"It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father." Viṣṇu impregnates māyā, the material nature, simply by glancing at her. This is the spiritual method. Materially we are limited to impregnating by only one particular part of our body, but the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa or Mahā-Viṣṇu, can impregnate by any part. Simply by glancing, the Lord can conceive countless living entities in the womb of material nature. The Brahma-saṁhitā confirms that the spiritual body of the Supreme Lord is so powerful that any part of His body can perform the functions of any other part. We can touch only with our hands or skin, but Kṛṣṇa can touch just by glancing. We can see only with our eyes; we cannot touch or smell with them. Kṛṣṇa, however, can smell and also eat with His eyes. When food is offered to Kṛṣṇa, we do not see Him eating, but He eats simply by glancing at the food. We cannot imagine how things work in the spiritual world, where everything is spiritual. It is not that Kṛṣṇa does not eat or that we imagine that He eats; He actually eats, but His eating is different from ours. Our eating process will be similar to His when we are completely on the spiritual platform. On that platform every part of the body can act on behalf of any other part.
Count (CC)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
Countless universes reside like seeds within the skin pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu, and when He exhales, they are all manifested. In the material world we have no experience of such a thing, but we do experience a perverted reflection in the phenomenon of perspiration. We cannot imagine, however, the duration of one breath of Mahā-Viṣṇu, for within one breath all the universes are created and annihilated. This is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Lord Brahmā lives only for the duration of one breath, and according to our time scale 4,320,000,000 years constitute only twelve hours for Brahmā, and Brahmā lives one hundred of his years. Yet the whole life of Brahmā is contained within one breath of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Thus it is not possible for us to imagine the breathing power of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is but a partial manifestation of Lord Nityānanda. This the author of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta explains in the ninth verse.
CC Adi-lila
Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas perceive the ultimate objective in Vedic hymns composed of eighteen transcendental letters that adore Kṛṣṇa as Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopījana-vallabha. Madana-mohana is He who charms Cupid, the god of love, Govinda is He who pleases the senses and the cows, and Gopījana-vallabha is the transcendental lover of the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa Himself is called Madana-mohana, Govinda, Gopījana-vallabha and countless other names as He plays in His different pastimes with His devotees.
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes."
This verse appears in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.40). Each and every one of the countless universes is full of innumerable planets with different constitutions and atmospheres. All these come from the unlimited nondual Brahman, or Complete Whole, which exists in absolute knowledge. The origin of that unlimited Brahman effulgence is the transcendental body of Govinda, who is offered respectful obeisances as the original and supreme Personality of Godhead.
As the one sun appears reflected in countless jewels, so Govinda manifests Himself (as Paramātmā) in the hearts of all living beings.
The sun is situated in a specific location but is reflected in countless jewels and appears in innumerable localized aspects. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although eternally present in His transcendental abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, is reflected in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. In the Upaniṣads it is said that the jīva (living entity) and the Paramātmā (Supersoul) are like two birds sitting in the same tree. The Supersoul engages the living being in executing fruitive work as a result of his deeds in the past, but the Paramātmā has nothing to do with such engagements. As soon as the living being ceases to act in terms of fruitive work and takes to the service of the Lord (the Paramātmā), coming to know of His supremacy, he is immediately freed from all designations, and in that pure state he enters the kingdom of God, known as Vaikuṇṭha.
“O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Kindly hear my third reason. There are countless universes and fathomless transcendental Vaikuṇṭhas.
The Bhāgavatam describes the symptoms and deeds of the incarnations in general and counts Śrī Kṛṣṇa among them.
“In the same way, when Kṛṣṇa was first counted among the incarnations, specific knowledge about Him was still unknown.
The Supreme Whole is compared to the sun, which also exists in four features, namely the personality of the sun-god, the glare of his glowing sphere, the sun rays inside the sun planet, and the sun's reflections in many other objects. The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds. In an honest search for truth, we must admit that His powers are inconceivable to our tiny brains. The exploration of space has demanded the work of the greatest scientists of the world, yet there are countless problems regarding even fundamental knowledge of the material creation that bewilder scientists who confront them. Such material knowledge is far removed from the spiritual nature, and therefore the acts and arrangements of the Absolute Truth are, beyond all doubts, inconceivable.
“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.
The puruṣa enters each and every one of the countless universes. He manifests Himself in as many separate forms as there are universes.
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.
He then descends to maintain the material world. His unlimited opulences cannot be counted.
