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Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

Generally, in the Upaniṣads the Supreme Absolute Truth is described in an impersonal way, but the personal aspect of the Absolute Truth is mentioned in the Īśopaniṣad, where we find the following verse:

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṁ mukham

tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu satya-dharmāya dṛṣṭaye

"O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee." (Śrī Īśopaniṣad 15) The impersonalists do not have the power to go beyond the effulgence of God and arrive at the Personality of Godhead, from whom this effulgence is emanating. The Īśopaniṣad is a hymn to that Personality of Godhead. It is not that the impersonal Brahman is denied; it is also described, but that Brahman is revealed to be the glaring effulgence of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself. In other words, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the basis of the impersonal Brahman.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 5:

Lord Caitanya then asked Sanātana Gosvāmī to listen attentively as He described the different features of Kṛṣṇa. First the Lord informed him that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, is the Absolute Supreme Truth—the cause of all causes and the origin of all emanations and incarnations. Yet in Vraja, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is just like a young boy. His form is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge absolute. He is both the shelter of everything and the proprietor as well.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 5:

"Those who are knowers of the Absolute Truth describe the Absolute Truth in three features: the impersonal Brahman, the localized, all-pervading Supersoul, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa." In other words, Brahman, the impersonal manifestation, Paramātmā, the localized manifestation, and Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are one and the same. But according to the process adopted, He is realized as Brahman, Paramātmāor Bhagavān.

By realizing the impersonal Brahman, one simply realizes the effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of Kṛṣṇa. This effulgence is compared to the sunshine. There is the sun-god, the sun itself, and the sunshine, which is the effulgence of that original sun-god. Similarly, the spiritual effulgence (brahmajyoti), the impersonal Brahman, is nothing but the personal effulgence of Kṛṣṇa.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

These innumerable universes are produced from the pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu's body. As innumerable atoms pass through the tiny holes in a screen, innumerable universes similarly emanate from the pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu's body. As He breathes out, innumerable universes are produced, and as He inhales, they are annihilated. All of the energies of Mahā-Viṣṇu are spiritual: they have nothing to do with the material energy. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.48) it is stated that the predominating deity of each universe, Brahmā, lives only during one breath of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Thus Mahā-Viṣṇu is the original Supersoul of all the universes and the master of all universes as well.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 9:

All the cowherd boys were wearing different clothes and ornaments, and no one could count their vast numbers. Then Brahmā saw each of the cowherd boys become a four-handed Nārāyaṇa, and he also saw innumerable Brahmās from different universes offering obeisances to the Lord. He saw that all these personalities were emanating from the body of Kṛṣṇa and, after a second, entering into His body. Lord Brahmā became struck with wonder by this extraordinary feat of Kṛṣṇa's, and in a prayer he stated that although anyone and everyone could say they knew all about Kṛṣṇa, as far as he was concerned, he did not know anything about Him. "My dear Lord," he said, "the potencies and opulences You have exhibited just now are beyond the ability of my mind to understand."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 10:

Those waves and that whirlwind make the hearts of the gopīs flutter like dry leaves on trees, and when those leaves fall down at Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, they can never rise up again. There is no beauty to compare with that of Kṛṣṇa, who is the origin of Nārāyaṇa and all other incarnations, for no one possesses beauty equal to or greater than Kṛṣṇa's. Otherwise, why would the goddess of fortune, the constant companion of Nārāyaṇa, give up His association and engage herself in penance to gain the association of Kṛṣṇa? Such is the superexcellent beauty of Kṛṣṇa, the everlasting mine of all beauty. It is from that beauty that all other beautiful things emanate.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 15:

God is so kind and merciful that He gives Himself in exchange for the devotional service of the devotee. His transcendental qualities are such that His perfect beauty, His perfect reciprocation of love between Himself and His devotees, and the fragrance of His transcendental qualities attract different kinds of transcendentalists and liberated souls. For example, Kṛṣṇa attracted the mind of Sanaka and the other Kumāras simply by the aroma emanating from the flowers offered to Him, and He attracted the mind of Śukadeva Gosvāmī by His transcendental pastimes. The minds of the damsels of Vṛndāvana were attracted by His personal beauty, Rukmiṇī’s attention was attracted by His bodily features and transcendental qualities, and the mind of the goddess of fortune was attracted by His flute-playing and other transcendental features. In this way Lord Kṛṣṇa attracts the minds of all young girls. He also attracts the minds of elderly ladies by His childlike activities, and the minds of His friends by His friendly activities. When He appeared in Vṛndāvana, He even attracted the birds, beasts, trees and plants. Indeed, everyone became attracted in love and affection for Kṛṣṇa.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 16:

Still another meaning of ātmā is "intelligence." One who has special intelligence is also called ātmārāma. The ātmārāmas with special intelligence are of two kinds. One is the learned sage, and the other is the fool without book knowledge. Both of these can have an opportunity to associate with a pure devotee. Even the foolish ātmārāmas can give up everything and engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in pure devotional service. In Bhagavad-gītā (10.8) it is said that the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything—that everything emanates from Him—and that anyone who is actually intelligent understands this and engages in His service. A verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.7.46) states: "To say nothing of persons who are intelligent enough to study the Vedas, even less intelligent persons like women, laborers, Hūṇas and Śabaras, as well as the birds and beasts, can achieve the highest perfectional stage of life by engaging in the devotional service of the Lord." As previously quoted, Bhagavad-gītā (10.10) also indicates that when a person becomes highly intelligent and engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates by giving him the intelligence by which he can be promoted to the abode of the Supreme Lord.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 18:

The next day Lord Caitanya went to the house of the brāhmaṇa and saw that all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs were sitting there. He offered His respects to all the sannyāsīs, as was customary, and then went to wash His feet. After washing, He sat down at that spot, a little distance from the other sannyāsīs. While He was sitting there, the sannyāsīs saw a glaring effulgence emanating from His body. Attracted by this glaring effulgence, all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs stood up and showed Him their respects. Among them was a sannyāsī named Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. He was the chief among the impersonalist sannyāsīs, and he addressed Lord Caitanya with great humility, asking Him to come and sit among them.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 18:

"I am the source of everything, and everything emanates from Me. One who perfectly knows this fully engages in My transcendental loving service."

A living entity is eternally related with Kṛṣṇa in the relationship of servant and master. Once that service is wanting—or, in other words, when one is not situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness—it is to be understood that his study of the Vedānta is insufficient. When one does not understand Kṛṣṇa or does not engage in His transcendental loving service, it is to be understood that he is averse to studying the Vedānta and understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The path of Vedānta study shown by Lord Caitanya should be followed by all.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to a blazing fire, and the innumerable living entities are compared to sparks emanating from that fire. Although both the Supreme Lord and the living entities are qualitatively fire, there is yet a distinction. Viṣṇu, the Supreme, is infinite, whereas the living entities, which are but sparks, are infinitesimal. The infinitesimal living entities are emanations from the original infinite spirit. In their constitutional position as infinitesimal spirits, there is no trace of matter.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Although Śaṅkara attempted to cover the Supreme Lord by his Māyāvāda philosophy, he was simply following the order of the Supreme Lord. It should be understood that his teachings were a timely necessity but not a permanent fact. In the Vedānta-sūtra the distinction between the energy and the energetic is accepted from the very beginning. The second aphorism of the Vedānta-sūtra—janmādy asya yataḥ—-clearly states that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the source of all emanations. Thus the emanations are the energy of the Supreme, whereas the Supreme Himself is the energetic. Śaṅkara has falsely argued that if the transformation of energy is accepted, the Supreme Absolute Truth cannot remain immutable. But this is not true. Despite the fact that unlimited energy is always being generated, the Supreme Absolute Truth remains always the same. He is not affected by the emanation of unlimited energies. Śaṅkarācārya has therefore incorrectly established his theory of illusion.

Rāmānujācārya has discussed this point very nicely: "One may argue, "Since there was only one Absolute Truth before the creation of this material world, how is it possible that the living entities emanated from Him? If He were alone, how could He have produced or generated the infinitesimal living entities?" In answer to this question, the Vedas state that everything is generated from the Absolute Truth, everything is maintained by the Absolute Truth, and, after annihilation, everything enters into the Absolute Truth. This statement from the Upaniṣads makes it clear that when the living entities are liberated they enter into the supreme existence without changing their original constitutional position."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 22:

The Lord existed before the material creation; therefore the material ingredients, nature and the living entities all emanated from Him, and after dissolution they rest in Him. When the creation is manifest, it is maintained by Him; indeed, whatever manifestation we see is but a transformation of His external energy. When the Supreme Lord withdraws His external energy, everything enters into Him. In the first of the four verses, the word aham is given three times to stress that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full with all opulences. Aham is stated three times just to chastise one who cannot understand or believe in the transcendental nature and form of the Supreme Lord.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

He is the original Personality of Godhead, and this was confirmed by Arjuna, who cited great sages like Nārada, Vyāsa and many others. Also, in the Padma Purāṇa it is stated that of the innumerable names of the Lord, the name Kṛṣṇa is the principal one. Therefore, although the name Vāsudeva indicates the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead, and although all the different forms of the Lord are identical with Vāsudeva, in this text Vāsudeva principally indicates the divine son of Vasudeva and Devakī. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is always meditated upon by the paramahaṁsas, those who are most perfect in the renounced order of life. Vāsudeva, or Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the cause of all causes, and everything that exists is an emanation from Him. How this is so is explained in later chapters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction itself, but it is he only who knows every nook and corner of the construction because everything is carried out under his direction only. In other words, he knows everything about the construction, directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme engineer of this cosmic creation, knows very well what is happening in every nook and corner of the cosmic creation, although activities appear to be performed by someone else. In actuality, from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation; the hand of the Supreme Lord is everywhere. All material elements, as well as all spiritual sparks, are but emanations from Him only. Whatever is created in this material world is a result of the interaction of these two energies, material and spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Vāsudeva).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

In the śruti-mantra it is stated that the absolute whole, or Brahman, is the ultimate source of everything. Everything emanates from Him, everything is maintained by Him, and at the end everything enters into Him again. That is the law of nature. This is confirmed in the smṛti-mantra. There it is said that at the beginning of Brahmā’s millennium the source from which everything emanates is the Absolute Truth, or Brahman, and that at the end of that millennium the reservoir into which everything enters is that same Absolute Truth.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23:

In other words, from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we can know the substance as well as the relativities in their true sense and perspective. The substance is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the relativities are the different forms of energy which emanate from Him. Since the living entities are also His energies, there is nothing really different from the substance. At the same time, the energies are different from the substance. This conception is not self-contradictory. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explicitly deals with this simultaneously-one-and-different philosophy—a philosophy also found in the Vedānta-sūtra, which begins with the janmādy asya sūtra.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24:

Lord Caitanya then said that all the Vedic statements of the Upaniṣads aim at the ultimate truth, known as Brahman. The word Brahman means "the greatest," and "the greatest" should immediately be understood to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all emanations. Unless the greatest possesses six opulences in full, he cannot be called the greatest. The greatest is therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, the Supreme Brahman is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is accepted by Arjuna as the Supreme Brahman. The conceptions of the impersonal Brahman and the localized Supersoul are contained within the understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24:

In other words, His material personality is denied and His spiritual personality is established. In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.19) this is clearly explained: "The Absolute Truth has no material legs and hands, but He has spiritual hands by which He accepts everything offered to Him. He has no material eyes, but He has spiritual eyes by which He can see everything and anything. He has no material ears, but He can hear everything and anything with His spiritual ears. Having perfect senses, He knows past, future and present. Indeed, He knows everything, but no one can understand Him, for by material senses He cannot be understood. Being the origin of all emanations, He is the supreme, the greatest, the Personality of Godhead."

There are many similar Vedic hymns which definitely establish that the Supreme Absolute Truth is a person who is not of this material world. The Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra explains that although in each and every Upaniṣad the Supreme Brahman is first viewed as impersonal, at the end the personal form of the Supreme Lord is accepted.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 24:

In this verse it is clearly stated that the eternal, blissful, cognizant form of the Supreme Lord is to be found within the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti, which emanates from the body of the Supreme Lord. Thus the personal body of the Lord is the source of the brahmajyoti, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27). That the impersonal Brahman is dependent on the Supreme Personality is also stated in the Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra. In every other Vedic scripture, such as the Upaniṣads, whenever there is talk of the impersonal Brahman in the beginning, the Supreme Personality is finally established at the end. The Īśopaniṣad mantra we cited above indicates that the Supreme Absolute Truth is both impersonal and personal eternally, but that His personal aspect is more important than the impersonal one.

According to a mantra in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad—yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante—this cosmic manifestation is an emanation from the Supreme Absolute Truth and it rests in the Supreme Absolute Truth.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25:

From the very beginning of the Vedānta-sūtra it is accepted that the cosmic manifestation is a display of the Supreme Lord's energies. The aphorism janmādy asya yataḥ (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.2) describes the Supreme Brahman as He from whom everything emanates, He by whom everything is maintained, and He into whom everything is dissolved. Thus the Absolute Truth is the cause of creation, maintenance and dissolution. The cause of a fruit is the tree, but when a tree produces a fruit one cannot say that the tree is impersonal or that it vanishes. The tree may produce hundreds and thousands of fruits, but it remains as it is. The fruit is produced, and then it develops, stays for some time, dwindles and finally vanishes. This does not mean that the tree also vanishes. Thus from the very beginning the Vedānta-sūtra explains the doctrine of by-products. The activities of production, maintenance and dissolution are carried out by the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Lord. Thus the cosmic manifestation is a transformation of the energy of the Supreme Lord, although the energy of the Supreme Lord and the Supreme Lord Himself are nondifferent and inseparable. A touchstone may produce great quantities of gold in contact with iron, but still the touchstone remains as it is. Similarly the Supreme Lord, despite His producing the huge material cosmic manifestation, always remains in His transcendental form.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25:

Praṇava, or oṁkāra, is the chief sound vibration found in the Vedic hymns, and it is considered to be the sound form of the Supreme Lord. From oṁkāra all Vedic hymns have emanated, and the world itself has also emanated from this oṁkāra sound. The vibration tat tvam asi, also found in the Vedic hymns, is not the chief vibration but is an explanation of the constitutional position of the living entity. Tat tvam asi means that the living entity is a spiritual particle of the supreme spirit, but this is not the chief motif of the Vedānta-sūtra or the Vedic literature. The chief sound representation of the Supreme is oṁkāra.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 27:

"A human being can attain the highest perfectional stage of life by worshiping the Supreme Lord, from whom everything has emanated, through his occupational duties." This perfectional process was followed by great devotees like Bodhāyana, Ṭaṅka, Dramiḍa, Guhadeva, Kapardi and Bhāruci. All these great personalities followed this particular path of perfection. The Vedic injunctions also aim in this direction. Rāmānanda Rāya wanted to present these facts before the Lord, but apparently mere discharge of ritualistic duties is not perfection. Therefore Lord Caitanya said that it was external, indicating that if a man has a material conception of life he cannot attain the highest perfection, even if he follows all the ritualistic regulations.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 21:

The effulgence pervading the universe is considered to be the rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The supreme abode of Kṛṣṇa is always throwing off the effulgence known as brahma-jyotir, and that effulgence is emanating from His body.

The luster of the hosts of jewels fixed on the chest of the Lord can defeat even the luster of the sun, and still, when compared with the bodily luster of the Lord, that crest of jewels appears to be only as bright as one of the stars in the sky. Therefore the transcendental influence of Kṛṣṇa is so great that it can defeat anyone. When Kṛṣṇa was present in the sacrificial arena of His enemy King Kaṁsa, the wrestlers present, although appreciating the softness of the body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, were afraid and perturbed when they thought of engaging with Him in battle.

Nectar of Devotion 22:

Jayadeva Gosvāmī, in his Gīta-govinda, has sung as follows: "The Lord has saved the Vedas in His form as a fish, and He has borne the whole universe on His back in the form of a tortoise. He has picked up this earthly planet from the water in the form of a boar. He has killed Hiraṇyakaśipu in the form of Nṛsiṁha. He has cheated Mahārāja Bali in the form of Vāmana. He has annihilated all the dynasties of the kṣatriyas in the form of Paraśurāma. He has killed all the demons in the form of Lord Rāma. He has accepted the great plow in the form of Balarāma. He has annihilated all the atheistic persons in the form of Kalki. And He has saved all the poor animals in the form of Lord Buddha."* These are some of the descriptions of the incarnations emanating from Kṛṣṇa, and from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is understood that innumerable incarnations are always coming out from the body of Kṛṣṇa, just like waves in the ocean. No one can even count how many waves there are, and similarly no one can count how many incarnations are coming from the Lord's body.

Nectar of Devotion 33:

When Kṛṣṇa was insulted by Śiśupāla in the assembly of the Rājasūya yajña convened by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, there was a great turmoil among the Pāṇḍavas and Kurus, involving grandfather Bhīṣma. At that time Nakula said with great anger, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the nails of His toes are beautified by the light emanating from the jeweled helmets of the authorities of the Vedas. If He is derided by anyone, I declare herewith as a Pāṇḍava that I will kick his helmet with my left foot and I will strike him with my arrows, which are as good as yama-daṇḍa, the scepter of Yamarāja!" This is an instance of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa in anger.

Nectar of Devotion 38:

The great devotee Uddhava once wrote a letter to Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I have just finished the study of all kinds of philosophical books and Vedic verses about the goal of life, and so now I have a little reputation for my studies. But still, in spite of my reputation, my knowledge is condemned, because although enjoying the effulgence of Vedic knowledge, I could not appreciate the effulgence emanating from the nails of Your toes. Therefore, the sooner my pride and Vedic knowledge are finished, the better it will be!" This is an example of indifference.

Another devotee very anxiously expressed himself thus: "My mind is very flickering, so I cannot concentrate it upon Your lotus feet. And seeing this inefficiency in myself I become ashamed, and the whole night I am unable to sleep because I am exasperated by my great inability."

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

There are two worlds—the material and anti-material. The material world is composed of inferior qualitative energy divided into eight material principles. The anti-material world is made of superior qualitative energy. Because both the material and anti-material energies are emanations of the Supreme Transcendence, the Personality of Godhead, it is proper to conclude that I (Lord Kṛṣṇa) am the ultimate cause of all creations and annihilations.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Annihilation of the material world takes place in two ways. Partial annihilation occurs at the end of every 4,300,000 x 1,000 solar years, or at the end of each day of Brahmaloka, which is the topmost planet in the material world. During that time of partial annihilation, the topmost planets such as Brahmaloka are not annihilated, but at the end of each duration of 4,300,000 x 1,000 x 2 x 30 x 12 x 100 solar years, the entire cosmic manifestation is merged into the anti-material body from whence the material principles emanate, manifest and merge after annihilation. The anti-material world, which is far removed from the material sky, is never annihilated.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

The presiding Deity of the anti-material world is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who exists in His original personality as well as in His many plenary expansions. This personality and His plenary expansions can be known only by anti-material activities commonly known as bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. The Personality of Godhead is the supreme truth, and He is the whole anti-material principle. The material principle as well as the anti-material principle is an emanation from His person. He is the root of the complete tree. When water is poured onto the root of a tree, the branches and leaves are nourished automatically. And in the same way, when Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is worshiped, all details of the material worlds are enlightened, and the heart of the devotee is nourished without his having to work in a materialistic way. This is the secret of the Bhagavad-gītā.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

According to this quote from the Brahma-saṁhitā, there are not only infinite numbers of planets, as confirmed by the Russian astronomer, but there are also infinite numbers of universes. All these infinite universes with their infinite planets within are floating on and are produced from the Brahman effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is worshiped by Brahmā, the presiding deity of the universe in which we are residing.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

This law is applicable to every material object. Matter transforms from one shape to another when it is in contact with spirit. Without spirit there is no transformation. The entire universe develops in that way. It emanates from the energy of the Transcendence because of the spiritual force which is His, and it develops into gigantic forms like the sun, moon, earth, etc. There are fourteen divisions of planetary systems, and although they are all different in dimension and quality, the same principle of development holds true for all. The spiritual force is the creator, and by this spiritual principle only, transformation, transition and development take place.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

