Sri Brahma-Samhita
Self realization of Brahma
Introduction
TEXTS
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Brahma-Samhita

TEXT 1

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

SYNONYMS

isvarah--the controller; paramah--supreme; krsnah--Lord Krsna; sat--comprising eternal existence; cit--absolute knowledge; ananda--and absolute bliss; vigrahah--whose form; anadih--without beginning; adih--the origin; govindah--Lord Govinda; sarva-karana-karanam--the cause of all causes.

TRANSLATION

Krsna 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.

PURPORT

Krsna is the exalted Supreme entity having His eternal name, eternal form, eternal attribution and eternal pastimes. The very name "Krsna" implies His love-attracting designation, expressing by His eternal nomenclature the acme of entity. His eternal beautiful heavenly blue-tinged body glowing with the intensity of ever-existing knowledge has a flute in both His hands. As His inconceivable spiritual energy is all-extending, still He maintains His all-charming medium size by His qualifying spiritual instrumentals. His all-accommodating supreme subjectivity is nicely manifested in His eternal form. The concentrated all-time presence, uncovered knowledge and inebriating felicity have their beauty in Him. The mundane manifestive portion of His own Self is known as all-pervading Paramatma, Isvara (Superior Lord) or Visnu (All-fostering). Hence it is evident that Krsna is sole Supreme Godhead. His unrivaled or unique spiritual body of superexcellent charm is eternally unveiled with innumerable spiritual instrumentals (senses) and unreckonable attributes keeping their signifying location properly, adjusting at the same time by His inconceivable conciliative powers. This beautiful spiritual figure is identical with Krsna and the spiritual entity of Krsna is identical with His own figure.

The very intensely blended entity of eternal presence of felicitous cognition is the charming targeted holding or transcendental icon. It follows that the conception of the indistinguishable formless magnitude (Brahman) which is an indolent, lax, presentment of cognitive bliss, is merely a penumbra of intensely blended glow of the three concomitants, viz., the blissful, the substantive and the cognitive. This transcendental manifestive icon Krsna in His original face is primordial background of magnitudinal infinite Brahman and of the all-pervasive oversoul. Krsna as truly visioned in His variegated pastimes, such as owner of transcendental cows, chief of cowherds, consort of milk-maids, ruler of the terrestrial abode Gokula and object of worship by transcendental residents of Goloka beauties, is Govinda. He is the root cause of all causes who are the predominating and predominated agents of the universe. The glance of His projected fractional portion in the sacred originating water viz., the personal oversoul or Paramatma, gives rise to a secondary potency--nature who creates this mundane universe. This oversoul's intermediate energy brings forth the individual souls analogously to the emanated rays of the sun.

Gokula, like Goloka, is not a created mundane plane--unbounded character forms the display of His unlimited potency and His propagating manifestation. Baladeva is the mainstay of that energy. The transcendental entity of Baladeva has two aspects viz., infinite spiritual manifestation and infinite accommodating space for insentient gross things. The uniquadrantal delineation of material universe will be dealt with in the proper place. The triquadrantal extensions of the transcendental infinitary field of the almighty, unlamenting, nonperishing and nonapprehending unlimited situations of halo which are fully spiritual majestic foliation. This very majestical extension portrays the manifested lofty rich feature of the vaster unlimited region or greater atmosphere which has its resplendent location wholly beyond the realm of mundane nature, on the further shore of Viraja surrounded by the halo of Brahman or indistinguishable entity. This majestical power of unlimited spirit emanates on the upper portion of the luminous sphere into the most charming Gokula or eternally existing Goloka, exceedingly beautified by the assorted display of effulgence. Some designate this region as the abode of the Supreme Narayana, or the original fountainhead. Hence Gokula, which is identical with Goloka, is the supreme plane. The same sphere shines as Goloka and Gokula respectively by its upper or transcendental and lower or mundane situation.

