In Brahma-saṁhitā the transcendental land of Vṛndāvana is described as being always spiritual. That spiritual land is populated by goddesses of fortune, who are known as gopīs. These are all beloved of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the only lover of all those gopīs. The trees of that land are kalpa-vṛkṣa, wish fulfilling trees, and one can have anything he wants from them. The land is made of touchstone and the water of nectar. In that land all speech is song, and all walking is dancing, and one's constant companion is the flute. Everything is self-luminous, just like the sun in this material world. The human form of life is meant for understanding this transcendental land of Vṛndāvana, and one who is fortunate should cultivate knowledge of Vṛndāvana and its residents.
Luminous like the sun
Expressions researched:
"illuminate just like the sun"
|"illuminate the night, like the sun at day"
|"illuminate the world, like the sun"
|"illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun"
|"inhabitants of the sun globe, they are all very glowing, luminous"
|"like the sun and the sunshine. Sunshine is combination of minute luminous"
|"like the sun, eternally luminous"
|"like the sun, for You illuminate"
|"luminous like the sun"
|"luminous planets like the sun"
|"original luminous is sun"
|"self-luminous like the sun"
|"self-luminous, just like the sun"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 7 - 12
One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
The Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the source of light in all luminous objects like the sun, moon and stars. In the Vedic literature we find that in the spiritual kingdom there is no need of sun or moon, because the effulgence of the Supreme Lord is there. In the material world that brahmajyoti, the Lord's spiritual effulgence, is covered by the mahat-tattva, the material elements; therefore in this material world we require the assistance of sun, moon, electricity, etc., for light. But in the spiritual world there is no need of such things. It is clearly stated in the Vedic literature that because of His luminous effulgence, everything is illuminated. It is clear, therefore, that His situation is not in the material world. He is situated in the spiritual world, which is far, far away in the spiritual sky. That is also confirmed in the Vedic literature. Āditya—varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8). He is just like the sun, eternally luminous, but He is far, far beyond the darkness of this material world.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
8: He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha (Arjuna), is sure to reach Me.
9: One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.
SB Canto 2
His eyes are the generating centers of all kinds of forms, and they glitter and illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun and the heavenly planets. His ears hear from all sides and are receptacles for all the Vedas, and His sense of hearing is the generating center of the sky and of all kinds of sound.
SB Canto 3
My dear Lord, You are just like the sun, for You illuminate the darkness of the conditional life of the living entities. Because their eyes of knowledge are not open, they are sleeping eternally in that darkness without Your shelter, and therefore they are falsely engaged by the actions and reactions of their material activities, and they appear to be very fatigued.
When uncontaminated pure knowledge is uncovered from the modes of material nature, the actual identity of the living entity is discovered: he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The process of uncovering is like this: the rays of sunshine are luminous, and the sun itself is also luminous. In the presence of the sun, the rays illuminate just like the sun, but when the sunshine is covered by the spell of a cloud, or by māyā, then darkness, the imperfection of perception, begins. Therefore, to get out of the entanglement of the spell of nescience, one has to awaken his spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in terms of the authorized scriptures.
SB Canto 4
Dhruva Mahārāja, although a young child, expressed his hope that he might be offered the benediction of a kingdom which would exceed in opulence those of his father and grandfather. He also expressed his gladness that he had met such an exalted person as Nārada, whose only concern was to illuminate the world, like the sun, which rotates all over the universe only for the purpose of benefiting the inhabitants of all planets. Nārada Muni travels all over the universe for the sole purpose of performing the best welfare activity for the entire universe by teaching everyone how to become a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus Dhruva Mahārāja felt fully assured that Nārada Muni could fulfill his desire, even though the desire was very extraordinary.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
To establish that Brahman indeed has transcendental form, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives various quotations from the śāstras. In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.8), the Supreme is described as āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt, "He whose self-manifest form is luminous like the sun and transcendental to the darkness of ignorance." Ānanda-mātram ajaraṁ purāṇam ekaṁ santaṁ bahudhā dṛśyamānam: "The Supreme is blissful, with no tinge of unhappiness. Although He is the oldest, He never ages, and although one, He is experienced in different forms." Sarve nityāḥ śāśvatāś ca dehās tasya parātmanaḥ: "All the forms of that Supreme Person are eternal." (Mahā-varāha Purāṇa) The Supreme Person has a form, with hands and legs and other personal features, but His hands and legs are not material. Bhaktas know that the form of Kṛṣṇa, or Brahman, is not at all material.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
