padma—lotus navel; haite—from; uṭhila—grew; eka—one; padma—lotus flower; sei padme—on that lotus; haila—there was; brahmāra—of Lord Brahmā; janma-sadma—the place of birth.
TRANSLATION
From His navel grew a lotus flower, which became the birthplace of Lord Brahmā.
TEXT 103
sei padma-nāle haila caudda-bhuvana
teṅho brahmā hañā sṛṣṭi karila sṛjana
SYNONYMS
sei padma-nāle—within the stem of that lotus flower; haila—were; caudda-bhuvana—the fourteen worlds; teṅho—He Himself; brahmā hañā—appearing as Brahmā; sṛṣṭi—the creation; karila sṛjana—created.
TRANSLATION
Within the stem of that lotus were the fourteen worlds. Thus the Supreme Lord, as Brahmā, created the entire creation.
TEXT 104
viṣṇu-rūpa hañā kare jagat pālane
guṇātīta-viṣṇu sparśa nāhi māyā-guṇe
SYNONYMS
viṣṇu-rūpa—the form of Lord Viṣṇu; hañā—becoming; kare—does; jagat pālane—maintenance of the material world; guṇa-atīta—beyond the material qualities; viṣṇu—Lord Viṣṇu; sparśa—touch; nāhi—not; māyā-guṇe—in the material qualities.
TRANSLATION
And as Lord Viṣṇu He maintains the entire world. Lord Viṣṇu, being beyond all material attributes, has no touch with the material qualities.
PURPORT
Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa says that although Viṣṇu is the predominating Deity of the quality of goodness in the material world, He is never affected by the quality of goodness, for He directs that quality simply by His supreme will. It is said that all living entities can derive all good fortune from the Lord simply by His will. In the Vāmana Purāṇa it is said that the same Viṣṇu expands Himself as Brahmā and Śiva to direct the different qualities.
Because Lord Viṣṇu expands the quality of goodness, He has the name Sattvatanu. The multifarious incarnations of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu are known as Sattvatanu. Therefore in all Vedic scriptures Viṣṇu has been described as being free from all material qualities. In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said:
harir hi nirguṇaḥ sākṣāt
puruṣaḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ
sa sarva-dṛg upadraṣṭā
taṁ bhajan nirguṇo bhavet
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is always uncontaminated by the modes of material nature, for He is beyond the material manifestation. He is the source of the knowledge of all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, and He is the witness of everything. Therefore one who worships the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu also attains freedom from the contamination of material nature." (Bhāg. 10.88.5) One can attain freedom from the contamination of material nature by worshiping Viṣṇu, and therefore He is called Sattvatanu, as described above.
TEXT 105
rudra-rūpa dhari' kare jagat saṁhāra
sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya--icchāya yāṅhāra
SYNONYMS
rudra-rūpa—the form of Lord Śiva; dhari'-accepting; kare—does; jagat saṁhāra—annihilation of the material world; sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya—creation, maintenance and annihilation; icchāya—by the will; yāṅhāra—of whom.
TRANSLATION
Assuming the form of Rudra, He destroys the creation. Thus creation, maintenance and dissolution are created by His will.
PURPORT
Maheśvara, or Lord Śiva, is not an ordinary living being, nor is he equal to Lord Viṣṇu. Effectively comparing Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Śiva, the Brahma-saṁhitā says that Viṣṇu is like milk, whereas Śiva is like curd. Curd is nothing like milk, but nevertheless it is milk also.
TEXT 106
hiraṇya-garbha, antaryāmī, jagat-kāraṇa
yāṅra aṁśa kari' kare virāṭa-kalpana
SYNONYMS
hiraṇya-garbha—of the name Hiraṇyagarbha; antaḥ-yāmī—the Supersoul; jagat-kāraṇa—the cause of the material world; yāṅra aṁśa kari'-taking as His expansion; kare—does; virāṭa-kalpana—conception of the universal form.
TRANSLATION
He is the Supersoul, Hiraṇyagarbha, the cause of the material world. The universal form is conceived as His expansion.
TEXT 107
hena nārāyaṇa,--yāṅra aṁśera aṁśa
sei prabhu nityānanda--sarva-avataṁsa
SYNONYMS
hena—such; nārāyaṇa—Lord Nārāyaṇa; yāṅra—of whom; aṁśera—of the plenary part; aṁśa—apart; sei—that; prabhu—the Lord; nityānanda—of the name Nityānanda; sarva-avataṁsa—the source of all incarnations.
TRANSLATION
That Lord Nārāyaṇa is a part of a plenary part of Lord Nityānanda Balarāma, who is the source of all incarnations.
TEXT 108
daśama ślokera artha kaila vivaraṇa
ekādaśa ślokera artha śuna diyā mana
SYNONYMS
daśama—tenth; ślokera—of the verse; artha—meaning; kaila—have done; vivaraṇa—description; ekādaśa—eleventh; ślokera—of the verse; artha—meaning; śuna—please hear; diyā mana—with the mind.
TRANSLATION
I have thus explained the tenth verse. Now please listen to the meaning of the eleventh verse with all your mind.
TEXT 109
yasyāṁśāṁśāṁśaḥ parātmākhilānāṁ
poṣṭā viṣṇur bhāti dugdhābdhi-śāyī
kṣauṇī-bhartā yat-kalā so 'py anantas
taṁ śrī-nityānanda-rāmaṁ prapadye
SYNONYMS
yasya—whose; aṁśa-aṁśa-aṁśaḥ—a portion of a portion of a plenary portion; para-ātmā—the Supersoul; akhilānām—of all living entities; poṣṭā—the maintainer; viṣṇuḥ—Viṣṇu; bhāti—appears; dugdha-abdhi-śāyī—Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; kṣauṇī-bhartā—upholder of the earth; yat—whose; kalā—portion of a portion; saḥ—He; api—certainly; anantaḥ—Śeṣa Nāga; tam—to Him; śrī-nityānanda-rāmam—to Lord Balarāma in the form of Lord Nityānanda; prapadye—I surrender.
TRANSLATION
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the feet of Śrī Nityānanda Rāma, whose secondary part is the Viṣṇu lying in the ocean of milk. That Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of all living entities and the maintainer of all the universes. Śeṣa Nāga is His further subpart.
TEXT 110
nārāyaṇera nābhi-nāla-madhyete dharaṇī
dharaṇīra madhye sapta samudra ye gaṇi
SYNONYMS
nārāyaṇera—of Lord Nārāyaṇa; nābhi-nāla—the stem from the navel; madhyete—within; dharaṇī—the material planets; dharaṇīra madhye—among the material planets; sapta—seven; samudra—oceans; ye gaṇi—they count.
TRANSLATION
The material planets rest within the stem that grew from the lotus navel of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Among these planets are seven oceans.
TEXT 111
tāṅhā kṣīrodadhi-madhye 'śvetadvīpa' nāma
pālayitā viṣṇu,--tāṅra sei nija dhāma
SYNONYMS
tāṅhā—within that; kṣīra-udadhi-madhye—in part of the ocean known as the ocean of milk; śvetadvīpa nāma—the island named Śvetadvīpa; pālayitā viṣṇu—the maintainer, Lord Viṣṇu; tāṅra—of Him; sei—that; nija dhāma—own residential quarters.
TRANSLATION
There, in part of the ocean of milk, lies Śvetadvīpa, the abode of the sustainer, Lord Viṣṇu.
PURPORT
In the Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, an astrological text, the different oceans are described as follows: (1) the ocean of salt water, (2) the ocean of milk, (3) the ocean of yogurt, (4) the ocean of clarified butter, (5) the ocean of sugarcane juice, (6) the ocean of liquor and (7) the ocean of sweet water. On the southern side of the ocean of salt water is the ocean of milk, where Lord Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu resides. He is worshiped there by demigods like Brahmā.
TEXT 112
sakala jīvera tiṅho haye antaryāmī
jagat-pālaka tiṅho jagatera svāmī
SYNONYMS
sakala—all; jīvera—of the living entities; tiṅho—He; haye—is; antaḥ-yāmī—the Supersoul; jagat-pālaka—the maintainer of the material world; tiṅho—He; jagatera svāmī—the Lord of the material world.
TRANSLATION
He is the Supersoul of all living entities. He maintains this material world, and He is its Lord.
PURPORT
The Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta gives the following description of the Viṣṇuloka within this universe, quoted from the Viṣṇu-dharmottara: "Above Rudraloka, the planet of Lord Śiva, is the planet called Viṣṇuloka, 400,000 miles in circumference, which is inaccessible to any mortal living being. Above that Viṣṇuloka and east of the Sumeru Hill is a golden island called Mahā-Viṣṇuloka, in the ocean of salt water. Lord Brahmā and other demigods sometimes go there to meet Lord Viṣṇu. Lord Viṣṇu lies there with the goddess of fortune, and it is said that during the four months of the rainy season He enjoys sleeping on that Śeṣa Nāga bed. East of Sumeru is the ocean of milk, in which there is a white city on a white island where the Lord can be seen sitting with His consort, Lakṣmījī, on a throne of Śeṣa. That feature of Viṣṇu also enjoys sleeping during the four months of the rainy season. The Śvetadvīpa in the milk ocean is situated just south of the ocean of salt water. It is calculated that the area of Śvetadvīpa is 200,000 square miles. This transcendentally beautiful island is decorated with desire trees to please Lord Viṣṇu and His consort." There are references to Śvetadvīpa in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Mahābhārata and Padma Purāṇa, and there is the following reference in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.15.18).
śvetadvīpa-patau cittaṁ
śuddhe dharma-maye mayi
dhārayañ chvetatāṁ yāti
ṣaḍ-ūrmi-rahito naraḥ
"My dear Uddhava, you may know that My transcendental form of Viṣṇu in Śvetadvīpa is identical with Me in divinity. Anyone who places this Lord of Śvetadvīpa within his heart can surpass the pangs of the six material tribulations: hunger, thirst, birth, death, lamentation and illusion. Thus one can attain his original, transcendental form."
TEXT 113
yuga-manvantare dhari' nānā avatāra
dharma saṁsthāpana kare, adharma saṁhāra
SYNONYMS
yuga-manu-antare—in the ages and millenniums of Manu; dhari'-accepting; nānā—various; avatāra—incarnations; dharma saṁsthāpana kare—establishes the principles of religion; adharma saṁhāra—vanquishing irreligious principles.
TRANSLATION
In the ages and millenniums of Manu, He appears as different incarnations to establish the principles of real religion and vanquish the principles of irreligion.
PURPORT
Lord Viṣṇu, who lies in the ocean of milk, incarnates Himself in various forms to maintain the laws of the cosmos and annihilate the causes of disturbance. Such incarnations are visible in every manv-antara (i.e., in the course of the reign of each Manu, who lives for 71 x 4,320,000 years). Fourteen such Manus take their birth and die, to yield a place for the next, during one day of Brahmā.
TEXT 114
deva-gaṇe nā pāya yāṅhāra daraśana
kṣīrodaka-tīre yāi' karena stavana
SYNONYMS
deva-gaṇe—the demigods; nā—not; pāya—get; yāṅhāra—whose; daraśana—sight; kṣīra-udaka-tīre—on the bank of the ocean of milk; yāi'-go; karena stavana—offer prayers.
TRANSLATION
Unable to see Him, the demigods go to the bank of the ocean of milk and offer prayers to Him.
PURPORT
The denizens of heaven, who live in the planetary systems beginning from Svarloka, cannot even see Lord Viṣṇu in Śvetadvīpa. Unable to reach the island, they can simply approach the beach of the milk ocean to offer transcendental prayers to the Lord, appealing to Him on special occasions to appear as an incarnation.
TEXT 115
tabe avatari' kare jagat pālana
ananta vaibhava tāṅra nāhika gaṇana
SYNONYMS
tabe—at that time; avatari'-descending; kare—does; jagat pālana—maintenance of the material world; ananta—unlimited; vaibhava—the opulences; tāṅra—of Him; nāhika—there is not; gaṇana—counting.
TRANSLATION
He then descends to maintain the material world. His unlimited opulences cannot be counted.
TEXT 116
sei viṣṇu haya yāṅra aṁśāṁśera aṁśa
sei prabhu nityānanda--sarva-avataṁsa
SYNONYMS
sei—that; viṣṇu—Lord Viṣṇu; haya—is; yāṅra—whose; aṁśa-aṁśera—of the part of the plenary part; aṁśa—part; sei—that; prabhu—Lord; nityānanda—Nityānanda; sarva-avataṁsa—the source of all incarnations.