Sri Sanatana Gosvami has told us as follows in his Brhad-bhagavatamrta which embodies the final essence of all the books of instructions: "He displays His pastimes here in this land as He is used to do in Goloka. The difference between the two planes lies only in their locations as high and low; that is, in other words, Krsna plays exactly the same part in Goloka as He exhibits on the mundane plane of Gokula. There is practically no difference between Gokula and Goloka save that this what exists in the shape of Goloka in the upper region is the same as Gokula on the mundane plane when Krsna showed His various activity there. Sri Jiva Gosvami has also inculcated the same in the Bhagavat-sandarbha of his 'Six Treatises.' " To ascertain the plane of Goloka--Vrndavana is the eternal abode of Krsna and Goloka and Vrndavana are identically one, and though both are identical, yet Krsna's inconceivable energy has made Goloka the acme of this spiritual kingdom and Gokula of Mathura province forming a part of the mundane plane which is also a manifestation of triquadrantal vibhuti (conducting majesty). Poor human understanding cannot possibly make out how the extensive triquadrantal, which is beyond human comprehension, can be accommodated in the limited nether material universe of a uniquadrantal disclosure. Gokula is a spiritual plane, hence his condescended position in the region of material space, time, etc., is in no way restricted but unlimitedly manifested with his full boundless propriety. But conditioned souls are apt to assert a material conception in regard to Gokula by their miserable senses so as to bring him below the level of their intellect. Though the eye of an observer is impeded by a cloud when gazing at the sun and though the tiny cloud can never really cover the sun, still the clouded vision apparently observes the sun as covered by the cloud. In just the same way the conditioned souls with their obscured intelligence, senses and decisions, accept Gokula as a piece of measurable land. We can see Gokula from Goloka which is eternal. This is also a mystery. The attainment of final beatitude is the success in attaining one's eternal self. The success in identifying the true self is finally achieved when the screen of gross and subtle coils of conditioned souls is removed by the sweet will of Krsna. However, the idea of Goloka is seen to differ from Gokula till the success in unalloyed devotion is achieved. The transcendental plane of infinite spiritual manifestation having thousands of petals and corolla like those of the lotus, is Gokula, the eternal abode of Krsna.
 
 

The transcendental pastimes of Krsna are twofold, viz., manifested and nonmanifested. The pastimes in Vrndavana visible to mortal eyes are the manifestive lila of Sri Krsna, and that which is not so visible, is nonmanifestive lila of Krsna. The nonmanifestive lila is always visible in Goloka and the same is visible to human eyes in Gokula, if Krsna so desires. In his Krsna-sandarbha Sri Jiva Gosvami Prabhu says, "Nonmanifestive pastimes are expressed in manifestive krsna-lila. and goloka-lila is the nonmanifestive pastimes of Krsna visualized from the mundane plane." This is also corroborated by Sri Rupa in his Bhagavatamrta. The progressive transcendental manifestation of Gokula is Goloka. So Goloka is the selfsame majestic manifestation of Gokula. The eternal pastimes of Sri Krsna, although not visible in Gokula, are eternally manifested in Goloka. Goloka is the transcendental majestic manifestation of Gokula. The manifestations of the nonmanifestive pastimes of Krsna with regard to the conditioned souls, are twofold, viz., (1) worship through the channel of the mantras (inaudibly recited, liberating, self-dedicatory. transcendental sounds), (2) spontaneous outflow of heart's spiritual love for Krsna. Sri Jiva Gosvami has said that worship through the mantra is possible permanently in the proper place, when confined to one pastime. This meditative manifestation of Goloka is the pastime attended with the worship of Krsna through the mantra. Again, the pastimes that are performed in different planes and in different moods, are autocratic in diverse ways; hence sva-rasiki, i.e., spontaneous, outflow of heart's spiritual love for Krsna. This sloka conveys a twofold meaning. One meaning is that in the pastime attended with worship through the mantra consisting of eighteen transcendental letters, transcendental words contained in the said mantra being differently placed make a manifestation of only one lila of Sri Krsna. As for example klim krsnaya govindaya gopijana-vallabhaya svaha--this is a hexagonal mantra consisting of six transcendental words, viz., (1) krsnaya, (2) govindaya, (3) gopijana, (4) vallabhaya, (5) sva, (6) ha. These six transcendental words, when placed juxtapositionally. indicate the mantra.