There is reference to the word sanātanam in the tenth verse of the Seventh Chapter, in which the Lord says that He is the eternal fountainhead of everything and is therefore sanātanam. The fountainhead of everything is described in the Upaniṣads as the complete whole. All emanations of the fountainhead are also complete in themselves, but although many complete units emanate from the complete sanātana fountainhead, the sanātana head does not diminish in quality or quantity.* That is because the nature of sanātana is unchangeable. Anything that changes under the influence of time and circumstances is not sanātana. Therefore anything that changes whatsoever in form or quality cannot be accepted as sanātana. To give a material example, the sun has been disseminating its rays for hundreds and millions of years, and yet although it is a materially created object, its form and rays are still unchanged. Therefore, that which is never created cannot change in formation and quality, even though He is the seedling source of everything.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

According to the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Supreme Truth is realized in three stages. First there is impersonal Brahman, or the impersonal Absolute; then the Paramātmā, or localized aspect of Brahman. The neutron of the atom may be taken as the representation of Paramātmā, who also enters into the atom. This is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā. But ultimately the Supreme Divine Being is realized as the supreme all-attractive person (Kṛṣṇa) with full and inconceivable potencies of opulence, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. These six potencies are fully exhibited by Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa when They descend before human beings. Only a section of human beings—the unalloyed devotees—can recognize Kṛṣṇa on the authority of revealed scriptures, but others are bewildered by the influence of material energy. The Absolute Truth is therefore the Absolute Person who has no equal or competitor. The impersonal Brahman rays are the rays of His transcendental body, just as the sun's rays are emanations from the sun.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book Introduction:

For affairs of the material creation, Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa, is in charge. Thus, when the Lord descends, the incarnation emanates from Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu is the original cause of the material creation, and from Him Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu expands, and then Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Generally, all the incarnations appearing within this material universe are plenary expansions from Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Therefore, the business of minimizing the overload of sinful activities on this earth does not belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. But when Kṛṣṇa appears, all the Viṣṇu expansions join with Him. Kṛṣṇa's different expansions—namely Nārāyaṇa, the quadruple expansion of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, as well as partial plenary expansions like Matsya, the incarnation of a fish, and the yuga-avatāras (incarnations for the millennium) and the manvantara-avatāras (incarnations associated with the reigns of the Manus)—all combine together and appear with the body of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the complete whole, and thus all plenary expansions and incarnations always live with Him.

Krsna Book 2:

But before the creation, Kṛṣṇa was existing, and when there is creation, everything is resting in Kṛṣṇa, and when this creation is finished, Kṛṣṇa will remain. Therefore, He is the Absolute Truth in all circumstances. If there is any truth within this material world, it emanates from the Supreme Truth, Kṛṣṇa. If there is any opulence within this material world, the cause of the opulence is Kṛṣṇa. If there is any reputation within this material world, the cause of the reputation is Kṛṣṇa. If there is any strength within this material world, the cause of such strength is Kṛṣṇa. If there is any wisdom and education within this material world, the cause of such wisdom and education is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the source of all relative truths.

This material world is composed of five principal elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether—and all such elements are emanations from Kṛṣṇa. The material scientists accept these five primary elements as the cause of the material manifestation, but the elements in their gross and subtle states are produced by Kṛṣṇa. The living entities who are working within this material world are products of His marginal potency. In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, it is clearly stated that the whole manifestation is a combination of two kinds of energies of Kṛṣṇa, the superior energy and the inferior energy. The living entities are the superior energy, and the dead material elements are His inferior energy. In its dormant stage, everything remains in Kṛṣṇa.

Krsna Book 3:

"One has to understand Your appearance with great intelligence because the material energy is also emanating from You. You are the original source of the material energy, just as the sun is the source of the sunshine. The sunshine cannot cover the sun globe, nor can the material energy—being an emanation from You—cover You. You appear to be in the three modes of material energy, but actually the three modes of material energy cannot cover You. This is understood by the highly intellectual philosophers. In other words, although You appear to be within the material energy, You are never covered by it."

We hear from the Vedic version that the Supreme Brahman exhibits His effulgence and therefore everything becomes illuminated. We can understand from the Brahma-saṁhitā that the brahma-jyotir, or the Brahman effulgence, emanates from the body of the Supreme Lord. And from the Brahman effulgence, all creation takes place. It is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord is the support of the Brahman effulgence. Therefore, originally He is the root cause of everything. But persons who are less intelligent think that when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes within this material world He accepts the material qualities. Such conclusions are not very mature but are made by the less intelligent.

Krsna Book 3:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly and indirectly existing everywhere; He is outside this material creation, and He is also within it. He is within this material creation not only as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; He is also within the atom. The existence of the atom is due to His presence. Nothing can be separated from His existence. In the Vedic injunctions we find that the Supreme Soul, or the root cause of everything, has to be searched out because nothing exists independently of the Supreme Soul. Therefore the material manifestation is also a transformation of His potency. Both inert matter and the living force—the soul—are emanations from Him. Only the foolish conclude that when the Supreme Lord appears He accepts the conditions of matter. Even if He appears to have accepted a material body, He is still not subjected to any material condition. Kṛṣṇa has therefore appeared and defeated all imperfect conclusions about the appearance and disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Krsna Book 3:

After this prayer of Vasudeva, Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, offered her prayers. She was very frightened because of her brother's atrocities. Devakī said, “My dear Lord, Your eternal forms, like Nārāyaṇa, Lord Rāma, Hayaśīrṣa, Varāha, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, Baladeva and millions of similar incarnations emanating from Viṣṇu, are described in the Vedic literature as original. You are original because all Your forms as incarnations are outside of this material creation. Your form was existing before this cosmic manifestation was created. Your forms are eternal and all-pervading. They are self-effulgent, changeless and uncontaminated by the material qualities. Such eternal forms are evercognizant and full of bliss; they are situated in transcendental goodness and are always engaged in different pastimes. You are not limited to a particular form only; all such transcendental, eternal forms are self-sufficient. I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu.

Krsna Book 6:

Nanda Mahārāja recalled the prophecy of Vasudeva and considered him a great sage and mystic yogī; otherwise, how could he have foretold an incident that happened during his absence from Vṛndāvana? After this, all the residents of Vraja cut the gigantic body of Pūtanā into pieces and piled it up with wood for burning. When all the limbs of Pūtanā’s body were burning, the smoke emanating from the fire created a good aroma of aguru. This aroma was due to her being killed by Kṛṣṇa. This means that the demon Pūtanā was washed of all her sinful activities and attained a celestial body. Here is an example of how the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-good: Pūtanā came to kill Kṛṣṇa, but because He sucked her milk, she was immediately purified, and her dead body attained a transcendental quality. Her only business was to kill small children; she was only fond of blood. But in spite of being envious of Kṛṣṇa, she attained salvation because she gave her milk to Him to drink. So what can be said of those who are affectionate to Kṛṣṇa in the relationship of mother, who with great love and affection always serve Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul of every living entity?

Krsna Book 14:

Brahmā said, “My dear Lord, You are the only worshipable Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead; therefore I am offering my humble obeisances and prayers just to please You. Your bodily features are the color of clouds filled with water. You are glittering with a silver electric aura emanating from Your yellow garments.

“Let me offer my respectful repeated obeisances unto the son of Mahārāja Nanda, who is standing before me with conchshell earrings and a peacock feather on His head. His face is beautiful; He is wearing a helmet and is garlanded by forest flowers, and He stands with a morsel of food in His hand. He is decorated with a cane, a buffalo-horn bugle and a flute. He stands before me with small lotus feet.

Krsna Book 14:

As described in the beginning of the Vedānta-sūtra, the Supreme Person is the origin of all qualities. He is generally called nirguṇa. Nirguṇa means "whose qualities are beyond estimation." Guṇa means "quality," and nir means "beyond estimation." But impersonalists interpret this word nirguṇa as "having no quality." Because they are unable to estimate the qualities of the Lord in transcendental realization, they conclude that the Supreme Lord has no qualities. But that is actually not the position. The real position is that He is the original source of all qualities. All qualities are emanating constantly from Him. How, therefore, can a limited person count the qualities of the Lord? One may estimate the qualities of the Lord at one moment, but the next moment the qualities have increased; so it is not possible to make an estimation of the transcendental qualities of the Lord. He is therefore called nirguṇa.

Krsna Book 14:

Lord Brahmā stressed herein that without accepting the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot explain things as they are. He continued: “My dear Lord, leaving aside all other things and just considering today's happenings—what I have seen—are they not all due to Your inconceivable energies? First of all I saw You alone; thereafter You expanded Yourself as Your cowherd boyfriends, the calves and the whole existence of Vṛndāvana; then I saw You and all the boys and calves as four-handed Viṣṇus, and They were being worshiped by all elements and all demigods, including myself. Again They were all wound up, and You remained alone, as You were before. Does this not mean that You are the Supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa, the origin of everything, that everything emanates from You and again enters into You, leaving You the same as before?

Krsna Book 16:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī narrated the story as follows. Within the river Yamunā there was a great lake, and in that lake the black serpent Kāliya used to live. Because of his poison, the whole area was so contaminated that it emanated a poisonous vapor twenty-four hours a day. If a bird happened to even pass over the spot, it would immediately die and fall down into the water. Due to the poisonous effect of the Yamunā’s vapors, the trees and grass near the bank of the Yamunā had all dried up. Lord Kṛṣṇa saw the effect of the great serpent's poison: the whole river that ran before Vṛndāvana was now deadly.

Krsna Book 16:

While throwing up poisonous material from within, Kāliya became reduced in his sinful situation. Out of great anger, he began to struggle for existence and tried to raise one of his hoods to kill the Lord. The Lord immediately captured that hood and subdued it by kicking it and dancing on it. It actually appeared as if the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu was being worshiped; the poisons emanating from the mouth of the serpent appeared to be like flower offerings. Kāliya then began to vomit blood instead of poison; he was completely fatigued. His whole body appeared to be broken by the kicks of the Lord. Within his mind, however, he finally began to understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he surrendered unto Him. He realized that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, the master of everything.