TRANSLATION
That Lord Viṣṇu is but a part of a part of a plenary portion of Lord Nityānanda, who is the source of all incarnations.
PURPORT
The Lord of Śvetadvīpa has immense potency for creation and destruction. Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, being Baladeva Himself, the original form of Saṅkarṣaṇa, is the original form of the Lord of Śvetadvīpa.
TEXT 117
sei viṣṇu 'śeṣa'-rūpe dharena dharaṇī
kāṅhā āche mahī, śire, hena nāhi jāni
SYNONYMS
sei—that; viṣṇu—Lord Viṣṇu; śeṣa-rūpe—in form of Lord Śeṣa; dharena—carries; dharaṇī—the planets; kāṅhā—where; āche—are; mahī—the planets; śire—on the head; hena nāhi jāni—I cannot understand.
TRANSLATION
That same Lord Viṣṇu, in the form of Lord Śeṣa, holds the planets upon His heads, although He does not know where they are, for He cannot feel their existence upon His heads.
TEXT 118
sahasra vistīrṇa yāṅra phaṇāra maṇḍala
sūrya jini' maṇi-gaṇa kare jhala-mala
SYNONYMS
sahasra-thousands; vistīrṇa-spread; yāṅra-whose; phaṇāra-of the hoods; maṇḍala-group; sūrya-the sun; jini'-conquering; maṇi-gaṇa-jewels; kare-do; jhala-mala-glittering.
TRANSLATION
His thousands of extended hoods are adorned with dazzling jewels surpassing the sun.
TEXT 119
pañcāśat-koṭi-yojana pṛthivī-vistāra
yāṅra eka-phaṇe rahe sarṣapa-ākāra
SYNONYMS
pañcāśat—fifty; koṭi—ten millions; yojana—eight miles; pṛthivī—of the universe; vistāra—breadth; yāṅra—whose; eka-phaṇe—on one of the hoods; rahe—stays; sarṣapa-ākāra—like a mustard seed.
TRANSLATION
The universe, which measures five hundred million yojanas in diameter, rests on one of His hoods like a mustard seed.
PURPORT
The Lord of Śvetadvīpa expands Himself as Śeṣa Nāga, who sustains all the planets upon His innumerable hoods. These huge global spheres are compared to grains of mustard resting on the spiritual hoods of Śeṣa Nāga. The scientists' law of gravity is a partial explanation of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa's energy. The name "Saṅkarṣaṇa" has an etymological relationship to the idea of gravity. There is a reference to Śeṣa Nāga in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.17.21), where it is said:
yam āhur asya sthiti janma-saṁyamaṁ
tribhir vihīnaṁ yam anantam ṛṣayaḥ
na veda siddārtham iva kvacit sthitaṁ
bhū-maṇḍalaṁ mūrdha-sahasra-dhāmasu
"O my Lord, the hymns of the Vedas proclaim that You are the effective cause for the creation, maintenance and destruction. But in fact You are transcendental to all limitations and are therefore known as unlimited. On Your thousands of hoods rest the innumerable global spheres, like grains of mustard so insignificant that You have no perception of their weight." The Bhāgavatam further says (5.25.2):
yasyedaṁ kṣiti-maṇḍalaṁ bhagavato 'nanta-mūrteḥ sahasra-śirasa ekasminn eva śīrṣaṇi dhriyamāṇaṁ siddhārtha iva lakṣyate.
"Lord Anantadeva has thousands of hoods. Each sustains a global sphere that appears like a grain of mustard."
TEXT 120
sei ta' 'ananta' 'śeṣa'--bhakta-avatāra
īśvarera sevā vinā nāhi jāne āra
SYNONYMS
sei ta'-that; ananta—Lord Ananta; śeṣa—the incarnation Śeṣa; bhakta-avatāra—incarnation of a devotee; īśvarera sevā—the service of the Lord; vinā—without; nāhi—not; jāne—knows; āra—anything else.
TRANSLATION
That Ananta Śeṣa is the devotee incarnation of Godhead. He knows nothing but service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
PURPORT
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in his Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha, has described Śeṣa Nāga as follows: "Śrī Anantadeva has thousands of faces and is fully independent. Always ready to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He waits upon Him constantly. Saṅkarṣaṇa is the first expansion of Vāsudeva, and because He appears by His own will, He is called svarāṭ, fully independent. He is therefore infinite and transcendental to all limits of time and space. He Himself appears as the thousand-headed Śeṣa." In the Skanda Purāṇa, in the Ayodhyā-māhātmya chapter, the demigod Indra requested Lord Śeṣa, who was standing before him as Lakṣmaṇa, "Please go to Your eternal abode, Viṣṇuloka, where Your expansion Śeṣa, with His serpentine hoods, is also present." After thus dispatching Lakṣmaṇa to the regions of Pātāla, Lord Indra returned to his abode. This quotation indicates that the Saṅkarṣaṇa of the quadruple form descends with Lord Rāma as Lakṣmaṇa. When Lord Rāma disappears, Śeṣa again separates Himself from the personality of Lakṣmaṇa. Śeṣa then returns to His own abode in the Pātāla regions, and Lakṣmaṇa returns to His abode in Vaikuṇṭha.
The Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta gives the following description: "The Saṅkarṣaṇa of the second group of quadruple forms appears as Rāma, taking with Him Śeṣa, who bears the global spheres. There are two features of Śeṣa. One is the bearer of the globes, and the other is the bedstead servitor. The Śeṣa who bears the globes is a potent incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and therefore He is sometimes also called Saṅkarṣaṇa. The bedstead feature of Śeṣa always presents himself as an eternal servitor of the Lord."
TEXT 121
sahasra-vadane kare kṛṣṇa-guṇa gāna
niravadhi guṇa gā'na, anta nāhi pā'na
SYNONYMS
sahasra-vadane—in thousands of mouths; kare—does; kṛṣṇa-guṇa gāna—chanting of the holy attributes of Kṛṣṇa; niravadhi—continuously; guṇa gā'na—chanting of the transcendental qualities; anta nāhi pā'na—does not reach the end.
TRANSLATION
With His thousands of mouths He sings the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but although He always sings in that way, He does not find an end to the qualities of the Lord.
TEXT 122
sanakādi bhāgavata śune yāṅra mukhe
bhagavānera guṇa kahe, bhāse prema-sukhe
SYNONYMS
sanaka-ādi—the great sages headed by Sanaka, Sananda, etc.; bhāgavata—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; śune—hear; yāṅra mukhe—from whose mouth; bhagavānera—of the Personality of Godhead; guṇa—attributes; kahe—say; bhāse—float; prema-sukhe—in the transcendental bliss of love of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
The four Kumāras hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from His lips, and they in turn repeat it in the transcendental bliss of love of Godhead.
TEXT 123
chatra, pādukā, śayyā, upādhāna, vasana
ārāma, āvāsa, yajña-sūtra, siṁhāsana
SYNONYMS
chatra—umbrella; pādukā—slippers; śayyā—bed; upādhāna—pillow; vasana—garments; ārāma—resting chair; āvāsa—residence; yajña-sūtra—sacred thread; siṁha-āsana—throne.
TRANSLATION
He serves Lord Kṛṣṇa, assuming all the following forms: umbrella, slippers, bedding, pillow, garments, resting chair, residence, sacred thread and throne.
TEXT 124
eta mūrti-bheda kari' kṛṣṇa-sevā kare
kṛṣṇera śeṣatā pāñā 'śeṣa' nāma dhare
SYNONYMS
eta—so many; mūrti-bheda—different forms; kari'-taking; kṛṣṇa-sevā kare—serves Lord Kṛṣṇa; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; śeṣatā—ultimate end; pāñā—having reached; śeṣa nāma dhare—assumes the name Śeṣa Nāga.
TRANSLATION
He is thus called Lord Śeṣa, for He has attained the ultimate end of servitude to Kṛṣṇa. He takes many forms for the service of Kṛṣṇa, and thus He serves the Lord.
TEXT 125
sei ta' ananta, yāṅra kahi eka kalā
hena prabhu nityānanda, ke jāne tāṅra khelā
SYNONYMS
sei ta'-that; ananta—Lord Ananta; yāṅra—of whom; kahi—I say; eka kalā—one part of the part; hena—such; prabhu nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda Prabhu; ke—who; jāne—knows; tāṅra—His; khelā—pastimes.
TRANSLATION
That person of whom Lord Ananta is a kalā, or part of a plenary part, is Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. Who, therefore, can know the pastimes of Lord Nityānanda?
TEXT 126
e-saba pramāṇe jāni nityānanda-tattva-sīmā
tāṅhāke 'ananta' kahi, ki tāṅra mahimā
SYNONYMS
e-saba—all these; pramāṇe—by the evidences; jāni—I know; nityānanda-tattva-sīmā—the limit of the truth of Lord Nityānanda; tāṅhāke—to Him (Lord Nityānanda, Balarāma); ananta—Lord Ananta; kahi—if I say; ki tāṅre mahimā—what glory do I speak about Him.
TRANSLATION
From these conclusions we can know the limit of the truth of Lord Nityānanda. But what glory is there in calling Him Ananta?
TEXT 127
athavā bhaktera vākya māni satya kari'
sakala sambhave tāṅte, yāte avatārī
SYNONYMS
athavā—otherwise; bhaktera vākya—anything spoken by a pure devotee; māni—I accept; satya kari'-as truth; sakala—everything; sambhave—possible; tāṅte—in Him; yāte—since; avatārī—the original source of all incarnations.
TRANSLATION
But I accept it as the truth because it has been said by devotees. Since He is the source of all incarnations, everything is possible in Him.
TEXT 128
avatāra-avatārī--abheda, ye jāne
pūrve yaiche kṛṣṇake keho kāho kari' māne
SYNONYMS
avatāra-avatārī—an incarnation and the source of all incarnations; abheda—identical; ye jāne—anyone who knows; pūrve—formerly; yaiche—just as; kṛṣṇake—unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; keho—somebody; kāho—somewhere; kari'-making; māne—accepts.
TRANSLATION
They know that there is no difference between the incarnation and the source of all incarnations. Previously Lord Kṛṣṇa was regarded in the light of different principles by different people.
TEXT 129
keho kahe, kṛṣṇa sākṣāt nara-nārāyaṇa
keho kahe, kṛṣṇa haya sākṣāt vāmana
SYNONYMS
keho kahe—someone says; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; sākṣāt—directly; nara-nārāyaṇa—Lord Nara-Nārāyaṇa; keho kahe—someone says; kṛṣṇa haya—Kṛṣṇa is; sākṣāt vāmana—Lord Vāmanadeva.
TRANSLATION
Some said that Kṛṣṇa was directly Lord Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and some called Him Lord Vāmanadeva incarnate.
TEXT 130
keho kahe, kṛṣṇa kṣīroda-śāyī avatāra
asambhava nahe, satya vacana sabāra
SYNONYMS
keho kahe—someone says; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; kṣīroda-śāyī avatāra—an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu lying in the ocean of milk; asambhava nahe—there is not impossibility; satya—true; vacana sabāra—everyone's statement.
TRANSLATION
Some called Lord Kṛṣṇa an incarnation of Lord Kṣīrodakaśāyī. All these names are true; nothing is impossible.
TEXT 131
kṛṣṇa yabe avatare sarvāṁśa-āśraya
sarvāṁśa āsi' tabe kṛṣṇete milaya
SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; yabe—when; avatare—descends; sarva-aṁśa-āśraya—the shelter of all other viṣṇu-tattvas; sarva-aṁśa—all plenary portions; āsi'-coming; tabe—at that time; kṛṣṇete—in Kṛṣṇa; milaya—join.
TRANSLATION
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa appears, He is the shelter of all plenary parts. Thus at that time all His plenary portions join in Him.
TEXT 132
yei yei rūpe jāne, sei tāhā kahe
sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe, kichu mithyā nahe
SYNONYMS
yei yei—whatever; rūpe—in the form; jāne—one knows; sei—he; tāhā—that; kahe—says; sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe—everything is possible in Kṛṣṇa; kichu mithyā nahe—there is no falsity.
TRANSLATION
In whatever form one knows the Lord, one speaks of Him in that way. In this there is no falsity, since everything is possible in Kṛṣṇa.