The hexagonal great transcendental machinery is in this wise. The principal seed, i.e. klim, is situated in the instrument as the central pivot. Anybody with an impression of such an instrument in his mind and concentrating his thought on such spiritual entities, can attain, like Candradhvaja, to the knowledge of the cognitive principle. The word sva indicates ksetrajna i.e., one who is conversant with one's inner self, and the word ha indicates the transcendental nature. This meaning of the mantra has also been corroborated by Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa. The general meaning is this that one who is desirous of entering into the esoteric pastimes of Krsna will have to practice His transcendental service along with the culture of the devotional knowledge relative to Him. (1) krsna-svarupa--the proper Self of Krsna; (2) krsnasya cin-maya-vraja-lila-vilasa-svarupa--the true nature of Krsna's transcendental pastimes in Vraja; (3) tat-parikara-gopijana-svarupa--the true nature of His spiritual associates in Vraja, viz., the spiritual milkmen and the milkmaids; (4) tad-vallabha--the true nature of self-surrender to Krsna in the footsteps of the spiritual milkmaids of Vraja; (5) suddha-jivasya cid-(jnana)-svarupa--the true nature of the spiritual knowledge of the unalloyed individual soul; (6) cit-prakrtir arthat krsna-seva-svabhava--the true nature of transcendental service to Krsna is this that the esoteric relation is established on the awakening of one's pure cognition. The meaning is that rasa is only the transcendental service of the central refuge Sri Krsna, as predominating aspect of the Absolute, by one's ego as the spiritual maid of the predominated moiety of the absolute integer, attended with pure devotion in the shape of one's entire self-surrender. The pastime in Goloka or in Gokula during the stage of devotional progress, is the meditative worship through the mantra, and during the stage of perfection the pastimes manifest themselves as the unrestrained transcendental jubilations. This is the real aspect of Goloka or Gokula, which will be made more explicit in due course. The meaning of the words jyoti-rupena manuna is that the transcendental meaning is expressed in the mantra by means of which, on transcendental desire of love for Krsna and the service of Krsna being added, one is established in the eternal love of Krsna. Such eternal pastimes are eternally manifested in Goloka.
 
 

The transcendental Gokula is shaped like the lotus. The eternal world is like a hexagonal figure; in that the entities Sri Radha-Krsna, appearing in the form of a mantra consisting of eighteen transcendental letters, are centered. The propagating manifestations emanating from the cit potency are present there with the said entities as the center. Sri Radha-Krsna is the primary cause or the seed Himself. Gopala-tapani says, "Omkara" signifies the All-Powerful Gopala and His potency; and "klim" is the same as omkara. Hence kama-bija or the primary cause of all-love, is connotative of the entities Sri Radha-Krsna.
 
 