Krsna Book 21:

When the gopīs were describing the sweet vibration of Kṛṣṇa's flute, they also remembered their pastimes with Him; thus their minds became disturbed, and they were unable to describe completely the beautiful vibration. While discussing the transcendental vibration, they remembered also how Kṛṣṇa dressed, decorated with a peacock feather on His head, just like a dancing actor, and with blue flowers pushed over His ear. His garment glowed yellow-gold, and He was garlanded with a Vaijayantī necklace. Dressed in such an attractive way, Kṛṣṇa filled up the holes of His flute with the nectar emanating from His lips. So they remembered Him, entering the forest of Vṛndāvana, which is always glorified by the footprints of Kṛṣṇa and His companions.

Krsna Book 29:

Therefore, if even at Your request we return home, what shall we do there? We have lost all our ability to act without You. Instead of engaging our hearts in family affairs as women, we have now developed a different type of lust which is continually blazing in our hearts. Now we request You, dear Kṛṣṇa, to extinguish that fire with Your beautiful smile and the transcendental vibration emanating from Your lips. If You do not agree to do us this favor, we shall certainly be burned in the fire of separation. In that condition, we shall simply think of You and Your beautiful features and give up our bodies immediately. In that way we think it will be possible for us to reside at Your lotus feet in the next life. Dear Kṛṣṇa, if You say that if we go home our respective husbands will satisfy the lusty flame of our desire, we can only say that that is no longer possible. You have given us a chance to be enjoyed by You in the forest and have touched our breasts once in the past, which we accepted as a blessing, as do the goddesses of fortune, who are enjoyed in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas by You. Since we have tasted this transcendental enjoyment, we are no longer interested in going to anyone but You for the satisfaction of our lust. Dear Kṛṣṇa, the lotus feet of the goddess of fortune are always worshiped by the demigods. Although she is always resting on Your chest in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, she underwent great austerity and penance to have some shelter at Your lotus feet, which are always covered by tulasī leaves.

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When some of the gopīs became very tired from dancing and moving their bodies, they placed their hands on the shoulders of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Then their hair loosened and flowers fell to the ground. When they placed their hands on Kṛṣṇa's shoulder they became overwhelmed by the fragrance of His body, which emanated from the lotus, other aromatic flowers and the pulp of sandalwood. They became filled with attraction for Him, and they began to kiss Him. Some gopīs touched Kṛṣṇa cheek to cheek, and Kṛṣṇa began to offer them chewed betel nuts from His mouth, which they accepted with great pleasure by kissing. And by accepting those betel nuts, the gopīs spiritually advanced.

Krsna Book 34:

At that time Kṛṣṇa appeared on the scene and touched the serpent with His lotus feet. Immediately upon being touched by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the serpent shed its reptilian body and appeared as a very beautiful demigod named Vidyādhara. His bodily features were so beautiful that he appeared to be worshipable. There was a luster and effulgence emanating from his body, and he was garlanded with a gold necklace. He offered obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa and stood before Him with great humility. Kṛṣṇa then asked the demigod, "You appear to be a very nice demigod and to be favored by the goddess of fortune. How is it that you performed such abominable activities that you got the body of a serpent?" The demigod then began to narrate the story of his previous life.

Krsna Book 40:

It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that worship of demigods is also indirectly worship of the Supreme Lord. But such worship is not orthodox, because the worshipable Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa. Demigods such as Brahmā and Śiva are incarnations of the material qualities, which are also emanations from the body of Nārāyaṇa. Actually, there was no one existing before the creation except Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The worship of a demigod is not on the same level as worship of Nārāyaṇa.

Krsna Book 41:

I am Your surrendered servant. Please do not try to avoid me. Please, come along with me, with Your elder brother and cowherd boyfriends, and sanctify my house. My dear Lord, if You come, my home will be sanctified by the dust of Your lotus feet. The water emanating from the perspiration of Your lotus feet, namely the Ganges, purifies everyone, including the forefathers, the fire-god and all other demigods. Bali Mahārāja has become famous simply by washing Your lotus feet, and he enjoyed all material opulences and later on was elevated to the highest position of liberation. The Ganges water not only sanctifies the three worlds but is carried on the head of Lord Śiva. The ancestors of Bhagīratha, sanctified by this water, achieved the heavenly planets. O Supreme Lord of lords! O master of the universe! One can achieve piety simply by hearing about Your transcendental pastimes. O Supreme Nārāyaṇa, who are praised with select verses, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”

Krsna Book 46:

Uddhava continued: "Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are the original Personalities of Godhead, from whom the cosmic manifestation emanates. They are chief among all personalities. Each of Them is both the material and the efficient cause of this material creation. Material nature is conducted by the puruṣa incarnations, who all act under Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. By Their partial representation They enter the hearts of all living entities. They are the source of all knowledge and all forgetfulness also." This is confirmed by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter: “I am present in everyone's heart, and I cause one to remember and forget. I am the original compiler of the Vedānta, and I am the actual knower of the Vedas.” Uddhava continued: "If at the time of death a person can fix his pure mind upon Kṛṣṇa even for a moment, after giving up his material body he becomes eligible to appear in his original, spiritual body, just as the sun rises with all illumination. Passing from his life in this way, he immediately enters into the spiritual kingdom, Vaikuṇṭha."

Krsna Book 48:

"My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, it is very kind of You to have killed Kaṁsa and his associates. You have delivered the whole family of the Yadu dynasty from the greatest calamity. The Yadus will always remember Your saving of their great dynasty. My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, both of You are the original personality from whom everything has emanated, the original cause of all causes. You have inconceivable energy, and You are all-pervasive. There is no cause and effect, gross or subtle, but You. You are the Supreme Brahman realized through the study of the Vedas. By Your inconceivable energy, You are actually visible before us. You create this cosmic manifestation by Your own potencies, and You enter into it Yourself. As the five material elements—earth, water, fire, air and sky—are distributed in everything manifested by different kinds of bodies, so You alone enter the various bodies created by Your own energy. You enter the body as the individual soul and, independently, as the Supersoul." It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the material body is created by Kṛṣṇa's inferior energy, that the living entities—the individual souls—are His parts and parcels, and that the Supersoul is His localized representation. Thus while the material body, the living entity and the Supersoul constitute an individual living being, originally they are all different energies of the one Supreme Lord.

Krsna Book 51:

Kālayavana was eager to fight with Kṛṣṇa, and when he could not see Kṛṣṇa but instead saw only a man lying down, he thought that Kṛṣṇa was sleeping within the cave. Kālayavana was very much puffed up and proud of his strength, and he thought Kṛṣṇa was avoiding the fight. Therefore, he strongly kicked the sleeping man, thinking him to be Kṛṣṇa. The sleeping man had been lying down for a very long time. When awakened by the kicking of Kālayavana, he immediately opened his eyes and began to look around in all directions. At last he saw Kālayavana standing nearby. The man had been untimely awakened and was therefore very angry, and when he looked upon Kālayavana in his angry mood, rays of fire emanated from his eyes, and Kālayavana burned to ashes within a moment.

Krsna Book 52:

She also explained to Kṛṣṇa why she was anxious to marry Him, even though her marriage was to take place with Śiśupāla, who was also qualified, being the son of a great king. Rukmiṇī said that she did not think anyone was greater than Kṛṣṇa, not even Lord Śiva, who is known as Mahādeva, the greatest of all demigods. Lord Śiva also seeks the pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa in order to be delivered from his entanglement in the quality of ignorance within the material world. Although Lord Śiva is the greatest of all great souls, mahātmās, he keeps on his head the purifying water of the Ganges, which emanates from a hole in this material universe made by the toe of Lord Viṣṇu. Lord Śiva is in charge of the material quality of ignorance, and to keep himself in a transcendental position he always meditates on Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, and always tries to purify himself with the water of the Ganges.

Krsna Book 60:

Rukmiṇī was very eager to get the opportunity to serve her husband, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She therefore wanted to serve the Lord personally and took the handle of the cāmara from the hand of a maidservant and began to move the fan. The handle of the cāmara was made of gold and bedecked with valuable jewels, and it became more beautiful when taken by Rukmiṇī because all of her fingers were beautifully set with jeweled rings. Her legs were decorated with jeweled ankle bells, which rang very softly between the pleats of her sari. Rukmiṇī’s raised breasts were smeared with kuṅkuma and saffron; thus her beauty was enhanced by the reflection of the reddish color emanating from her covered breasts. Her high hips were decorated with a jeweled lace girdle, and a locket of great effulgence hung on her neck. Above all, because she was engaged in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa—although at that time she was old enough to have grown-up sons—her beautiful body was beyond compare in the three worlds. When we take account of her beautiful face, it appears that the curling hair on her head, the beautiful earrings on her ears, her smiling mouth and her necklace of gold all combined to shower rains of nectar, and thus it was definitely proved that Rukmiṇī was none other than the original goddess of fortune, who is always engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa.

Krsna Book 60:

“My dear Lord, You have stated that a marriage between persons equal in social standing, beauty, riches, strength, influence and renunciation can be a suitable match. But this status of life can be possible only by Your grace. You are the supreme perfectional source of all opulences. Whatever opulent status one may have is all derived from You. As described in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)—You are the supreme source from which everything emanates, the reservoir of all pleasures. Therefore, persons endowed with knowledge desire only to achieve You, and nothing else. To achieve Your favor, they give up everything—even the transcendental realization of Brahman. You are the supreme, ultimate goal of life. You are the reservoir of all interests of the living entities. Those who are actually well motivated desire only You, and for this reason they give up everything to attain success. They therefore deserve to associate with You. In the society of the servitors and served in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one is not subjected to the pains and pleasures of material society, which functions according to sex attraction. Therefore everyone, whether man or woman, should seek to be an associate in Your society of servitors and served. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead; no one can excel You, nor can anyone come up to an equal level with You. The perfect social system is that in which You remain in the center, being served as the Supreme, and all others engage as Your servitors. In such a perfectly constructed society, everyone can remain eternally happy and blissful.

Krsna Book 63:

Lord Śiva may be a powerful demigod because of his specific power to annihilate the whole creation, and, similarly, Lord Brahmā may be very powerful because he can create the entire universe, but actually neither Brahmā nor Lord Śiva is the original cause of this cosmic manifestation. You are the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Brahman, and You are the original cause. The original cause of the cosmic manifestation is not the impersonal Brahman effulgence. That impersonal Brahman effulgence rests on Your personality.” As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, the cause of the impersonal Brahman is Lord Kṛṣṇa. This Brahman effulgence is likened to the sunshine, which emanates from the sun globe. Therefore, impersonal Brahman is not the ultimate cause. The ultimate cause of everything is the supreme eternal form of Kṛṣṇa. All material actions and reactions take place in the impersonal Brahman, but in the personal Brahman, the eternal form of Kṛṣṇa, there is no action and reaction.