PURPORT
In this connection we may mention an incident that took place between two of our sannyāsīs while we were preaching the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in Hyderabad. One of them stated that "Hare Rāma" refers to Śrī Balarāma, and the other protested that "Hare Rāma" means Lord Rāma. Ultimately the controversy came to me, and I gave the decision that if someone says that "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Lord Rāmacandra and someone else says that the "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Śrī Balarāma, both are correct because there is no difference between Śrī Balarāma and Lord Rāma. Here in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta we find that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has stated the same conclusion:
yei yei rūpe jāne, sei tāhā kahe
sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe, kichu mithyā nahe
If someone calls Lord Rāmacandra by the vibration Hare Rāma, or if he understands "Rāmacandra," he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare Rāma means Śrī Balarāma, he is also right. Those who are aware of the viṣṇu-tattva do not fight over all these details.
In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained Kṛṣṇa's being both Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Nārāyaṇa in the spiritual sky and expanding in quadruple forms like Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He has refuted the idea that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. Some devotees think that Nārāyaṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation. Even Śaṅkarācārya, in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā, has accepted Nārāyaṇa as the transcendental Personality of Godhead who appeared as Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Therefore this matter may be difficult to understand. But the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya, headed by Rūpa Gosvāmī, has established the principle of the Bhagavad-gītā that everything emanates from Kṛṣṇa, who says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: "I am the original source of everything." "Everything" includes Nārāyaṇa. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, has established that Kṛṣṇa, not Nārāyaṇa, is the original Personality of Godhead.
In this connection he has quoted a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.2.15) that states:
sva-śānta-rūpeṣv itaraiḥ svarūpair
abhyardyamāneṣv anukampitātmā
parāvareśo mahad-aṁśa-yukto
hy ajo 'pi jāto bhagavān yathāgniḥ
"When pure devotees of the Lord like Vasudeva are greatly disturbed by dangerous demons like Kaṁsa, Lord Kṛṣṇa joins with all His pastime expansions, such as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, and, although unborn, becomes manifest, just as fire becomes manifest by the friction of araṇi wood." Araṇi wood is used to ignite a sacrificial fire without matches or any other flame. Just as fire appears from araṇi wood, the Supreme Lord appears when there is friction between devotees and nondevotees. When Kṛṣṇa appears, He appears in full, including within Himself all His expansions like Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Kṛṣṇa is always integrated with His other incarnations, like Nṛsiṁhadeva, Varāha, Vāmana, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, Hayagrīva and Ajita. In Vṛndāvana sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa exhibits the functions of such incarnations.
In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it is said: "The same Personality of Godhead who is known in Vaikuṇṭha as the four-handed Nārāyaṇa, the friend of all living entities, and in the milk ocean as the Lord of Śvetadvīpa, and who is the best of all puruṣas, appeared as the son of Nanda. In a fire there are many sparks of different dimensions; some of them are very big, and some are small. The small sparks are compared to the living entities, and the large sparks are compared to the Viṣṇu expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All the incarnations emanate from Kṛṣṇa, and after the end of their pastimes they again merge with Kṛṣṇa."
Therefore in the various Purāṇas Kṛṣṇa is described sometimes as Nārāyaṇa, sometimes as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, sometimes as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and sometimes as Vaikuṇṭhanātha, the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. Because Kṛṣṇa is always full, Mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa is in Kṛṣṇa, and since all incarnations are manifested from Mūla-saṅkarṣaṇa, it should be understood that He can manifest different incarnations by His supreme will, even in the presence of Kṛṣṇa. Great sages have therefore glorified the Lord by different names. Thus when the original person, the source of all incarnations, is sometimes described as an incarnation, there is no discrepancy.
TEXT 133
ataeva śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya gosāñi
sarva avatāra-līlā kari' sabāre dekhāi
SYNONYMS
ataeva—therefore; śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; gosāñi—the Lord; sarva—all; avatāra-līlā—the pastimes of different incarnations; kari'-exhibiting; sabāre—to everyone; dekhāi—He showed.
TRANSLATION
Therefore Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has exhibited to everyone all the pastimes of all the various incarnations.
TEXT 134
ei-rūpe nityānanda 'ananta'-prakāśa
sei-bhāve--kahe muñi caitanyera dāsa
SYNONYMS
ei-rūpe—in this way; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; ananta-prakāśa—unlimited manifestations; sei-bhāve—in that transcendental emotion; kahe—He says; muñi—I; caitanyera dāsa—the servant of Lord Caitanya.
TRANSLATION
Thus Lord Nityānanda has unlimited incarnations. In transcendental emotion He calls Himself a servant of Lord Caitanya.
TEXT 135
kabhu guru, kabhu sakhā, kabhu bhṛtya-līlā
pūrve yena tina-bhāve vraje kaila khelā
SYNONYMS
kabhu—sometimes; guru—spiritual master; kabhu—sometimes; sakhā—friend; kabhu—sometimes; bhṛtya-līlā—pastimes as a servant; pūrve—formerly; yena—as; tina-bhāve—in three different modes; vraje—in Vṛndāvana; kaila khelā—played with Kṛṣṇa.
TRANSLATION
Sometimes He serves Lord Caitanya as His guru, sometimes as His friend and sometimes as His servant, just as Lord Balarāma played with Lord Kṛṣṇa in these three different modes in Vraja.
TEXT 136
vṛṣa hañā kṛṣṇa-sane māthā-māthi raṇa
kabhu kṛṣṇa kare tāṅra pāda-saṁvāhana
SYNONYMS
vṛṣa hañā—becoming a bull; kṛṣṇa-sane—with Kṛṣṇa; māthā-māthi raṇa—fighting head to head; kabhu—sometimes; kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa; kare—does; tāṅra—His; pāda-saṁvāhana—massaging the feet.
TRANSLATION
Playing like a bull, Lord Balarāma fights with Kṛṣṇa head to head. And sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa massages the feet of Lord Balarāma.
TEXT 137
āpanāke bhṛtya kari' kṛṣṇe prabhu jāne
kṛṣṇera kalāra kalā āpanāke māne
SYNONYMS
āpanāke—Himself; bhṛtya kari'-considering a servant; kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa; prabhu—master; jāne—He knows; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; kalāra kalā—as a plenary portion of a plenary portion; āpanāke—Himself; māne—He accepts.
TRANSLATION
He considers Himself a servant and knows Kṛṣṇa to be His master. Thus He regards Himself as a fragment of His plenary portion.
TEXT 138
vṛṣāyamāṇau nardantau
yuyudhāte parasparam
anukṛtya rutair jantūṁś
ceratuḥ prākṛtau yathā
SYNONYMS
vṛṣāyamāṇau—becoming like bulls; nardantau—making roaring sounds; yuyudhāte—both used to fight; parasparam—each other; anukṛtya—imitating; rutaiḥ—with cries; jantūn—the animals; ceratuḥ—used to play; prākṛtau—ordinary boys; yathā—just like.
TRANSLATION
"Acting just like ordinary boys, They played like roaring bulls as They fought each other, and They imitated the calls of various animals."
PURPORT
This and the following quotation are from the Bhāgavatam (10.11.40 and 10.15.14).
TEXT 139
kvacit krīḍā-pariśrāntaṁ
gopotsaṅgopabarhaṇam
svayaṁ viśrāmayaty āryaṁ
pāda-saṁvāhanādibhiḥ
SYNONYMS
kvacit—sometimes; krīḍā—playing; pariśrāntam—very much fatigued; gopa-utsaṅga—the lap of a cowherd boy; upabarhaṇam—whose pillow; svayam—personally Lord Kṛṣṇa; viśrāmayati—causing to rest; āryam—His elder brother; pāda-saṁvāhana-ādibhiḥ—by massaging His feet, etc.
TRANSLATION
"Sometimes when Lord Kṛṣṇa's elder brother, Lord Balarāma, felt tired after playing and lay His head on the lap of a cowherd boy, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself served Him by massaging His feet."
TEXT 140
keyaṁ vā kuta āyātā
daivī vā nāry utāsurī
prāyo māyāstu me bhartur
nānyā me 'pi vimohinī
SYNONYMS
kā—who; iyam—this; vā—or; kutaḥ—from where; āyātā—has come; daivī—whether demigod; vā—or; nārī—woman; uta—or; āsurī—demoness; prāyaḥ—in most cases; māyā—illusory energy; astu—she must be; me—My; bhartuḥ—of the master, Lord Kṛṣṇa; na—not; anyā—any other; me—My; api—certainly; vimohinī—bewilderer.
TRANSLATION
"Who is this mystic power, and where has she come from? Is she a demigod or a demoness? She must be the illusory energy of My master, Lord Kṛṣṇa, for who else can bewilder Me?"
PURPORT
The playful pastimes of the Lord caused suspicion in the mind of Lord Brahmā, and therefore Lord Brahmā, to test Kṛṣṇa's Lordship, stole all the Lord's cows and cowherd boys with his own mystic power. Śrī Kṛṣṇa responded, however, by replacing all the cows and boys in the field. Lord Balarāma's thoughts of astonishment at such wonderful retaliation are recorded in this verse (Bhāg. 10.13.37).
TEXT 141
yasyāṅghri-paṅkaja-rajo 'khila-loka-pālair
mauly-uttamair dhṛtam upāsita-tīrtha-tīrtham
brahmā bhavo 'ham api yasya kalāḥ kalāyāḥ
śrīś codvahema ciram asya nṛpāsanaṁ kva
SYNONYMS
yasya—whose; aṅghri-paṅkaja—lotuslike feet; rajaḥ—the dust; akhila-loka—of the universal planetary systems; pālaiḥ—by the masters; mauli-uttamaiḥ—with valuable turbans on their heads; dhṛtam—accepted; upāsita—worshiped; tīrtha-tīrtham—the sanctifier of the holy places; brahmā—Lord Brahmā; bhavaḥ—Lord Śiva; aham api—even I; yasya—of whom; kalāḥ—portions; kalāyāḥ—of a plenary portion; śrīḥ—the goddess of fortune; ca—and; udvahema—we carry; ciram—eternally; asya—of Him; nṛpa-āsanam—the throne of a king; kva—where.
TRANSLATION
"What is the value of a throne to Lord Kṛṣṇa? The masters of the various planetary systems accept the dust of His lotus feet on their crowned heads. That dust makes the holy places sacred, and even Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lakṣmī and I Myself, who are all portions of His plenary portion, eternally carry that dust on our heads."
PURPORT
When the Kauravas, to flatter Baladeva so that He would become their ally, spoke ill of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord Baladeva was angry and spoke this verse (Bhāg. 10.68.37).
TEXT 142
ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya
yāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya
SYNONYMS
ekale—alone; īśvara—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa; āra—others; saba—all; bhṛtya—servants; yāre—unto whom; yaiche—as; nācāya—He causes to dance; se—He; taiche—in that way; kare nṛtya—dances.
TRANSLATION
Lord Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so.
TEXT 143
ei mata caitanya-gosāñi ekale īśvara
āra saba pāriṣada, keha vā kiṅkara
SYNONYMS
ei mata—in this way; caitanya-gosāñi—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; ekale—alone; īśvara—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; āra saba—all others; pāriṣada—associates; keha—someone; vā—or; kiṅkara—servants.
TRANSLATION
Thus Lord Caitanya is also the only controller. All others are His associates or servants.
TEXTS 144-145
guru-varga,--nityānanda, advaita ācārya
śrīvāsādi, āra yata--laghu, sama, ārya
sabe pāriṣada, sabe līlāra sahāya
sabā lañā nija-kārya sādhe gaura-rāya
SYNONYMS
guru-varga—elders; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; advaita ācārya—and Advaita Ācārya; śrīvāsa-ādi—Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and others; āra—others; yata—all; laghu, sama, ārya—junior, equal or superior; sabe—everyone; pāriṣada—associates; sabe—everyone; līlāra sahāya—helpers in the pastimes; sabā lañā—taking all of them; nija-kārya—His own aims; sādhe—executes; gaura-rāya—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
TRANSLATION
His elders such as Lord Nityānanda, Advaita Ācārya and Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, as well as His other devotees-whether His juniors, equals or superiors-are all His associates who help Him in His pastimes. Lord Gaurāṅga fulfills His aims with their help.
TEXT 146
advaita ācārya, nityānanda,--dui aṅga
dui-jana lañā prabhura yata kichu raṅga
SYNONYMS
advaita ācārya—Śrī Advaita Ācārya; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; dui aṅga—two limbs of the Lord; dui-jana lañā—taking the two of Them; prabhura—of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; yata—all; kichu—some; raṅga—playful activities.
TRANSLATION
Śrī Advaita Ācārya and Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu, who are plenary parts of the Lord, are His principal associates. With these two the Lord performs His pastimes in various ways.
