Unfathomable

Expressions researched:
"How can the insignificant living entities fathom" |"cannot fathom" |"could not fathom" |"failed to fathom" |"fathomless" |"impossible to fathom" |"neither the karmis nor the jnanis can fathom" |"no one could fathom" |"perplexed in trying to fathom" |"unfathomable" |"unfathomed"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.5.26, Purport:

By hearing the narration of the pastimes of the Lord, one contacts directly the Personality of Godhead, and, as explained before, by hearing about the Personality of Godhead, from within, all accumulated sins of the mundane creature are cleared. Thus being cleared of all sins, the hearer gradually becomes liberated from mundane association and becomes attracted to the features of the Lord. Nārada Muni has just explained this by his personal experience. The whole idea is that simply by hearing about the Lord's pastimes one can become one of the associates of the Lord. Nārada Muni has eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, and he can travel all over the material and spiritual worlds without restriction. One can attain to the highest perfection of life simply by attentive hearing of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord from the right sources, as Śrī Nārada heard them from the pure devotees (bhakti-vedāntas) in his previous life. This process of hearing in the association of the devotees is especially recommended in this age of quarrel (Kali).

SB 1.11.39, Purport:

Even the transcendental wives of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa did not know completely the unfathomable glories of the Lord. This ignorance is not mundane because there is some action of the internal potency of the Lord in the exchange of feelings between Him and His eternal associates. The Lord exchanges transcendental relations in five ways, as proprietor, master, friend, son and lover, and in each of these pastimes He plays fully by the potency of yogamāyā, the internal potency.

SB 1.16.26-30, Purport:

Even if it were possible to count the atoms after smashing the earth into powder, still it would not be possible to estimate the unfathomable transcendental qualities of the Lord. It is said that Lord Anantadeva has tried to expound the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord with His numberless tongues, and that for numberless years together it has been impossible to estimate the qualities of the Lord. The above statement of the qualities of the Lord is just to estimate His qualities as far as a human being is able to see Him.

SB 1.16.26-30, Purport:

All great souls aspire to be equal in knowledge with Him. This means that all other knowledge is ever insufficient, flexible and measurable, whereas the knowledge of the Lord is ever fixed and unfathomable. Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī affirms in the Bhāgavatam that although He was observed by the citizens of Dvārakā every day, they were ever increasingly anxious to see Him again and again. The living beings can appreciate the qualities of the Lord as the ultimate goal, but they cannot attain the status quo of such equality.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.4.8, Purport:

The Lord is unlimited, and His activities are also unfathomed. With a limited source of knowledge and with imperfect senses, any living being, up to the standard of Brahmājī, the highest perfect living being within the universe, can never imagine knowing about the unlimited. We can know something of the unlimited when it is explained by the unlimited, as has been done by the Lord Himself in the unique statements of the Bhagavad-gītā, and it can also be known to some extent from realized souls like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who learned it from Vyāsadeva, a disciple of Nārada, and thus the perfect knowledge can descend by the chain of disciplic succession only, and not by any form of experimental knowledge, old or modern.

SB 2.5.11, Purport:

In this verse Brahmājī clears up the wrong impression held by the less intelligent and affirms that he creates the universal variegatedness after the potential creation by the glaring effulgence of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Brahmājī has also separately given this statement in the saṁhitā known as the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.40), where he says:

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam

tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"I serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental bodily effulgence, known as the brahmajyoti, which is unlimited, unfathomed and all-pervasive, is the cause of the creation of unlimited numbers of planets, etc., with varieties of climates and specific conditions of life."

SB 2.5.11, Purport:

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is ultimately the creator of the brahmajyoti, mentioned in this verse as sva-rociṣā, or the effulgence of the transcendental body of the Lord. This brahmajyoti is all-pervading, and all creation is made possible by its potential power; therefore the Vedic hymns declare that everything that exists is being sustained by the brahmajyoti (sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma). Therefore the potential seed of all creation is the brahmajyoti, and the same brahmajyoti, unlimited and unfathomed, is established by the Lord. Therefore the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) is ultimately the supreme cause of all creation (ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8)).

