Limb (CC and Other Books)

Expressions researched:
"limb" |"limb's" |"limbs"

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 3.49, Translation:

"In His early pastimes He appears as a householder with a golden complexion. His limbs are beautiful, and His body, smeared with the pulp of sandalwood, seems like molten gold. In His later pastimes He accepts the sannyāsa order, and He is equipoised and peaceful. He is the highest abode of peace and devotion, for He silences the impersonalist nondevotees."

CC Adi 3.68, Translation:

According to the evidence of the revealed scriptures, a bodily limb (aṅga) is also called a part (aṁśa), and a part of a limb is called a partial part (upāṅga).

CC Adi 3.72, Translation:

Śrī Advaita Prabhu and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu are both plenary portions of Lord Caitanya. Thus They are the limbs (aṅgas) of His body. The parts of these two limbs are called the upāṅgas.

CC Adi 4.202, Translation:

"Śrī Dāruka did not relish his ecstatic feelings of love, for they caused his limbs to become stunned and thus obstructed his service of fanning Lord Kṛṣṇa."

CC Adi 4.224, Translation:

"My dear friends, just see how Śrī Kṛṣṇa is enjoying the season of spring! With the gopīs embracing each of His limbs, He is like amorous love personified. With His transcendental pastimes, He enlivens all the gopīs and the entire creation. With His soft bluish-black arms and legs, which resemble blue lotus flowers, He has created a festival for Cupid."

CC Adi 4.245, Translation:

“Although My body lends fragrance to the entire creation, the scent of Rādhārāṇī’s limbs captivates My mind and heart.

CC Adi 4.259, Translation:

“"My dear auspicious Rādhārāṇī, Your body is the source of all beauty. Your red lips are softer than the sense of immortal sweetness, Your face bears the aroma of a lotus flower, Your sweet words defeat the vibrations of the cuckoo, and Your limbs are cooler than the pulp of sandalwood. All My transcendental senses are overwhelmed in ecstatic pleasure by tasting You, who are completely decorated by beautiful qualities."

CC Adi 5.27-28, Purport:

"They saw the lotus-eyed Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mounted on Garuḍa and holding Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, to His chest. He resembled a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of His four hands He held a conchshell and disc. His arms stretched down to His knees, and all His beautiful limbs were smeared with sandalwood and decorated with glittering ornaments. He wore yellow clothes, and by either side stood His energies Bhūmi and Nīlā."

CC Adi 5.166, Translation:

Sometimes there were eruptions of ecstasy like kadamba flowers on some parts of his body, and sometimes one limb would be stunned while another would be trembling.

CC Adi 6.22, Translation:

Śrī Advaita is the principal limb (aṅga) of Nārāyaṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam speaks of "limb" (aṅga) as "a plenary portion" (aṁśa) of the Lord.

CC Adi 6.24, Translation:

This verse describes that the limbs and plenary portions of the Lord are all spiritual; They have no relationship with the material energy.

CC Adi 6.25, Translation:

Why has Śrī Advaita been called a limb and not a part? The reason is that "limb" implies greater intimacy.

CC Adi 6.26, Translation:

Śrī Advaita, who is a reservoir of virtues, is the main limb of Mahā-Viṣṇu. His full name is Advaita, for He is identical in all respects with that Lord.

CC Adi 6.31, Translation:

Since He is a limb or part of the lotus-eyed Supreme Lord, He also bears the name Kamalākṣa.

CC Adi 6.33, Translation:

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is the principal limb of the Supreme Lord. His truths, names and attributes are all wonderful.

CC Adi 6.37, Translation:

Śrī Advaita Ācārya is a principal limb of Lord Caitanya. Another limb of the Lord is Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Adi 6.38, Translation:

The devotees headed by Śrīvāsa are His smaller limbs. They are like His hands, face and eyes and His disc and other weapons.