TEXT 147
advaita-ācārya-gosāñi sākṣāt īśvara
prabhu guru kari' māne, tiṅho ta' kiṅkara
SYNONYMS
advaita-ācārya—of the name Advaita Ācārya; gosāñi—the Lord; sākṣāt īśvara—directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead; prabhu—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; guru kari' māne—accepts Him as His teacher; tiṅho ta' kiṅkara—but He is the servant.
TRANSLATION
Lord Advaita Ācārya is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although Lord Caitanya accepts Him as His preceptor, Advaita Ācārya is a servant of the Lord.
PURPORT
Lord Caitanya always offered respects to Advaita Prabhu as He would to His father because Advaita was even older than His father; yet Advaita Prabhu always considered Himself a servant of Lord Caitanya. Śrī Advaita Prabhu and Īśvara Purī, Lord Caitanya's spiritual master, were both disciples of Mādhavendra Purī, who was also the spiritual master of Nityānanda Prabhu. Thus Advaita Prabhu, as Lord Caitanya's spiritual uncle, was always to be respected because one should respect one's spiritual master's Godbrothers as one respects one's spiritual master. Because of all these considerations, Śrī Advaita Prabhu was superior to Lord Caitanya, yet Advaita Prabhu considered Himself Lord Caitanya's subordinate.
TEXT 148
ācārya-gosāñira tattva nā yāya kathana
kṛṣṇa avatāri yeṅho tārila bhuvana
SYNONYMS
ācārya-gosāñira—of Advaita Ācārya; tattva—the truth; nā yāya kathana—cannot be described; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; avatāri—making descend; yeṅho—who; tārila—delivered; bhuvana—all the world.
TRANSLATION
I cannot describe the truth of Advaita Ācārya. He has delivered the entire world by making Lord Kṛṣṇa descend.
TEXT 149
nityānanda-svarūpa pūrve ha-iyā lakṣmaṇa
laghu-bhrātā haiyā kare rāmera sevana
SYNONYMS
nityānanda-svarūpa—Lord Nityānanda Svarūpa; pūrve—formerly; ha-iyā—becoming; lakṣmaṇa—Lakṣmaṇa, Lord Rāmacandra's younger brother; laghu-bhrātrā haiyā—becoming the younger brother; kare—does; rāmera sevana—service to Lord Rāmacandra.
TRANSLATION
Lord Nityānanda Svarūpa formerly appeared as Lakṣmaṇa and served Lord Rāmacandra as His younger brother.
PURPORT
Among the sannyāsīs of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya there are different names for brahmacārīs. Each sannyāsī has some assistants, known as brahmacārīs, who are called by different names according to the names of the sannyāsī. Among such brahmacārīs there are four names: Svarūpa, Ānanda, Prakāśa and Caitanya. Nityānanda Prabhu maintained Himself as a brahmacārī; He never took sannyāsa. As a brahmacārī His name was Nityānanda Svarūpa, and therefore the sannyāsī under whom He was living must have been from the tīrthas or āśramas because the assistant brahmacārī of such a sannyāsī is called Nityānanda Svarūpa.
TEXT 150
rāmera caritra saba,--duḥkhera kāraṇa
svatantra līlāya duḥkha sahena lakṣmaṇa
SYNONYMS
rāmera caritra saba—all the activities of Lord Rāmacandra; duḥkhera kāraṇa—causes of suffering; sva-tantra—although independent; līlāya—in the pastimes; duḥkha—unhappiness; sahena lakṣmaṇa—Lakṣmaṇa tolerates.
TRANSLATION
The activities of Lord Rāma were full of suffering, but Lakṣmaṇa, of His own accord, tolerated that suffering.
TEXT 151
niṣedha karite nāre, yāte choṭa bhāi
mauna dhari' rahe lakṣmaṇa mane duḥkha pāi'
SYNONYMS
niṣedha karite nāre—unable to prohibit Lord Rāmacandra; yāte—because; choṭa bhāi—younger brother; mauna dhari'-becoming silent; rahe—remains; lakṣmaṇa—Lakṣmaṇa; mane—in the mind; duḥkha—unhappiness; pāi'-getting.
TRANSLATION
As a younger brother He could not stop Lord Rāma from His resolution, and so He remained silent, although unhappy in His mind.
TEXT 152
kṛṣṇa-avatāre jyeṣṭha hailā sevāra kāraṇa
kṛṣṇake karāila nānā sukha āsvādana
SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇa-avatāre—in the incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa; jyeṣṭha hailā—He became the elder brother; sevāra kāraṇa—for the purpose of service; kṛṣṇake—to Kṛṣṇa; karāila—made; nānā—various; sukha—happinesses; āsvādana—tasting.
TRANSLATION
When Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared, He [Balarāma] became His elder brother to serve Him to His heart's content and make Him enjoy all sorts of happiness.
TEXT 153
rāma-lakṣmaṇa--kṛṣṇa-rāmera aṁśa-viśeṣa
avatāra-kāle doṅhe doṅhāte praveśa
SYNONYMS
rāma-lakṣmaṇa—Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa; kṛṣṇa-rāmera aṁśa-viśeṣa—particular expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma; avatāra-kāle—at the time of incarnation; doṅhe—both of Them (Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa); doṅhāte praveśa—entered into Them both (Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma).
TRANSLATION
Śrī Rāma and Śrī Lakṣmaṇa, who are plenary portions of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma, entered into Them at the time of Kṛṣṇa's and Balarāma's appearance.
PURPORT
With reference to the Viṣṇu-dharmottara, the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta explains that Rāma is an incarnation of Vāsudeva, Lakṣmaṇa is an incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Bharata is an incarnation of Pradyumna, and Śatrughna is an incarnation of Aniruddha. The Padma Purāṇa describes that Rāmacandra is Nārāyaṇa and that Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata and Śatrughna are respectively Śeṣa, Cakra and Śaṅkha (the conchshell in the hand of Nārāyaṇa). In the Rāma-gīta of the Skanda Purāṇa, Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata and Śatrughna have been described as the triple attendants of Lord Rāma.
TEXT 154
sei amśa lañā jyeṣṭha-kaniṣṭhābhimāna
aṁśāṁśi-rūpe śāstre karaye vyākhyāna
SYNONYMS
sei aṁśa lañā—taking that plenary portion; jyeṣṭha-kaniṣṭha-abhimāna—considering Themselves the elder or younger; aṁśa-aṁśi-rūpe—as the expansion and the original Supreme Personality of Godhead; śāstre—in the revealed scriptures; karaye—does; vyākhyāna—explanation.
TRANSLATION
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma present Themselves as elder or younger brother, but in the scriptures They are described as the original Supreme Personality of Godhead and His expansion.
TEXT 155
rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
SYNONYMS
rāma-ādi—the incarnation of Lord Rāma, etc.; mūrtiṣu—in different forms; kalā-niyamena—by the order of plenary portions; tiṣṭhan—existing; nānā—various; avatāram—incarnations; akarot—executed; bhuvaneṣu—within the worlds; kintu—but; kṛṣṇaḥ—Lord Kṛṣṇa; svayam—personally; samabhavat—appeared; paramaḥ—the supreme; pumān—person; yaḥ—who; govindam—unto Lord Govinda; ādi-puruṣam—the original person; tam—unto Him; aham—I; bhajāmi—offer obeisances.
TRANSLATION
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who by His various plenary portions appeared in the world in different forms and incarnations such as Lord Rāma, but who personally appears in His supreme original form as Lord Kṛṣṇa."
PURPORT
This is a quotation from Brahma-saṁhitā (5.39).
TEXT 156
śrī-caitanya--sei kṛṣṇa, nityānanda--rāma
nityānanda pūrṇa kare caitanyera kāma
SYNONYMS
śrī-caitanya—Lord Śrī Caitanya; sei kṛṣṇa—that original Kṛṣṇa; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; rāma—Balarāma; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; pūrṇa kare—fulfills; caitanyera kāma—all the desires of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
TRANSLATION
Lord Caitanya is the same Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Lord Nityānanda is Lord Balarāma. Lord Nityānanda fulfills all of Lord Caitanya's desires.
TEXT 157
nityānanda-mahimā-sindhu ananta, apāra
eka kaṇā sparśi mātra,--se kṛpā tāṅhāra
SYNONYMS
nityānanda-mahimā—of the glories of Lord Nityānanda; sindhu—the ocean; ananta—unlimited; apāra—unfathomed; eka kaṇā—one fragment; sparśi—I touch; mātra—only; se—that; kṛpā—mercy; tāṅhāra—His.
TRANSLATION
The ocean of Lord Nityānanda's glories is infinite and unfathomable. Only by His mercy can I touch even a drop of it.
TEXT 158
āra eka śuna tāṅra kṛpāra mahimā
adhama jīvere caḍhāila ūrdhva-sīmā
SYNONYMS
āra—another; eka—one; śuna—please hear; tāṅra kṛpāra mahimā—glory of His mercy; adhama jīvere—the downtrodden living being; caḍhāila—He elevated; ūrdhva-sīmā—to the topmost limit.
TRANSLATION
Please listen to another glory of His mercy. He made a fallen living entity climb to the highest limit.
TEXT 159
veda-guhya kathā ei ayogya kahite
tathāpi kahiye tāṅra kṛpā prakāśite
SYNONYMS
veda—like the Vedas; guhya—very confidential; kathā—incident; ei—this; ayogya kahite—not fit to disclose; tathāpi—still; kahiye—I speak; tāṅra—His; kṛpā—mercy; prakāśite—to manifest.
TRANSLATION
To disclose it is not proper, for it should be kept as confidential as the Vedas, yet I shall speak of it to make His mercy known to all.
TEXT 160
ullāsa-upari lekhoṅ tomāra prasāda
nityānanda prabhu, mora kṣama aparādha
SYNONYMS
ullāsa-upari—on account of great ecstasy; lekhoṅ—I write; tomāra prasāda—Your mercy; nityānanda prabhu—Lord Nityānanda; mora—my; kṣama—please excuse; aparādha—offenses.
TRANSLATION
O Lord Nityānanda, I write of Your mercy out of great exultation. Please forgive me for my offenses.
TEXT 161
avadhūta gosāñira eka bhṛtya prema-dhāma
mīnaketana rāmadāsa haya tāṅra nāma
SYNONYMS
avadhūta—the mendicant; gosāñira—of Lord Nityānanda; eka—one; bhṛtya—servant; prema-dhāma—reservoir of love; mīnaketana—Mīnaketana; rāma-dāsa—Rāmadāsa; haya—is; tāṅra—his; nāma—name.
TRANSLATION
Lord Nityānanda Prabhu had a servant named Śrī Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa, who was a reservoir of love.
TEXT 162
āmāra ālaye aho-rātra-saṅkīrtana
tāhāte āilā teṅho pāñā nimantraṇa
SYNONYMS
āmāra ālaye—at my house; ahaḥ-rātra—day and night; saṅkīrtana—chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra; tāhāte—on account of this; āilā—came; teṅho—he; pāñā nimantraṇa—getting an invitation.
TRANSLATION
At my house there was saṅkīrtana day and night, and therefore he visited there, having been invited.
TEXT 163
mahā-prema-maya tiṅho vasilā aṅgane
sakala vaiṣṇava tāṅra vandilā caraṇe
SYNONYMS
mahā-prema-maya—absorbed in emotional love; tiṅho—he; vasilā—sat; aṅgane—in the courtyard; sakala vaiṣṇava—all other Vaiṣṇavas; tāṅra—his; vandilā—worshiped; caraṇe—lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
Absorbed in emotional love, he sat in my courtyard, and all the Vaiṣṇavas bowed down at his feet.
TEXT 164
namaskāra karite, kā'ra uparete caḍe
preme kā're vaṁśī māre, kāhāke cāpaḍe
SYNONYMS
namaskāra karite—while offering obeisances, bowing down; kā'ra—of someone; uparete—on the body; caḍe—gets up; preme—in ecstatic love; kā're—someone; vaṁśī—the flute; māre—strikes; kāhāke—someone; cāpaḍe—slaps.
TRANSLATION
In a joyful mood of love of God he sometimes climbed upon the shoulder of someone offering obeisances, and sometimes he struck others with his flute or mildly slapped them.
