Who is Krsna?

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Taken from "Newsletter #28 of NZ Hare Krishna"

 

Whois Sri Krishna?

*******************

Krishna is God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This fact is

stated and corroborated in the Vedic scriptures and by various

authorities. Lord Brahma in Brahma Samhita says, "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" (BS 5.1). In the Bhagavata

Purana

Krishna becomes the chief object of devotion. After describing

various

incarnations of the Lord such as Rama, Balarama, Vamana, Nrsimha,

and

Vishnu, Srila Sukadeva Goswami states, "All of the above

mentioned

incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the

plenary

portions of the Lord, but Lord Krishna is the original

Personality of

Godhead" (SB 1.3.28).

Lord Shiva in Gita Mahatmya, states that "let there be only one

God -

Krishna, the son of Devaki" (Verse 7). In the Padma Purana it is

stated, "By scrutinizingly reviewing all the revealed scriptures

and

judging them again and again, it is now concluded that Lord

Narayana

is the Supreme Absolute Truth, and thus He alone should be

worshipped". Similarly it is said in the Skanda Purana, "In the

material world, which is full of darkness and dangers, combined

with

birth and death and full of different anxieties, the only way to

get

out of the great entanglement is to accept loving transcendental

devotional service to Lord Vasudeva. This is accepted by all

classes

of philosophers".

The position of Krishna as God is confirmed by great

personalities

like Narada, Asita, Devala, Vyasa, Parasara, Brahma and Shiva.

Finally

Krishna Himself confirms this fact in the Bhagavad Gita to His

friend

and devotee, Arjuna. He clearly says that He is "the Supreme Lord

of

all planets and demigods" (BG 5.29), that "there is no truth

superior

to Me" (BG 7.7) and - "I am the source of all spiritual and

material

worlds. Everything emanates from Me" (BG 10.8).

What is the position of Krishna?

********************************

As God, there is no one equal to or greater than Krishna. He is

the

original, unborn, eternal person, the most ancient, completely

independent, and the cause of all causes. Parasara Muni, the

father of

Srila Vyasadeva and a great scholar who had himself held the

position

of Vyasa in a previous kalpa, very nicely defines the position of

Bhagavana (God) as one Who is complete in six kinds of opulence

namely

- wisdom, beauty, fame, power, wealth and renunciation. While

there

are many great personalities who are very famous or very wealthy,

only

Krishna as God is replete in all six opulence.

The scriptures not only give us the unique position of Krishna

but

also give us a detailed description of all His aspects. They tell

us

that above this temporary material universe is an eternal

spiritual

world called Vaikuntha, and Krishna lives in the topmost planet

of

this universe called Goloka Vrindavana which is full of palaces

made

of touch-stone (cintamani), with trees that are capable of

fulfilling

all desires (kalpa-vraksha) and cows that are called Surabhi.

Here Krishna eternally resides, served by hundreds and thousands

of

goddesses of fortune. He sports with His most confidential and

intimate devotees, headed by Srimati Radharani. He has a form

just

like us but His body is spiritual and thus eternal. His

complexion is

dark-blue, like that of a rain-filled cloud and His eyes are like

lotus petals. He is ever youthful, full of bliss and His beauty

excels

that of thousands of cupids. He likes to play the flute, He

sports a

crown with a peacock feather and He is adorned by the exquisite

kastuba jewel.

What is Krishna avatar?

************************

In Caitanya-caritamrita (2.20.263-264) it is stated that the

"avatara,

or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for

creating and maintaining the material manifestation. And the

particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is

called an incarnation, or avatara. Such incarnations are situated

in

the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When They descend to the

material creation, They assume the name avatar."

The Srimad Bhagavatam states that there are countless

incarnations

just like the waves of the oceans. They fall in various

categories

like lila (pastime), yuga (period of yuga), manavantara (period

of

Manu), purusa (Vishnu expansions) and shaktivesa (empowered).

These

avatars perform various pastimes based on the time, place and

circumstances, but their purpose is always the same - "to attract

the

conditioned souls back to their eternal spiritual abode".

The incarnations emanate from Vishnu. Maha-Vishnu is the original

cause of all material creation and from Him Garbhodakashai-Vishnu

expands and then Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu. Generally all incarnations

appearing within the material world are plenary portions of

Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu (also known as Hari).

However only once in a day of Lord Brahma (which lasts for 4.32

billion of our years), does Krishna descend in His original form,

as

the avataree, the cause of all avatars. When Krishna appears all

the

incarnations join with Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is

the

complete whole and all the plenary portions and incarnations

always

live with Him. So when Krishna appeared, Lord Vishnu was always

with

Him, and while Krishna enjoyed His pastimes in Vrindavana, the

killing

of the demons was actually carried out by the His Vishnu portion.