CC Adi 8.23, Translation:

Simply by talking of Nityānanda Prabhu one awakens his love for Kṛṣṇa. Thus all his bodily limbs are agitated by ecstasy, and tears flow from his eyes like the waters of the Ganges.

CC Adi 13.116, Translation:

Seeing the transcendental bodily effulgence of the child, each of His nicely constructed limbs full of auspicious signs and resembling a form of gold, Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī was very pleased, and because of her maternal affection, she felt as if her heart were melting.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 2.13, Translation:

Sometimes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's hands, legs and head would all enter within His body, just like the withdrawn limbs of a tortoise.

CC Madhya 2.40, Translation:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, "My dear friends, you are all My life and soul; therefore I tell you that I possess no wealth of love for Kṛṣṇa. Consequently My life is poverty-stricken. My limbs and senses are useless."

CC Madhya 8.144, Translation:

“"My dear friends, just see how Śrī Kṛṣṇa is enjoying the season of spring! With the gopīs embracing each of His limbs, He is like amorous love personified. With His transcendental pastimes, He enlivens all the gopīs and the entire creation. With His soft bluish black arms and legs, which resemble blue lotus flowers, He has created a festival for Cupid."

CC Madhya 11.29-30, Translation:

“"My devotees take great care and respect in rendering Me service. They offer obeisances to Me with all their bodily limbs. They worship other devotees and find all living entities related to Me. For Me they engage the entire energy of their bodies. They engage the power of speech in the glorification of My qualities and form. They also dedicate their minds unto Me and try to give up all kinds of material desires. Thus My devotees are characterized."

CC Madhya 17.104, Purport:

Being an impersonalist, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī used to explain the Absolute Truth as being without hands, legs, mouths or eyes. In this way he used to cheat the people by denying the personal form of the Lord. Such a foolish person was Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, whose only business was to sever the limbs of the Lord by proving the Lord impersonal.

CC Madhya 21.100, Purport:

“"To exhibit the strength of His own spiritual potency, Lord Kṛṣṇa manifested a form just suitable for His pastimes in the material world. This form was wonderful even for Him and was the supreme abode of the wealth of good fortune. Its limbs were so beautiful that they increased the beauty of the ornaments worn on different parts of His body."

CC Madhya 22.129, Translation:

“These five limbs of devotional service are the best of all. Even a slight performance of these five awakens love for Kṛṣṇa.

CC Madhya 23.52, Purport:

"There are thirty-three transitory elements, known as vyabhicārī ecstatic emotions. They especially wander about the permanent sentiments as assistants. They are to be known by words, by different symptoms seen in the limbs and in other parts of the body, and by the peculiar conditions of the heart. Because they set in motion the progress of the permanent sentiments, they are specifically called sañcārī, or impelling principles. These impelling principles rise up and fall back in the permanent sentiments of ecstatic love like waves in an ocean of ecstasy. Consequently they are called vyabhicārī."

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 17.72, Translation:

"How wonderful it is! Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu left His residence without opening the three strongly bolted doors. Then He crossed over three high walls, and later, because of strong feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa, He fell down amidst the cows of the Tailaṅga district and retracted all the limbs of His body like a tortoise. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who appeared in that way, rises in my heart and maddens me."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25:

According to Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, the apāṇi-pādo javano grahītā mantra confirms that although Brahman has no material hands and legs, He nonetheless walks in a very stately way and accepts everything that is offered to Him. This suggests that He has transcendental limbs and is therefore not impersonal. One who does not understand the Vedic principles simply stresses the impersonal material features of the Supreme Absolute Truth and thus incorrectly calls the Absolute Truth impersonal.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 21:

There are certain characteristics of different limbs which are considered to be very auspicious and are fully present in the body of the Lord. In this connection, one friend of Nanda Mahārāja, speaking about Lord Kṛṣṇa's auspicious bodily symptoms, said, "My dear King of the cowherds, I can find thirty-two auspicious symptoms on the body of your son! I am wondering how this boy could have taken His birth in a family of cowherd men." Generally, when Lord Kṛṣṇa appears He does so in a family of kṣatriyas (kings), as did Lord Rāmacandra, and sometimes in a family of brāhmaṇas.