TEXT 165
ye nayana dekhite aśru haya mane yāra
sei netre avicchinna vahe aśru-dhāra
SYNONYMS
ye—his; nayana—eyes; dekhite—seeing; aśru—tears; haya—appear; mane—from the mind; yāra—of someone; sei netre—in his eyes; avicchinna—continuously; vahe—flows; aśru-dhāra—a shower of tears.
TRANSLATION
When someone saw the eyes of Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa, tears would automatically flow from his own eyes, for a constant shower of tears flowed from the eyes of Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa.
TEXT 166
kabhu kona aṅge dekhi pulaka-kadamba
eka aṅge jāḍya tāṅra, āra aṅge kampa
SYNONYMS
kabhu—sometimes; kona—some; aṅge—in parts of the body; dekhi—I see; pulaka-kadamba—eruptions of ecstasy like kadamba flowers; eka aṅge—in one part of the body; jāḍya—stunned; tāṅra—his; āra aṅge—in another limb; kampa—trembling.
TRANSLATION
Sometimes there were eruptions of ecstasy like kadamba flowers on some parts of his body, and sometimes one limb would be stunned while another would be trembling.
TEXT 167
nityānanda bali' yabe karena huṅkāra
tāhā dekhi' lokera haya mahā-camatkāra
SYNONYMS
nityānanda—the name Nityānanda; bali'-saying; yabe—whenever; karena huṅkāra—makes a great sound; tāhā dekhi'-seeing that; lokera—of the people; haya—there is; mahā-camatkāra—great wonder and astonishment.
TRANSLATION
Whenever he shouted aloud the name Nityānanda, the people around him were filled with great wonder and astonishment.
TEXT 168
guṇārṇava miśra nāme eka vipra ārya
śrī-mūrti-nikaṭe teṅho kare sevā-kārya
SYNONYMS
guṇārṇava miśra—of Guṇārṇava Miśra; nāme—by the name; eka—one; vipra—brāhmaṇa; ārya—very respectable; śrī-mūrti-nikaṭe—by the side of the Deity; teṅho—he; kare—does; sevā-kārya—activities in devotion.
TRANSLATION
One respectable brāhmaṇa named Śrī Guṇārṇava Miśra was serving the Deity.
TEXT 169
aṅgane āsiyā teṅho nā kaila sambhāṣa
tāhā dekhi' kruddha hañā bale rāmadāsa
SYNONYMS
aṅgane—to the courtyard; āsiyā—coming; teṅho—he; nā—not; kaila—did; sambhāṣa—address; tāhā dekhi'-seeing this; kruddha hañā—becoming angry; bale—says; rāma-dāsa—Śrī Rāmadāsa.
TRANSLATION
When Mīnaketana was seated in the yard, this brāhmaṇa did not offer him respect. Seeing this, Śrī Rāmadāsa became angry and spoke.
TEXT 170
'ei ta' dvitīya sūta romaharaṣaṇa
baladeva dekhi' ye nā kaila pratyudgama'
SYNONYMS
ei ta'-this; dvitīya—second; sūta romaharaṣaṇa—of the name Romaharṣaṇa-sūta; baladeva dekhi'-seeing Lord Balarāma; ye—who; nā—not; kaila—did; pratyudgama—stand up.
TRANSLATION
"Here I find the second Romaharṣaṇa-sūta, who did not stand to show honor when he saw Lord Balarāma."
TEXT 171
eta bali' nāce gāya, karaye santoṣa
kṛṣṇa-kārya kare vipra--nā karila roṣa
SYNONYMS
eta bali'-saying this; nāce—he dances; gāya—chants; karaye santoṣa—becomes satisfied; kṛṣṇa-kārya—the duties of Deity worship; kare—performs; vipra—the brāhmaṇa; nā karila—did not become; roṣa—angry.
TRANSLATION
After saying this, he danced and sang to his heart's content, but the brāhmaṇa did not become angry, for he was then serving Lord Kṛṣṇa.
PURPORT
Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa was a great devotee of Lord Nityānanda. When he entered the house of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, Guṇārṇava Miśra, the priest who was worshiping the Deity installed in the house, did not receive him very well. A similar event occurred when Romaharṣaṇa-sūta was speaking to the great assembly of sages at Naimiṣāraṇya. Lord Baladeva entered that great assembly, but since Romaharṣana-sūta was on the vyāsāsana, he did not get down to offer respect to Lord Baladeva. The behavior of Guṇārṇava Miśra indicated that he had no great respect for Lord Nityānanda, and this idea was not at all palatable to Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa. For this reason the mentality of Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa is never deprecated by devotees.
TEXT 172
utsavānte gelā tiṅho kariyā prasāda
mora bhrātā-sane tāṅra kichu haila vāda
SYNONYMS
utsava-ante—after the festival; gelā—went away; tiṅho—he; kariyā prasāda—showing mercy; mora—of me; bhrātā-sane—with the brother; tāṅra—of him; kichu—some; haila—there was; vāda—controversy.
TRANSLATION
At the end of the festival Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa went away, offering his blessings to everyone. At that time he had some controversy with my brother.
TEXT 173
caitanya-prabhute tāṅra sudṛḍha viśvāsa
nityānanda-prati tāṅra viśvāsa-ābhāsa
SYNONYMS
caitanya-prabhute—unto Lord Caitanya; tāṅra—his; su-dṛḍha—fixed; viśvāsa—faith; nityānanda-prati—unto Lord Nityānanda; tāṅra—his; viśvāsa-ābhāsa—dim reflection of faith.
TRANSLATION
My brother had firm faith in Lord Caitanya but only a dim glimmer of faith in Lord Nityānanda.
TEXT 174
ihā jāni' rāmadāsera duḥkha ha-ila mane
tabe ta' bhrātāre āmi karinu bhartsane
SYNONYMS
ihā—this; jāni'-knowing; rāma-dāsera—of the saint Rāmadāsa; duḥkha—unhappiness; ha-ila—there was; mane—in the mind; tabe—at that time; ta'-certainly; bhrātāre—to my brother; āmi—I; karinu—did; bhartsane—chastisement.
TRANSLATION
Knowing this, Śrī Rāmadāsa felt unhappy in his mind. I then rebuked my brother.
TEXT 175
dui bhāi eka-tanu--samāna-prakāśa
nityānanda nā māna, tomāra habe sarva-nāśa
SYNONYMS
dui bhāi—two brothers; eka-tanu—one body; samāna-prakāśa—equal manifestation; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; nā māne—you do not believe; tomāra—your; habe—that will be; sarva-nāśa—downfall.
TRANSLATION
"These two brothers," I told him, "are like one body; They are identical manifestations. If you do not believe in Lord Nityānanda, you will fall down.
TEXT 176
ekete viśvāsa, anye nā kara sammāna
"ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya" tomāra pramāṇa
SYNONYMS
ekete viśvāsa—faith in one; anye—in the other; nā—not; kara—do; sammāna—respect; ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya—the logic of accepting half of a hen; tomāra—your; pramāṇa—evidence.
TRANSLATION
"If you have faith in one but disrespect the other, your logic is like the logic of accepting half a hen.
TEXT 177
kiṁvā, doṅhā nā māniñā hao ta' pāṣaṇḍa
eke māni' āre nā māni,--ei-mata bhaṇḍa
SYNONYMS
kiṁvā—otherwise; doṅhā—both of Them; nā—not; māniñā—accepting; hao—you become; ta'-certainly; pāṣaṇḍa—atheist; eke—one of Them; māni'-accepting; āre—the other; nā māni—not accepting; ei-mata—this kind of faith; bhaṇḍa—hypocrisy.
TRANSLATION
"It would be better to be an atheist by slighting both brothers than a hypocrite by believing in one and slighting the other."
TEXT 178
kruddha haiyā vaṁśī bhāṅgi' cale rāmadāsa
tat-kāle āmāra bhrātāra haila sarva-nāśa
SYNONYMS
kruddha haiyā-being very angry; vaṁśī-the flute; bhāṅgi'-breaking; cale-departs; rāma-dāsa-of the name Rāmadāsa; tat-kāle-at that time; āmāra-my; bhrātāra-of the brother; haila-there was; sarva-nāśa-downfall.
TRANSLATION
Thus Śrī Rāmadāsa broke his flute in anger and went away, and at that time my brother fell down.
TEXT 179
ei ta' kahila tāṅra sevaka-prabhāva
āra eka kahi tāṅra dayāra svabhāva
SYNONYMS
ei ta'-thus; kahila—explained; tāṅra—of Him; sevaka-prabhāva—the power of the servant; āra—other; eka—one; kahi—I say; tāṅra—His; dayāra—of mercy; svabhāva—characteristic.
TRANSLATION
I have thus described the power of the servants of Lord Nityānanda. Now I shall describe another characteristic of His mercy.
TEXT 180
bhāike bhartsinu muñi, lañā ei guṇa
sei rātre prabhu more dilā daraśana
SYNONYMS
bhāike—my brother; bhartsinu—chastised; muñi—I; lañā—taking; ei—this; guṇa—as a good quality; sei rātre—on that night; prabhu—my Lord; more—unto me; dilā—gave; daraśana—appearance.
TRANSLATION
That night Lord Nityānanda appeared to me in a dream because of my good quality in chastising my brother.
TEXT 181
naihāṭi-nikaṭe 'jhāmaṭapura' nāme grāma
tāṅhā svapne dekhā dilā nityānanda-rāma
SYNONYMS
naihāṭi-nikaṭe—near the village Naihāṭi; jhāmaṭapura—Jhāmaṭapura; nāme—by the name; grāma—village; tāṅhā—there; svapne—in a dream; dekhā—appearance; dilā—gave; nityānanda-rāma—Lord Nityānanda Balarāma.
TRANSLATION
In the village of Jhāmaṭapura, which is near Naihāṭi, Lord Nityānanda appeared to me in a dream.
PURPORT
There is now a railway line to Jhāmaṭapura. If one wants to go there, he can take a train on the Katwa railway line and go directly to the station known as Sālāra. From that station one can go directly to Jhāmaṭapura.
TEXT 182
daṇḍavat haiyā āmi paḍinu pāyete
nija-pāda-padma prabhu dilā mora māthe
SYNONYMS
daṇḍavat haiyā—offering obeisances; āmi—I; paḍinu—fell down; pāyete—at His lotus feet; nija-pāda-padma—His own lotus feet; prabhu—the Lord; dilā—placed; mora—my; māthe—on the head.
TRANSLATION
I fell at His feet, offering my obeisances, and He then placed His own lotus feet upon my head.
TEXT 183
'uṭha', 'uṭha' bali' more bale bāra bāra
uṭhi' tāṅra rūpa dekhi' hainu camatkāra
SYNONYMS
uṭha uṭha—get up, get up; bali'-saying; more—unto me; bale—says; bāra bāra—again and again; uṭhi'-getting up; tāṅra—His; rūpa dekhi'-seeing the beauty; hainu—became; camatkāra—astonished.
TRANSLATION
"Arise! Get up!" He told me again and again. Upon rising, I was greatly astonished to see His beauty.
TEXT 184
śyāma-cikkaṇa kānti, prakāṇḍa śarīra
sākṣāt kandarpa, yaiche mahā-malla-vīra
SYNONYMS
śyāma—blackish; cikkaṇa—glossy; kānti—luster; prakāṇḍa—heavy; śarīra—body; sākṣāt—directly; kandarpa—Cupid; yaiche—like; mahā-malla—very stout and strong; vīra—hero.
TRANSLATION
He had a glossy blackish complexion, and His tall, strong, heroic stature made Him seem like Cupid himself.
TEXT 185
suvalita hasta, pada, kamala-nayāna
paṭṭa-vastra śire, paṭṭa-vastra paridhāna
SYNONYMS
suvalita—well-formed; hasta—hands; pada—legs; kamala-nayāna—eyes like lotus flowers; paṭṭa-vastra—silk cloth; śire—on the head; paṭṭa-vastra—silk garments; paridhāna—wearing.
TRANSLATION
He had beautifully formed hands, arms and legs, and eyes like lotus flowers. He wore a silk cloth, with a silk turban on His head.
TEXT 186
suvarṇa-kuṇḍala karṇe, svarṇāṅgada-vālā
pāyete nūpura bāje, kaṇṭhe puṣpa-mālā
SYNONYMS
suvarṇa-kuṇḍala—gold earrings; karṇe—on the ears; svarṇa-aṅgada—golden armlets; vālā—and bangles; pāyete—on the feet; nūpura—ankle bells; bāje—tinkle; kaṇṭhe—on the neck; puṣpa-mālā—flower garland.