Primarily Gokula is the seat of transcendental love and devotion. Hence Yamuna, Sri Govardhana, Sri Radha-kunda, etc., of the terrestrial Vraja-mandala lie within Gokula. Again, all the majesties of Vaikuntha are manifested there extending in all directions. The pastimes of the four propagating manifestations are all there in their proper places. The paravyoma Vaikuntha has got its extension from the display of the four propagating manifestations. Salvation as of Vaikuntha, and piety. wealth and passion pertaining to worldly people, are in the proper places in Gokula as their original seed, i.e., primary cause. The Vedas also are engaged in singing the song of the Lord of Gokula. There are ten tridents in ten directions to prevent and disappoint those who are aspirants for having an entrance into Goloka through meditations without the grace of Krsna. Self-conceited people who try to reach this region through the paths of yoga (meditation) and jnana (empiric knowledge) are baffled in their attempts, being pierced by the ten tridents. Self-annihilation has its excellence in Brahma-dhama which represents the outside covering of Goloka in the shape of tridents. Sula means a trident; the mundane threefold attributes and the threefold divisions of time represent the trident. Astanga-yogis i.e. ascetics who practice the eightfold yoga, are the nondifferentiative liberationists who, trying to approach in the direction of Goloka, fall headlong into the pits of disappointment by being pierced and cut asunder by these tridents placed in ten directions. Those who proceed towards the direction of Goloka through the channel of devotion alloyed with majestic ideas, are fascinated with the charms of Vaikuntha which is the outer covering plane of Sri Goloka, at the sight of the eight perfections, viz., anima, etc., and majesties like mahapadma, etc. Those who are less forward in their intelligence relapse to the sevenfold world falling under the control of the ten protectors (of the ten directions) in the guise of mantras. In this wise, Goloka has become unknowable and inaccessible. It is only the divine selves of Godhead, the propounders of the divine dispensations for the different ages, who are always forward there to favor the approaching devotees who seek entry into the realm of Goloka through the channel of pure devotional love. These divine forms of Godhead are surrounded there with attendants of their respective natures. Svetadvipa in Goloka is their place of abode. Hence Srila Thakura Vrndavana the manifest Vyasa of caitanya-lila, has described the village of Navadvipa as bearing the name of Svetadvipa. In this Svetadvipa the concluding portions of the pastimes of Gokula exist eternally as the pastimes of Navadvipa. Hence the region of Navadvipa, Vraja and the realm of Goloka are one and the same indivisible entity; the difference only lies in the manifestations of the infinite variety of sentiments, corresponding to the diverse nature of their devotional love. There is in this a most hidden principle which only the greatest souls who are possessed of the highest transcendental love, are enabled to realize by the direct grace of Krsna. The truth is as follows: In this mundane world there are fourteen spheres disposed in the graded order of high and low. Persons living with wives and children hankering for the pleasure-giving effect of their fruitive actions, move up and down within the limits of the three worlds of Bhuh, Bhuvah and Svah. Brahmacaris of great austerities, ascetics and persons addicted to hypothetical truth, persons of a neutral disposition adopting nonfruitive works by an aptitude which seeks to be free from all mundane desires, move up and down within the limits of the worlds of Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satya. Above these worlds lies the abode of four-headed Brahma, above which lies the unlimited realm of Vaikuntha of Visnu, Ksirodakasayi, lying in the ocean of milk. paramahamsa-sannyasis and the demons killed by Sri Hari, by crossing the Viraja, i.e., by passing beyond the fourteen worlds, enter into the luminous realm of Brahman and attain to nirvana in the form of temporary abeyance of the temporal ego. But the devotee actuated by knowledge (jnana-bhakta), the devotee actuated by the pure devotional aptitude (suddha-bhakta), the devotee imbued with loving devotion (prema-bhakta), the devotee actuated by pure love (premapara-bhakta), and the devotee impelled by overwhelming love (prematura-bhakta), who serve the majesty of Godhead, have their locations in Vaikuntha, i.e., the transcendental realm of Sri Narayana.