SB Canto 3

SB 3.5.1, Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Vidura, the best amongst the Kuru dynasty, who was perfect in devotional service to the Lord, thus reached the source of the celestial Ganges River (Hardwar), where Maitreya, the great, fathomless learned sage of the world, was seated. Vidura, who was perfect in gentleness and satisfied in transcendence, inquired from him.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.22.58, Purport:

Mahārāja Pṛthu used to distribute his mercy to suffering humanity, and it was like rainfall after excessive heat. The ocean is wide and expansive, and it is very difficult to measure its length and breadth; similarly, Pṛthu Mahārāja was so deep and grave that no one could fathom his purposes. The hill known as Meru is fixed in the universe as a universal pivot, and no one can move it an inch from its position; similarly, no one could ever dissuade Mahārāja Pṛthu when he was determined.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.5.23, Purport:

Presently human civilization is based on sense gratification, and consequently more and more people are becoming addicted to different types of things. No one respects brahminical culture. Demoniac civilization is attached to ugra-karma, horrible activities, and big industries are created to satisfy unfathomable lusty desires. Consequently the people are greatly harassed by governmental taxation. The people are irreligious and do not perform the sacrifices recommended in Bhagavad-gītā.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.17.9, Translation:

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, after hearing Citraketu's statement, Lord Śiva, the most powerful personality, whose knowledge is fathomless, simply smiled and remained silent, and all the members of the assembly followed the lord by not saying anything.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.16.2, Translation:

King Parīkṣit inquired: O learned sage, please explain how the Supreme Personality of Godhead chastised the serpent Kāliya within the unfathomable waters of the Yamunā, and how it was that Kāliya had been living there for so many ages.

SB 10.49.29, Translation:

I offer my obeisances to Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who creates this universe by the inconceivable activity of His material energy and then distributes the various modes of nature by entering within the creation. From Him, the meaning of whose pastimes is unfathomable, come both the entangling cycle of birth and death and the process of deliverance from it.

SB 10.50.25-28, Translation:

Chariot wheels looked like terrifying whirlpools, and precious gems and ornaments resembled stones and gravel in the rushing red rivers, which aroused fear in the timid, joy in the wise. With the blows of His plow weapon the immeasurably powerful Lord Balarāma destroyed Magadhendra's military force. And though this force was as unfathomable and fearsome as an impassable ocean, for the two sons of Vasudeva, the Lords of the universe, the battle was hardly more than play.

SB 10.69.18, Translation:

Now I have seen Your feet, which grant liberation to Your devotees, which even Lord Brahmā and other great personalities of unfathomable intelligence can only meditate upon within their hearts, and which those who have fallen into the well of material existence resort to for deliverance. Please favor me so that I may constantly think of You as I travel about. Please grant Me the power to remember You.

SB 10.84.14, Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Hearing such unfathomable words from the unlimitedly wise Lord Kṛṣṇa, the learned brāhmaṇas remained silent, their minds bewildered.

SB 10.87.21, Translation:

My Lord, some fortunate souls have gotten relief from the fatigue of material life by diving into the vast nectar ocean of Your pastimes, which You enact when You manifest Your personal forms to propagate the unfathomable science of the self. These rare souls, indifferent even to liberation, renounce the happiness of home and family because of their association with devotees who are like flocks of swans enjoying at the lotus of Your feet.

SB 11.1.3, Translation:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead used the Yadu dynasty, which was protected by His own arms, to eliminate the kings who with their armies had been the burden of this earth. Then the unfathomable Lord thought to Himself, "Although some may say that the earth's burden is now gone, in My opinion it is not yet gone, because there still remains the Yādava dynasty itself, whose strength is unbearable for the earth."

SB 11.8.5, Translation:

A saintly sage is happy and pleasing in his external behavior, whereas internally he is most grave and thoughtful. Because his knowledge is immeasurable and unlimited he is never disturbed, and thus in all respects he is like the tranquil waters of the unfathomable and unsurpassable ocean.

SB 11.21.36, Translation:

The transcendental sound of the Vedas is very difficult to comprehend and manifests on different levels within the prāṇa, senses and mind. This Vedic sound is unlimited, very deep and unfathomable, just like the ocean.

SB 12.12.67, Translation:

I bow down to that unborn and infinite Supreme Soul, whose personal energies effect the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material universe. Even Brahmā, Indra, Śaṅkara and the other lords of the heavenly planets cannot fathom the glories of that infallible Personality of Godhead.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.43, Translation:

“O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Kindly hear my third reason. There are countless universes and fathomless transcendental Vaikuṇṭhas."