Krsna Book 66:

When Sudakṣiṇa was encouraged by Lord Śiva in that way, he was sure that he would be able to kill Kṛṣṇa. With a determined vow of austerity, he began to execute the black art of chanting mantras, assisted by the priests. After this, out of the fire came a great demoniac form, whose hair, beard and mustache were exactly the color of hot copper. This form was very big and fierce. As the demon arose from the fire, cinders of fire emanated from the sockets of his eyes. The giant fiery demon appeared still more fierce due to the movements of his eyebrows. He exhibited long, sharp teeth and, sticking out his long tongue, licked his upper and lower lips. He was naked, and he carried a big trident, blazing like fire. After appearing from the fire of sacrifice, he stood wielding the trident in his hand. Instigated by Sudakṣiṇa, the demon proceeded toward the capital city, Dvārakā, with many hundreds of ghostly companions, and it appeared that he was going to burn all outer space to ashes. The surface of the earth trembled because of his striking steps. When he entered the city of Dvārakā, all the residents panicked, just like animals in a forest fire.

Krsna Book 68:

You have thought it wise that the royal insignias like the whisk, fan, white umbrella, royal throne and other princely paraphernalia not be used by the Yadu dynasty. Does this mean that even Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the whole creation and the husband of the goddess of fortune, cannot use this royal paraphernalia? The dust of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet is worshiped by all the great demigods. The Ganges water inundates the whole world, and since it emanates from His lotus feet, its banks have turned into great places of pilgrimage. The principal deities of all planets engage in His service and consider themselves most fortunate to take the dust of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa on their helmets. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and even the goddess of fortune and I are simply plenary parts of His spiritual identity, and still you think that He is not fit to use the royal insignia or even sit on the royal throne? Alas, how regrettable it is that these fools consider us, the members of the Yadu dynasty, to be like shoes and themselves like helmets. It is clear now that these leaders of the Kuru dynasty have become mad over their worldly possessions and opulence. Every statement they made was full of crazy proposals. I should immediately take them to task and bring them to their senses. If I do not take steps against them, it will be improper on My part. Therefore, on this very day I shall rid the whole world of any trace of the Kuru dynasty. I shall finish them off immediately!”

Krsna Book 69:

Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, worshiped even by Nārada, yet as soon as Kṛṣṇa saw Nārada enter the palace, He got down immediately from Rukmiṇī’s bedstead and stood up to honor him. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the teacher of the whole world, and in order to instruct everyone how to respect a saintly person like Nārada Muni, He bowed down, touching His helmet to the ground. Not only did Kṛṣṇa bow down, but He also touched the feet of Nārada and with folded hands requested him to sit on His chair. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, worshiped by all devotees. He is the most worshipable spiritual master of everyone. The Ganges water, which emanates from His feet, sanctifies the three worlds. All qualified brāhmaṇas worship Him, and therefore He is called brahmaṇya-deva.

Krsna Book 70:

For example, only when there is the light of the sun, the moon or electricity are we able to see. Our seeing, therefore, is relative, and the light of the sun and moon and electricity is also relative; they are called illuminating only because we see them as such. But dependence and relativity do not exist in Kṛṣṇa. His activities are not dependent on anyone else's appreciation, nor does He depend on anyone else's help. He is beyond the existence of limited time and space, and because He is transcendental to time and space He cannot be covered by the illusion of māyā, whose activities are limited. In the Vedic literature we find that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has multipotencies. Since all such potencies are emanations from Him, there is no difference between Him and His potencies. Certain philosophers say, however, that when Kṛṣṇa comes He accepts a material body. But even if it is accepted that when He comes to the material world He accepts a material body, it should be concluded also that because the material energy is not different from Him, this body does not act materially. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, therefore, that He appears by His own internal potency, ātma-māyā.

Krsna Book 70:

These are the waves of material existence, and as long as one remained in that Sudharmā assembly house he would not be affected by these six material waves. The Lord would say good-bye in all the sixteen thousand palaces, and again He would become one and enter the Sudharmā assembly house in procession with other members of the Yadu dynasty. After entering the assembly house, He used to sit on the exalted royal throne and would be seen to emanate glaring rays of transcendental effulgence. In the midst of all the great heroes of the Yadu dynasty, Kṛṣṇa resembled the full moon in the sky surrounded by multiluminaries. In the assembly house were professional jokers, dancers, musicians and ballet girls, and as soon as the Lord sat on His throne they would begin their respective functions to please the Lord and put Him in a happy mood. First of all the jokers would talk in such a way that the Lord and His associates would enjoy their humor, which would refresh the morning mood.

Krsna Book 74:

Whether one follows the path of fruitive activities or the path of philosophical speculation, the ultimate destination is Kṛṣṇa; all bona fide methods of self-realization are meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa. Ladies and gentlemen, it is superfluous to speak about Kṛṣṇa, because every one of you exalted personalities knows the Supreme Brahman, Lord Kṛṣṇa, for whom there are no material differences between body and soul, between energy and the energetic, or between one part of the body and another. Since everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, there is no qualitative difference between Kṛṣṇa and all living entities. Everything is an emanation of Kṛṣṇa's energies, material and spiritual. Kṛṣṇa's energies are like the heat and light of fire; there is no difference between the qualities of heat and light and the fire itself.

Krsna Book 82:

The gopīs therefore prayed to Kṛṣṇa, "Dear Kṛṣṇa, from Your navel emanated the original lotus flower, which is the birthsite of Brahmā, the creator. No one can estimate Your glories or Your opulence, which therefore remain always a mystery even to the highest thoughtful men, the masters of all yogic power. However, the conditioned soul fallen in the dark well of this material existence can very easily take shelter of Your lotus feet. Thus his deliverance is guaranteed."

Krsna Book 85:

“The original energy is only an emanation from You. My dear Lord, the shining of the moon, the heat of fire, the rays of the sun, the glittering of the stars, and the electric lightning, which are all manifested as very powerful, as well as the gravity of the mountains and the energy and fragrance of the earth—all are different manifestations of You. The pure taste of water, the water itself and the vital force which maintains all life are also features of Your Lordship.

Krsna Book 85:

“My Lord Balarāma, You are the original Anantadeva. You are so great that Anantadeva Śeṣa and other transcendental forms have originally emanated from You. And You, Lord Kṛṣṇa, are the original Personality of Godhead, with an eternal form that is all-blissful and full of complete knowledge. You are the creator of the whole world. You are the original initiator and propounder of the systems of jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga. You are the Supreme Brahman, the original Personality of Godhead. I therefore with all respect offer my obeisances unto both of You. My dear Lords, it is very difficult for the living entities to get to see You, yet when You are merciful upon Your devotees You are easy for them to see. As such, only out of Your causeless mercy have You agreed to come here and be visible to us, who are generally influenced by the qualities of ignorance and passion.

Krsna Book 87:

King Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about a very important topic in understanding transcendental subject matter. His question was, "Since Vedic knowledge generally deals with the subject matter of the three qualities of the material world, how then can it approach the subject matter of transcendence, which is beyond the approach of the three material modes? Since the mind is material and the vibration of words is a material sound, how can the Vedic knowledge, expressing by material sound the thoughts of the material mind, approach transcendence? Description of a subject matter necessitates describing its source of emanation, its qualities and its activities. Such description can be possible only by thinking with the material mind and by vibrating material words. Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, has no material qualities, but our power of speaking does not go beyond the material qualities. How then can Brahman, the Absolute Truth, be described by your words? I do not see how it is possible to understand transcendence from such expressions of material sound."

Krsna Book 87:

The worship of the demigods recommended in the Vedas is ordered with the understanding of the demigods' relationship to the Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has many parts and parcels; some are called svāṁśas, or His personal expansions, and some are called vibhinnāṁśas, the living entities. All such expansions, both svāṁśas and vibhinnāṁśas, are emanations from the original Personality of Godhead. Svāṁśa expansions are called viṣṇu-tattva, whereas the vibhinnāṁśa expansions are called jīva-tattva. The different demigods are jīva-tattva.

Krsna Book 87:

In the Vedānta-sūtra, the first sūtra, or code, questions about the Absolute Truth. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: What is the nature of the Absolute Truth? The next sūtra answers that the nature of the Absolute Truth is that He is the origin of everything. Whatever we experience, even in this material condition of life, is but an emanation from Him. The Absolute Truth created the mind, senses and intelligence. This means that the Absolute Truth is not without mind, intelligence and senses. In other words, He is not impersonal. The very word created means that He has transcendental intelligence. For example, when a father begets a child, the child has senses because the father also has senses. The child is born with hands and legs because the father also has hands and legs. Sometimes it is said that man is made after the image of God. The Absolute Truth is therefore the Supreme Personality, with transcendental mind, senses and intelligence. When one's mind, intelligence and senses are purified of material contamination, one can understand the original feature of the Absolute Truth as a person.

Krsna Book 87:

Employing this analogy of Brahman with earth, the impersonalists especially stress the Vedic statement sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is Brahman." The impersonalists do not take into account the varieties of manifestation emanating from the supreme cause, Brahman. They simply consider that everything emanates from Brahman and after destruction merges into Brahman and that the intermediate stage of manifestation is also Brahman. But although the Māyāvādīs believe that prior to its manifestation the cosmos was in Brahman, after creation it remains in Brahman, and after destruction it merges into Brahman, they do not know what Brahman is. The Brahma-saṁhitā, however, clearly describes Brahman: "The living entities, space, time and the material elements like fire, earth, sky, water and mind constitute the total cosmic manifestation, known as Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ, which is manifested by Govinda. It flourishes on the strength of Govinda and after annihilation enters into and is conserved in Govinda." Lord Brahma therefore says, "I worship Lord Govinda, the original personality, the cause of all causes."