The devotees who are imbued with all-love and who walk in the footsteps of the spiritual maids of Vraja, alone attain to the realm of Goloka. The different locations of the devotees in Goloka according to the respective differences in the nature of their rasa, i.e., mellow quality. are settled by the inconceivable power of Krsna. The pure devotees following the devotees of Vraja and those following the pure devotees of Navadvipa are located in the realm of Krsna and Gaura respectively. The identical devotees of Vraja and Navadvipa simultaneously attain to the pleasures of service in the realm of Krsna and Gaura. Sri Jiva Gosvami writes in his work Gopala-campu that "the supreme transcendental realm is called Goloka being the abode of go, transcendental cows, and gopa, transcendental cowherds. This is the seat of the rasa pastimes of the absolute Sri Krsna. Again the realm is called Svetadvipa owing to the realization of some of the rasas which are the inconceivable manifestation derived from the untouched purity of that supreme realm. The twofold entities of the supreme Goloka and the supreme Svetadvipa are indivisibly the realm of Goloka." The gist of the whole matter is this--Goloka as Svetadvipa is eternally manifest because the pleasures of enjoyment of the rasa could not be had in its entirety in the pastimes of Krsna in Vraja. He accepts the emotion and effulgence of His predominated moiety. Sri Radhika, and makes an eternal pastime for the enjoyment of krsna-rasa there. Sri Krsnacandra coveting to taste the following pleasures, viz., to realize (1) the nature of the greatness of love of Sri Radha; (2) the nature of the wonderful sweetness of His love of which Sri Radhika has got the taste; (3) the nature of the exquisite joy that accrues to Sri Radha by Her realization of the sweetness of His love, took His birth, like the moon, in the ocean of the womb of Sri Saci-devi. The esoteric desire of Sri Jiva Gosvami Prabhu is herein made manifest. In the Veda it is also said, "Let me tell you the mystery. In Navadvipa, the identical realm of Goloka, on the bank of the Ganges, Gauracandra who is Govinda, the entity of pure cognition, who has two hands, who is the soul of all souls, who has the supreme great personality as the great meditative sannyasin and who is beyond the threefold mundane attributes, makes the process of pure unalloyed devotion manifest in this mundane world. He is sole Godhead. He is the source of all forms, the Supreme Soul and is Godhead manifesting Himself in yellow, red, blue and white colors. He is the direct entity of pure cognition full of the spiritual (cit) potency. He is the figure of the devotee. He is the bestower of devotion and cognizable by devotion alone. The selfsame Gauracandra, who is no other than Krsna Himself, in order to taste the rasa of the pastimes of Radha-Krsna in Goloka, is manifest in the eternal realm of Navadvipa identical with Goloka." This is also clear from the Vedic declarations, viz., asan varnas trayah, krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam, yatha pasyah pasyati rukma-varnam, mahan prabhur vai and various other statements of the theistic scriptures. Just as Sri Krsna had His birth in the mundane Gokula through the agency of Yogamaya who is the primal energy of the Supreme Lord, so with her help He manifests the lila of His birth in the womb of Saci-devi in Navadvipa on this mundane plane. These are the absolute truths of spiritual science and not the outcome of imaginary speculation under the thraldom of the deluding energy of Godhead.
 
 

The sole potency of Krsna which is spiritual, functioning as Krsna's own proper power, has manifested His pastimes of Goloka or Gokula. By her grace individual souls who are constituents of the marginal potency can have admission into even those pastimes. The deluding energy who is of the nature of the perverted reflection of the spiritual (cit) potency. has got her location on the other side of the river Viraja, which surrounds the Brahma-dhama forming the boundary of Maha-Vaikuntha as the outer envelope of Goloka. The position of Goloka being absolutely unalloyed with the mundane, deluding energy. far from having any association with Krsna, feels ashamed to appear before His view.
 
 

The illusory energy has no direct contact with Krsna, but has got indirect contact. Visnu the prime cause, lying in the Causal Ocean, the plenary portion of Maha-Sankarsana who has His scat in Maha-Vaikuntha the sphere of Krsna's own extended transcendental pastimes, casts His glance towards the deluding energy. Even in casting His glance He has no contact with the deluding energy because the spiritual (cit) potency Rama then carries the function of His glance as His unpolluted ever-submissive potency. The deluding energy as the maidservant of the spiritual (cit) potency Rama, serves the manifested plenary portion of Godhead consorted with Rama, the time energy representing the force of activity and instrumentality of Rama; hence there is found the process of masculinity or the creative force.
 
 

