Krishna's Opulences

Not Even Brahma & Siva can estimate Lord's Qualities

Madhya 21.13, SB 2.7.41

nāntaḿ vidāmy aham amī munayo 'grajās te
māyā-balasya puruṣasya kuto 'varā ye
gāyan guṇān daśa-śatānana ādi-devaḥ
śeṣo 'dhunāpi samavasyati nāsya pāram

SYNONYMS

na antam — no limit; vidāmi — know; aham — I; amī — those; munayaḥ — great saintly persons; agrajāḥ — brothers; te — of you; māyā-balasya — who has multi-energies; puruṣasya — of the Personality of Godhead; kutaḥ — how; avarāḥ — less intelligent; ye — those who; gāyan — chanting; guṇān — the qualities; daśa-śata-ānanaḥ — who has a thousand hoods; ādi-devaḥ — the Personality of Godhead; śeṣaḥ — Ananta Śeṣa; adhunā api — even until now; samavasyati — reaches; na — not; asya — of the Lord; pāram — limit.

TRANSLATION

"'If I, Lord Brahmā, and your elder brothers, the great saints and sages, cannot understand the limits of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of various energies, who else can understand them? Although constantly chanting about His transcendental qualities, the thousand-hooded Lord Śeṣa has not yet reached the end of the Lord's activities.'

Only One Favored by the Lord can Understand the Lord

SB 2.7.42

yeṣāḿ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ
sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāḿ
naiṣāḿ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye

SYNONYMS

yeṣām — unto those only; saḥ — the Lord; eṣaḥ — the; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; dayayet — does bestow His mercy; anantaḥ — the unlimited potential; sarva-ātmanā — by all means, without reservation; āśrita-padaḥ — surrendered soul; yadi — if such surrender; nirvyalīkam — without pretension; te — those only; dustarām — insurmountable; atitaranti — can overcome; ca — and the paraphernalia; deva-māyām — diverse energies of the Lord; na — not; eṣām — of them; mama — mine; aham — myself; iti — thus; dhīḥ — conscious; śva — dogs; śṛgāla — jackals; bhakṣye — in the matter of eating.

TRANSLATION

But anyone who is specifically favored by the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, due to unalloyed surrender unto the service of the Lord, can overcome the insurmountable ocean of illusion and can understand the Lord. But those who are attached to this body, which is meant to be eaten at the end by dogs and jackals, cannot do so.

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Viraja River (Karana Ocean) Separates the material and Spiritual Worlds
Madhya 21.50-51

pradhāna-parama-vyomnor
antare virajā nadī
vedāńga-sveda-janitais
toyaiḥ prasrāvitā śubhā

SYNONYMS

pradhāna-parama-vyomnoḥ antare — between the material world and the spiritual world; virajā nadī — is a river known as Virajā; veda-ańga — of the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; sveda-janitaiḥ — produced from the perspiration; toyaiḥ — with water; prasrāvitā — flowing; śubhā — all-auspicious.

TRANSLATION

"'Between the spiritual and the material world is a body of water known as the river Virajā. This water is generated from the bodily perspiration of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Vedāńga. Thus the river flows.'

tasyāḥ pāre para-vyoma
tri-pād-bhūtaḿ sanātanam
amṛtaḿ śāśvataḿ nityam
anantaḿ paramaḿ padam

SYNONYMS

tasyāḥ pāre — on the other bank of the Virajā River; para-vyoma — the spiritual sky; tri-pāt-bhūtam — existing as three fourths of the opulence of the Supreme Lord; sanātanam — eternal; amṛtam — without deterioration; śāśvatam — without being subjected to the control of time; nityam — constantly existing; anantam — unlimited; paramam — supreme; padam — abode.

TRANSLATION

"'Beyond the river Virajā is the spiritual nature, which is indestructible, eternal, inexhaustible and unlimited. It is the supreme abode, consisting of three fourths of the Lord's opulences. It is known as paravyoma, the spiritual sky.'

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Color of Yuga Avataras

SB (10.8.13), Madhya 20.331

āsan varṇās trayo hy asya
gṛhṇato 'nu-yugaḿ tanūḥ
śuklo raktas tathā pīta
idānīḿ kṛṣṇatāḿ gataḥ

SYNONYMS

āsan — there were; varṇāḥ — colors; trayaḥ — three; hi — certainly; asya — of your son; gṛhṇataḥ — accepting; anu-yugam — according to the millennium; tanūḥ — body; śuklaḥ — white; raktaḥ — red; tathā — as well as; pītaḥ — yellow; idānīm — just now; kṛṣṇatām gataḥ — He has assumed a blackish hue.


"'This child formerly had three colors according to the prescribed color for different millenniums. Formerly He was white, red and yellow, and now He has assumed a blackish color.'

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Mantra for Dvapara Yuga

Madhya 20.338, SB 11.5.29

namas te vāsudevāya
namaḥ sańkarṣaṇāya ca
pradyumnāyāniruddhāya
tubhyaḿ bhagavate namaḥ

"'I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, expanded as Vāsudeva, Sańkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.'

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Lord Krishna personally inaugurates Sankirtana

Madhya 20.341

dharma pravartana kare vrajendra-nandana
preme gāya nāce loka kare sańkīrtana

"Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, personally introduces the occupational duty of the Age of Kali. He personally chants and dances in ecstatic love, and thus the entire world chants congregationally.

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We can attain knowledge only through the bonafide scriptures

Madhya 20.353

sarvajña munira vākya — śāstra-'paramāṇa'
āmā-sabā jīvera haya śāstra-dvārā 'jñāna'

"The Vedic literatures composed by the omniscient Mahāmuni Vyāsadeva are evidence of all spiritual existence. Only through these revealed scriptures can all conditioned souls attain knowledge.

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How to identify an incarnation of God

Madhya 20.355, SB 10.10.34

yasyāvatārā jñāyante
śarīreṣv aśarīriṇaḥ
tais tair atulyātiśayair
vīryair dehiṣv asańgataiḥ

SYNONYMS

yasya — whose; avatārāḥ — incarnations; jñāyante — can be known; śarīriṣu — among the living entities; aśarīriṇaḥ — of the Lord, who has no material body; taiḥ taiḥ — all those; atulya — incomparable; atiśayaiḥ — extraordinary; vīryaiḥ — by prowess; dehiṣu — among the living entities; asańgataiḥ — impossible.

TRANSLATION

"'The Lord does not have a material body, yet He descends among human beings in His transcendental body as an incarnation. Therefore it is very difficult for us to understand who is an incarnation. Only by His extraordinary prowess and uncommon activities, which are impossible for embodied living entities, can one partially understand the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.'

Madhya 20.356

'svarūpa'-lakṣaṇa, āra 'taṭastha-lakṣaṇa'
ei dui lakṣaṇe 'vastu' jāne muni-gaṇa

"By two symptoms — personal characteristics and marginal characteristics — the great sages can understand an object.

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