The trees in Vṛndāvana are wish-fulfilling trees. The land is made of touchstone, and the water is nectar. Words are musical vibrations, and all movements are dancing. The flute is the Lord's constant companion. The planet Goloka Vṛndāvana is self-luminous like the sun and is full of spiritual bliss. The perfection of life lies in tasting that spiritual existence; therefore everyone should cultivate its knowledge. In Vṛndāvana, spiritual cows are always supplying spiritual milk. Not a single moment is wasted there—in other words, there is no past, present or future. Not a single particle of time is wasted. Within this material universe, the devotees worship that transcendental abode as Goloka Vṛndāvana. Lord Brahmā himself said, "Let me worship that spiritual land where Kṛṣṇa is present."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
The luminous planets like the sun, moon or stars reflect themselves in different types of reservoirs, like water, oil or ghee. The reflection moves according to the movement of the reservoir. The reflection of the moon is on the water, and the moving water makes the moon also appear to be moving, but actually the moon is not moving. Similarly, by mental concoction the living entity attains different kinds of bodies, although actually he has no connection with such bodies. But on account of illusion, being enchanted by the influence of māyā, the living entity thinks that he belongs to a particular type of body. That is the way of conditioned life.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Nobody can become God, that is not possible. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-nitya kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). The real identity of living entity is eternal servant of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa dāsa. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly explained, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūta (BG 15.7). In the Bhagavad-gītā or any Vedic literature, there is no such mention that the jīva is as good as the Supreme Lord. It is never stated. Aṁśa, minute particles. Just like the sun and the sunshine. Sunshine is combination of minute luminous molecular parts. There are finer atomic parts, lumination, combined together, that is called sunshine. That minute particle, shining minute particle is never equal to the sun. Similarly, jīva is minute particle of the supreme sun, Kṛṣṇa.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
The diamond is made by the interaction of sunshine. All these valuable stones, they are products of sunshine. So as the diamond has got power of shining power, it is derived from the sun, or diamond, the moon also, it derives power from the sun, similarly, Brahmā, although he is very powerful, he is known as creator of this universe, but he is just like diamond. He inherits power from the Supreme Lord, so he becomes powerful. Bhāsvān yathāśma-sakaleṣu nijeṣu tejaḥ. That is simply a bit of power. Just like a diamond, diamond also illuminating, but it is not original luminous. Original luminous is sun, and the illumination expanded by diamond is not so valuable as the sunshine. Similarly, Brahmā, although we see him so powerful, he has little power derived from the Supreme Lord.
General Lectures
Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) "My dear Arjuna, the Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, in every one living being's heart." You just imagine how many living entities are there. They cannot be counted. Jīva-bhago sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantaya kalpate. But there are many million, trillions. Even million, trillions is insufficient. There is no counting. There are so many living entities, and they are all part and parcel of God. Just like the sunshine and sun globe and the sun-god. The sun-god is within the sun globe, and the inhabitants of the sun globe, they are all very glowing, luminous. On account of their bodily glowing, the whole sun planet is glowing. On account of the sun planet glowing, the sunshine, which is reaching us from 93,000,000's of miles—we feel the heat and the light. This is an ordinary material thing. So just imagine what is the potential of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Correspondence
1974 Correspondence
The proccess for remembering Krishna is very easily done by chanting Hare Krishna Maha mantra. How one should think of Krishna, that is given in the next verse: "One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, Who is the oldest, Who is the controller, Who is smaller than the smallest, Maintainer of everything, and Who is beyond all material conception, Who is inconceivable, Who is always a person and luminous like the sun, and Being transcendental, beyond this material nature." So Krishna is not something impersonal or void. So you should read my books and try to understand the nature of Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then it will be easy for you to think of Him.
1976 Correspondence
Regarding the scientists, we have entrusted our own three scientists namely Svarupa Damodara, Sadaputa, and Madhva and we leave the matter to them, we do not say anything ourselves, but are leaving it to them. But there are many common men who do not believe that they have gone to the moon planet. So as common men we can simply say, how can dust and rocks reflect so much of light as to illuminate the night, like the sun at day. It is simply bogus to say that the moon is full of dust and rocks. Such a beautiful soothing planet is full of dust and rock with no living beings there is simply unbelievable. You are a learned scholar, do you think it is believable that dust and rocks can illuminate the whole universe at night. It is so soothing and beautiful.
| Page Title: | Luminous like the sun |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Matea |
| Created: | 25 of Aug, 2009 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=6, CC=1, OB=2, Lec=3, Con=0, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 16 |