He is also known as Madana-mohana because of His ability to conquer the minds of women with His five arrows of form, taste, smell, sound and touch. The pearls of the necklace hanging on Kṛṣṇa's neck are as white as ducks, and the peacock feather decorating His head is colored like a rainbow. His yellow garment is like lightning in the sky, and Kṛṣṇa Himself is like a newly arrived cloud. The gopīs are like food grains in the field, and when the cloud pours rain on those grains, it appears that Kṛṣṇa is nourishing the hearts of the gopīs by calling down His pastime rain of mercy. Indeed, ducks fly in the sky during the rainy season, and rainbows can also be seen at that time. Kṛṣṇa freely moves among His friends as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana, and when He plays His flute, all living creatures, mobile and immobile, are overwhelmed with ecstasy. They quiver, and tears flow from their eyes.
Rainbow
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
As the Lord passed along the public road of Dvārakā, His head was protected from the sunshine by a white umbrella. White-hair fans moved in semicircles, and showers of flowers fell upon the road. His yellow garments and garlands of flowers made it appear as if a dark cloud were surrounded simultaneously by the sun, moon, rainbow and lightning.
The sun, moon, rainbow and lightning do not appear in the sky simultaneously. When there is sun, the moonlight becomes insignificant, and if there are clouds and a rainbow, there is no manifestation of lightning. The Lord's bodily hue is just like a new monsoon cloud. He is compared herein to the cloud. The white umbrella over His head is compared to the sun. The movement of the bunch-hair fan of flukes is compared to the moon. The showers of flowers are compared to the stars. His yellow garments are compared to lightning. And the flower garlands on His chest are compared to a rainbow. So all these activities of the firmament, being impossible simultaneous factors, cannot be adjusted by comparison. The adjustment is possible only when we think of the inconceivable potency of the Lord. The Lord is all-powerful, and in His presence anything impossible can be made possible by His inconceivable energy.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
When the curved bow of Indra (the rainbow) appeared in the sky, which had the quality of thundering sound, it was unlike ordinary bows because it did not rest upon a string. Similarly, when the Supreme Lord appears in this world, which is the interaction of the material qualities, He is unlike ordinary persons because He remains free from all material qualities and independent of all material conditions.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
“Kṛṣṇa wears a pearl necklace that appears like a chain of white ducks around His neck. The peacock feather in His hair appears like a rainbow, and His yellow garments appear like lightning in the sky. Kṛṣṇa appears like a newly risen cloud, and the gopīs appear like newly grown grains in the field. Constant rains of nectarean pastimes fall upon these newly grown grains, and it seems that the gopīs are receiving beams of life from Kṛṣṇa, exactly as grains receive life from the rains.
CC Antya-lila
“Kṛṣṇa's yellow garments look exactly like restless lightning in the sky, and the pearl necklace on His neck appears like a line of ducks flying below a cloud. Both the peacock feather on His head and His Vaijayantī garland (containing flowers of five colors) resemble rainbows.
“My dear friend, where is that beautiful helmet with a peacock feather upon it like a rainbow upon a new cloud? Where are those yellow garments, shining like lightning? And where is that necklace of pearls that resemble flocks of ducks flying in the sky? The blackish body of Kṛṣṇa triumphs over the new blackish rain cloud.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
When they are combined, they should live peacefully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and should not be restless like the lightning, flashing from one group of clouds to another.
Sometimes, in addition to the roaring thunder of the clouds, there is an appearance of a rainbow, which stands as a bow without a string. Actually, a bow is in the curved position because it is tied at its two ends by the bowstring; but in the rainbow there is no such string, and yet it rests in the sky so beautifully. Similarly, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends to this material world, He appears just like an ordinary human being, but He is not resting on any material condition. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that He appears by His internal potency, which is free from the bondage of the external potency. What is bondage for the ordinary creature is freedom for the Personality of Godhead. In the rainy season, the moonlight is covered by clouds but is visible at intervals.
Kṛṣṇa next inquired from the citizens as to the location of the place of sacrifice. Kaṁsa had arranged for the sacrifice called Dhanur-yajña, and to designate this particular sacrifice he had placed a big bow near the sacrificial altar. The bow was very big and wonderful and resembled a rainbow in the sky. Within the sacrificial arena, this bow was protected by many constables and watchmen engaged by King Kaṁsa. As Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma approached the bow, They were warned not to go nearer, but Kṛṣṇa ignored this warning. He forcibly went up and immediately took the big bow in His left hand. After stringing the bow in the presence of the crowd, He drew it and broke it at the middle into two parts, exactly as an elephant breaks sugarcane in the field. Everyone present appreciated Kṛṣṇa's power. The sound of the bow cracking filled both sky and land and was heard by Kaṁsa. When Kaṁsa heard what had happened, he began to fear for his life.
Light of the Bhagavata
The Sanskrit word guṇa means "quality" or "mode," as well as "string" or "rope." When a rainbow appears during the rainy season, it is observed to be like a bow with no guṇa, or string. Similarly, the appearance of the Personality of Godhead or His transcendental servants has nothing to do with the qualitative modes of material nature. The phenomenal appearance of the Transcendence is free from the qualities of material nature, and thus it resembles a bow with no string.
The transcendental Supreme Lord is eternally the form of transcendental existence, knowledge, and bliss. The material energy works under His good will, and therefore He is never affected by the modes of material nature. When He appears before us in the midst of material interactions, He remains always unaffected, like a stringless rainbow.
By His inconceivable energy, the Supreme Lord can appear and disappear like a rainbow, which appears and disappears without being affected by the roaring thunder and the cloudy sky. The Lord is eternally the biggest of the big and the smallest of the small. The living beings, who are His parts and parcels, are the smallest of the small, and He is the biggest of the big as the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Which conference?
Yogi Bhajan: This, what is happening in Waikiki.
Girl: Rainbow Festival.
Yogi Bhajan: That Rainbow Festival.
Prabhupāda: Oh, what is that?
Yogi Bhajan: There is a huge... There are about two hundred people all around the mainland and the whole thing.
Girl: Metaphysical conference, psychics.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The Rainbow Chicken Factory.
Prabhupāda: Yes, the chicken factory, but they're taking the eggs from chicken. Why not manufacture small egg and give to the fermentation and come? There is no question of killing animals. Why they are taking?
Rādhāvallabha: They say God has provided it for us for food.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. Then you become a dog. God has provided you a dog's body. Take advantage of it and bark. (laughter) Protest. "Why You have made me? Why You are doing?" (laughter)
Rādhāvallabha: When I was in the hospital, right next to me there was one yogi, and a girl yogi came to instruct him every day.
Prabhupāda: Girl?
Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
Muralidhara's version of Krishna and the cowherd boys with the Gopis watching them shown in the lotus is nice. Krishna and the cowherd boys used to return in the evening, and the Gopis while looking on used to enjoy Krishna's smiling face. This is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Regarding whether the Brahmajoti should be painted rainbow colored. It is our experience that in the material world when the sunshine is very bright there is not any color, just whiteness. Colors of sunshine only become manifest when there is a tinge of clouds. So in the Brahmajoti there is no possibility of material tinge. So how it can be rainbow colored? In the dazzling light there is no possibility of colors. Considering all these points, Muralidhara should paint maintaining the artistic sense as well.
The Mahattattva may be shown underneath the lotus if it is required for design purposes.
| Page Title: | Rainbow |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 26 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=3, CC=3, OB=5, Lec=0, Con=2, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 14 |