Krsna Book 87:

Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman because of His unlimited knowledge, unlimited potencies, unlimited strength, unlimited influence, unlimited beauty and unlimited renunciation. Ultimately, therefore, the word "Brahman" can be applied to Kṛṣṇa only. Arjuna affirms that because the impersonal Brahman is the effulgence emanating as rays of Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body, Kṛṣṇa is the Para-brahman. Everything rests on Brahman, but Brahman itself rests on Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Brahman, or Para-brahman. The material elements are accepted as the inferior energy of Kṛṣṇa. By their interaction the cosmic manifestation takes place, rests on Kṛṣṇa, and after dissolution again enters into the body of Kṛṣṇa as His subtle energy. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the cause of both manifestation and dissolution.

Krsna Book 87:

Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma means that everything is Lord Kṛṣṇa in the sense that everything is His energy. That is the vision of the mahā-bhāgavatas. They see everything in relation to Kṛṣṇa. The impersonalists argue that Kṛṣṇa Himself has been transformed into many and that therefore everything is Kṛṣṇa and worship of anything is worship of Him. This false argument is answered by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā: although everything is a transformation of the energy of Kṛṣṇa, He is not present everywhere. He is simultaneously present and not present. By His energy He is present everywhere, but as the energetic He is not present everywhere. This simultaneous presence and nonpresence is inconceivable to our present senses. But a clear explanation is given in the beginning of the Īśopaniṣad, in which it is stated that the Supreme Lord is so complete that although unlimited energies and their transformations emanate from Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's personality is not in the least bit transformed. Therefore, since Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes, intelligent persons should take shelter of His lotus feet.

Krsna Book 87:

Great sages have therefore concluded that the process of meditation is designed so that the individual living entity may concentrate his attention on the lotus feet of the Supersoul form (Viṣṇu). That is real samādhi. The living entity cannot be liberated from material entanglement by his own effort. He must therefore take to the devotional service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, or the Supersoul within himself. Śrīdhara Svāmī, the great commentator on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, has composed a nice verse in this regard, the meaning of which is as follows: "My dear Lord, I am eternally a part of You, but I have been entrapped by the material potencies, which are also an emanation from You. As the cause of all causes, You have entered my body as the Supersoul, and I have the prerogative of enjoying the supreme blissful life of knowledge along with You. Therefore, my dear Lord, please order me to render You loving service so that I can again be brought to my original position of transcendental bliss."

Krsna Book 87:

According to Māyāvāda philosophy, this manifested world, or material world, is mithyā or māyā, false. The Māyāvādī preaching principle is brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "Only the Brahman effulgence is true, and the cosmic manifestation is illusory, or false." But according to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, this cosmic manifestation is true because it is caused by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He enters within this material world by one of His plenary portions and thus the creation takes place. From the Vedas also we can understand that this asat, or temporary cosmic manifestation, is an emanation from the supreme sat, or fact. From the Vedānta-sūtra also it is understood that everything has emanated from the Supreme Brahman. Therefore the Vaiṣṇavas do not take this cosmic manifestation to be false. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead has entered this cosmic manifestation in the form of His plenary expansion and caused the creation, the Vaiṣṇava philosophers see everything in this material world in relationship with the Supreme Lord.

Krsna Book 87:

The impersonalists argue that this is fallacious because it is sometimes found that matter is produced from spirit soul and sometimes that spirit soul is produced from matter. Such philosophers push forward the argument that although cow dung is dead matter, sometimes it is found that scorpions come out of cow dung. Similarly, dead matter like nails and hair comes out of the living body. Therefore, things produced of a certain thing are not always of the same quality as that thing. On the strength of this argument, Māyāvādī philosophers try to establish that although this cosmic manifestation is certainly an emanation from the Absolute Truth, the cosmic manifestation does not necessarily have truth in it. According to this view, the Absolute Truth, Brahman, should therefore be accepted as truth, whereas the cosmic manifestation, although a product of the Absolute Truth, cannot be taken as truth.

Krsna Book 87:

Beyond this inferior, material energy is a spiritual energy, known as the living entities. The living entities are accepted as the superior energy of the Lord. The whole cosmic manifestation is a combination of the inferior and superior energies, and the source of the energies is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has many different types of energies. This is confirmed in the Vedas: parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). "The transcendental energies of the Lord are variegated." And because such varieties of energies have emanated from the Supreme Lord, they cannot be false. The Lord is ever-existing, and the energies are ever-existing. Some of the energy is temporary—sometimes manifested and sometimes unmanifested—but this does not mean that it is false. The example may be given that when a person is angry he does things which are different from his normal condition of life, but the fact that the mood of anger appears and disappears does not mean that the energy of anger is false. Therefore, the argument of the Māyāvādī philosophers that this world is false is not accepted by the Vaiṣṇava philosophers. The Lord Himself confirms that the view that there is no supreme cause of this material manifestation, that there is no God, and that everything is only the creation of the interaction of matter is a view of the asuras.

Krsna Book 87:

We should therefore conclude that the earthen pot and the entire earth are both truths because one is the product of the other. We understand from the Bhagavad-gītā that after the dissolution of this cosmic manifestation, the material energy enters into the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is ever-existing with His varied energies. Because the material creation is an emanation from Him, we cannot say that this cosmic manifestation is a product of something void. Kṛṣṇa is not void. Whenever we speak of Kṛṣṇa, He is present with His form, qualities, name, entourage and paraphernalia. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. The original cause of everything is neither void nor impersonal but is the Supreme Person. Demons may say that this material creation is anīśvara, without a controller or God, but such arguments ultimately cannot stand.

Krsna Book 87:

The spirit is moving the matter. The spirit soul (the living entity) and matter are different energies of the Supreme Lord, and since both the energies are products of the Supreme Eternal, or the Supreme Truth, they are factual, not false. Because the living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme, he exists eternally. Therefore, for him there cannot be any question of birth or death. So-called birth and death occur because of the material body. The Vedic version sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma means that since both the energies have emanated from the Supreme Brahman, everything we experience is nondifferent from Brahman.

Krsna Book 87:

When the earthen pot is used for a wrong purpose, that is false. Similarly, the human body or the material world, when used for sense gratification, is false. But if the human body and the material creation are used for the service of the Supreme Lord, their activities are never false. It is therefore confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that even slightly using the body and the material world for the service of the Lord can deliver a person from the gravest danger. When properly utilized, neither the superior nor inferior energies emanating from the Supreme Personality of Godhead are false.

Krsna Book 87:

A vivid example may be given: an intelligent person possessing one million dollars in currency notes does not hold the money without using it, even though he knows perfectly well that the currency notes in themselves are nothing but paper. When one has one million dollars in currency notes, he is actually holding only a huge bunch of papers, but if he utilizes it for a purpose, then he benefits. Similarly, although this material world may be false, just like the paper, it has its proper beneficial utilization. Because the currency notes, although paper, are issued by the government, they have full value. Similarly, this material world may be false or temporary, but because it is an emanation from the Supreme Lord, it has its full value. The Vaiṣṇava philosophers acknowledge the full value of this material world and know how to utilize it properly, whereas the Māyāvādī philosophers fail to do so, just as those who mistake a currency note for ordinary paper discard it and cannot utilize the money. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore declares that if one rejects this material world as false, not considering the importance of this material world as a means to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such renunciation has very little value. A person who knows the intrinsic value of this material world for the service of the Lord, who is not attached to the material world, and who renounces the material world by not accepting it for sense gratification is situated in real renunciation. This material world is an expansion of the material energy of the Lord. Therefore it is real. It is not false, as sometimes concluded from the example of the snake and the rope.

Krsna Book 87:

The Vedic injunctions define the source of creation and dissolution as yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, "He from whom this cosmic manifestation has emanated and in whom, after annihilation, everything will merge." The same is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra and in the first verse of the First Chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by the words janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), "He from whom all things emanate." All these Vedic injunctions indicate that the cosmic manifestation is due to the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead and that when it is dissolved it merges into Him. The same principle is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: "The cosmic manifestation comes into existence and again dissolves, and after dissolution it merges into the existence of the Supreme Lord." This statement definitely confirms that the particular energy known as bahir-aṅgā-māyā, or the external energy, although of flickering nature, is the energy of the Supreme Lord, and as such it cannot be false. It simply appears false. The Māyāvādī philosophers conclude that because the material nature has no existence in the beginning and is nonexistent after dissolution, it is false.

Krsna Book 87:

He has all the opulences or facilities of mystic powers, such as aṇimā-siddhi, the power to become smaller than the smallest. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā that Kṛṣṇa has entered even within the atom (aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35)). Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is within the gigantic universe, and He is lying in the Causal Ocean as Mahā-Viṣṇu, in a body so gigantic that when He exhales, millions and trillions of universes emanate from His body. This is called mahimā-siddhi. Kṛṣṇa also has the perfection of laghimā: He can become the lightest. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that it is because Kṛṣṇa enters within this universe and within the atoms that all the planets are floating in the air. That is the explanation of weightlessness. Kṛṣṇa also has the perfection of prāpti: He can get whatever He likes. Similarly, He has the facility of īśitā, controlling power. He is called the supreme controller, Parameśvara. In addition, Kṛṣṇa can bring anyone under His influence. This is called vaśitā.

Krsna Book 88:

Anyone who enters into that Vaikuṇṭha planet never returns to this material world. Lord Nārāyaṇa is celebrated as a lover of His devotees, and as soon as He understood that Lord Śiva was in great danger, He appeared as a brahmacārī and personally approached Lord Śiva to receive him from a distant place. The Lord appeared as a perfect brahmacārī, with a belt around His waist, a sacred thread, a deerskin, a brahmacārī stick and raudra beads. (Raudra beads are different from tulasī beads. Raudra beads are used by the devotees of Lord Śiva). Dressed as a brahmacārī, Lord Nārāyaṇa stood before Lord Śiva. The shining effulgence emanating from His body attracted not only Lord Śiva but also the demon Vṛkāsura.

Krsna Book 89:

It is said that a devotee is even-minded whether he is in hell or in heaven. A devotee is callous to all subjects other than his engagement in devotional service. This mode of life is the highest perfectional stage, from which one can be elevated to the spiritual world, back home, back to Godhead. The devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are especially attracted by the highest material quality, goodness, and the qualified brāhmaṇa is the symbolic representation of this goodness. Therefore, a devotee is attached to the brahminical stage of life. He is not very much interested in passion or ignorance, although these qualities also emanate from the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the devotees are described as nipuṇa-buddhayaḥ, which means that they are the most intelligent class of men. Uninfluenced by attachment or hatred, the devotee lives very peacefully and is not agitated by the influence of passion and ignorance.