Nectar of Devotion 29:

One feels fatigue after walking a long distance, after dancing and after sexual activity. In this kind of fatigue there is dizziness, perspiration, inactivity of the limbs, yawning and very heavy breathing.

Nectar of Devotion 30:

When Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī first saw Kṛṣṇa, She suddenly became conscious of all transcendental happiness, and the functions of Her different limbs were stunned. When Lalitā, Her constant companion, whispered into Her ear the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī immediately opened Her eyes wide. This is an instance of alertness caused by hearing the sound of Kṛṣṇa's name.

Nectar of Devotion 33:

The performance of different yajñas for the demigods is considered to be worship of the limbs of the Supreme Lord. The demigods are considered to be different parts of the universal body of the Lord, and therefore the ultimate purpose in worshiping them is to please the Lord by partially worshiping His different limbs. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira had no such material desire; he executed all sacrifices under the direction of Kṛṣṇa, and not to take any personal advantage from them. He desired only to please Kṛṣṇa and was therefore called the best of the devotees. He was always merged in the ocean of loving service.

Nectar of Devotion 35:

Sometimes a devotee in śānta-rasa yawns, stretches his limbs, instructs on devotional service, offers respectful obeisances unto the form of the Lord, offers nice prayers to the Lord and has a desire to give direct service with his body. These are some of the common symptoms of the devotee who is situated in neutrality. One devotee, after observing the yawning of another devotee, addressed him thus: "My dear mystic, I think that within your heart there is some ecstatic devotional love which is causing you to yawn." It is sometimes found that a devotee in the śānta-rasa falls down on the ground, his hairs stand up on his body, and he trembles all over. In this way, different symptoms of ecstatic trance are exhibited automatically by such devotees.

Nectar of Devotion 38:

Some of the devotees who went to see Kṛṣṇa at Dvārakā and were detained at the door said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, O friend of the Pāṇḍus, as the swan loves to dive into the water among the lily flowers and would die if taken from the water, so we wish only to be with You. Our limbs are shrinking and fading because You have been taken away from us."

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 4:

“Actually the limbs of the transcendental body of Lord Viṣṇu are the brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, austerity, truthfulness, sense and mind control, faithfulness, charity, tolerance and performance of sacrifices. Lord Viṣṇu is situated in everyone's heart and is the leader of all demigods, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. Therefore we think that to persecute the great sages and brāhmaṇas is to kill Lord Viṣṇu.”

Krsna Book 6:

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.

Krsna Book 7:

Crying very fiercely, he fell down to the ground of Vṛndāvana and died. The demon fell exactly like Tripurāsura, who was pierced by the arrow of Lord Śiva. Tṛṇāvarta hit a stone slab, and his limbs were smashed. His body became visible to all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.

Krsna Book 10:

As soon as He pulled, the two trees, with all their branches and limbs, fell down immediately with a great sound. Out of the broken, fallen trees came two great personalities, shining like blazing fire. All sides became illuminated and beautiful by their presence. The two purified personalities immediately came before child Kṛṣṇa and bowed down to offer their respects and prayers in the following words.

Krsna Book 10:

We therefore pray that we may always be engaged in Your transcendental loving service by speaking only about Your glories and hearing about Your transcendental activities. May our hands and other limbs be engaged in Your service and our minds always be concentrated at Your lotus feet and our heads always bowed down before the all-pervading universal form of Your Lordship.”

Krsna Book 14:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that the body of the Lord is all-spiritual; there is no difference between the Lord's body and His self. Each limb of His body can perform the actions of all the others. The Lord can see with His hands, He can hear with His eyes, He can accept offerings with His legs, and He can create with His mouth.