CC Adi 5.52, Translation:

Surrounding Vaikuṇṭha is a mass of water that is endless, unfathomed and unlimited.

CC Adi 5.157, Translation:

The ocean of Lord Nityānanda's glories is infinite and unfathomable. Only by His mercy can I touch even a drop of it.

CC Adi 5.234, Translation:

The glories of Lord Nityānanda's transcendental attributes are unfathomable. Even Lord Śeṣa, with His thousands of mouths, cannot find their limit.

CC Adi 6.36, Translation:

The glory and attributes of Advaita Ācārya are unlimited. How can the insignificant living entities fathom them?

CC Adi 6.117, Translation:

Your glories are as fathomless as millions of oceans and seas. Speaking of its measure is a great offense indeed.

CC Adi 8.46, Translation:

The pastimes of Lord Caitanya are unlimited and unfathomable. Therefore, in describing all those pastimes, the book became voluminous.

CC Adi 12.94, Translation:

The ocean of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is immeasurable and unfathomable. Who can have the courage to measure that great ocean?

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 1.89, Translation:

For the twenty-four years after Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the renounced order, whatever pastimes He executed were unlimited and unfathomable. Who can understand the purport of such pastimes ?

CC Madhya 6.81, Purport:

"I serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, the primeval Lord, the effulgence of whose transcendental body is known as the brahmajyoti. That brahmajyoti, which is unlimited, unfathomed and all-pervasive, is the cause of the creation of unlimited numbers of planets with varieties of climates and specific conditions of life." (Bs. 5.40)

CC Madhya 9.158, Translation:

“The transcendental pastimes of the Lord are unfathomable, and I do not know anything about them. Whatever You say I accept as the truth."

CC Madhya 9.363, Translation:

The pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are just like an unfathomable ocean. It is not possible for me to enter into it. Simply standing on the shore, I am but touching the water.

CC Madhya 16.288, Translation:

In this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performs His pastimes, which are unlimited and unfathomable. Somehow or other, these have briefly been described. It is not possible to describe them elaborately.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 3.95, Translation:

The transcendental qualities of Haridāsa Ṭhākura are innumerable and unfathomable. One may describe a portion of them, but to count them all is impossible.

CC Antya 14.6, Translation:

How can one describe unfathomable subject matters? It is possible only if Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives him the capability.

CC Antya 14.53, Purport:

Udvega, mental agitation. This word is explained in the Haṁsa-dūta (104) as follows:

mano me hā kaṣṭaṁ jvalati kim ahaṁ hanta karavai

na pāraṁ nāvāraṁ su-mukhi kalayāmy asya jaladheḥ

iyaṁ vande mūrdhnā sapadi tam upāyaṁ kathaya me

parāmṛśye yasmād dhṛti-kaṇikayāpi kṣaṇikayā

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī addressed Lalitā, "My dear beautiful-faced Lalitā, I cannot express how My heart is burning. It is a great, unfathomable ocean of anxiety. Still, I wish to offer My obeisances at your lotus feet. What shall I do? Please consider My condition and advise Me how I can become peaceful. That is My desire."

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 22:

If one takes account of only one universe, he will find so many combinations of wonderful things within, because there are innumerable planets, innumerable residences and places of demigods. The diameter of the universe is four billion miles, and it is infested with many unfathomable regions known as Pātālas, or lower planetary systems. Although Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all this, He can always be seen in Vṛndāvana, exhibiting His inconceivable potencies. So who can adequately worship such an all-powerful Lord, possessed of such inconceivable energy?

Nectar of Devotion 31:

In the Dāna-keli-kaumudī it is stated, "When love develops in the heart of a devotee, he cannot check the transformation of his sentiments. His heart is just like the ocean at the rising of the moon, when the ebb tide cannot be checked: immediately there must be movement of high waves." Although in its natural state the ocean is always grave and unfathomable, when the moon rises, nothing can check the ocean's agitation. Similarly, those who are pure devotees cannot on any account check the movement of their feelings within.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 77:

When Śālva thought that Kṛṣṇa had been bewildered by his mystic representations, he became encouraged and began to attack the Lord with greater strength and energy by showering volleys of arrows upon Him. But the enthusiasm of Śālva can be compared to the speedy march of moths into a fire. Lord Kṛṣṇa, by hurling His arrows with unfathomable strength, injured Śālva, whose armor, bow and jeweled helmet all scattered in pieces. With a crashing blow from Kṛṣṇa's club, Śālva's wonderful airplane burst into pieces and fell into the sea.

