Letters
Renewed Interest
I have really appreciated the last few issues of BTG. After sort of taking it for granted, I have recently started reading it carefully again. Thank you.
Gargaṛṣi Dāsa New Vrindavan, West Virginia, USA
Stumbling Blocks
I have come across Back to Godhead through a friend in Mauritius, and most especially the correspondence column. I like it. Now, I agree that this movement is a very scientific movement, and also I appreciate the philosophical aspect of God-realization. However, I have also studied the main scriptures, and I have some doubts that come as strumbling blocks to fully surrender to Kṛṣṅa. I am not trying to find fault, but trying to clear my misunderstandings.
My doubts have to do with your contention that Lord Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Godhead, above even Lord Viṣṅu, Lord Śiva, and others. Here is some evidence to the contrary.
(1) The Viṣṅu-sahasra-nāma, a genuine book appearing in the Padma Purāṅa, mentions that Lord Viṣṅu is the original Supreme Lord and He has sahasra-nāma [a thousand names], of which “Rāma” and “Kṛṣṅa” are prominent.
(2) In the Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, and in the Viṣṅu Purāṅa, it is said that Lord Viṣṅu is Vāsudeva, which means “the all-pervading One.”
(3) In the Bhaviśyat Purāṅa, Lord Śiva declares, “They who consider me or Brahmā to be different from Viṣṅu are endowed with crooked minds. They are tortured in the hells below.”
(4) In the Harivaṁśa (Kailāsa-yātrā chapter) Lord Śiva addresses Śrī Kṛṣṅa: “I am you, O all pervading Lord. You are verily myself, O Janardana. Between us, there is no difference, either in words or in their import.”
Mr. S. Ramsahye Quatre Bornes, Mauritius
Kālakaṅṭha Dāsa Replies:
Śrīla Prabhupāda has proven a consistent and logical understanding of the scriptures based on bhakti, surrender to Kṛṣṅa. So drawing solely from what I have received from Śrīla Prabhupāda, here are some answers to your questions:
(1) To indicate the superiority of Lord Kṛṣṅa, Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes a verse in the Brahmāṅḍa Purāṅa which states that chanting the name of Kṛṣṅa once is equal to chanting the thousand names of Viṣṅu three times. (See Śrīla Prabhupāda's Purports to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 9.32–33.)
(2) Lord Kṛṣṅa has many incarnations and expansions, and Lord Viṣṅu is in the category of full expansions, those that display the omnipotence of God. So, like Lord Kṛṣṅa, Lord Viṣṅu can be called Vāsudeva, or all-pervading, but that doesn’t mean He is the origin of Lord Kṛṣṅa.
In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.39 and 5.33), Lord Brahmā says:
rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu kṛṣṅaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kṛṣṅa], who is always situated in various incarnations such as Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, and many sub-incarnations as well, but who is the original Personality of Godhead known as Kṛṣṅa, and who incarnates personally also.”
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṅa-puruṣaṁ nava- yauvanaṁ ca vedeśu durlabham adurlabham ātma- bhaktau govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kṛṣṅa], who is the original person—absolute, infallible, without beginning. Although expanded into unlimited forms, He is still the same original, oldest person, always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord are usually understood by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.”
To further clarify Kṛṣṅa's relationship with His incarnations, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, “There is no difference, however, among Them. This is very nicely explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.46): dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya. With one candle one may light a second candle, with the second a third and then a fourth, and in this way one can light thousands of candles, and no candle is inferior to another in distributing light. Every candle has the full potential candlepower, but there is still the distinction that one candle is the first, another the second, another the third, and another the fourth. Similarly, there is no difference between the immediate expansion of the Lord and His secondary expansion.”
Kṛṣṅa appears in countless incarnations, including Lord Viṣṅu. They are all equally worshipable, and yet Lord Kṛṣṅa holds a few special distinctions. An important verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.28) states, ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam: “All the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead.”
(3) Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are known as “qualitative incarnations” of Lord Visnu, an expansion of Lord Kṛṣṅa. Lord Brahmā is in charge of the mode of passion, and Lord Śiva the mode of ignorance. Brahmā and Śiva are in fact devotees of Lord Kṛṣṅa and Lord Viṣṅu. Lord Brahmā is the head of the sampradāya (disciplic succession) to which ISKCON belongs, and Lord Śiva is known as the greatest devotee of Lord Viṣṅu (vaiṣṅavānām yathā śambhuḥ).
As great devotees and partial incarnations, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva should not be considered different from Lord Kṛṣṅa. They are one with His purpose and desire. At the same time, they are not Kṛṣṅa. They are endowed with many of Lord Kṛṣṅa's qualities, but they are not fully empowered (viṣṅu-tattva) expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore they are not God, but exalted demigods, empowered by the Supreme Lord to fulfill essential purposes.
(4) Lord Caitanya taught the doctrine of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which means the inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference of the Supreme Lord and all other living beings. We are one with God because we are also spiritual by nature, but we are different from Him because He is infinite and we are small.
We can also be said to be one with God when we are one with Him in purpose, as is the case with Lord Śiva and other exalted beings. In the verse you quote, Lord Śiva says that Lord Kṛṣṅa's words are his words. We can easily understand this statement in the context of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. If you say something and I repeat it, your words are my words, but I have not become you.
The statements of the Vedic scriptures may sometimes seem contradictory. So we have to hear from self-realized souls like Śrīla Prabhupāda. I feel fortunate to have his guidance in understanding the Vedic conclusions. If we try to track down Kṛṣṅa through intellectual prowess, we’ll be unsuccessful. We need Kṛṣṅa's mercy, delivered by His pure devotees, to understand Him.
Hare Kṛṣṅa.
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