Krsna Book 41:

On hearing this, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī, became very angry at the washerman, and striking him with the upper portion of His hand, He separated the man's head from his body. The washerman fell down dead on the ground. In this way Lord Kṛṣṇa confirmed the statement of the Brahma-saṁhitā that every limb of His body is capable of doing everything He likes. Without a sword, but simply with His hand, He cut off the head of the washerman. This is proof that the Supreme Lord is omnipotent. If He wants to do something, He can do it without extraneous help.

Krsna Book 45:

They learned how to make a resting place with flowers and how to decorate clothing and limbs with colorful paintings. They also learned how to set valuable jewels in ornaments. They learned the art of ringing waterpots. Waterpots are filled with water to a certain measurement so that as one beats on the pots, different tones are produced, and when the pots are beaten together they produce a melodious sound.

Krsna Book 51:

My name is Mucukunda. My father's name was Māndhātā, and my grandfather was the great king Yuvanāśva. I was very much fatigued due to not resting for many thousands of years, and because of this all my bodily limbs were slack and almost incapable of acting. To revive my energy, I was taking rest in this solitary cave, but I have been awakened by some unknown man who has forced me to wake up although I was not willing to do so. For such an offensive act, I have burned this person to ashes simply by glancing over him.

Krsna Book 56:

Although Jāmbavān was the strongest living entity of that time, practically all the joints of his bodily limbs became slackened and his strength was reduced practically to nil, for he was struck constantly by the fists of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Feeling very tired, with perspiration all over his body, Jāmbavān was astonished. Who was this opponent who was fighting so hard with him? Jāmbavān was quite aware of his own superhuman bodily strength, but when he felt tired from being struck by Kṛṣṇa, he could understand that Kṛṣṇa was no one else but his worshipable Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Krsna Book 56:

After the construction of the bridge, a fire was set all over the kingdom of Rāvaṇa. During the fighting with Rāvaṇa, every part of his limbs was slashed to pieces by Your sharp arrows, and his heads fell to the face of the earth. Now I can understand that You are none other than my Lord Rāmacandra. No one else has such immeasurable strength; no one else could defeat me in this way.”

Krsna Book 58:

I have imposed this test just to understand the prowess and position of my intended son-in-law. You, Lord Kṛṣṇa, are the chief of all heroes. I am sure You will be able to bring these seven bulls under control without any difficulty. Until now they have never been subdued by any prince; anyone who has attempted to bring them under control has simply had his limbs broken.”

Krsna Book 70:

A human being is different from other human beings and different from the animals. Even in his own body, there are different bodily limbs. We have our hands and legs, but our hands are different from our legs. The hand cannot act like the leg, nor can the leg act like the hand. The ears can hear but the eyes cannot, and the eyes can see but the ears cannot. All these differences are technically called svajātīya-vijātīya.

Krsna Book 70:

We limited living entities have to use a particular part of the body for a particular purpose, but there is no such distinction for Kṛṣṇa. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti: Kṛṣṇa can perform the activities of one limb with any other limb. So by analytical study of Kṛṣṇa and His person, it is concluded that He is the complete whole. When He meditates, therefore, He meditates on Himself.

Krsna Book 70:

When the sunrise became visible, the Lord would offer specific prayers to the sun-god. The sun-god and other demigods mentioned in the Vedic scriptures are described as different limbs of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and it is the duty of the householder to offer respects to the demigods and great sages, as well as the forefathers.

Krsna Book 87:

The limbs of a material body can perform only a particular function; for example, the hands can hold but cannot see or hear. But because the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is made of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa and is thus sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), He can enjoy anything and do everything with any of His limbs. Acceptance of the spiritual body of the Lord as material is dictated by the tendency to equate the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul has a material body. Therefore, if God also has a material body, then the impersonalistic theory that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities are one and the same can be very easily propagated.

