:: Chapter 10 :: The Opulence of the Absolute

Text 1

sri-bhagavan uvaca
bhuya eva maha-baho
srnu me paramam vacah
yat te 'ham priyamanaya
vaks yami hita-kamyaya

Synonyms

sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; bhuyah--again; eva--certainly; maha-baho--O mighty-armed; srnu--just hear; me--My; paramam--supreme; vacah--instruction; yat--that which; te--to you; aham--I; priyamanaya--thinking you dear to Me; vaksyami--say; hita-kamyaya--for your benefit.

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Listen again, O mighty-armed Arjuna. Because you are my dear friend, for your benefit I shall speak to you further, giving knowledge that is better than what I have already explained.

Purport

The word bhagavan is explained thus by Parasara Muni: one who is full in six opulences, who has full strength, full fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation, is Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. While Krisna was present on this earth, He displayed all six opulences. Therefore great sages like Parasara Muni have all accepted Krisna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now Krisna is instructing Arjuna in more confidential knowledge of His opulences and His work. Previously, beginning with the Seventh Chapter, the Lord has already explained His different energies and how they are acting. Now in this chapter He explains His specific opulences to Arjuna. In the previous chapter He has clearly explained His different energies to establish devotion in firm conviction. Again in this chapter He tells Arjuna about His manifestations and various opulences.

The more one hears about the Supreme God, the more one becomes fixed in devotional service. One should always hear about the Lord in the association of devotees; that will enhance one's devotional service. Discourses in the society of devotees can take place only among those who are really anxious to be in Krisna consciousness. Others cannot take part in such discourses. The Lord clearly tells Arjuna that because Arjuna is very dear to Him, for his benefit such discourses are taking place.

Text 2

ne me viduh sura-ganah
prabhavam na maharsayah
aham adir hi devanam
maharsinam ca sarvasah

Synonyms

na--never; me--My; viduh--know; sura-ganah--the demigods; prabhavam--origin, opulences; na--never; maha-rsayah--great sages; aham--I am; adih--the origin; hi--certainly; devanam--of the demigods; maha-rsinam--of the great sages; ca--also; sarvasah--in all respects.

Translation

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages.

Purport

As stated in the Brahma-samhita, Lord Krisna is the Supreme Lord. No one is greater than Him; He is the cause of all causes. Here it is also stated by the Lord personally that He is the cause of all the demigods and sages. Even the demigods and great sages cannot understand Krisna; they can understand neither His name nor His personality, so what is the position of the so-called scholars of this tiny planet? No one can understand why this Supreme God comes to earth as an ordinary human being and executes such wonderful, uncommon activities. One should know, then, that scholarship is not the qualification necessary to understand Krisna. Even the demigods and the great sages have tried to understand Krisna by their mental speculation, and they have failed to do so. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also it is clearly said that even the great demigods are not able to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They can speculate to the limits of their imperfect senses and can reach the opposite conclusion of impersonals, of something not manifested by the three qualities of material nature, or they can imagine something by mental speculation, but it is not possible to understand Krisna by such foolish speculation.

Here the Lord indirectly says that if anyone wants to know the Absolute Truth, "Here I am present as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am the Supreme." One should know this. Although one cannot understand the inconceivable Lord who is personally present, He nonetheless exists. We can actually understand Krisna, who is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, simply by studying His words in Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. The conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position.

Because most men cannot understand Krisna in His actual situation, out of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators. Yet despite the Supreme Lord's uncommon activities, these speculators, due to contamination in the material energy, still think that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme. Only the devotees who are fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord can understand, by the grace of the Supreme Personality, that He is Krisna. The devotees of the Lord do not bother about the impersonal Brahman conception of God; their faith and devotion bring them to surrender immediately unto the Supreme Lord, and out of the causeless mercy of Krisna they can understand Krisna. No one else can understand Him. So even great sages agree: What is atma, what is the Supreme? It is He whom we have to worship.

Text 3

yo mam ajam anadim ca
vetti loka-mahesvaram
asammudhah sa martyesu
sarva-papaih pramucyate

Synonyms

yah--anyone who; mam--Me; ajam--unborn; anadim--without beginning; ca--also; vetti--knows; loka--of the planets; maha-isvaram--the supreme master; asammudhah--undeluded; sah--he; martyesu--among those subject to death; sarva-papaih--from all sinful reactions; pramucyate--is delivered.

Translation

He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds--he only, undeluded among men, is freed from all sins.

Purport

As stated in the Seventh Chapter (7.3), manusyanam sahasresu kascidyatati siddhaye: those who are trying to elevate themselves to the platform of spiritual realization are not ordinary men; they are superior to millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization. But out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual situation, one who can come to the understanding that Krisna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the unborn, is the most successful spiritually realized person. In that stage only, when one has fully understood Krisna's supreme position, can one be free completely from all sinful reactions.

Here the Lord is described by the word aja, meaning "unborn," but He is distinct from the living entities who are described in the Second Chapter as aja. The Lord is different from the living entities who are taking birth and dying due to material attachment. The conditioned souls are changing their bodies, but His body is not changeable. Even when He comes to this material world, He comes as the same unborn; therefore in the Fourth Chapter it is said that the Lord, by His internal potency, is not under the inferior, material energy, but is always in the superior energy.

In this verse the words vetti loka-mahesvaram indicate that one should know that Lord Krisna is the supreme proprietor of the planetary systems of the universe. He was existing before the creation, and He is different from His creation. All the demigods were created within this material world, but as far as Krisna is concerned, it is said that He is not created; therefore Krisna is different even from the great demigods like Brahma and Siva. And because He is the creator of Brahma, Siva and all the other demigods, He is the Supreme Person of all planets.

Sri Krisna is therefore different from everything that is created, and anyone who knows Him as such immediately becomes liberated from all sinful reactions. One must be liberated from all sinful activities to be in the knowledge of the Supreme Lord. Only by devotional service can He be known and not by any other means, as stated in Bhagavad-Gita.

One should not try to understand Krisna as a human being. As stated previously, only a foolish person thinks Him to be a human being. This is again expressed here in a different way. A man who is not foolish, who is intelligent enough to understand the constitutional position of the Godhead, is always free from all sinful reactions.

If Krisna is known as the son of Devaki, then how can He be unborn? That is also explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam: When He appeared before Devaki and Vasudeva, He was not born as an ordinary child; He appeared in His original form, and then He transformed Himself into an ordinary child.

Anything done under the direction of Krisna is transcendental. It cannot be contaminated by material reactions, which may be auspicious or inauspicious. The conception that there are things auspicious and inauspicious in the material world is more or less a mental concoction because there is nothing auspicious in the material world. Everything is inauspicious because the very material nature is inauspicious. We simply imagine it to be auspicious. Real auspiciousness depends on activities in Krisna consciousness in full devotion and service. Therefore if we at all want our activities to be auspicious, then we should work under the directions of the Supreme Lord. Such directions are given in authoritative scriptures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-Gita, or from a bona fide spiritual master. Because the spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord, his direction is directly the direction of the Supreme Lord. The spiritual master, saintly persons and scriptures direct in the same way. There is no contradiction in these three sources. All actions done under such direction are free from the reactions of pious or impious activities of this material world. The transcendental attitude of the devotee in the performance of activities is actually that of renunciation, and this is called sannyasa. As stated in the first verse of the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-Gita, one who acts as a matter of duty because he has been ordered to do so by the Supreme Lord, and who does not seek shelter in the fruits of his activities (anasritah karma-phalam), is a true renouncer. Anyone acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord is actually a sannyasi and a yogi, and not the man who has simply taken the dress of the sannyasi, or a pseudo yogi.