TRANSLATION
He wore golden earrings on His ears, and golden armlets and bangles. He wore tinkling anklets on His feet and a garland of flowers around His neck.
TEXT 187
candana-lepita-aṅga, tilaka suṭhāma
matta-gaja jini' mada-manthara payāna
SYNONYMS
candana—with sandalwood pulp; lepita—smeared; aṅga—body; tilaka suṭhāma—nicely decorated with tilaka; matta-gaja—a mad elephant; jini'-surpassing; mada-manthara—maddened by drinking; payāna—movement.
TRANSLATION
His body was anointed with sandalwood pulp, and He was nicely decorated with tilaka. His movements surpassed those of a maddened elephant.
TEXT 188
koṭi-candra jini' mukha ujjvala-varaṇa
dāḍimba-bīja-sama danta tāmbūla-carvaṇa
SYNONYMS
koṭi-candra—millions upon millions of moons; jini'-surpassing; mukha—face; ujjvala-varaṇa—bright and brilliant; dāḍimba-bīja—pomegranate seeds; sama—like; danta—teeth; tāmbūla-carvaṇa—chewing betel nut.
TRANSLATION
His face was more beautiful than millions upon millions of moons, and His teeth were like pomegranate seeds because of His chewing betel.
TEXT 189
preme matta aṅga ḍāhine-vāme dole
'kṛṣṇa' 'kṛṣṇa' baliyā gambhīra bola bale
SYNONYMS
preme—in ecstasy; matta—absorbed; aṅga—the whole body; ḍāhine—to the right side; vāme—to the left side; dole—moves; kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa; baliyā—saying; gambhīra—deep; bola—words; bale—was uttering.
TRANSLATION
His body moved to and fro, right and left, for He was absorbed in ecstasy. He chanted "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa" in a deep voice.
TEXT 190
rāṅgā-yaṣṭi haste dole yena matta siṁha
cāri-pāśe veḍi āche caraṇete bhṛṅga
SYNONYMS
rāṅgā-yaṣṭi—a red stick; haste—in the hand; dole—moves; yena—like; matta—mad; siṁha—lion; cāri-pāśe—all around; veḍi—surrounding; āche—there is; caraṇete—at the lotus feet; bhṛṅga—bumblebees.
TRANSLATION
His red stick moving in His hand, He seemed like a maddened lion. All around the four sides of His feet were bumblebees.
TEXT 191
pāriṣada-gaṇe dekhi' saba gopa-veśe
'kṛṣṇa' 'kṛṣṇa' kahe sabe saprema āveśe
SYNONYMS
pāriṣada-gaṇe—associates; dekhi'-seeing; saba—all; gopa-veśe—in the dress of cowherd boys; kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa; kahe—says; sabe—all; sa-prema—of ecstatic love; āveśe—in absorption.
TRANSLATION
His devotees, dressed like cowherd boys, surrounded His feet like so many bees and also chanted "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa," absorbed in ecstatic love.
TEXT 192
śiṅgā vāṁśī bājāya keha, keha nāce gāya
sevaka yogāya tāmbūla, cāmara ḍhulāya
SYNONYMS
śiṅgā vāṁśī—horns and flutes; bājāya—play; keha—some; keha—some of them; nāce—dance; gāya—sing; sevaka—a servant; yogāya—supplies; tāmbūla—betel nut; cāmara—fan; ḍhulāya—moves.
TRANSLATION
Some of them played horns and flutes, and others danced and sang. Some of them offered betel nuts, and others waved cāmara fans about Him.
TEXT 193
nityānanda-svarūpera dekhiyā vaibhava
kibā rūpa, guṇa, līlā--alaukika saba
SYNONYMS
nityānanda-svarūpera—of Lord Nityānanda Svarūpa; dekhiyā—seeing; vaibhava—the opulence; kibā rūpa—what a wonderful form; guṇa—qualities; līlā—pastimes; alaukika—uncommon; saba—all.
TRANSLATION
Thus I saw such opulence in Lord Nityānanda Svarūpa. His wonderful form, qualities and pastimes are all transcendental.
TEXT 194
ānande vihvala āmi, kichu nāhi jāni
tabe hāsi' prabhu more kahilena vāṇī
SYNONYMS
ānande—in transcendental ecstasy; vihvala—overwhelmed; āmi—I; kichu—anything; nāhi—not; jāni—know; tabe—at that time; hāsi'-smiling; prabhu—the Lord; more—unto me; kahilena—says; vāṇī—some words.
TRANSLATION
I was overwhelmed with transcendental ecstasy, not knowing anything else. Then Lord Nityānanda smiled and spoke to me as follows.
TEXT 195
āre āre kṛṣṇadāsa, nā karaha bhaya
vṛndāvane yāha,--tāṅhā sarva labhya haya
SYNONYMS
āre āre—O! O!; kṛṣṇa-dāsa—of the name Kṛṣṇadāsa; nā—not; karaha—make; bhaya—fear; vṛndāvane yāha—go to Vṛndāvana; tāṅhā—there; sarva—everything; labhya—available; haya—is.
TRANSLATION
"O my dear Kṛṣṇadāsa, do not be afraid. Go to Vṛndāvana, for there you will attain all things."
TEXT 196
eta bali' prerilā more hātasāni diyā
antardhāna kaila prabhu nija-gaṇa lañā
SYNONYMS
eta bali'-saying this; prerilā—dispatched; more—me; hātasāni—indication of the hand; diyā—giving; antardhāna kaila—disappeared; prabhu—my Lord; nija-gaṇa lañā—taking His personal associates.
TRANSLATION
After saying this, He directed me toward Vṛndāvana by waving His hand. Then He disappeared with His associates.
TEXT 197
mūrcchita ha-iyā muñi paḍinu bhūmite
svapna-bhaṅga haila, dekhi, hañāche prabhāte
SYNONYMS
mūrcchita ha-iyā—fainting; muñi—I; paḍinu—fell; bhūmite—on the ground; svapna-bhaṅga—breaking of the dream; haila—there was; dekhi—I saw; hañāche—there was; prabhāte—morning light.
TRANSLATION
I fainted and fell to the ground, my dream broke, and when I regained consciousness I saw that morning had come.
TEXT 198
ki dekhinu ki śuninu, kariye vicāra
prabhu-ājñā haila vṛndāvana yāibāra
SYNONYMS
ki dekhinu—what did I see; ki śuninu—what did I hear; kariye vicāra—I began to consider; prabhu-ājñā—the order of my Lord; haila—there was; vṛndāvana—to Vṛndāvana; yāibāra—to go.
TRANSLATION
I thought about what I had seen and heard and concluded that the Lord had ordered me to proceed to Vṛndāvana at once.
TEXT 199
sei kṣaṇe vṛndāvane karinu gamana
prabhura kṛpāte sukhe āinu vṛndāvana
SYNONYMS
sei kṣaṇe—that very second; vṛndāvane—toward Vṛndāvana; karinu—I did; gamana—starting; prabhura kṛpāte—by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda; sukhe—in great happiness; āinu—arrived; vṛndāvana—at Vṛndāvana.
TRANSLATION
That very second I started for Vṛndāvana, and by His mercy I reached there in great happiness.
TEXT 200
jaya jaya nityānanda, nityānanda-rāma
yāṅhāra kṛpāte pāinu vṛndāvana-dhāma
SYNONYMS
jaya jaya—all glories; nityānanda—to Lord Nityānanda; nityānanda-rāma—to Lord Balarāma, who appeared as Nityānanda; yāṅhāra kṛpāte—by whose mercy; pāinu—I got; vṛndāvana-dhāma—shelter at Vṛndāvana.
TRANSLATION
All glory, all glory to Lord Nityānanda Balarāma, by whose mercy I have attained shelter in the transcendental abode of Vṛndāvana.
TEXT 201
jaya jaya nityānanda, jaya kṛpā-maya
yāṅhā haite pāinu rūpa-sanātanāśraya
SYNONYMS
jaya jaya—all glories; nityānanda—to Lord Nityānanda; jaya kṛpā-maya—all glories to the most merciful Lord; yāṅhā haite—from whom; pāinu—I got; rūpa-sanātana-āśraya—shelter at the lotus feet of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī.
TRANSLATION
All glory, all glory to the merciful Lord Nityānanda, by whose mercy I have attained shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana.
TEXT 202
yāṅhā haite pāinu raghunātha-mahāśaya
yāṅhā haite pāinu śrī-svarūpa-āśraya
SYNONYMS
yāṅhā haite—from whom; pāinu—I got; raghunātha-mahā-āśaya—the shelter of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī; yāṅhā haite—from whom; pāinu—I got; śrī-svarūpa-āśraya—shelter at the feet of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī.
TRANSLATION
By His mercy I have attained the shelter of the great personality Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, and by His mercy I have found the refuge of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara.
PURPORT
Anyone desiring to become expert in the service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa should always aspire to be under the guidance of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. To come under the protection of the Gosvāmīs, one must get the mercy and grace of Nityānanda Prabhu. The author has tried to explain this fact in these two verses.
TEXT 203
sanātana-kṛpāya pāinu bhaktira siddhānta
śrī-rūpa-kṛpāya pāinu bhakti-rasa-prānta
SYNONYMS
sanātana-kṛpāya—by the mercy of Sanātana Gosvāmī; pāinu—I got; bhaktira siddhānta—the conclusions of devotional service; śrī-rūpa-kṛpāya—by the mercy of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī; pāinu—I got; bhakti-rasa-prānta—the limit of the mellows of devotional service.
TRANSLATION
By the mercy of Sanātana Gosvāmī I have learned the final conclusions of devotional service, and by the grace of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī I have tasted the highest nectar of devotional service.
PURPORT
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī Prabhu, the teacher of the science of devotional service, wrote several books, of which the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta is very famous; anyone who wants to know about the subject matter of devotees, devotional service and Kṛṣṇa must read this book. Sanātana Gosvāmī also wrote a special commentary on the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam known as the Daśama-ṭippanī which is so excellent that by reading it one can understand very deeply the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in His exchanges of loving activities. Another famous book by Sanātana Gosvāmī is the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, which states the rules and regulations for all divisions of Vaiṣṇavas, namely, Vaiṣṇava householders, Vaiṣṇava brahmacārīs, Vaiṣṇava vānaprasthas and Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs. This book was especially written, however, for Vaiṣṇava householders. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī has described Sanātana Gosvāmī in his prayer Vilāpa-kusumāñjali, verse six, where he has expressed his obligation to Sanātana Gosvāmī in the following words:
vairāgya-yug-bhakti-rasaṁ prayatnair
apāyayan mām anabhīpsum andham
kṛpāmbudhir yaḥ para-duḥkha-duḥkhī
sanātanas taṁ prabhum āśrayāmi
"I was unwilling to drink the nectar of devotional service possessed of renunciation, but Sanātana Gosvāmī, out of his causeless mercy, made me drink it, even though I was otherwise unable to do so. Therefore he is an ocean of mercy. He is very compassionate to fallen souls like me, and thus it is my duty to offer my respectful obeisances unto his lotus feet." Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī also, in the last section of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, specifically mentions the names of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and offers his respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of these three spiritual masters, as well as Raghunātha dāsa. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī also accepted Sanātana Gosvāmī as the teacher of the science of devotional service. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is described as the bhakti-rasācārya, or one who knows the essence of devotional service. His famous book Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is the science of devotional service, and by reading this book one can understand the meaning of devotional service. Another of his famous books is Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. In this book he elaborately explains the loving affairs and transcendental activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī.
TEXT 204
jaya jaya nityānanda-caraṇāravinda
yāṅhā haite pāinu śrī-rādhā-govinda
SYNONYMS
jaya jaya—all glories to; nityānanda—of Lord Nityānanda; caraṇa-aravinda—the lotus feet; yāṅhā haite—from whom; pāinu—I got; śrī-rādhā-govinda—the shelter of Śrī Rādhā and Govinda.
TRANSLATION
All glory, all glory to the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda, by whose mercy I have attained Śrī Rādhā-Govinda.
PURPORT
Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, who is famous for his poetic composition known as Prārthanā, has lamented in one of his prayers, "When will Lord Nityānanda be merciful upon me so that I will forget all material desires?" Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura confirms that unless one is freed from material desires to satisfy the needs of the body and senses, one cannot understand the transcendental abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Vṛndāvana. He also confirms that one cannot understand the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa without going through the direction of the six Gosvāmīs. In another verse Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has stated that without the causeless mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu, one cannot enter into the affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 205
jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha
SYNONYMS
jagāi mādhāi—the two brothers Jagāi and Mādhāi; haite—than; muñi—I; se—that; pāpiṣṭha—more sinful; purīṣera—in stool; kīṭa—the worms; haite—than; muñi—I am; se—that; laghiṣṭha—lower.