Sankarsana possessed of creative desire is the subjective portion of Krsna taking the initiative in bringing about the birth of the mundane world. Lying in the causal water as the primal purusa-avatara He casts His glance towards Maya (the limited potency). Such glance is the efficient cause of the mundane creation. Sambhu the symbol of masculine mundane procreation is the dim halo of this reflected effulgence. It is this symbol which is applied to the organ of generation of Maya, the shadow of Rama or the divine potency. The first phase of the appearance of the mundane desire created by Maha-Visnu is called the seminal principle of mahat or the perverted cognitive faculty. It is this which is identical with the mental principle ripe for procreative activity. The conception underlying it is that it is the will of the purusa who creates by using the efficient and material principles. Efficiency is Maya or the productive feminine organ. The material principle is Sambhu or the procreative masculine organ. Maha-Visnu is purusa or the dominating divine person wielding the will. Pradhana or the substantive principle in the shape of mundane entities, is the material principle. Nature embodying the accommodating principle (adhara), is Maya. The principle of embodied will bringing about the intercourse of the two, is the dominating divine person (purusa), subjective portion of Krsna, the manifestor of the mundane world. All of these three are creators. The seed of amorous creative desire in Goloka, is the embodiment of pure cognition. The seed of sex desire to be found in this mundane world, is that of Kali, etc., who are the shadows of the divine potency. The former, although it is the prototype of the latter, is located very far from it. The seed of the mundane sex desire is the perverted reflection in this mundane world of the seed of the original creative desire. The process of the appearance of Sambhu is recorded in the tenth and fifteenth slokas.
 
 

The full quadrantal extension of the Supreme Lord, is His majesty. Of this the triquadrantal extensions of unlamenting, nonperishing and nonapprehending situations constitute the majesties of the realms of Vaikuntha and Goloka, etc. In this temporal realm of Maya devas and men, etc.--all these together with all mundane worlds--are the great majesties of the limited potency. All these entities are embodiments of the masculine and feminine organs of generation by the distinction of efficient and material causal principles; or, in other words, they are produced by the process of sexual intercourse between the male and female organs of generation. All the information that has been accumulated by the agency of the sciences of this world, possesses this nature of sexual co-union. Trees, plants and even all insentient entities are embodiments of the co-union of male and female. The feature that is of special significance is that although such expressions as "the generative organs of male and female" are indecorous yet in scientific literature these words, expressing the above-mentioned principles, are exceedingly wholesome and productive of abiding value. Indecorum is merely an entity pertaining to the external custom of society. But science, and specially the highest science, cannot destroy the true entity by deference to social custom. Wherefore, in order to demonstrate the seed of mundane sex desire, the basic principle of this phenomenal world, the use of those identical words is indispensable. By the use of all these words only the masculine energy or the predominating active potency. and female energy or the predominated active potency. are to be understood.
 
 

In the transcendental atmosphere (para-vyoma), where spiritual majesty preponderates, there is present Sri Narayana who is not different from Krsna. Maha-Sankarsana, subjective plenary facsimile of the extended personality of Sri Narayana, is also the divine plenary portion of the propagatory embodiment of Sri Krsna. By the power of His spiritual energy a plenary subjective portion of Him, eternally reposing in the neutral stream of Viraja forming the boundary between the spiritual and mundane realms, casts His glance, at creation, unto the limited shadow potency. Maya, who is located far away from Himself. Thereupon Sambhu, lord of pradhana embodying the substantive principle of all material entities, who is the same as Rudra, the dim reflection of the Supreme Lord's own divine glance, consummates his intercourse with Maya, the efficient mundane causal principle. But he can do nothing independently of the energy of Maha-Visnu representing the direct spiritual power of Krsna. Therefore, the principle of mahat, or the perverted cognitive faculty. is produced only when the subjective plenary portion of Krsna, viz., the prime divine avatara Maha-Visnu who is the subjective portion of Sankarsana, Himself the subjective portion of Krsna, is propitious towards the active mutual endeavors of Maya, Siva's consort (sakti), and pradhana or the principle of substantive mundane causality. Agreeably to the initiative of Maha-Visnu the consort of Siva creates successively the mundane ego (ahankara), the five mundane elements (bhutas) viz., space etc., their attributes (tan-matras) and the limited senses of the conditioned soul (jiva). The constituent particles, in the form of pencils of effulgence of Maha-Visnu, are manifest as the individual souls (jivas). This will be elaborated in the sequel.
 
