Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.36

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Translation: "Then Lord Brahmā could see You possessing thousands and thousands of faces, legs, heads, hands, eyes, noses and ears. You were decorated with varieties of ornaments and weapons and very nicely dressed. Seeing You as Lord Viṣṅu with Your transcendental symptoms and form, Your legs extending to the lower planets, Lord Brahmā achieved transcendental bliss."

Prabhupāda:

evaṁ sahasra-vadanāṅghri-śiraḥ-karoru- nāsādya-karṅa-nayana ābharaṅayudhāḍhyam māyāmayaṁ sad-upalakṣita-sanniveśaṁ dṛṣṭvā mahā-puruṣam āpa mudaṁ viriñcaḥ [SB 7.9.36]

So in the previous verse we understood that Lord Brahmā executed severe austerity for hundreds of years just to become purified. Tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Bhāva, situation, or nature—bhāva, nature also—so we have a bhāva, nature, at the present moment which is not real bhāva. We have acquired this bhāva on account of long, long years' material association. But this bhāva can be changed. That is spiritual. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī also says bhāva, and another place, in Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ [Bg 10.8], bhāva.

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

So at the present moment we have got a bhāva: "I am this. I am that. I belong to this family. I belong to this nation." Bhāva is ecstasy, and everyone is overwhelmed with such kind of ecstasy. The politicians, they think that we are simply wasting time in chanting and dancing. "They have no sense how to improve the position of the country." They do not like, because they are in different bhāva. But we are trying to change that bhāva. The bhāva must be there. The whole Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is to purify the bhāva. Bhāva. That is stated here. Pariśuddha-bhāva. We are not negativating everything. We are simply changing from material bhāva to spiritual bhāva. That's all. Here is a big building, but there are many other hundreds and thousands of big building in this district or in this country. But here the bhāva is changed. The bhāva is changed. In your country there are many big, big skyscraper buildings. In comparison to those buildings, this is nothing. But still, you have come, spending thousands of dollars here, to change the bhāva. That is the... That is required. Otherwise, you American boys and girls, you have no business to come here to see this big building. No. To change the bhāva, that requires. That is very important thing.

So,

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170]

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam. That bhāva is changed. Bhakti means to change the bhāva. At the present moment we are in a different bhāva. It has to be cleansed, pariśuddha-bhāva. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpena or pariśuddha—clarified, cleansed bhāva. We have nothing to reject. Simply we have to change the bhāva. Budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ [Bg 10.8]

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

Budhā, those who are intelligent, budhā... Bodha. Bodha means intelligence, knowledge, and budhā, those who have got knowledge. So this is knowledge.

So Brahmā, Lord Brahmā, began austerity to change the bhāva. He is the first created living being. How much great he is. But because he came into this material world... He is coming from Viṣṅu, ātmā-yoni. Not only Brahmā; every one of us, we are coming from Viṣṅu. Every one of us, like the small sparks of fire, we are coming from the big fire. That's a fact. But as soon as we come to this material world, our that quality, fiery quality, extinguished. Therefore we have to revive the fiery quality, change of bhāva. Pariśuddha-bhāva. As soon as I come... The same example: the big fire and there are sparks, small fire. We are not big fire; we are small, sparklike. The spark, so long it is with the fire, it is very beautiful. The fire is also beautiful, and the spark is also beautiful. And if by chance the fire falls down, the small... The big fire never falls down. Therefore Kṛṣṅa is acyuta. He never falls down. If He comes in this material world, He does not fall down. Etad īśanam īśasya [SB 1.11.38]. This is His all-powerful. He comes also in this material world. He says, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. Paritrāṅāya. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmi [Bg 4.7]. He also comes, but He does not fall down. We fall down.

The Māyāvādī philosopher cannot understand this. They think that anyone who comes in this material world, he under the influence of māyā. That is right for the small living entities, as we are. That is not correct for the Supreme. Therefore they misunderstand Kṛṣṅa in His activities, especially when He dances with the gopīs. Therefore a neophyte person should not try to understand Kṛṣṅa's dancing with the gopīs immediately, because they do not know Kṛṣṅa. So here, if we do something against the moral principles, we are liable to be punished. But Kṛṣṅa..., about Kṛṣṅa it is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, apāpa-viddham [Īśo mantra 8]. You know this. Apāpa-viddham. [people talking in background] [aside:] Who is that? He does not become affected by any pāpa. Apāpa-viddham. That is His nature. Etad īśanam īśasya. Just like we go into the fire—we become burned into ashes. But there are some others, not... We cannot see, but if Kṛṣṅa enters... Yes, there are many. Just like in the forest fire, all the Vṛndāvana inhabitants they became very much afraid of the forest fire, Vṛndāvana, the cows and the cowherd boys and inhabitants. But they had no other means how to stop. They began to pray to Kṛṣṅa, "Kṛṣṅa, save us." So Kṛṣṅa swallowed up the fire. That is Kṛṣṅa. That is the difference between Kṛṣṅa and ourself. So this difference of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's greatness we can see when we have purified ourself, tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Then it is possible. That is... The whole bhakti system means tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ.

So evaṁ sahasra-vadana. Sahasra-vadana. This virāṭ-rūpa. This is māyāmayam. Kṛṣṅa's virāṭ-rūpa is another feature. His real rūpa, or form, is dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara, two hands. That is His original form. There is in the Brahma-saṁhitā,

veṅuṁ kvaṅantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.30]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.]