Krsna Book 89:

Thus Arjuna saw the Śeṣa Nāga form, and he also saw that on the very soft, white body of Śeṣa Nāga, Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu was lying very comfortably. He appeared all-pervading and very powerful, and Arjuna could understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead in that form is known as Puruṣottama. He is known as Puruṣottama, the supreme or best Personality of Godhead, because from this form emanates within the material world another form of Viṣṇu, known as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Mahā-Viṣṇu form of the Lord is also called Puruṣottama (Puruṣa-uttama) because He is beyond the material world. Tama means "darkness," and ut means "above, transcendental"; therefore, uttama means "above the darkest region of the material world." Arjuna saw that the bodily color of Puruṣottama, Mahā-Viṣṇu, was as dark as a new cloud in the rainy season. He was dressed in very nice yellow clothing, His face was beautifully smiling, and His eyes, which were like lotus petals, were very attractive. Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu's helmet was bedecked with valuable jewels, and His beautiful earrings enhanced the beauty of the curling hair on His head. Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu had eight arms, all very long, reaching to His knees. His neck was decorated with the Kaustubha jewel, and His chest was marked with the symbol of Śrīvatsa, which means "the resting place of the goddess of fortune." The Lord wore a garland of lotus flowers down to His knees. This long garland is known as a Vaijayantī garland.

Krsna Book 89:

Arjuna, however, was struck with great wonder after visiting the transcendental world by the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And by the grace of Kṛṣṇa he could understand that whatever opulence there may be within this material world is an emanation from Him. Any opulent position a person may have within this material world is due to Kṛṣṇa's mercy. One should therefore always be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in complete gratefulness to Lord Kṛṣṇa, because whatever one may possess is all bestowed by Him.

Krsna Book 90:

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has concluded the Ninetieth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by pointing out five particular excellences of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The first excellence is that before Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance in the Yadu family, the river Ganges was known as the purest of all things; even impure things could be purified simply by touching the water of the Ganges. This superexcellent power of the Ganges water was due to its having emanated from the toe of Lord Viṣṇu. But when Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Viṣṇu, appeared in the family of the Yadu dynasty, He traveled personally throughout the kingdom of the Yadus, and by His intimate association with the Yadu dynasty, the whole family not only became very famous but also became more effective in purifying others than the water of the Ganges.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

. One should avoid making the mistake of thinking that because Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, pervades the entire cosmic manifestation, therefore He cannot possess a definitive form or personality. The heat radiating from a fire spreads in all directions, yet the fire remains unchanged. Similarly, the sun has been emanating light and heat since time immemorial, yet it has not lost any of its potency. And the sun possesses but a minuscule fraction of the Supreme Lord's inexhaustible potency. So what question is there of the Lord's potency being either transformed or decreased? The Lord's energies, like a fire's heat and light, spread everywhere, yet His energies can never diminish at any time. Thus in the Bhagavad-gītā He describes Himself as param avyayam, inexhaustible, the supreme energetic principle. The Vedas describe Him in the following way:

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya

pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance. (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation)

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.5:

The Supreme Energetic is the source of all energies. Yet although all energies emanate from Him, He remains aloof from the workings of these energies. From this we can conclude that the demigods' extraordinary potencies are an intrinsic part of the Supreme Lord's potencies, but that the demigods are separate from the Lord. Hence the boons granted by demigods benefit the recipient only temporarily. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms this fact in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.23):

antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ

tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām

devān deva-yajo yānti

mad-bhaktā yānti mām api

Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.10:

By virtue of being the Supreme Absolute Truth, Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternally full of knowledge and bliss, beyond this material world. In the material world we often compare one person with another in terms of their position and power, and so we can rightly say that in comparison with human beings, the demigods are very highly placed. But there is no comparison between the Supreme Lord and the demigods, who are simply living entities belonging to the category as humans. Living entities, or jīvas, belong to the Lord's marginal potency, which emanates from His transcendental, internal potency. Therefore anyone who considers the demigods to be independent Supreme Gods is speculating and is totally wrong, because as jīvas they are invested only with temporary powers and position.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.12:

Added to the list are qualities in the mode of passion, such as strong desire, fearlessness, and unwavering determination, as well as qualities in the mode of ignorance, such as fear, madness, and distress over birth, death, old age, and disease. All these facilities are products of the Lord's external, material energy. Since māyā is under the Supreme Lord's control, all the above-mentioned qualities also emanate from Kṛṣṇa Himself. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is beyond the periphery of our sensual experience, and therefore simply cultivating the nobler qualities—those in the mode of goodness—is not sufficient spiritual practice to elevate us to the Lord's lotus feet. The only way to overcome māyā is to take complete shelter at the Lord's lotus feet. Kṛṣṇa states in the Gītā (7.14) that those who surrender to Him can easily cross beyond māyā. Once māyā is surmounted, one's endeavor is crowned with the realization that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.12:

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in my devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts. The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me."

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.13:

The reason that the Lord expands Himself as the Supersoul and enters everyone's heart is not to bless the empiric philosophers and yogīs but to bless the devotees from within. If the Supreme Lord Himself wishes to enlighten the devotees with spiritual knowledge and gradually draw them closer to Him, then what question is there of such devotees ever coming under the spell of nescience? Rather, it is out of nescience only that the empiric philosophers try to approach the Supreme Truth on the strength of their own intellect. We know that the Supreme Lord can dissipate the darkness of ignorance with the spiritual effulgence emanating from His body. Can the empiricists do the same? One can never lift the gloom of nescience by one's own efforts. Empiricists such as the atheist Kapila, unable to reach enlightenment by their own efforts, feel great relief in trying to explain away the Absolute Truth as unknowable and unmanifest.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.4:

Similarly, even when the jīva refuses to serve the Supreme Energetic, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and instead serves His illusory energy, māyā, he remains a servant of the Lord. But in that condition he is ignorant of the bliss of devotional service to the Lord. Only when the jīva casts away his mundane characteristics can he experience transcendental joy in devotional service. Still, in no situation does the jīva ever give up his inherent nature as Kṛṣṇa's eternal servant, for he emanates from the Lord's marginal potency.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.5:

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts. The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me. To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.1:

The jīva has been referred to as the Lord's marginal potency. The jīva is unpredictable: sometimes he is under the material energy's control, and at other times under the spiritual energy's shelter. But the supreme, infallible Lord never comes under the sway of any of His energies: He forever remains the absolute autocrat, the master of all energies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. All energies emanate from Him, and thus He is the supreme energetic principle. When the two words sva-rāṭ ("independent") and param ("supreme") are used to describe an entity, then He must be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the eternal cause of all causes. That the Supreme Lord never comes under the influence of māyā is confirmed elsewhere in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.11.38):

etad īśanam īśasya

prakṛti-stho 'pi tad-guṇaiḥ

na yujyate sadātma-sthair

yathā buddhis tad-āśrayā

This is the divinity of the Personality of Godhead: He is not affected by the qualities of material nature, even though He is in contact with them. Similarly, the devotees who have taken shelter of the Lord do not become influenced by the material qualities.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.2:

The main instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā is to take complete shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Yet this cardinal conclusion, which emanated from Lord Kṛṣṇa's own lotus lips, is reversed by Dr. Radhakrishnan when he writes that one should surrender not to the person Kṛṣṇa but to the "Unborn, Beginningless, Eternal who speaks through Kṛṣṇa." It is an exercise in futility to take up the Gītā for discussion only in order to ostentatiously display one's erudition, and thus to foolishly misinterpret the text so much that one concludes that the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa, is a mere mortal. This use of Vedic knowledge to pronounce that God does not exist is a clear example of serving Kṛṣṇa unfavorably.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.2:

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.3:

Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.3:

We accept both Arjuna and Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī as greater authorities than Dr. Radhakrishnan. Arjuna directly heard the Bhagavad-gītā, and the President of India, Dr. Rajendraprasad, has accepted Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta as an authentic and authoritative scripture. Those who try to understand the Bhagavad-gītā by receiving it from one in the disciplic succession coming down from Arjuna can actually understand its esoteric knowledge; others fail miserably. It is imperative that one attentively hear what the Bhagavad-gītā and other authorized scriptures have to say about the impersonal Brahman. The scriptures amply prove that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme Lord's bodily effulgence, just as sunshine is the brilliant emanation from the sun. Furthermore, as the sun's rays are dependent on and subservient to the sun, so the impersonal brahma-jyotir effulgence, Lord Kṛṣṇa's bodily luster, is dependent on and subservient to the Lord.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only has this cosmic manifestation emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation. Your good self knows all about this. I have given only a synopsis.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

In this realized state, we perceive Lord Nārāyaṇa's presence not only in all living beings but also in all nonliving things. When the darkness of ignorance cloaking our consciousness is dissipated by the merciful light of knowledge emanating from the spiritual master, we gain spiritual vision and can see that every object is directly linked with the Supreme Lord.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead Introduction:

However, if we keep our doors and windows shut when the sun rises in the morning, surely the rays of the sun will not enter into our somber room. In the same way, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His confidential servants manifest themselves and preach the message of Godhead, we must not shut the doors and windows of our body and mind; otherwise, the light emanating from the Lord and His servants shall not enter into us. The lights that emanate from such transcendental sources generally enter into us by our aural reception. So only if we are ready to offer a submissive aural reception to the message of Godhead can we know Godhead as He is and our relationship with Him as it is. This message of Godhead is presented herewith in that transcendental spirit, for the benefit of people in general and real seekers of truth in particular. We do not know how far we shall be successful in our tiny attempt, but we must always apologize for all our defects in this respect.