 

The prime divine avatara lying in the spiritual Causal Ocean is such a great affair that in the pores of His divine form spring up myriads of seeds of the universes. Those series of universes are the perverted reflections of the infinite transcendental region. As long as they remain embedded in His divine form they embody the principle of spiritual reflection having the form of golden eggs. Nevertheless by the creative desire of Maha-Visnu the minute particles of the great elements, which are constituents of the mundane efficient and material causal principles, envelop them. When those golden sperms, coming out with the exhalation of Maha-Visnu, enter into the unlimited accommodating chamber of the limited potency (Maya) they become enlarged by the nonconglomerate great elements.
 
 

Maha-Visnu lying in the spiritual Causal Ocean is the subjective portion of Maha-Sankarsana. He entered, as His own subjective portions, into those universes. These individual portions all represent the second divine purusa lying in the ocean of conception and is identical with Maha-Visnu in every respect. He is also spoken of as the divine guide, from within, of all souls.
 
 

The divine purusa, lying in the ocean of milk, the same who is the regulator of all individual souls, is Sri Visnu; and Hiranyagarbha, the seminal principle, the portion of the Supreme Lord, is the prime progenitor who is different from the four-faced Brahma. This same Hiranyagarbha is the principle of seminal creating energy of every Brahma belonging to each of the infinity of universes. The divine masculine manifested halo, Sambhu, is the plenary manifestation of his prototype Sambhu, the same as the primary divine masculine generative symbol Sambhu whose nature has already been described. Visnu is the integral subjective portion of Maha-Visnu. Hence He is the great Lord of all the other lords. The progenitor (Brahma) and Sambhu are the dislocated portions of Maha-Visnu. Hence they are gods with delegated functions. His own potency being on the left side of Godhead, Visnu appears in the left limb of Maha-Visnu from the unalloyed essence of His spiritual (cit) potency. Visnu, who is Godhead Himself, is the inner guiding oversoul of every individual soul. He is the Personality of Godhead described in the Vedas as being of the measure of a thumb. He is the nourisher. The karmis (elevationists) worship Him as Narayana, the Lord of sacrifices, and the yogis desire to merge their identities in Him as Paramatma, by the process of their meditative trance.
 
 

The basic principle is the Supreme Lord Himself who is the embodiment of the principle of existence of all entities devoid of separating egotisms. In this mundane world the appearance of individual entities as separated egotistic symbols, is the limited perverted reflection of the unalloyed spiritual (cit) potency; and, as representing the primal masculine divine generative function Sambhu, it is united to the accommodating principle, viz., the mundane female organ which is the perverted reflection of the spiritual (cit) potency, Ramadevi. At this function Sambhu is nothing but the mere material causal principle embodying the extension in the shape of ingredient as matter. Again when in course of the progressive evolution of mundane creation each universe is manifested, then in the principle of Sambhu, born of the space between the two eyebrows of Visnu, there appears the manifestation of the personality of Rudra; yet under all circumstances Sambhu fully enshrines the mundane egotistic principle. The innumerable jivas as spiritual particles emanating from the oversoul in the form of pencils of rays of effulgence, have no relation with the mundane world when they come to know themselves to be the eternal servants of the Supreme Lord. They are then incorporated into the realm of Vaikuntha. But when they desire to lord it over Maya, forgetting their real identity. the egotistic principle Sambhu entering into their entities makes them identify themselves as separated enjoyers of mundane entities. Hence Sambhu is the primary principle of the egotistic mundane universe and of perverted egotism in jivas that identifies itself with their limited material bodies.
 
 

The dislocated portions of the Divinity. viz., Prajapati and Sambhu, both identifying themselves as entities who are separate from the divine essence, sport with their respective nonspiritual (acit) consorts, viz., Savitri-devi and Uma-devi, the perverted reflections of the spiritual (cit) potency. The Supreme Lord Visnu is the only Lord of the spiritual (cit) potency. Rama or Laksmi.
 