That is Kṛṣṅa's real form. Veṅuṁ kvaṅantam: "He is playing on flute." But here it is said that sahasra-vadanāṅghri-śiraḥ-karoru. Here Brahmā saw He has got many sahasra... What is that? Sahasra-vadana, faces, aṅghri. As soon as there is face, as soon as there is one face, there must be two legs, two hands. So He appeared before Brahmā with thousands of faces. So similarly, number of hands and legs must increase proportionately. So Lord Brahmā saw Him in His virāṭ-rūpam, virāṭ-rūpam. Kṛṣṅa, Brahman, Brahman, Para-brahman. Para-brahman means the great, the great. And He is Para-brahman. Nobody is greater than Him. So if anyone wants to see Kṛṣṅa in His Para-brahman rūpa, then He exhibits His virāṭ-rūpa. Just like Arjuna saw virāṭ-rūpa, the same. But that is not His natural form. That is māyāmayam. Because one... Suppose one wants to see God and he is not very advanced. Even if he's advanced, sometimes we want to see the superior in His great opulence. But the Vṛndāvana-vāsī, they are so affectionate, so attached to Kṛṣṅa, they do not want. They do not want to know what is God. They simply want Kṛṣṅa, to love. This is Vṛndāvana. There is no necessity.

Kṛṣṅa manifested in so many ways big, big activities in Vṛndāvana, killing daily almost a demon. But still, the Vṛndāvana-vāsī did not accept Him as the Supreme Lord. They thought that some demigod has appeared. They did not know that He is the Supreme Lord. That is another māyā, yoga-māyā. If the Vṛndāvana-vāsī saw Kṛṣṅa that He is the Supreme Lord, then they could not love Him so nicely, because too much opulent conception diminishes natural love. Therefore in the Vṛndāvana there is no such exhibition of Kṛṣṅa's form. But in the material world, just to convince Brahmā that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He appeared, sahasra vadanāṅghri-śiraḥ-karoru-nāsādya-karṅa-nayanābharaṅaya-āyudhāḍhyam. Not only many faces, many ears, many legs, but each of them very nicely decorated. You have seen the picture of Lord Viṣṅu: very decorated, very much decorated. But you'll see Kṛṣṅa, He is decorated with the Vṛndāvana flowers. That is Kṛṣṅa's real form. He does not appear with many hands, many ornaments, many... No. Simple boy.

So yaśodā-nandana gopī-jana-rañjana yamunā-tīra... What is that?

Devotees: Vana-cārī.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is always yaśodā-nandana. He is always ready to be chastised by Mother Yaśodā, by the gopīs, and sometimes by His friends. That is Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṅa. That is real Kṛṣṅa; that is real God. And this form of God as Brahmā saw, virāṭ-rūpa, that is māyāmayam. Because Brahmā, such exalted person he was meant for creating this universe, he becomes bewildered seeing Kṛṣṅa as a cowherd boy. That was also exhibited. When Brahmā understood that "A cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana is said to be the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṅa, my master," so he also examined whether Kṛṣṅa, that boy, was his master. He took away His calves and cowherd boys for a second, and he saw that Kṛṣṅa has expanded Himself to so many cows and calves and cowherd boys. Then he submitted. Similarly, Indra also wanted to examine Him. So everyone... Śiva-viriñci-nutam [SB 11.5.33].

[My dear Lord, You are the Mahā-puruṣa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and I worship Your lotus feet, which are the only eternal object of meditation. Those feet destroy the embarrassing conditions of material life and freely award the greatest desire of the soul, the attainment of pure love of Godhead. My dear Lord, Your lotus feet are the shelter of all holy places and of all saintly authorities in the line of devotional service and are honored by powerful demigods like Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. My Lord, You are so kind that You willingly protect all those who simply bow down to You with respect, and thus You mercifully relieve all the distress of Your servants. In conclusion, my Lord, Your lotus feet are actually the suitable boat for crossing over the ocean of birth and death, and therefore even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva seek shelter at Your lotus feet.]

Yatra muhyanti sūrayaḥ. So even Lord Brahmā, Lord Indra and others, big, big demigods, they become bewildered to understand Kṛṣṅa. So Brahmā saw the virāṭ-rūpa. Māyāmayaṁ sad-upalakṣita-sanniveśaṁ dṛṣṭvā mahā-puruṣam āpa mudaṁ viriñcaḥ. But when he saw the Lord, he was very, very happy.

So our... Pure Vaiṣṅava, they do not want to see even Kṛṣṅa. They are satisfied with the service of Kṛṣṅa. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy. Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratam pinaṣṭu māṁ marma-hatāṁ karotu vā [Cc Antya 20.47].

[Let Kṛṣṅa tightly embrace this maidservant who has fallen at His lotus feet, or let Him trample Me or break My heart by never being visible to Me. He is a debauchee, after all, and can do whatever He likes, but still He alone, and no one else, is the worshipable Lord of My heart.]

Marma-hatāṁ karotu vā. A pure Vaiṣṅava, he simply always expects, "When that time will come, Kṛṣṅa will be pleased to accept me?" Otherwise he is not very hasty. But he is interested with the service. That is pure Vaiṣṅava. A pure Vaiṣṅava can go to the hell for serving Kṛṣṅa, but he is not aspirant for his personal comfort. Any condition. Mama janmani janmanīśvare. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. Janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye [Cc Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4].

[O Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service to You.]

Āśliṣya va pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu māṁ marma-hatāṁ karotu vā [Cc Antya 20.47, Śikṣāṣṭaka 8].

[Let Kṛṣṅa tightly embrace this maidservant who has fallen at His lotus feet, or let Him trample Me or break My heart by never being visible to Me. He is a debauchee, after all, and can do whatever He likes, but still He alone, and no one else, is the worshipable Lord of My heart.]

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is very great movement, more valuable than the conception of Lord Śiva or Lord Brahmā, because it is given by Kṛṣṅa personally, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So do not try to see Kṛṣṅa in His virāṭ form. Simply try to serve Him in humble position. Then your life will be successful.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! [end]