ete camsa-kalah pumsah
krishnas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam
mridayanti yuge yuge
All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.
“Isvarah paramah krishna,
sac-cid-ananda vigraha,
anadir adir govindah,
sarva karana karanam.
Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.
How to Surrender to Krishna
CC Madhya 22.16: “‘O my Lord, there is no limit to the unwanted orders of lusty desires. Although I have rendered these desires so much service, they have not shown any mercy to me. I have not been ashamed to serve them, nor have I even desired to give them up. O my Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, recently, however, my intelligence has been awakened, and now I am giving them up. Due to transcendental intelligence, I now refuse to obey the unwanted orders of these desires, and I now come to You to surrender myself at Your fearless lotus feet. Kindly engage me in Your personal service and save me.’
raso vai sah rasam hy evayam labdhvanandi bhavati.
“He himself is rasa, the taste or mellow of a particular relationship. And certainly one who achieves this rasa becomes anandi, filled with bliss.”
(Taittiriya Upanisad 2.7.1.)
What to pray to the Krishna
A: SB 1.8.42
tvayi me ’nanya-viṣayā
matir madhu-pate ’sakṛt
ratim udvahatād addhā
gaṅgevaugham udanvati
O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else.
What should be our goal of life ?
In this material world, to render service to the lotus feet of Govinda, the cause of all causes, and to see Him everywhere, is the only goal of life. This much alone is the ultimate goal of human life, as explained by all the revealed scriptures. (SB 7.7.55)
Every part of Krishna is more sweeter than the other
Cc madhya 23.35
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuram
madhu-gandhi mṛdu-smitam etad aho
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuram
“‘O my Lord, the transcendental body of Kṛṣṇa is very sweet, and His face is even sweeter than His body. But His soft smile, which has the fragrance of honey, is sweeter still.’
This is a verse quoted from Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura’s Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta (92).
64 Qualities of Krishna
CC Madhya 23.70: “‘Kṛṣṇa, the supreme hero, has the most beautiful transcendental body. This body possesses all good features. It is radiant and very pleasing to the eyes. His body is powerful, strong and youthful.
CC Madhya 23.71: “‘Kṛṣṇa is the linguist of all wonderful languages. He is a truthful and very pleasing speaker. He is expert in speaking, and He is a very wise, learned scholar and a genius.
CC Madhya 23.72: “‘Kṛṣṇa is very expert in artistic enjoyment. He is highly cunning, expert, grateful and firmly determined in His vows. He knows how to deal according to time, person and country, and He sees through the scriptures and authoritative books. He is very clean and self-controlled.
CC Madhya 23.73: “‘Lord Kṛṣṇa is steady, His senses are controlled, and He is forgiving, grave and calm. He is also equal to all. Moreover, He is magnanimous, religious, chivalrous and kind. He is always respectful to respectable people.
CC Madhya 23.74: “‘Kṛṣṇa is very simple and liberal, He is humble and bashful, and He is the protector of the surrendered souls. He is very happy, and He is always the well-wisher of His devotees. He is all-auspicious, and He is submissive to love.
CC Madhya 23.75: “‘Kṛṣṇa is very influential and famous, and He is the object of attachment for everyone. He is the shelter of the good and the virtuous. He is attractive to the minds of women, and He is worshiped by everyone. He is very, very rich.
CC Madhya 23.76: “‘Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and He is always glorified as the Supreme Lord and controller. Thus all the previously mentioned transcendental qualities are in Him. The fifty qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead mentioned above are as deep as an ocean. In other words, they are difficult to fully comprehend.
CC Madhya 23.77: “‘These qualities are sometimes very minutely exhibited in living beings, but they are fully manifested in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’
CC Madhya 23.78: “‘Apart from these fifty qualities, there are five other qualities found in the Supreme Personality of Godhead that are partially present in demigods like Śiva.