“The Sāṅkhya philosopher Kapila has connected the different elementary truths according to his own opinion. Material nature, according to him, consists of the equilibrium of the three material qualities—goodness, passion and ignorance. Material nature produces the material energy, known as mahat, and mahat produces the false ego. The ego produces the five objects of sense perception, which produce the ten senses (five for acquiring knowledge and five for working), the mind and the five gross elements. Counting the puruṣa, or the enjoyer, with these twenty-four elements, there are twenty-five different truths. The nonmanifested stage of these twenty-five elementary truths is called prakṛti, or material nature. The qualities of material nature can associate in three different stages, namely as the cause of happiness, the cause of distress and the cause of illusion. The quality of goodness is the cause of material happiness, the quality of passion is the cause of material distress, and the quality of ignorance is the cause of illusion. Our material experience lies within the boundaries of these three manifestations of happiness, distress and illusion. For example, a beautiful woman is certainly a cause of material happiness for one who possesses her as a wife, but the same beautiful woman is a cause of distress to a man whom she rejects or who is the cause of her anger, and if she leaves a man she becomes the cause of illusion.
The original bhakta-avatāra is Saṅkarṣaṇa. Śrī Advaita is counted among such incarnations.
From each branch grew many hundreds of subbranches. No one can count how many branches thus grew.
There is no counting the subbranches of these two branches. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu held congregational chanting daily at the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita.
He is stated to be the luster of the body of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, just as Śrīla Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī is an incarnation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī Herself. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is sometimes explained to be rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalita, or characterized by the emotions and bodily luster of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Gadādhara dāsa is this dyuti, or luster. In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (154) he is described to be an expansion of the potency of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He counts among the associates of both Śrīla Gaurahari and Nityānanda Prabhu; as a devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu he was one of the associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love, and as a devotee of Lord Nityānanda he is considered to have been one of the friends of Kṛṣṇa in pure devotional service. Even though he was an associate of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, he was not among the cowherd boys but was situated in the transcendental mellow of conjugal love. He established a temple of Śrī Gaurasundara in Katwa.
These branches and subbranches of devotees are innumerable and unlimited. Who could count them? For my personal purification I shall try to enumerate only the most prominent among them.
When Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to go to Bengal to preach, these two devotees (Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa) were ordered to go with Him. Thus they are sometimes counted among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and sometimes among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda. Similarly, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.
Jāhnavā-mātā is also within the list of Lord Nityānanda's followers. She is described in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (66) as Anaṅga-mañjarī of Vṛndāvana. All the devotees who are followers of Jāhnavā-mātā are counted within the list of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu's devotees.
No one can count the unlimited followers of Nityānanda Prabhu. I have mentioned some of them just for my self-purification.
The Sanskrit book Advaita-carita states that Balarāma, Svarūpa and Jagadīśa were the fourth, fifth and sixth sons of Advaita Ācārya. Therefore Śrī Advaita Ācārya had six sons. Balarāma, Svarūpa and Jagadīśa, being smārtas, or Māyāvādīs, were rejected by Vaiṣṇava society. Sometimes Māyāvādīs pose themselves as Vaiṣṇavas, or worshipers of Lord Viṣṇu, but actually they do not believe in Lord Viṣṇu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for they consider demigods like Lord Śiva, Durgā, the sun-god and Gaṇeśa equal to Him. They are generally known as pañcopāsaka-smārtas, and one should not count them among the Vaiṣṇavas.
In his Anubhāṣya Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda says that Bhāgavata Ācārya was formerly among the followers of Advaita Ācārya but was later counted among the followers of Gadādhara Paṇḍita. The sixth verse of Śākhā-nirṇayāmṛta, a book written by Yadunandana dāsa, states that Bhāgavata Ācārya compiled a famous book of the name Prema-taraṅgiṇī. According to the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (195), Bhāgavata Ācārya formerly lived in Vṛndāvana as Śveta-mañjarī. Viṣṇudāsa Ācārya was present during the Khetari-mahotsava. He went there with Acyutānanda, as stated in the Bhakti-ratnākara, Tenth Taraṅga. Ananta Ācārya was one of the eight principal gopīs. His former name was Sudevī. Although he was among Advaita Ācārya's followers, he later became an important devotee of Gadādhara Gosvāmī.
Lord Kṛṣṇa, Vrajendra-kumāra, first caused countless devotees to appear, and at last He appeared Himself.
CC Madhya-lila
We have already given the names of four books compiled by Sanātana Gosvāmī. Similarly, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has also compiled many books, which no one can even count.
Who can count the rest of the books (headed by the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta) written by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī? He has described the pastimes of Vṛndāvana in all of them.
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s nephew, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, has compiled so many books on devotional service that there is no counting them.
Thus countless presentations of gold, silver, garments, scented articles and eatables arrived. The store of Gopāla increased daily.
A līlā-avatāra is an incarnation of the Lord who performs a variety of activities without making any special endeavor. He always has one pastime after another, all full of transcendental pleasure, and these pastimes are fully controlled by the Supreme Person. The Supreme Person is totally independent of all others in these pastimes. While teaching Sanātana Gosvāmī (Cc. Madhya 20.296–298), Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu pointed out that one cannot count the number of līlā-avatāras:
- līlāvatāra kṛṣṇera nā yāya gaṇana
- pradhāna kariyā kahi dig-daraśana
"However," the Lord told Sanātana, "I shall explain the chief līlā-avatāras."
