SB 4.30.43 – Krishna’s Transcendental Qualities

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Thirty, “The Activities of the Pracetās,” 

TEXT 43

maitreya uvāca
iti pracetobhir abhiṣṭuto hariḥ
prītas tathety āha śaraṇya-vatsalaḥ
anicchatāṁ yānam atṛpta-cakṣuṣāṁ
yayau sva-dhāmānapavarga-vīryaḥ

TRANSLATION

The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the protector of surrendered souls, being thus addressed by the Pracetās and worshiped by them, replied, “May whatever you have prayed for be fulfilled.” After saying this, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose prowess is never defeated, left. The Pracetās were unwilling to be separated from Him because they had not seen Him to their full satisfaction.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The word anapavarga-vīrya is significant in this verse. The word ana means “without,” pavarga means “the materialistic way of life,” and vīrya means “prowess.” The prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead always contains six basic opulences, one of which is renunciation. Although the Pracetās desired to see the Lord to their full satisfaction, the Lord left.

COMMENT

So, the great sage Parashara Muni has analysed the word Bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence and vān means one who possesses. So, Bhagavān means one who possesses all opulences. There are six opulences-wealth, knowledge, beauty, strength, fame, and renunciation. Let us take wealth for example. Everyone wants wealth. Even when persons approach a saintly person, they ask for blessings to become wealthy, to become more wealthy. Now suppose a man has one big bungalow; he is considered wealthy, and if a man has two big bungalows, he is considered very wealthy. If a man has three big bungalows, he is considered extremely wealthy. But when Krishna was present on earth, He constructed sixteen thousand one hundred and eight marble palaces. Each palace was constructed of beautiful pure white marbles and was decorated with gold and valuable jewels. The furniture was made of carved ivory and covered with beautiful soft silk, and the fragrance from the incense that came out through the windows made the peacocks intoxicated. Peacocks would dance in jubilation and sometime they also faint.

No one in the history of the world had 16,000 such wonderful palaces. Therefore, Krishna in Bhagavān. You may know someone who is very wealthy, but if you look further, you’ll find one who has more wealth than him. And if you look still further, you’ll find someone who has more wealth than him. When you come to that person who has all wealth, no one has as much wealth as him or more wealth than him; that is Bhagavān, and that is Krishna. Same with strength. If someone is strong, he can lift up this table, and if someone is very strong, we will find someone who is strong enough to lift up this seat. If we look further, we’ll find someone stronger than him. We might even find someone who could lift up a Srila Prabhupada’s vyāsāsana. But when Krishna was five years old, he lifted the whole mountain. It wasn’t such a big mountain, but still, nobody in history has been able to lift a mountain with one finger, and he kept the mountain over his head for one week. So, nobody is equal to Krishna in strength or greater than Krishna in strength. This is Bhagavān.

If someone has knowledge, we will be attracted, and if we look further, we will find someone who has even more knowledge. If we look still further, we’ll find someone who has still more knowledge. But when we come to that person who has all knowledge, that is Bhagavān. And in Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says that He knows every living entity, He knows all things—past, present, and future. But, no one knows Krishna. So, Krishna has all knowledge. The knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Lord Krishna five thousand years ago, and still, Bhagavad-gītā is studied by scholars all over the world and still, they cannot understand the Bhagavad-gītā in full. So, Krishna has all wealth, all strength, all knowledge, all beauty, all fame, and He is also full in renunciation.

So here we see the renunciation of the Lord, that although the Pracetas loved the Lord so much, and he also loved them, but still, he left them. We find the same opulence in Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna was enjoying the rasa dance with the damsels of Vrindavan, and the gopīs were the most beautiful women in the whole creation. They are more beautiful than Lakshmi. So, Krishna was dancing in the midst of so many beautiful gopīs, yet he left them. There is one verse in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which describes Lord Krishna, Lord Ramachandra, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the verse mentions the renunciation of all three. Lord Ramachandra enjoyed so much happiness and so much opulence in Ayodhya, but he left everything to go to the forest. Similarly, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu enjoyed so much happiness in Navadvipa. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had a most affectionate mother, most beautiful wife and he was extremely popular and influential among the residents of Navadvipa, but he left everything to take sannyasa for the benefit of the world so that people would accept Krishna consciousness.

So, another opulence is renunciation. If someone is renounced, he is also attractive. Therefore, Krishna is Bhagavān; He is full in all opulences, and He is also Krishna, He is all-attractive. Although the Pracetas desired to see the Lord to their full satisfaction, the Lord left.

PURPORT (continued)

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, this is an exhibition of His kindness to innumerable other devotees. Although He was being attracted by the Pracetās, He left. This is an example of His renunciation. This renunciation was also exhibited by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He stayed with Advaita Prabhu after taking sannyāsa. All the devotees there wanted Him to stay a few days longer, but Lord Caitanya left without hesitation. The conclusion is that although the Supreme Lord has unlimited kindness for His devotees, He is not attached to anyone. He is equally kind to His innumerable devotees all over the creation.

COMMENT

So, Lord is bhakta-vatsala, he is very affectionate to his devotees and he always wants to satisfy his devotees. He devotees everywhere. So, if he stays in one place to satisfy his devotees, some other devotees in some other place will be missing his association. So, sometimes the Lord has to leave one place to satisfy the devotees in another place. But the Lord, although He is full of affection for His devotees, He is not attached to anyone and therefore He can leave the devotees in one place to satisfy the devotees in another place because the Lord is equal to all of His devotees and He want to satisfy them all.

The devotee also has the same qualities as the Lord but in smaller quantity. So, Srila Prabhupada also demonstrated the same quality of renunciation. He was living very happily in Vrindavan and feeling transcendental bliss but still left Vrindavan to show favor to the living entities throughout the world. Then again, after preaching in the United States, he returned to India. He had very beautiful quarters in Los Angeles. He never asked for them, but when the devotees acquired a big property, naturally they gave the quarters to him. At some stage, Srila Prabhupada decided to leave. And he had no idea when he would return or even if he would return. He told the devotees there that you may think that I am attached to my beautiful quarters, to my collection of books, and so many things, but I am not attached, he left and he was ready never to come back.

So, by coming, the Lord gives mercy, and by leaving also, Lord gives mercy. The Lord is merciful in every way. When Krishna left the gopīs, they were crying so much. But Lord left them for some purpose. Sometimes the Lord leaves the devotee to increase the desire of the devotee for the Lord and at the same time to fulfill the desires of the devotees in other places. Lord is absolute. Whatever Lord does is good for everyone. Therefore, we should surrender unto him and offer our prayers unto him. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:35:40]

Giriraj Swami: Well, you are telling about, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. Okay, we will discuss it tomorrow. Now there will be ārati. Say everybody,

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!