Krishna
About Krishna
KrishnaKrishna, "the all-attractive One," specifically indicates the original, unique Supreme Personality, the source of all that exists. The names Allah, Vishnu, Jehovah, and God refer to His roles as creator, maintainer of the universe, and Lord of all, while Krishna means the complete, supreme Person as He is, and as He appears to His most dear and devoted associates.
Krishna expands into unlimited other forms of God to create and maintain the material world, while He Himself prefers to perpetually enjoy an infinite variety of loving relationships with His devotees in the spiritual world.
He visits this world from time to time to free His devotees from material existence and eliminate evildoers. On such occasions, Krishna comes either as Himself or as one of His many other avatars. He performs superhuman pastimes—lifting mountains with His pinky finger, swallowing forest fires, and killing numerous extraordinarily powerful demons, asuras—as easily as a child playing with toys.
Descriptions of Krishna
One of Krishna’s many names is adhokshaja, He who is beyond the material senses. God is a spiritual person, and to see Him we need spiritual vision. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that He covers Himself from the sight of the envious with a curtain of illusion (maya).
However, many Vedic writings, especially the Srimad-Bhagavatam, contain detailed descriptions of Krishna by His devotees. They say He has a stunningly beautiful spiritual form (Krishna means "all-attractive"), He plays a flute, His complexion is like a dark rain cloud, He wears peacock feathers in His long, black, curly hair, the soles of His feet are decorated with auspicious symbols, His voice is like rumbling thunder, and a unique gem—Kaustubha—hangs around His neck, along with a garland of ever-fresh flowers, attracting bees humming Vedic hymns.
Who Is God?
from Back To Godhead Magazine #25-05, 1991
by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
One Christmas, Life magazine did a cover story entitled “Who is God?” They asked that question of many people and printed the replies. The color photos of worshipers throughout the world showed many ways of approaching God. Life said, “The God of our story is the God of personal, private faith.” Intrigued by the topic, I asked myself, “Okay, what’s your answer to ‘Who is God?’”
My personal faith in God comes from my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, and from the Vedic scriptures. The intimations I had of God’s presence when I was a child were faint indications only. Real God consciousness began for me when I met Srila Prabhupada and heard about Lord Krishna. It is the Supreme Lord who speaks the Bhagavad-gita whom I wish to serve and love.
God is revealed not only in the Vedic scriptures but in other scriptures of the great world religions. The worshipers appear to have different understandings, yet the expert spiritual master knows that the essence of religion is one—love of God. The details differ with the time in which religion is taught, the persons to whom it is taught, and the place where it is taught.
We cannot deny that God comes to people in His own way. One Life testimony was from an old woman who didn’t know for sure whether there is a next life or whether there is God. A housemaid from Beirut said that God is a very old black person and He wears a long white robe.
Everyone is entitled to his or her own faith. But there is a science of revelation. God shouldn’t be discussed only by hunches. We have a right to our own feelings, but the feelings need to be directed.
I cannot claim to be more directly touched by God than others. But my point is that we should become educated in our God consciousness. We shouldn’t deliberately avoid this education, thinking that it’s sectarian. And we shouldn’t, like some people, take God in a sentimental way and think that sacred books and teachers are useless.
In our relationship with God, the most important relationship of our lives, it is best that we approach reliable sources of study. Srila Prabhupada used to say that religion without philosophy is sentiment or fanaticism, and philosophy without religion is dry speculation. Therefore pure devotees of Krishna are bhaktivedantas: they approach God through devotion (bhakti) as well as through scriptural knowledge and the power of reasoning (vedanta).
Who is God? Only God Himself knows this answer completely, and therefore we should hear from Him. In the Bhagavad- gita and other scriptures, Lord Krishna tells us, “I can be known only by devotional service.” Krishna also makes it easy for us to know Him by telling us He can be seen even within the material world. He says, “I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and the ability in man” (Bhagavad-gita 7.8).
There are symptoms of a person who has realized God. The chief symptom is that he always serves and praises his Supreme Beloved. He cannot bear to be away from Krishna’s service for even a moment. When people come in contact with such a pure devotee, they also become attracted to hearing and chanting about the Supreme. And the result of such knowledgeable devotional service is that one can ultimately attain to Sri Krishna’s eternal abode.
Frankly, some of the witnessing in Life turned me off. A rancher thinks God is pleased when he kills cows.
A boy from India says, “It would be pretty boring sticking to one God every day.… My dad bought this lottery pen. It shoots out numbers like in the lottery … so when I pray I take a number. Whichever number comes out I pray to that God.”
I know that any progress toward God-worship is worthwhile. The Supreme Lord considers all worshipers pious, even when they approach Him for material relief through the demigods. But should we consider all God conscious persons to be on the same level? Krishna says, “As all approach Me I reciprocate. Everyone is on My path.” But He also advises that the best devotees are they who approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead not for any profit but just out of love. This topmost way of knowing God is bhakti- yoga. Krishna calls it “the king of all knowledge.” And He advises that we eventually give up all lesser forms of religion and “Just surrender to Me.”
In former ages, persons determined to know “Who is God?” used to undergo severe austerities to reach the goal. Because the difficult practices of yoga and meditation are mostly no longer possible in the present age, Lord Caitanya has taught us an easy method, one authorized by scriptures: chanting the holy names of God. The holy names are not different from God Himself, so a sincere chanter can make quick advancement in God consciousness.