TRANSLATION
I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than the worms in the stool.
TEXT 206
mora nāma śune yei tāra puṇya kṣaya
mora nāma laya yei tāra pāpa haya
SYNONYMS
mora nāma—my name; śune—hears; yei—anyone who; tāra—his; puṇya kṣaya—destruction of piety; mora nāma—my name; laya—takes; yei—anyone; tāra—his; pāpa—sin; haya—is.
TRANSLATION
Anyone who hears my name loses the results of his pious activities. Anyone who utters my name becomes sinful.
TEXT 207
emana nirghṛṇa more kebā kṛpā kare
eka nityānanda vinu jagat bhitare
SYNONYMS
emana—such; nirghṛṇa—abominable; more—unto me; kebā—who; kṛpā—mercy; kare—shows; eka—one; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; vinu—but; jagat—world; bhitare—within.
TRANSLATION
Who in this world but Nityānanda could show His mercy to such an abominable person as me?
TEXT 208
preme matta nityānanda kṛpā-avatāra
uttama, adhama, kichu nā kare vicāra
SYNONYMS
preme—in ecstatic love; matta—mad; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; kṛpā—merciful; avatāra—incarnation; uttama—good; adhama—bad; kichu—any; nā—not; kare—makes; vicāra—consideration.
TRANSLATION
Because He is intoxicated by ecstatic love and is an incarnation of mercy, He does not distinguish between the good and the bad.
TEXT 209
ye āge paḍaye, tāre karaye nistāra
ataeva nistārilā mo-hena durācāra
SYNONYMS
ye—whoever; āge—in front; paḍaye—falls down; tāre—unto him; karaye—does; nistāra—deliverance; ataeva—therefore; nistārilā—delivered; mo—as me; hena—such; durācāra—sinful and fallen person.
TRANSLATION
He delivers all those who fall down before Him. Therefore He has delivered such a sinful and fallen person as me.
TEXT 210
mo-pāpiṣṭhe ānilena śrī-vṛndāvana
mo-hena adhame dilā śrī-rūpa-caraṇa
SYNONYMS
mo-pāpiṣṭhe—unto me, who am so sinful; ānilena—He brought; śrī-vṛndāvana—to Vṛndāvana; mo-hena—such as me; adhame—to the lowest of mankind; dilā—delivered; śrī-rūpa-caraṇa—the lotus feet of Rūpa Gosvāmī.
TRANSLATION
Although I am sinful and I am the most fallen, He has conferred upon me the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī.
TEXT 211
śrī-madana-gopāla-śrī-govinda-daraśana
kahibāra yogya nahe e-saba kathana
SYNONYMS
śrī-madana-gopāla—Lord Madana Gopāla; śrī-govinda—Lord Rādhā-Govinda; daraśana—visiting; kahibāra—to speak; yogya—fit; nahe—not; e-saba kathana—all these confidential words.
TRANSLATION
I am not fit to speak all these confidential words about my visiting Lord Madana Gopāla and Lord Govinda.
TEXT 212
vṛndāvana-purandara śrī-madana-gopāla
rāsa-vilāsī sākṣāt vrajendra-kumāra
SYNONYMS
vṛndāvana-purandara—the chief Deity of Vṛndāvana; śrī-madana-gopāla—Lord Madana Gopāla; rāsa-vilāsī—the enjoyer of the rāsa dance; sākṣāt—directly; vrajendra-kumāra—the son of Nanda Mahārāja.
TRANSLATION
Lord Madana Gopāla, the chief Deity of Vṛndāvana, is the enjoyer of the rāsa dance and is directly the son of the King of Vraja.
TEXT 213
śrī-rādhā-lalitā-saṅge rāsa-vilāsa
manmatha-manmatha-rūpe yāṅhāra prakāśa
SYNONYMS
śrī-rādhā—Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; lalitā—Her personal associate named Lalitā; saṅge—with; rāsa-vilāsa—enjoyment of the rāsa dance; manmatha—of Cupid; manmatha-rūpe—in the form of Cupid; yāṅhāra—of whom; prakāśa—manifestation.
TRANSLATION
He enjoys the rāsa dance with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrī Lalitā and others. He manifests Himself as the Cupid of Cupids.
TEXT 214
tāsām āvirabhūc chauriḥ
smayamāna-mukhāmbujaḥ
pītāmbara-dharaḥ sragvī
sākṣān manmatha-manmathaḥ
SYNONYMS
tāsām—among them; āvirabhūt—appeared; śauriḥ—Lord Kṛṣṇa; smayamāna—smiling; mukha-ambujaḥ—lotus face; pīta-ambara-dharaḥ—dressed with yellow garments; sragvī—decorated with a flower garland; sākṣāt—directly; manmatha—of Cupid; manmathaḥ—Cupid.
TRANSLATION
"Wearing yellow garments and decorated with a flower garland, Lord Kṛṣṇa, appearing among the gopīs with His smiling lotus face, looked directly like the charmer of the heart of Cupid."
PURPORT
This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.32.2).
TEXT 215
sva-mādhurye lokera mana kare ākarṣaṇa
dui pāśe rādhā lalitā karena sevana
SYNONYMS
sva-mādhurye—in His own sweetness; lokera—of all people; mana—the minds; kare—does; ākarṣaṇa—attracting; dui pāśe—on two sides; rādhā—Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; lalitā—and Her associate Lalitā; karena—do; sevana—service.
TRANSLATION
With Rādhā and Lalitā serving Him on His two sides, He attracts the hearts of all by His own sweetness.
TEXT 216
nityānanda-dayā more tāṅre dekhāila
śrī-rādhā-madana-mohane prabhu kari' dila
SYNONYMS
nityānanda-dayā—the mercy of Lord Nityānanda; more—unto me; tāṅre—Madanamohana; dekhāila—showed; śrī-rādhā-madana-mohane—Rādhā-Madanamohana; prabhu kari' dila—gave as my Lord and master.
TRANSLATION
The mercy of Lord Nityānanda showed me Śrī Madanamohana and gave me Śrī Madanamohana as my Lord and master.
TEXT 217
mo-adhame dila śrī-govinda daraśana
kahibāra kathā nahe akathya-kathana
SYNONYMS
mo-adhame—to one as abominable as me; dila—delivered; śrī-govinda daraśana—the audience of Lord Śrī Govinda; kahibāra—to speak this; kathā—words; nahe—there are not; akathya—unspeakable; kathana—narration.
TRANSLATION
He granted to one as low as me the sight of Lord Govinda. Words cannot describe this, nor is it fit to be disclosed.
TEXTS 218-219
vṛndāvane yoga-pīṭhe kalpa-taru-vane
ratna-maṇḍapa, tāhe ratna-siṁhāsane
śrī-govinda vasiyāchena vrajendra-nandana
mādhurya prakāśi' karena jagat mohana
SYNONYMS
vṛndāvane—at Vṛndāvana; yoga-pīṭhe—at the principal temple; kalpa-taru-vane—in the forest of desire trees; ratna-maṇḍapa—an altar made of gems; tāhe—upon it; ratna-siṁha-āsane—on the throne of gems; śrī-govinda—Lord Govinda; vasiyāchena—was sitting; vrajendra-nandana—the son of Nanda Mahārāja; mādhurya prakāśi'-manifesting His sweetness; karena—does; jagat mohana—enchantment of the whole world.
TRANSLATION
On an altar made of gems in the principal temple of Vṛndāvana, amidst a forest of desire trees, Lord Govinda, the son of the King of Vraja, sits upon a throne of gems and manifests His full glory and sweetness, thus enchanting the entire world.
TEXT 220
vāma-pārśve śrī-rādhikā sakhī-gaṇa-saṅge
rāsādika-līlā prabhu kare kata raṅge
SYNONYMS
vāma-pārśve—on the left side; śrī-rādhikā—Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; sakhī-gaṇa-saṅge—with Her personal friends; rāsa-ādika-līlā—pastimes like the rāsa dance; prabhu—Lord Kṛṣṇa; kare—performs; kata raṅge—in many ways.
TRANSLATION
By His left side is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Her personal friends. With them Lord Govinda enjoys the rāsa-līlā and many other pastimes.
TEXT 221
yāṅra dhyāna nija-loke kare padmāsana
aṣṭādaśākṣara-mantre kare upāsana
SYNONYMS
yāṅra—of whom; dhyāna—the meditation; nija-loke—in his own abode; kare—does; padma-āsana—Lord Brahmā; aṣṭādaśa-akṣara-mantre—by the hymn composed of eighteen letters; kare—does; upāsana—worshiping.
TRANSLATION
Lord Brahmā, sitting on his lotus seat in his own abode, always meditates on Him and worships Him with the mantra consisting of eighteen syllables.
PURPORT
In his own planet, Lord Brahmā, with the inhabitants of that planet, worships the form of Lord Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, by the mantra of eighteen syllables, klīṁ kṛṣṇāya govindāya gopī-jana-vallabhāya svāhā. Those who are initiated by a bona fide spiritual master and who chant the Gāyatrī mantra three times a day know this aṣṭādaśākṣara (eighteen-syllable) mantra. The inhabitants of Brahmaloka and the planets below Brahmaloka worship Lord Govinda by meditating with this mantra. There is no difference between meditating and chanting, but in the present age meditation is not possible on this planet. Therefore loud chanting of a mantra like the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, with soft chanting of the aṣṭādaśākṣara, the mantra of eighteen syllables, is recommended.
Lord Brahmā lives in the highest planetary system, known as Brahmaloka or Satyaloka. In every planet there is a predominating deity. As the predominating deity in Satyaloka is Lord Brahmā, so in the heavenly planets Indra is the predominating deity, and on the sun, the sun-god, Vivasvān, is the predominating deity. The inhabitants and predominating deities of every planet are all recommended to worship Govinda either by meditation or by chanting.
TEXT 222
caudda-bhuvane yāṅra sabe kare dhyāna
vaikuṇṭhādi-pure yāṅra līlā-guṇa gāna
SYNONYMS
caudda-bhuvane—within the fourteen worlds; yāṅra—of whom; sabe—all; kare dhyāna—perform meditation; vaikuṇṭha-ādi-pure—in the abodes of the Vaikuṇṭha planets; yāṅra—of whom; līlā-guṇa—attributes and pastimes; gāna—chanting.
TRANSLATION
Everyone in the fourteen worlds meditates upon Him, and all the denizens of Vaikuṇṭha sing of His qualities and pastimes.
TEXT 223
yāṅra mādhurīte kare lakṣmī ākarṣaṇa
rūpa-gosāñi kariyāchena se-rūpa varṇana
SYNONYMS
yāṅra—of whom; mādhurīte—by the sweetness; kare—does; lakṣmī—the goddess of fortune; ākarṣaṇa—attraction; rūpa-gosāñi—Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī; kariyāchena—has done; se—that; rūpa—of the beauty; varṇana—enunciation.
TRANSLATION
The goddess of fortune is attracted by His sweetness, which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described in this way:
PURPORT
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, has quoted from the Padma Purāṇa, where it is stated that Lakṣmīdevī, the goddess of fortune, after seeing the attractive features of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was attracted to Him, and to get the favor of Lord Kṛṣṇa she engaged herself in meditation. When asked by Kṛṣṇa why she engaged in meditation with austerity, Lakṣmīdevī answered, "I want to be one of Your associates like the gopīs in Vṛndāvana." Hearing this, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied that it was quite impossible. Lakṣmīdevī then said that she wanted to remain just like a golden line on the chest of the Lord. The Lord granted the request, and since then Lakṣmī has always been situated on the chest of Lord Kṛṣṇa as a golden line. The austerity and meditation of Lakṣmīdevī are also mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.16.36), where the Nāga-patnīs, the wives of the serpent Kāliya, in the course of their prayers to Kṛṣṇa, said that the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, also wanted His association as a gopī and desired the dust of His lotus feet.