Since Krishna eternally resides in Vrindavana, when He left

Vrindavana

at the age of ten, it was His Vasudeva expansion that actually

left.

Appearance of Krishna

**********************

In the era of the Svayambhuva Manu, prajapati Sutapa and his wife

Prsni were instructed by Lord Brahma to have progeny. They

performed

severe austerities for twelve thousand years of the demigods to

have

the Lord as their child. Pleased by their austerities the Lord

appeared and granted them this benediction. Since He gave them

this

benediction three times, in Satya-yuga He first appeared as the

son of

Prsni and Sutapa and was called Prsnigarba. In Treta-yuga they

were

Aditi and Kasyapa Muni and the Lord appeared as Vamanadeva.

Finally in

the Dvapara yuga, Krishna in His original form, appeared as the

child

of Devaki and Vasudeva.

Krishna appeared specifically on the request of Bhudevi, the

presiding

deity of the Earth planet. Distressed by the burden of many

demons who

had appeared as powerful Kshatriyas and were ruling the planet

impiously, she assumed the form of a cow and pleaded to Lord

Brahma

for help. Lord Brahma with all the demigods prayed to Vishnu in

Svetadvipa by chanting the Purusa-sukta prayers. At this time the

Lord

informed Brahma that in order to establish religiosity and

destroy

evil, He would soon appear as His original Self. In the meantime

the

various demigods were instructed to take birth in various

families in

the Yadu dynasty and prepare for the appearance of the Lord.

Lifeline of Krishna

*******************

Historically, Lord Krishna appeared in the Dvapara yuga, on the

midnight of the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Sravana.

This

corresponds to July 19th 3228 BC. He exhibited His pastimes for a

little over 125 years and disappeared on February 18th 3102 BC on

the

new moon night of Phalguna. His departure marks the beginning of

the

current age of corruption known as Kali.

The great scholar Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti neatly outlines

Lord

Krishna's activities in this way. He was born in Mathura in the

prison

cell of Kamsa and carried to Gokula. The first three years and

four

months were spent in Gokula, then equal lengths of time in

Vrindavana

and Nandagram. At the age of eleven He left Vrindavan for Mathura

where He lived for eighteen years and four months, and finally

ninety-six years and eight months in Dvaraka totaling about 126

years

of manifest pastimes. At the time of Mahabharata, when Krishna

spoke

the Bhagavad Gita, He was about ninety years of age.

Pastimes of Krishna

*******************

The tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam describes the activities and

transcen dental pastimes of Sri Krishna. They are also described

in

the epic Mahabharata, specially in the Bhishma parva which also

contains the Bhagavad Gita. The pastimes of Krishna appeal to the

liberated souls, those that are trying to get liberated and also

to

the gross materialists.

The pastimes of Sri Krishna, known as Krishna-katha fall into two

categories. Words spoken by Krishna, as the Bhagavad Gita, and

words

spoken about Krishna, as in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Souls in the

liberated stage derive great pleasure in relishing anything and

everything related to Krishna. For those that are trying to be

liberated, Krishna-katha makes their path of liberation very

clear. By

studying the Gita one becomes fully conscious of the position of

Sri

Krishna; and when one is situated at the lotus feet of the Lord,

he

understands the narration's of Krishna as described in the Srimad

Bhagavatam.

Even the gross materialists are attracted by the pleasure

pastimes of

Krishna with the Gopis and His wives. Even though the loving

affairs

of Krishna have nothing to do with the gross, mundane sex

affairs,

they attract the people engrossed in sense-gratification and

gradually

elevate them to higher levels of spirituality.

Causeless mercy of Krishna

*************************

Even though Krishna is completely self sufficient and self

satisfied,

He descends for the benefit of all the conditioned souls. His

most

endearing quality is that of "bhakta vatsala". His pure devotees

are

always trying to please Him, and He is always trying to please

His

devotees. Just as He lives in the heart of His devotees, His

devotees

constantly reside in Him.

Krishna is so merciful that He not only helps His devotees, but

also

those who are envious of Him. Krishna destroys evil by providing

them

with an opportunity to take up devotion.

On the greatly auspicious day of Krishna-Janamashtami, let us all

pray

to Sri Krishna for a drop of His causeless mercy, for only that

alone

is sufficient to take us out from this material word, back home,

back

to Godhead.