Knowledge of the Absolute
So we are spirit souls? And we are ETERNALLY BLISSFUL?
(Please read the previous parts to this article series here.)
Now one must wonder: “How did the soul come to be?”
Difference between Kṛṣṇa and jīva
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they struggle very hard with the six senses, including the mind. BG 15.7
The origin of the souls is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As explained previously, we know that the soul is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. But since the soul is an infinitesimal fragment of Kṛṣṇa, it is qualitatively the same as Kṛṣṇa but quantitatively negligible. The spirit soul is covered with a material body. This material body develops because spirit is present within matter just like how a child grows gradually to boyhood and then to manhood. After all, that superior energy, spirit soul, is present in it. Similarly, the entire cosmic manifestation of the gigantic universe is developed because of Kṛṣṇa.
A fragment of the Lord, namely the living entity, may become the cause of the creation of a big skyscraper, a big factory, or even a big city, but he/she cannot be the cause of the creation of an entire universe. The cause of the entire multiverse is the Supreme Soul, or the Super Soul, Kṛṣṇa. And He is also the cause of all souls. Therefore He is the original cause of all causes. Now, just because we are qualitatively the same as Kṛṣṇa, to think that we are in any way comparable to, is nonsense. A spark is qualitatively the same as a blazing fire but a spark cannot even burn a leaf completely whereas a blazing fire can burn the entire forest.
Let us understand more about Kṛṣṇa.
The Energies of the Lord.
bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego — all together these eight constitute My separated material energies. BG 7.4
There are two energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One is His superior spiritual energy (souls like us) and the other is His separated material energy which is inferior. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego these eight constitute His separated material energies. The word “separated” here, indicates that although these material energies originated from Him, they are not a part of Him.
The separated material energies form all the matter we see around us in this multiverse. The superior spiritual energy represents the eternal fragments of the Lord, i.e spirit souls. When the spirit comes in contact with matter, it gets conditioned to the material world.
But didn’t Kṛṣṇa appear on Earth 5000 years ago? Didn’t He take birth just like us? Let’s find out.
Lord’s Transcendental Body
ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā
bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san
prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form. BG 4.6
The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His transcendental body as it never deteriorates. Whereas conditioned souls like us are forced to accept a different body at the time of birth life afterlife. In this material universe, Kṛṣṇa appears in His original eternal form, with two hands carrying a flute.
etad rūpaṁ bhagavato
hy arūpasya cid-ātmanaḥ
māyā-guṇair viracitaṁ
mahadādibhir ātmani
The conception of the virāṭ universal form of the Lord, as appearing in the material world, is imaginary. It is to enable the less intelligent [and neophytes] to adjust to the idea of the Lord’s having form. But factually the Lord has no material form. SB 1.3.30
He appears exactly in His eternal body, uncontaminated by this material world. It still appears that He takes His birth like an ordinary living entity and grows from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth. But astonishingly enough He never ages beyond youth. The Lord has spoken about the peculiarity of His birth: although He may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past “births,” as He mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā, whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before.
When the Lord is eternally present in His transcendental abode, why does He appear in this world?
Why the Lord appears?
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I appear, millennium after millennium. BG 4.8
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practices, at that time He descends to this world. He is completely free to act in many ways at His will. He, therefore, appears by His own will whenever there is a predominance of irreligiosity and a disappearance of true religion. When He appears He delivers the pious, annihilates the demonic, and restores the religious principles.
But the Lord appeared many times. Many religious principles were taught by Him.
If He appears in this world, What are His qualities? Why is He called Kṛṣṇa?
Qualities of the Lord
The Supreme Personality in particular has no name. He is referred to by His qualities. He is known as Kṛṣṇa, which means He is all-attractive. Yes, the Lord attracts everyone. He is known as Parameśvara which means Supreme Controller. Every one of us is a controller or īśvara as we all control something, it may be our hand or leg, but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Controller; He can control everything. He is called Govinda, One who gives pleasure to the senses. He is Vāsudeva or Devakī-nandana which means He appeared as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī. He is Puruṣottama, the best of all men. He is the seed-giving father as life came from Him.
sa vā idaṁ viśvam amogha-līlaḥ
sṛjaty avaty atti na sajjate ‘smin
bhūteṣu cāntarhita ātma-tantraḥ
ṣāḍ-vargikaṁ jighrati ṣaḍ-guṇeśaḥ
The Lord, whose activities are always spotless, is the master of the six senses and is fully omnipotent with six opulences. He creates the manifested universes, maintains them, and annihilates them without being in the least affected. He is within every living being and is always independent. SB 1.3.36
Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is defined as one who is full in each of the six opulences, i.e, who has full strength, fame, wisdom, wealth, beauty, and renunciation. When He appeared five thousand years ago, He demonstrated all these qualities.
No one can describe all His qualities perfectly. He is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss.
So in this article, we have understood who Kṛṣṇa is. In the coming articles, we will understand, what is our relationship with Him. The articles following this are going to describe the most important term ‘Kṛṣṇa Consciousness’.
Images selected by: Saksham Aggarwal
Edited by: MAUNIL CHOPRA and Yash Maheshwari