Krsna Book 89:

This spiritual effulgence is the ultimate destination of the impersonalists known as Vedāntists. The brahmajyoti is also described as ananta-pāram, unlimited and unfathomed. When Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna reached this region of the brahmajyoti, Arjuna could not tolerate the glaring effulgence, and he closed his eyes. Lord Kṛṣṇa's and Arjuna's reaching the brahmajyoti region is described in the Hari-vaṁśa. In that portion of the Vedic literature, Kṛṣṇa informs Arjuna, “My dear Arjuna, the glaring effulgence, the transcendental light you are seeing, is My bodily rays.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.1:

Lord Caitanya confirms this in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (CC Madhya 8.128):

kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya

Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī, or a śūdra—regardless of what he is—he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore we can conclude that neither the karmīs nor the jñānīs can fathom the depths of the science of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. Especially the foolish karmīs are disqualified, for they generally consider Lord Kṛṣṇa an ordinary mortal, and this disregard for the Lord leads them to misconstrue the meaning of His words in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

One who is situated in knowledge of Kṛṣṇa and acts accordingly is executing devotional service. In pursuing the process initiated by Kapila man failed to fathom the same for hundreds and thousands of years. The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa has, in a few words, lifted the shroud of mystery and revealed the truth:

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies. Besides these, O might-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature. All created beings have their source in these two natures. Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both the origin and the dissolution.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.1:

Only a liberated, highly evolved soul can utter the Lord's name purely and thus achieve the highest realization, untainted love of Godhead. The speculative philosopher brāhmaṇa, who was very much addicted to sophism, could not fathom the saint's instructions and so ended up offending him. The foolish brāhmaṇa tried to impose his own interpretations on the excellences of the holy name and concluded that Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a mere sentimentalist. He insolently rebuked the saint in public and tried to ridicule his explanations and character.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.3:

From the writings of Dr. Radhakrishnan one can easily prove how he is perplexed in trying to fathom the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He tries to present Lord Kṛṣṇa as an extraordinary human being and a historical figure of India, but the Bhagavad-gītā makes such a task impossible.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

The energy of the Lord is like a fathomless ocean that remains undisturbed in all circumstances. It is shoreless, without beginning or end; therefore the process which directly manifests from this energy is omnipotent and can transport one to any heights or levels. The necessities for ocean travel are a ship, a navigator, a rudder, and a favorable wind. One must clearly understand that this human body is the most suitable ship to take us across the ocean of nescience, the spiritual master is the best navigator, the scriptures are the rudder, and the Lord's mercy is the perfect wind.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

There is a wide gulf between superficial dabbling in philosophy to impress people with a few stock phrases, and a sincere search for knowledge of the Absolute. Through the speculative process it is impossible to fathom the inconceivable topics concerning the Absolute Truth, for they can be understood only through the science of devotion.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 6.2.8 -- Vrndavana, September 11, 1975:

So therefore this age, Kali-yuga, is the ocean of faulty things. Doṣa-nidhi. Nidhi means ocean. And you will find... Just like unfathomed water in the ocean, Pacific Ocean, similarly, this Kali-yuga is the ocean of unfathomed sinful activities. Kalau doṣa-nidhe. But Śukadeva Gosvāmī said to Parīkṣit Mahārāja, kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan hy asti eko mahān guṇaḥ. In this age this ocean of faults, there is a very valuable thing. That is special concession to these fallen souls of this age. Because Kṛṣṇa is so kind, He is always anxious to deliver us. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmyaham (BG 4.7). He is father. He is the seed-giving father of all living entities. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, mamaivāṁśaḥ. So He is very unhappy. Of course, He cannot be unhappy. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). But at least, because we are His sons and we are rotting in this material world for sense gratification, in this way He is very sorry. Therefore He comes and teaches us, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām: (BG 18.66) "You rascal, why you are going here and there? Just surrender unto Me. I will give you..." But still, the rascals will not take.