CC Madhya 23.79-81: “‘These qualities are (1) the Lord is always situated in His original position, (2) He is omniscient, (3) He is always fresh and youthful, (4) He is the concentrated form of eternity, knowledge and bliss, and (5) He is the possessor of all mystic perfection. There are another five qualities, which exist in the Vaikuṇṭha planets in Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of Lakṣmī. These qualities are also present in Kṛṣṇa, but they are not present in demigods like Lord Śiva or in other living entities. These are (1) the Lord possesses inconceivable supreme power, (2) He generates innumerable universes from His body, (3) He is the original source of all incarnations, (4) He bestows salvation upon enemies He kills, and (5) He has the ability to attract exalted persons who are satisfied in themselves. Although these qualities are present in Nārāyaṇa, the dominating Deity of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they are even more wonderfully present in Kṛṣṇa.
CC Madhya 23.82-83: “‘Apart from these sixty transcendental qualities, Kṛṣṇa has an additional four transcendental qualities, which are not manifested even in the personality of Nārāyaṇa. These are: (1) Kṛṣṇa is like an ocean filled with waves of pastimes that evoke wonder within everyone in the three worlds. (2) In His activities of conjugal love, He is always surrounded by His dear devotees who possess unequaled love for Him. (3) He attracts the minds of all three worlds with the melodious vibration of His flute. (4) His personal beauty and opulence are beyond compare. No one is equal to Him, and no one is greater than Him. Thus the Personality of Godhead astonishes all living entities, both moving and nonmoving, within the three worlds. He is so beautiful that He is called Kṛṣṇa.
CC Madhya 23.84-85: “‘Above Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa has four specific transcendental qualities —
His wonderful pastimes (Lila Madhurya )
an abundance of wonderful associates who are very dear to Him [like the gopīs],
His wonderful beauty (Rupa Madhurya )
the wonderful vibration of His flute. (Venu Madhurya )
Lord Kṛṣṇa is more exalted than ordinary living beings and demigods like Lord Śiva. He is even more exalted than His personal expansion Nārāyaṇa. In all, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has sixty-four transcendental qualities in full.’
64 qualities of Krishna
Srila Rupa Gosvami, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows:
(1) beautiful features of the entire body;
(2) marked with all auspicious characteristics;
(3) extremely pleasing;
(4) effulgent;
(5) strong;
(6) ever youthful;
(7) wonderful linguist;
(8) truthful;
(9) talks pleasingly;
(10) fluent;
(11) highly learned;
(12) highly intelligent;
(13) a genius;
(14) artistic;
(15) extremely clever;
(16) expert;
(17) grateful;
(18) firmly determined;
(19) an expert judge of time and circumstances;
(20) sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures;
(21) pure;
(22) self-controlled;
(23) steadfast;
(24) forbearing;
(25) forgiving;
(26) grave;
(27) self-satisfied;
(28) possessing equilibrium;
(29) magnanimous;
(30) religious;
(31) heroic;
(32) compassionate;
(33) respectful;
(34) gentle;
(35) liberal;
(36) shy;
(37) the protector of surrendered souls;
(38) happy;
(39) the well-wisher of devotees;
(40) controlled by love;
(41) all-auspicious;
(42) most powerful;
(43) all-famous;
(44) popular;
(45) partial to devotees;
(46) very attractive to all women;
(47) all-worshipable;
(48) all-opulent;
(49) all-honorable;
(50) the supreme controller.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all these fifty transcendental qualities in fullness as deep as the ocean. In other words, the extent of His qualities is inconceivable.
(51) changeless;
(52) all-cognizant;
(53) ever fresh;
(54) sac-cid-ananda (possessing an eternal blissful body);
(55) possessing all mystic perfections.
(56) He has inconceivable potency.
(57) Uncountable universes generate from His body.
(58) He is the original source of all incarnations.
(59) He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills.
(60) He is the attractor of liberated souls.
(61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes.
(62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead.
(63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on
His flute.
(64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled
anywhere in the creation.
Position of Goloka in the spiritual sky
CC Madhya 23.116
hari-vaṁśe kahiyāche goloke nitya-sthiti
indra āsi’ karila yabe śrī-kṛṣṇere stuti
In the revealed scripture Hari-vaṁśa, there is a description of Goloka Vṛndāvana, the planet where Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa eternally resides. This information was given by King Indra when he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and offered prayers after Kṛṣṇa had raised Govardhana Hill.