“Since Your two hands will always be engaged in chanting and counting the holy names, how will You be able to carry the waterpot and external garments?
From this verse it is clear that Caitanya Mahāprabhu was chanting the holy names a fixed number of times daily. The Gosvāmīs used to follow in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and Haridāsa Ṭhākura also followed this principle. Concerning the Gosvāmīs—Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrīla Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī—Śrīnivāsa Ācārya confirms, saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. (Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka 6) In addition to other duties, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced the system of chanting the holy name of the Lord a fixed number of times daily, as confirmed in this verse (tomāra dui hasta baddha nāma-gaṇane). Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to count on His fingers. While one hand was engaged in chanting, the other hand kept the number of rounds.
There is a gradual order of improvement in transcendental mellows from the initial ones to the later ones. In each subsequent mellow the qualities of the previous mellows are manifested, counting from two, then three, and up to the point of five complete qualities.
"Even Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself cannot reach the limit of the transcendental qualities of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. How, then, can an insignificant living entity count them?"
Due to the influence of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, many millions of men came just to see Him. Indeed, the assembly being unlimited, its members could not be counted.
From the spiritual point of view, a sannyāsī is strictly forbidden to see materialistic people, especially a king who is always engaged in counting pounds, shillings and pence. Indeed, the meeting between a sannyāsī and a king is always considered abominable. A sannyāsī is always subjected to public criticism, and a small fault on his part is taken seriously by the public. People actually expect a sannyāsī to preach and not take part in any social or political matters. If a sannyāsī is subject to public criticism, his preaching will not be fruitful. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu specifically wanted to avoid such criticism so that His preaching work would not be hampered. It so happened that while the Lord was talking to His disciples at that time, the devotee Dāmodara Paṇḍita was present.
This states that if one's mother was naked in her childhood, she should continue to remain naked, even though she has become the mother of so many children. If a person is actually blessed by the mercy of the Lord, he can immediately become a topmost devotee of the Lord. The logic of nagna-mātṛkā states that if a person is not elevated on such and such a date, he cannot become an exalted devotee overnight, as it were. This particular instance offers evidence to contradict that theory. On the previous day, the boy was simply an ordinary prince, and the next day he was counted as one of the topmost devotees of the Lord. This was all made possible by the causeless mercy of the Lord. The Lord is omnipotent—all-powerful or almighty—and He can act as He likes.
Narahari and Śrī Raghunandana, who were from the village of Khaṇḍa, and many other devotees also departed. Who can count them?
People came by the hundreds of thousands, and no one could count them. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came out of the house to give audience to the people.
Although Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is counted among the Purāṇas, it is called the spotless Purāṇa. Because it does not discuss anything material, it is liked by transcendental Vaiṣṇava devotees. The subject matter found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is meant for paramahaṁsas. As it is said, paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vedyam (SB 1.1.2). A paramahaṁsa is one who does not live in the material world and who does not envy others. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, devotional service is discussed to arouse the living entity to the transcendental position of jñāna (knowledge) and vairāgya (renunciation). As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.12):
- tac chraddadhānāḥ munayo jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā
- paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā
"The seriously inquisitive student or sage, well equipped with knowledge and detachment, realizes that Absolute Truth by rendering devotional service in terms of what he has heard from the Vedānta-śruti."
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes."
The procedure for counting begins with the lower right hand and goes to the upper right hand, the upper left hand, and the lower left hand. Lord Viṣṇu is named according to the order of the weapons He holds in His hands.
These twenty-five Personalities of Godhead are known as līlā-avatāras. Because they appear in each day of Brahmā, or in each kalpa (millennium), they are sometimes known as kalpa-avatāras. Of these incarnations, Haṁsa and Mohinī are neither permanent nor very well known, but They are listed among the prābhava-avatāras. Kapila, Dattātreya, Ṛṣabha, Dhanvantari and Vyāsa are eternally situated and very widely known. They are also counted among the prābhava incarnations. Kūrma, Matsya, Nārāyaṇa, Varāha, Hayagrīva, Pṛśnigarbha and Baladeva, the killer of Pralambāsura, are counted among the vaibhava-avatāras.
The guṇa-avatāras are three—Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu (SB 10.88.3). The avatāras associated with the reign of each Manu, known as manvantara-avatāras, are listed as follows in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Eighth Canto, chapters 1, 5 and 13): (1) Yajña, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyasena, (4) Hari, (5) Vaikuṇṭha, (6) Ajita, (7) Vāmana, (8) Sārvabhauma, (9) Ṛṣabha, (10) Viṣvaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) Sudhāmā, (13) Yogeśvara and (14) Bṛhadbhānu. All together these are fourteen in number, and of these, Yajña and Vāmana are also counted among the līlā-avatāras. All these manvantara incarnations are sometimes called vaibhava-avatāras.