Krsna Book 87:

It is due to the impregnation of the material nature by the supreme father that the living entities are present. Therefore the argument that the individual living entities are not parts and parcels of the Supreme cannot stand. For example, the different parts of the body cannot be taken as equal to the whole; rather, the whole body is the controller of the different limbs. Similarly, the parts and parcels of the supreme whole are always dependent and are always controlled by the source of the parts and parcels. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the living entities are parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa: mamaivāṁśaḥ.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.8:

Being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, if we do not aspire to serve Him, then we forgo our actual identity and fall down into nescience. An appropriate parallel is the functioning of the body: If a limb refuses to execute its usual duty, it becomes useless to the body. Similarly, if our activities are not focused on Lord Kṛṣṇa, they are rendered impotent and valueless. The eternal constitutional position of the self is to serve the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. In fact, all our sufferings start from our refusal to act in our original capacity as Lord Kṛṣṇa's eternal servants.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.8:

Lord Kṛṣṇa instructs us that the living entities are His separated parts. The duty of the part is to serve the whole. A complete body has different parts and limbs, such as hands, legs, eyes, and ears. The hands and legs work the hardest, but they do not refuse to give food to the stomach, although the stomach does very little. On the other hand, if the hands and legs act contrarily and actually refuse to feed the stomach, then an impossible situation is created.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.9:

An extreme longing for Lord Kṛṣṇa is the only means for attaining Him. Thus intense, unflinching devotional service is another symptom of a mahātmā. These mahātmās execute all nine limbs of devotional service, beginning with hearing, chanting, and remembering the name, form, qualities, pastimes, and paraphernalia of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

It is futile to make an external show of good qualities like humility and nonviolence while disrespecting the Lord's lotus feet and denouncing the process of devotional service. Such so-called good qualities may be of some material value, but ultimately they are useless and temporary. In fact, the nineteen other qualities combine to make a throne from which unalloyed devotion may rule. These qualities are various limbs of the Absolute Truth, and everything outside this absolute knowledge is nescience.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

By cultivating these limbs of knowledge, one attains self-realization. In other words, one is elevated from mundane knowledge of the kṣetra to spiritual knowledge of the kṣetra-jña. We have previously established that the word kṣetra-jña implies both the living entity and the Supreme Brahman. Sometimes material nature, or prakṛti, is referred to as Brahman, the reason being that Brahman is the cause of the material nature.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.1:

These six limbs of surrender should be followed in relation to Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, because this instruction on the process of surrender appears in a Vaiṣṇava scripture. Dr. Radhakrishnan has translated the first limb (ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ) as "good will to all." Question: Is it possible to surrender to everyone? Surrender should be directed toward the Supreme Lord alone.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.2:

Even great scholars and philosophers like Dr. Radhakrishnan will have to perform heaps of austerities and penances before they will yield to the process of surrender. This is the conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā. Dr. Radhakrishnan's explanation of the six limbs of surrender is superficial. Originally defined in a Vaiṣṇava text, these six limbs of surrender pertain to Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlya means "loving devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa." The Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu states, ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā: (CC Madhya 19.167) "One should render transcendental loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably. That is called pure devotional service."

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

Once a person surrenders fully to the Lord's lotus feet, he sees the Lord's from everywhere, not this world of moving and nonmoving matter. Such surrender has six limbs:

ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ

prātikūlyasya varjanam

rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso

goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā

ātma-nikṣepa-kārpaṇye

ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ

The six divisions of surrender are the acceptance of those things favorable to devotional service, the rejection of unfavorable things, the conviction that Kṛṣṇa will give protection, the acceptance of the Lord as one's guardian or master, full surrender, and humility.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

The first limb of surrender is to accept that which helps us invoke the Lord's mercy. This means to completely depend on the Lord's will. Such surrender is free from any conditions. It is untinged by the desire for sense pleasure, liberation, or mystic perfections. The devotee, unlike others, is never in anxiety.