Seven Feminine Opulences

BG 10.34 . . . Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience.

PURPORT

. . . The seven opulences listed—fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience—are considered feminine.

If a person possesses all of them or some of them they become glorious. If a person is famous as a righteous man, that makes him glorious.

Sanskrit is a perfect language and is therefore very glorious. If after studying one can remember a subject matter, a person is gifted with a good memory, or smrti.

And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to understand them and apply them when necessary is intelligence (medha), another opulence.

The ability to overcome unsteadiness is called firmness or steadfastness (dhrti).

And when one is fully qualified yet is humble and gentle, and when one is able to keep his balance both in sorrow and in the ecstasy of joy, he has the opulence called patience (ksama).

Krishna is full in all (6) opulences—namely:

1) strength,

2) wealth,

3) fame,

4) beauty,

5) knowledge and

6) renunciation.

So it seems that beauty is a masculine opulence?

In his Bhagavat-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Gosvami states:

“The complete conception of the Absolute Truth is realized in the Personality of Godhead

because He is almighty and

possesses full transcendental potencies.

The full potency of

the Absolute Truth

is not realized in the brahmajyoti;

therefore

Brahman realization is only partial

realization of the Personality of Godhead.

O learned sages,

the first syllable of the word bhagavan (bha)

has two meanings:

the first is ‘one who fully maintains,’ and

the second is ‘guardian.’

The second syllable (ga)

means ‘guide,’ ‘leader’ or ‘creator.’

The syllable (van)

indicates that every being lives in Him and

that He also lives in every being.

In other words, the transcendental sound bhagavan

represents infinite:

knowledge,

potency,

energy,

opulence,

strength and

influence

—all without a tinge of material inebriety.”