There are innumerable incarnations of Kṛṣṇa, and there is no possibility of counting them. We can simply indicate them by giving the example of the moon and the branches of a tree.
Combining all the different elements, the Supreme Lord created all the universes. Those universes are unlimited in number; there is no possibility of counting them.
The third expansion of Viṣṇu is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is the incarnation of the quality of goodness. He is to be counted within both types of incarnations (puruṣa-avatāras and guṇa-avatāras).
No one can count the innumerable pastime incarnations of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but I shall describe the principal ones.
O Sanātana, now just hear about the incarnations associated with the reign of each Manu (manvantara-avatāras). They are unlimited, and no one can count them. Just hear of their source.
As stated before when I described the incarnations of the material modes (guṇa-avatāras), one should consider that these incarnations also are unlimited and that no one can count them.
Lord Śeṣa in the spiritual world of Vaikuṇṭha and, in the material world, Lord Ananta, who carries innumerable planets on His hoods, are two primary empowered incarnations. There is no need to count the others, for they are unlimited.
The consecutive pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are being manifested in one of the innumerable universes moment after moment. There is no possibility of counting the universes, but in any case some pastime of the Lord is being manifested at every moment in one universe or another.
“In this way Kṛṣṇa's transcendental forms are expanded unlimitedly. No one can count them. Whatever I have explained is simply a little glimpse. It is like showing the moon through the branches of a tree.”
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “All the transcendental forms of the Lord are situated in the spiritual sky. They preside over spiritual planets in that abode, but there is no counting those Vaikuṇṭha planets.
"In time, great scientists may be able to count all the atoms of the universe, all the stars and planets in the sky, and all the particles of snow, but who among them can count the unlimited transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? He descends on the surface of the globe for the benefit of all living entities."
According to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇa had unlimited calves and cowherd boys with Him. No one could count their actual number.
Each of the cowherd boys was tending calves to the extent of a koṭi, arbuda, śaṅkha and padma. That is the way of counting.
Actually it is very difficult to ascertain the number of universes. Every universe has its separate Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, who are known as permanent governors. Therefore there is also no counting them.
These Brahmās had different numbers of heads. Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten thousand, some a hundred thousand, some ten million and others a hundred million. No one can count the number of faces they had.
“Expansions of His personal self—like the quadruple manifestations of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vāsudeva—descend as incarnations from Vaikuṇṭha to this material world. The separated expansions are the living entities. Although they are expansions of Kṛṣṇa, they are counted among His different potencies.
The personal expansions are known as viṣṇu-tattva, and the separated expansions are known as jīva-tattva. Although the jīvas (living entities) are part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are still counted among His multipotencies. This is fully described by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5):
- apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām
- jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
"Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature."
"Even if a learned man is able to count all the minute atoms in this material world, he still cannot count the potencies of Lord Viṣṇu. In the form of the Vāmana incarnation, Lord Viṣṇu, without hindrance, captured all the planets, extending from the root of the material world up to Satyaloka. Indeed, He caused every planetary system to tremble by the force of His steps."
The word "ātmā" also refers to the living entity who knows about his body. That is another symptom. From Lord Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, everyone is counted as the marginal potency of the Lord.
Hundreds of thousands of people came to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There was no counting the number. Because the Lord's residence was very small, not everyone could see Him.
CC Antya-lila
"O beautiful-faced one, who is this creative person standing before us? With the sharp chisels of His loving glances, He is splitting the hard stones of many women"s devotion to their husbands. And with the luster of His body, surpassing the brilliance of countless emeralds, He is simultaneously constructing private meeting places for His pastimes.’
The transcendental qualities of Haridāsa Ṭhākura are innumerable and unfathomable. One may describe a portion of them, but to count them all is impossible.
Referring to the words lakṣa-grantha ("100,000 verses"), Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the total number of verses written by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is 100,000 (eka-lakṣa or lakṣa-grantha). The copyists count both the verses and the prose sections of the Sanskrit works. One should not mistakenly think that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī compiled 100,000 books. He actually wrote sixteen books, as mentioned in the First Wave of the Bhakti-ratnākara (śrī-rūpa-gosvāmī grantha ṣoḍaśa karila).
Similarly, Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura and many other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform with Nityānanda Prabhu. No one could count them all.
All the other people sat in groups around the platform. No one could count how many people there were.
The devotees from Bengal, whom I am unable to count, all sat down in lines in the courtyard.
"He counted the chants on the fingers of both hands, and after he had finished chanting one thousand times, he would make a mark on his body."
| Page Title: | Count (CC) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur |
| Created: | 26 of Sep, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=71, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 71 |