In the Vedic scripture Hari-vaṁśa (Viṣṇu-parva, Chapter Nineteen), there is the following description of Goloka Vṛndāvana:
manuṣya-lokād ūrdhvaṁ tu khagānāṁ gatir ucyate
ākāśasyopari ravir dvāraṁ svargasya bhānumān
svargād ūrdhvaṁ brahma-loko brahmarṣi-gaṇa-sevitaḥ
tatra soma-gatiś caiva jyotiṣāṁ ca mahātmanām
tasyopari gavāṁ lokaḥ sādhyās taṁ pālayanti hi
sa hi sarva-gataḥ kṛṣṇaḥ mahā-kāśa-gato mahān
upary upari tatrāpi gatis tava tapo-mayī
yāṁ na vidmo vayaṁ sarve pṛcchanto ‘pi pitām aham
gatiḥ śama-damāṭyānāṁ svargaḥ su-kṛta-karmaṇām
brāhmye tapasi yuktānāṁ brahma-lokaḥ parā gatiḥ
gavām eva tu goloko durārohā hi sā gatiḥ
sa tu lokas tvayā kṛṣṇa sīdamānaḥ kṛtātmanā
dhṛto dhṛtimatā vīra nighnatopadravān gavām
When the King of heaven, Indra, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa after Kṛṣṇa had raised Govardhana Hill, Lord Indra stated that above the planetary systems wherein human beings reside is the sky, where birds fly. Above the sky is the sun and its orbit. This is the entrance to the heavenly planets. Above the heavenly planets are other planets, up to Brahmaloka, where those advancing in spiritual knowledge reside. The planets up to Brahmaloka are part of the material world (Devī-dhāma).
Because the material world is under the control of Devī, Durgā, it is called Devī-dhāma. Above Devī-dhāma is a place where Lord Śiva and his wife Umā reside. Those brightened by spiritual knowledge and liberated from material contamination reside in that Śivaloka.
Beyond that planetary system is the spiritual world, where there are planets called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Goloka Vṛndāvana is situated above all the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Goloka Vṛndāvana is the kingdom of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the parents of Kṛṣṇa, Mahārāja Nanda and mother Yaśodā. In this way there are various planetary systems, and they are all creations of the Supreme Lord. As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.43):
goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya
devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu
te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“Below the planet named Goloka Vṛndāvana are the planets known as Devī-dhāma, Maheśa-dhāma and Hari-dhāma. These are opulent in different ways. They are managed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, the original Lord. I offer my obeisances unto Him.”
Thus Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma is situated above the Vaikuṇṭha planets. The spiritual sky containing all the Vaikuṇṭha planets is very small compared to Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma. The space occupied by Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma is called mahākāśa, or “the greatest sky of all.” Lord Indra said, “We asked Lord Brahmā about Your eternal planet, but we could not understand it. Those fruitive actors who have controlled their senses and mind with pious activities can be elevated to the heavenly planets. Pure devotees who are always engaged in Lord Nārāyaṇa’s service are promoted to the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. However, my Lord Kṛṣṇa, Your Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma is very difficult to attain. Yet both You and that supreme planetary system have descended here upon this earth. Unfortunately, I have disturbed You by my misdeeds, and that was due to my foolishness. I am therefore trying to satisfy You by my prayers.”
Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha confirms the existence of Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma by quoting the Ṛg-saṁhitā (Ṛg Veda 1.154.6):
tā vāṁ vāstūny uśmasi gamadhyai
yatra gāvo bhūri-śṛṅgā ayāsaḥ
atrāha tad urugāyasya kṛṣṇaḥ
paramaṁ padam avabhāti bhūri
“We wish to go to Your [Rādhā’s and Kṛṣṇa’s] beautiful houses, about which cows with large, excellent horns are wandering. Yet distinctly shining on this earth is that supreme abode of Yours that showers joy on all, O Urugāya [Kṛṣṇa, who is much praised].”
Krishna (KC) is the only anchor needed to overcome maya
kṛṣṇa — sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
“Kṛṣṇa is compared to sunshine, and māyā is compared to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine, there cannot be darkness. As soon as one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the darkness of illusion (the influence of the external energy) will immediately vanish.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.9.34) it is stated:
ṛte ‘rthaṁ yat pratīyeta na pratīyeta cātmani
tad vidyād ātmano māyāṁ yathābhāso yathā tamaḥ
“What appears to be truth without Me is certainly My illusory energy, for nothing can exist without Me. It is like a reflection of a real light in the shadows, for in the light there are neither shadows nor reflections.”