Message of Godhead 2:

However, instead of focusing on the various external tabernacles of these living entities (their embodiments under various modes of nature), with his absolute vision the karma-yogī penetrates to the spirit which is embodied therein. And because this infinitesimal spirit emanates from the infinite Supreme Spirit, the karma-yogī in the highest state can observe everyone and everything with equanimity. Such a karma-yogī views everything in relation to the Absolute, and therefore he engages everything in the transcendental service of the Absolute. He observes all living entities as so many transcendental servitors of the absolute Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. His perfect spiritual vision cannot but penetrate the encagement of every material body, just as a red-hot iron cannot but burn everything that it contacts. Thus, the karma-yogī sets an example of transcendental character, by engaging everyone and everything in the transcendental service of the Personality of Godhead.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 28, Purport:

Everything emanates as different energies from the Lord, and thus everything should be engaged for His service only. As soon as even temporary things are engaged in His service, they take on permanent values. The process of such engagement in the service of the Lord is what the sages call cikitsitam, or "well treated." If we have some kind of trouble in the stomach from drinking milk, the physician prescribes the same milk in the form of yogurt, which is nothing but treated milk. Similarly, the temporary creation of the material world is undoubtedly full of miseries, but when accepted in terms of its relation with the Supreme Lord, the whole thing becomes as well treated as the yogurt. Everything accepted in full God consciousness has its spiritual value, and by the grace of the Almighty its material effects are diminished in terms of the increasing degree of spiritual consciousness. That is the process for cultivating the human spirit.

Light of the Bhagavata 38, Purport:

The living being is the marginal energy of the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and he can spend his conserved energy either externally or internally. When spent internally, the energy is identified with the internal energy of the Personality of Godhead, but the same conserved energy, when spent for His external energy, is identified with that external energy. All energies—internal, external, and marginal—are emanations from Him, the Supreme, and they act differently to prove diversity in unity. The unity is the Lord, and the energies represent diversity. The Lord is so powerful that He can do anything and everything merely by His sweet will alone. As mentioned above, everything is done by His energies in a natural way, with full knowledge and complete perfection. That is the information we have from the Vedic literatures.

Light of the Bhagavata 47, Translation:

From the Transcendence, which is called Kṛṣṇaloka, there emanates a glowing effulgence that resembles the tail of a comet. This glowing effulgence is unlimited, immeasurable, and unfathomable. Within this effulgence there are innumerable glowing planets, each of them self-luminous. Somewhere, a limited part of that glowing effulgence is covered by material energy, just as a part of the sky is covered by a cloud. Within this material energy there are innumerable universes, in every universe there are innumerable material planets, and the earth is one of these planets. Thus we can understand what an insignificant part of the entire cosmos is this globe on which we live.

Light of the Bhagavata 47, Purport:

Kṛṣṇaloka, as above mentioned, is the residence of the Personality of Godhead, the original Transcendence. The glowing effulgence emanating from Kṛṣṇaloka is the personal glow of the Lord. The almighty Lord, being full of inconceivable energies, expands Himself in various forms and energies. There are forms from His energy as well as forms from His person. He has innumerable energies, and therefore He can do anything and everything as He desires, and these things take place immediately, with all perfection. His energies are like the heat and light that expand from a fire. The entire cosmic manifestation is nothing but an expansion of His energies; the energies are emanations from Him, and therefore the emanations are simultaneously one with and different from Him.

The Transcendence is compared to milk, and the emanations are compared to yogurt. Yogurt is nothing but milk, but at the same time it is different from milk. Yogurt is a milk preparation, but it cannot be used in place of milk. The Lord is also sometimes compared to a tree. The root of the tree is the cause of the trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, and fruits, yet the trunk is not the fruit, the fruit is not the leaf, nor is the leaf the root. When water is needed it has to be poured on the root, not on the leaves. Pouring water on the leaves serves no purpose, but pouring water on the root serves all purposes. This is the essence of the philosophy of spiritual culture.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad Introduction:

There are many Vedānta commentaries, but because the Vaiṣṇavas did not present the first Vedānta commentary, people are under the wrong impression that Śaṅkarācārya's is the only Vedānta commentary. Besides that, Vyāsadeva himself wrote the perfect Vedānta commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam begins with the first words of the Vedānta-sūtra: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). And that janmādy asya yataḥ is fully explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Vedānta-sūtra simply hints at what is Brahman, the Absolute Truth: "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates." This is a summary, but it is explained in detail in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If everything is emanating from the Absolute Truth, then what is the nature of the Absolute Truth? That is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Absolute Truth must be consciousness. He is self-effulgent (sva-rāṭ). We develop our consciousness and knowledge by receiving knowledge from others, but for Him it is said that He is self-effulgent. The whole summary of Vedic knowledge is the Vedānta-sūtra, and the Vedānta-sūtra is explained by the writer himself in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We finally request those who are actually after Vedic knowledge to try to understand the explanation of all Vedic knowledge from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā.

Sri Isopanisad Invocation:

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 in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

Sri Isopanisad 1, Purport:

The Lord's proprietorship over everything within the universe is confirmed in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4-5), where parā and aparā prakṛti are discussed. The elements of nature—earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego—all belong to the Lord's inferior, material energy (aparā prakṛti),whereas the living being, the organic energy, is His superior energy (parā prakṛti). Both of these prakṛtis, or energies, are emanations from the Lord, and ultimately He is the controller of everything that exists. There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the parā or the aparā prakṛti; therefore everything is the property of the Supreme Being.

Sri Isopanisad 4, Purport:

Through mental speculation, even the greatest philosopher cannot know the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He can be known only by His devotees through His mercy. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.34) it is stated that even if a nondevotee philosopher travels through space at the speed of the wind or the mind for hundreds of millions of years, he will still find that the Absolute Truth is far, far away from him. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) further describes that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode, known as Goloka, where He remains and engages

in His pastimes, yet by His inconceivable potencies He can simultaneously reach every part of His creative energy. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa His potencies are compared to the heat and light that emanate from a fire. Although situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat for some distance; similarly, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, although fixed in His transcendental abode, can diffuse His different energies everywhere.

Sri Isopanisad 5, Purport:

The fact is that there is nothing but God within and without. Everything is a manifestation of His different energies, like the heat and light emanating from a fire, and in this way there is a oneness among His diverse energies. Although there is oneness, however, the Lord in His personal form still enjoys unlimitedly all the pleasures enjoyed minutely by the tiny part-and-parcel living entities.

Sri Isopanisad 7, Purport:

It does, however, indicate that in a broader sense there is one interest, just as in a family the interest of all members is one, or in a nation the national interest is one, although there are many different individual citizens. Since the living entities are all members of the same supreme family, their interest and that of the Supreme Being are not different. Every living being is the son of the Supreme Being. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5), all living creatures throughout the universe—including birds, reptiles, ants, aquatics, trees and so on—are emanations of the marginal potency of the Supreme Lord. Therefore all of them belong to the family of the Supreme Being. There is no clash of interest.

Sri Isopanisad 12, Purport:

Such mental speculators do not know that the Absolute Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, that the impersonal Brahman is the glaring effulgence of His transcendental body, or that the Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is His all-pervading plenary representation. Nor do they know that Kṛṣṇa has His eternal form with its transcendental qualities of eternal bliss and knowledge. The dependent demigods and great sages imperfectly consider Him to be a powerful demigod, and they consider the Brahman effulgence to be the Absolute Truth. But the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, by dint of their surrendering unto Him and their unalloyed devotion, can know that He is the Absolute Person and that everything emanates from Him. Such devotees continuously render loving service unto Kṛṣṇa, the fountainhead of everything.

Sri Isopanisad 13, Purport:

In this mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad the word sam-bhavāt, "by worship of the supreme cause," is very significant. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead, and everything that exists has emanated from Him. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.8) the Lord says,

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts."

Sri Isopanisad 13, Purport:

According to the Vedānta-sūtra, sambhūta is the source of birth and sustenance, as well as the reservoir that remains after annihilation (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)). The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the natural commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra by the same author, maintains that the source of all emanations is not like a dead stone but is abhijña, or fully conscious. The primeval Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, also says in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.26) that He is fully conscious of past, present and future and that no one, including demigods such as Śiva and Brahmā, knows Him fully. Certainly half-educated "spiritual leaders" who are disturbed by the tides of material existence cannot know Him fully. They try to make some compromise by making the mass of humanity the object of worship, but they do not know that such worship is only a myth because the masses are imperfect. The attempt by these so-called spiritual leaders is something like pouring water on the leaves of a tree instead of the root. The natural process is to pour water on the root, but such disturbed leaders are more attracted to the leaves than the root. Despite their perpetually watering the leaves, however, everything dries up for want of nourishment.

Sri Isopanisad 16, Purport:

The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, from which the brahma-jyotir effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29):

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs, or goddesses of fortune."

The brahma-jyotir is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahma-jyotir, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord.

Sri Isopanisad 17, Purport:

As we have learned from previous mantras, the brahma-jyotir emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord is full of spiritual sparks that are individual entities with the full sense of existence. Sometimes these living entities want to enjoy their senses, and therefore they are placed in the material world to become false lords under the dictation of the senses. The desire for lordship is the material disease of the living being, for under the spell of sense enjoyment he transmigrates through the various bodies manifested in the material world. Becoming one with the brahma-jyotir does not represent mature knowledge. Only by surrendering unto the Lord completely and developing one's sense of spiritual service does one reach the highest perfectional stage.

Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)

Narada Bhakti Sutra 1, Purport:

Although pure devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa is exclusive, it is not a narrow-minded, sectarian devotion. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all emanations; therefore love for Kṛṣṇa includes within it love for all living entities. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained this by the homely example of a girl who marries and joins with her husband's family. Just by the act of marrying one man, she automatically becomes intimately related with his family members, who now become her brothers-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and so on. Similarly, when we join with Kṛṣṇa by rendering Him loving service, we enter into His family, which includes all living beings.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 1, Purport:

Every person, whatever he may be, emanates from some part of the universal form of the Supreme Lord, the virāṭ-puruṣa. The brāhmaṇas (intelligentsia) emanate from the face, the kṣatriyas (warriors and administrators) emanate from the arms, the vaiśyas (farmers and merchants) emanate from the thighs, and the śūdras (laborers) emanate from the feet. But wherever we may be situated, we have some particular function to execute in the service of the Supreme Whole, the Personality of Godhead. If we do not, therefore, engage our particular propensities in the service of the Lord, then we are fallen, just like a useless limb amputated from the body.