For the most part I enjoyed reading Life’s faithful testimonies. They’re certainly more encouraging than statements by nonbelievers. I honor the witnesses. It is an education to meet God-fearing, God-loving persons. And if we can learn to appreciate one another, we can go a long way toward defeating atheism. When devotees of God meet with open minds, I will find that “my” God is not so different from yours.
Who is Krishna? #2
Author of Searching For Vedic India, Devamrita Swami, describes Krishna as "the greatest mystery in life," and offers suggestions for any aspiring spiritualist on how to most thoroughly seek God.
Krishna as the Supreme Person: References
Krishna has many forms. As "Krishna" means "the all-attractive One," He has unlimited other names describing the qualities He manifests in the other forms in which He appears, such as "Narayana" ("shelter of all living beings"), or "Vishnu" ("maintainer of the universe").
- Bhagavad-gita, 10.12
"You (Krishna) are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest. All the great sages such as Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me."- Arjuna
- Brahma-samhita, 5.1
"Krishna, who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes."- Lord Brahma
- Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.1.1:
"O my Lord, Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Krishna because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmaji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krishna, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth."- Srila Vyasadeva, author and editor of the Vedas
- Bhagavad-gita, 5.29:
"A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries."- Lord Krishna
- Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi-lila 5.142:
"Lord Krishna alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so."
- Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami
- Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi-lila 7.7
"Krishna, the reservoir of all pleasure, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, the supreme controller. No one is greater than or equal to Sri Krishna, yet He appears as the son of Maharaja Nanda."- Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami
- Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.68.37, as well as Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.306
“‘What is the value of a throne to Lord Krishna? The masters of the various planetary systems accept the dust of His lotus feet on their crowned heads. That dust makes the holy places sacred, and even Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, Laksmi and I Myself, who are all portions of His plenary portion, eternally carry that dust on our heads.’- Lord Balarama
- Bhagavad-gita, 7.7:
"O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."- Lord Krishna
- Bhagavad-gita, 10.12-13, Purport:
"In the Kena Upanishad it is stated that the Supreme Brahman is the rest for everything, and Krishna has already explained that everything is resting on Him. The Mundaka Upanishad confirms that the Supreme Lord, in whom everything is resting, can be realized only by those who engage constantly in thinking of Him." - Atharva Veda (Gopala-tapani Upanishad 1.24): yo brahmanam vidadhati purvam yo vai vedams ca gapayati sma krsnah: "It was Krishna who in the beginning instructed Brahma in Vedic knowledge and who disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past."
- for a discussion of this verse, see Bhagavad-gita, 10.8, Purport
- Narayana Upanishad (1): "atha puruso ha vai narayano 'kamayata prajah srjeyeti: 'Then the Supreme Personality Narayana desired to create living entities.' The Upanisad continues; narayanad brahma jayate, narayanad prajapatih prajayate, narayanad indro jayate, narayanad astau vasavo jayante, narayanad ekadasa rudra jayante, narayanad dvadasadityah: 'From Narayana, Brahma is born, and from Narayana the patriarchs are also born. From Narayana, Indra is born, from Narayana the eight Vasus are born, from Narayana the eleven Rudras are born, from Narayana the twelve Adityas are born.' This Narayana is an expansion of Krishna."
- for a discussion of this verse, see Bhagavad-gita, 10.8, Purport
- Narayana Upanishad (4): "brahmanyo devaki-putrah: 'The son of Devaki, Krishna, is the Supreme Personality.' Then it is said, eko vai narayana asin na brahma na isano napo nagni-somau neme dyav-aprthivi na naksatrani na suryah: 'In the beginning of the creation there was only the Supreme Personality Narayana. There was no Brahma, no Siva, no water, no fire, no moon, no heaven and earth, no stars in the sky, no sun.'"
- for a discussion of this verse, see Bhagavad-gita, 10.8, Purport
- Mahabharata, Moksha-dharma:
"prajapatim ca rudram capy
aham eva srjami vai
tau hi mam na vijanito
mama maya-vimohitau'The patriarchs, Siva and others are created by Me, though they do not know that they are created by Me because they are deluded by My illusory energy.'"
- Lord Krishna. For a discussion of this verse, see Bhagavad-gita, 10.8, Purport
- Varaha Purana:
"narayanah paro devas
tasmaj jatas caturmukhah
tasmad rudro 'bhavad devah
sa ca sarva-jnatam gatah'Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him Brahma was born, from whom Siva was born.'"
- for a discussion of this verse, see Bhagavad-gita, 10.8, Purport
- Bhagavad-gita, 10.8: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts."
- Lord Krishna
Krishna's Appearances on Earth: References
Where we get our info - some scriptural references on Krishna's appearances on Earth:
- Bhagavad-gita, 4.7, Purport: "Although the Lord appears on schedule, namely at the end of the Dvapara-yuga of the twenty-eighth millennium of the seventh Manu in one day of Brahma, He has no obligation to adhere to such rules and regulations, because 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."
- Bhagavad-gita, 4.7: "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna), and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself."
- Lord Krishna
- Bhagavad-gita, 4.6: "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, by My internal energy I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form."
- Lord Krishna
- Bhagavad-gita, 4.6, Purport: "The Vedas also confirm that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unborn yet He still appears to take His birth in multimanifestations. The Vedic supplementary literatures also confirm that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body."
- Bhagavad-gita, Introduction: "Our only purpose is to present this Bhagavad-gita As It Is in order to guide the conditioned student to the same purpose for which Krishna descends to this planet once in a day of Brahma, or every 8,600,000,000 years."
- Bhagavad-gita, 4.9: "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."
- Lord Krishna
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