Wherever there is light, there cannot be darkness. When a living entity becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is immediately relieved of all material lusty desires. Lusty desires and greed are associated with rajas and tamas, passion and darkness. When one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, the modes of passion and darkness immediately vanish, and then the mode of goodness (sattva-guṇa) remains. When one is situated in the mode of goodness, he can make spiritual advancement and understand things clearly. This position is not possible for everyone. When a person is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he continuously hears about Kṛṣṇa, thinks about Him, worships Him and serves Him as a devotee. If he remains in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this way, the darkness of māyā certainly will not be able to touch him.
Krishna is like sunshine
Cc madhya 22.31
kṛṣṇa — sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
“Kṛṣṇa is compared to sunshine, and māyā is compared to darkness. Wherever there is sunshine, there cannot be darkness. As soon as one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the darkness of illusion (the influence of the external energy) will immediately vanish.
Krishna is Sat cit Anand
CC Ādi 4.61: Lord Kṛṣṇa’s body is eternal [sat], full of knowledge [cit] and full of bliss [ānanda]. His one spiritual energy manifests three forms.
CC Ādi 4.62: Hlādinī is His aspect of bliss; sandhinī, of eternal existence; and samvit, of cognizance, which is also accepted as knowledge.
‘Sat’
CC Ādi 4.64: The essential portion of the sandhinī potency is śuddha-sattva. Lord Kṛṣṇa’s existence rests upon it.
CC Ādi 4.65: Kṛṣṇa’s mother, father, abode, house, bedding, seats and so on are all transformations of śuddha-sattva.
Cit
CC Ādi 4.67: The essence of the samvit potency is knowledge that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Lord Kṛṣṇa. All other kinds of knowledge, such as the knowledge of Brahman, are its components.
Anand
CC Ādi 4.68: The essence of the hlādinī potency is love of God, the essence of love of God is emotion [bhāva], and the ultimate development of emotion is mahābhāva.
Krishna is most merciful
CC Madhya 22.98: “‘Oh, how wonderful it is! Pūtanā, the sister of Bakāsura, wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa by smearing deadly poison on her breasts and having Kṛṣṇa take it. Nonetheless, Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted her as His mother, and thus she attained the destination befitting Kṛṣṇa’s mother. Of whom should I take shelter but Kṛṣṇa, who is most merciful?’ (SB 3.2.23)
Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport
Here is an example of the extreme mercy of the Lord, even to His enemy. It is said that a noble man accepts the good qualities of a person of doubtful character, just as one accepts nectar from a stock of poison. In His babyhood, He was administered deadly poison by Pūtanā, a she-demon who tried to kill the wonderful baby. And because she was a demon, it was impossible for her to know that the Supreme Lord, even though playing the part of a baby, was no one less than the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. His value as the Supreme Lord did not diminish upon His becoming a baby to please His devotee Yaśodā. The Lord may assume the form of a baby or a shape other than that of a human being, but it doesn’t make the slightest difference; He is always the same Supreme. A living creature, however powerful he may become by dint of severe penance, can never become equal to the Supreme Lord.
Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the motherhood of Pūtanā because she pretended to be an affectionate mother, allowing Kṛṣṇa to suck her breast. The Lord accepts the least qualification of the living entity and awards him the highest reward. That is the standard of His character. Therefore, who but the Lord can be the ultimate shelter?
CC Madhya 22.96: “‘My dear Lord, You are very affectionate to Your devotees. You are also a truthful and grateful friend. Where is that learned man who would give You up and surrender to someone else? You fulfill all the desires of Your devotees, so much so that sometimes You even give Yourself to them. Still, You neither increase nor decrease by such activity.’
(sB 10.48.26)
HIGHLY KNOWLEDGABLE, VERY PLEASING, SPIRITUALLY ENLIGHTENING
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
You are absolutely right, these three qualities, and many others, are amazing qualities of Sri Krishna and topics of His discussions.
Your insignificant servant,
Giriraj Das
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No matter how we can be defined and discussed about Him, should less than His quality, there is no end….. Hare Krishna ..Prabhuji