TEXT 224
smerāṁ bhaṅgī-traya-paricitāṁ sāci-vistīrṇa-dṛṣṭiṁ
vaṁśī-nyastādhara-kiśalayām ujjvalāṁ candrakeṇa
govindākhyāṁ hari-tanum itaḥ keśī-tīrthopakaṇṭhe
mā prekṣiṣṭhās tava yadi sakhe bandhu-saṅge 'sti raṅgaḥ
SYNONYMS
smerām—smiling; bhaṅgī-traya-paricitām—bent in three places, namely the neck, waist and knees; sāci-vistīrṇa-dṛṣṭim—with a broad sideways glance; vaṁśī—on the flute; nyasta—placed; adhara—lips; kiśalayām—newly blossomed; ujjvalām—very bright; candrakeṇa—by the moonshine; govinda-ākhyām—named Lord Govinda; hari-tanum—the transcendental body of the Lord; itaḥ—here; keśī-tīrtha-upakaṇṭhe—on the bank of the Yamunā in the neighborhood of Keśīghāṭa; mā—do not; prekṣiṣṭhāḥ—glance over; tava—your; yadi—if; sakhe—O dear friend; bandhu-saṅge—to worldly friends; asti—there is; raṅgaḥ—attachment.
TRANSLATION
"My dear friend, if you are indeed attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands on the bank of the Yamunā at Keśīghāṭa. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places, appears very bright in the moonlight."
PURPORT
This is a verse quoted from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.239) in connection with practical devotional service. Generally people in their conditioned life engage in the pleasure of society, friendship and love. This so-called love is lust, not love. But people are satisfied with such a false understanding of love. Vidyāpati, a great and learned poet of Mithilā, has said that the pleasure derived from friendship, society and family life in the material world is like a drop of water, but our hearts desire pleasure like an ocean. Thus the heart is compared to a desert of material existence that requires the water of an ocean of pleasure to satisfy its dryness. If there is a drop of water in the desert, one may indeed say that it is water, but such a minute quantity of water has no value. Similarly, in this material world no one is satisfied in the dealings of society, friendship and love. Therefore if one wants to derive real pleasure within his heart, he must seek the lotus feet of Govinda. In this verse Rūpa Gosvāmī indicates that if one wants to be satisfied in the pleasure of society, friendship and love, he need not seek shelter at the lotus feet of Govinda, for if one takes shelter under His lotus feet he will forget that minute quantity of so-called pleasure. One who is not satisfied with that so-called pleasure may seek the lotus feet of Govinda, who stands on the shore of the Yamunā at Keśitīrtha, or Keśīghāṭa, in Vṛndāvana and attracts all the gopīs to His transcendental loving service.
TEXT 225
sākṣāt vrajendra-suta ithe nāhi āna
yebā ajñe kare tāṅre pratimā-hena jñāna
SYNONYMS
sākṣāt—directly; vrajendra-suta—the son of Nanda Mahārāja; ithe—in this matter; nāhi—there is not; āna—any exception; yebā—whatever; ajñe—a foolish person; kare—does; tāṅre—unto Him; pratimā-hena—as a statue; jñāna—such a consideration.
TRANSLATION
Without a doubt He is directly the son of the King of Vraja. Only a fool considers Him a statue.
TEXT 226
sei aparādhe tāra nāhika nistāra
ghora narakete paḍe, ki baliba āra
SYNONYMS
sei aparādhe—by that offense; tāra—his; nāhika—there is not; nistāra—deliverance; ghora—terrible; narakete—in a hellish condition; paḍe—falls down; ki baliba—what will I say; āra—more.
TRANSLATION
For that offense, he cannot be liberated. Rather, he will fall into a terrible hellish condition. What more should I say?
PURPORT
In his Bhakti-sandarbha Jīva Gosvāmī has stated that those who are actually very serious about devotional service do not differentiate between the form of the Lord made of clay, metal, stone or wood and the original form of the Lord. In the material world a person and his photograph, picture or statue are different. But the statue of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are not different, because the Lord is absolute. What we call stone, wood and metal are energies of the Supreme Lord, and energies are never separate from the energetic. As we have several times explained, no one can separate the sunshine energy from the energetic sun. Therefore material energy may appear separate from the Lord, but transcendentally it is nondifferent from the Lord.
The Lord can appear anywhere and everywhere because His diverse energies are distributed everywhere like sunshine. We should therefore understand whatever we see to be the energy of the Supreme Lord and should not differentiate between the Lord and His arcā form made from clay, metal, wood or paint. Even if one has not developed this consciousness, one should accept it theoretically from the instructions of the spiritual master and should worship the arcā-mūrti, or form of the Lord in the temple, as nondifferent from the Lord.
The Padma Purāṇa specifically mentions that anyone who thinks the form of the Lord in the temple to be made of wood, stone or metal is certainly in a hellish condition. Impersonalists are against the worship of the Lord's form in the temple, and there is even a group of people who pass as Hindus but condemn such worship. Their so-called acceptance of the Vedas has no meaning, for all the ācāryas, even the impersonalist Śaṅkarācārya, have recommended the worship of the transcendental form of the Lord. Impersonalists like Śaṅkarācārya recommend the worship of five forms, known as pañcopāsanā, which include Lord Viṣṇu. Vaiṣṇavas, however, worship the forms of Lord Viṣṇu in His varied manifestations, such as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Sītā-Rāma and Rukmiṇī-Kṛṣṇa. Māyāvādīs admit that worship of the Lord's form is required in the beginning, but they think that in the end everything is impersonal. Therefore, since they are ultimately against worship of the Lord's form, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described them as offenders.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has condemned those who think the body to be the self as bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. Bhauma means earth, and ijya-dhīḥ means worshiper. There are two kinds of bhauma ijya-dhīḥ: those who worship the land of their birth, such as nationalists, who make many sacrifices for the motherland, and those who condemn the worship of the form of the Lord. One should not worship the planet earth or land of his birth, nor should one condemn the form of the Lord, which is manifested in metal or wood for our facility. Material things are also the energy of the Supreme Lord.
TEXT 227
hena ye govinda prabhu, pāinu yāṅhā haite
tāṅhāra caraṇa-kṛpā ke pāre varṇite
SYNONYMS
hena—thus; ye govinda—this Lord Govinda; prabhu—master; pāinu—I got; yāṅhā haite—from whom; tāṅhāra—His; caraṇa-kṛpā—mercy of the lotus feet; ke—who; pāre—is able; varṇite—to describe.
TRANSLATION
Therefore who can describe the mercy of the lotus feet of Him [Lord Nityānanda] by whom I have attained the shelter of this Lord Govinda?
TEXT 228
vṛndāvane vaise yata vaiṣṇava-maṇḍala
kṛṣṇa-nāma-parāyaṇa, parama-maṅgala
SYNONYMS
vṛndāvane—in Vṛndāvana; vaise—there are; yata—all; vaiṣṇava-maṇḍala—groups of devotees; kṛṣṇa-nāma-parāyaṇa—addicted to the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa; parama-maṅgala—all-auspicious.
TRANSLATION
All the groups of Vaiṣṇavas who live in Vṛndāvana are absorbed in chanting the all-auspicious name of Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 229
yāṅra prāṇa-dhana--nityānanda-śrī-caitanya
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-bhakti vine nāhi jāne anya
SYNONYMS
yāṅra—whose; prāṇa-dhana—life and soul; nityānanda-śrī-caitanya—Lord Nityānanda and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; rādhā-kṛṣṇa—to Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī; bhakti—devotional service; vine—except; nāhi jāne anya—do not know anything else.
TRANSLATION
Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda are their life and soul. They do not know anything but devotional service to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 230
se vaiṣṇavera pada-reṇu, tāra pada-chāyā
adhamere dila prabhu-nityānanda-dayā
SYNONYMS
se vaiṣṇavera—of all those Vaiṣṇavas; pada-reṇu—the dust of the feet; tāra—their; pada-chāyā—the shade of the feet; adhamere—unto this fallen soul; dila—gave; prabhu-nityānanda-dayā—the mercy of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu.
TRANSLATION
The dust and shade of the lotus feet of the Vaiṣṇavas have been granted to this fallen soul by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda.
TEXT 231
'tāṅhā sarva labhya haya'--prabhura vacana
sei sūtra--ei tāra kaila vivaraṇa
SYNONYMS
tāṅhā—at that place; sarva—everything; labhya—obtainable; haya—is; prabhura—of the Lord; vacana—the word; sei sūtra—that synopsis; ei—this; tāra—His; kaila vivaraṇa—has been described.
TRANSLATION
Lord Nityānanda said, "In Vṛndāvana all things are possible." Here I have explained His brief statement in detail.
TEXT 232
se saba pāinu āmi vṛndāvane āya
sei saba labhya ei prabhura kṛpāya
SYNONYMS
se saba—all this; pāinu—got; āmi—I; vṛndāvane—to Vṛndāvana; āya—coming; sei saba—all this; labhya—obtainable; ei—this; prabhura kṛpāya—by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda.
TRANSLATION
I have attained all this by coming to Vṛndāvana, and this was made possible by the mercy of Lord Nityānanda.
PURPORT
All the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are Vaiṣṇavas. They are all-auspicious because somehow or other they always chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Even though some of them do not strictly follow the rules and regulations of devotional service, on the whole they are devotees of Kṛṣṇa and chant His name directly or indirectly. Purposely or without purpose, even when they pass on the street they are fortunate enough to exchange greetings by saying the name of Rādhā or Kṛṣṇa. Thus directly or indirectly they are auspicious.
The present city of Vṛndāvana has been established by the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas since the six Gosvāmīs went there and directed the construction of their different temples. Of all the temples in Vṛndāvana, ninety percent belong to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sect, the followers of the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda, and seven temples are very famous. The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana do not know anything but the worship of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. In recent years some unscrupulous so-called priests known as caste gosvāmīs have introduced the worship of demigods privately, but no genuine and rigid Vaiṣṇavas participate in this. Those who are serious about the Vaiṣṇava method of devotional activities do not take part in such worship of demigods.
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas never differentiate between Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya. They say that since Lord Caitanya is the combined form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, He is not different from Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. But some misled people try to prove that they are greatly elevated by saying that they like to chant the holy name of Lord Gaura instead of the names Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Thus they purposely differentiate between Lord Caitanya and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. According to them, the system of nadīyā-nāgarī, which they have recently invented in their fertile brains, is the worship of Gaura, Lord Caitanya, but they do not like to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. They put forward the argument that since Lord Caitanya Himself appeared as Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined, there is no necessity of worshiping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Such differentiation by so-called devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is considered disruptive by pure devotees. Anyone who differentiates between Rādha-Kṛṣṇa and Gaurāṅga is to be considered a plaything in the hands of māyā.
There are others who are against the worship of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, thinking Him mundane. But any sect that differentiates between Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, either by worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa as distinct from Lord Caitanya or by worshiping Lord Caitanya but not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, is in the group of prākṛta-sahajiyās.
Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, predicts in verses 225 and 226 that in the future those who manufacture imaginary methods of worship will gradually give up the worship of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and although they will call themselves devotees of Lord Caitanya, they will also give up the worship of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and fall down into material activities. For the real worshipers of Lord Caitanya, the ultimate goal of life is to worship Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
TEXT 233
āpanāra kathā likhi nirlajja ha-iyā
nityānanda-guṇe lekhāya unmatta kariyā
SYNONYMS
āpanāra—personal; kathā—description; likhi—I write; nirlajja ha-iyā—being shameless; nityānanda-guṇe—the attributes of Nityānanda; lekhāya—cause to write; unmatta kariyā—making like a madman.
TRANSLATION
I have described my own story without reservations. The attributes of Lord Nityānanda, making me like a madman, force me to write these things.
TEXT 234
nityānanda-prabhura guṇa-mahimā apāra
'sahasra-vadane' śeṣa nāhi pāya yāṅra
SYNONYMS
nityānanda-prabhura—of Lord Nityānanda; guṇa-mahimā—glories of transcendental attributes; apāra—unfathomable; sahasra-vadane—in thousands of mouths; śeṣa—ultimate end; nāhi—does not; pāya—get; yāṅra—whose.
TRANSLATION
The glories of Lord Nityānanda's transcendental attributes are unfathomable. Even Lord Śeṣa with His thousands of mouths cannot find their limit.
TEXT 235
śrī-rūpa-raghunātha-pade yāra āśa
caitanya-caritāmṛta kahe kṛṣṇadāsa
SYNONYMS
śrī-rūpa—Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī; raghunātha—Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī; pade—at the lotus feet; yāra—whose; āśa—expectation; caitanya-caritāmṛta—the book named Caitanya-caritāmṛta; kahe—describes; kṛṣṇa-dāsa—Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī.
TRANSLATION
Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Fifth Chapter, describing the glories of Lord Nityānanda Balarāma.
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