 

Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram: "The mundane energy prakrti gives birth to this universe of animate and inanimate beings by My direction." The purport of this sloka of the Gita is that Maya, the perverted reflection of spiritual (cit) potency. was at first inactive and her extension of matter constituting the material cause was also in the separately dislocated state. In accordance with the will of Krsna this world is manifested as the resultant of the union of the efficient and the material causal principles of Maya. In spite of that, the Supreme Lord Himself remains united with His cit potency. Yoganidra. The word yoganidra or yogamaya indicates as follows: The nature of cit potency is manifestive of the Absolute Truth, while the nature of her perverted reflection, Maya, is envelopment in the gloom of ignorance. When Krsna desires to manifest something in the mundane ignorance-wrapt affairs, He does this by the conjunction of His spiritual potency with His inactive nonspiritual potency. This is known as Yogamaya. It carries a twofold notion, namely. transcendental notion and mundane inert notion. Krsna Himself, His subjective portions and those jivas who are His unalloyed separated particles, realize the transcendental notion in that conjunction, while conditioned souls feel the mundane inert notion. The external coating of transcendental knowledge in the conscious activities of conditioned souls, bears the name of Yoganidra. This is also an influence of the cit potency of the Divinity. This principle will be more elaborately considered hereafter.
 
 

The word guha (hidden cavity) bears various interpretations in the sastras. In some portions the nonmanifestive pastimes of the Lord is called guha and elsewhere the resting place of the indwelling spirit of all individual souls, is named guha. In many places the inmost recesses of the heart of each individual is termed guha. The main point is that the place which is hidden from the view of men in general, is designated guha. Those jivas that were merged in Hari at the end of the life of Brahma in the great cataclysm during the preceding great age of the universe, reappeared in this world in accordance with their former fruitive desires.
 
 

Just as the sun is eternally associated with his rays so the transcendental Supreme Lord is eternally joined with the jivas. The jivas are the infinitesimal particles of His spiritual effulgence and are, therefore, not perishable like mundane things. Jivas, being particles of Godhead's effulgent rays, exhibit on a minute scale the qualities of the Divinity. Hence jivas are identical with the principles of knowledge, knower, egoism, enjoyer, meditator and doer. Krsna is the all-pervading, all-extending Supreme Lord; while jivas have a different nature from His, being His atomic particles. That eternal relationship consists in this that the Supreme Lord is the eternal master and jivas are His eternal servants. Jivas have also sufficient eligibility in respect of the mellow quality of the Divinity. Apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param. By this verse of the Gita it is made known that jivas are His transcendental potency. All the qualities of the unalloyed soul are above the eightfold qualities such as egotism, etc., pertaining to His acit potency. Hence the jiva potency. though very small in magnitude, is still superior to acit potency or Maya. This potency has another name, viz., tatastha or marginal potency. being located on the line demarcating the spheres of the spiritual and mundane potencies. He is susceptible to the influence of the material energy owing to his small magnitude. But so long as he remains submissive to Krsna, the Lord of Maya, he is not liable to the influence of Maya. The worldly afflictions, births and rebirths are the concomitants of the fettered condition of souls fallen into the clutches of the deluding potency from a time that has no beginning.
 
 

The same divine lotus originating from the divine person entered into the hidden recess, is the superior plane of aggregation of all individual souls. The four-faced Brahma, the image of self-enjoyment, derives his origin from the prototype Brahma or Hiranyagarbha, the mundane seminal principle, who regards the aggregate of all mundane entities as his own proper body. The delegated godship of Brahma as well as his being the dislocated portion of Krsna, are also established.
 
 

Brahma's impulse for creation arises solely from his previous impressions. All jivas get their nature conformably to their impressions of previous births and accordingly their activity can have a beginning. It is called "the unseen" or the result of one's previous deeds. His natural impulse is formed according to the nature of the deeds done by him in the previous kalpa. Some of the eligible jivas also attain to the office of Brahma in this way.
 
 

The mantra, consisting of the eighteen divine letters prefixed by the kama-bija, is alone superexcellent. It has a twofold aspect. One aspect is that it tends to make the pure soul run after all-attractive Sri Krsna, the Lord of Gokula and the divine milkmaids. This is the acme of the spiritual tendency of jivas. When the devotee is free from all sorts of mundane desires and willing to serve the Lord he attains the fruition of his heart's desire, viz., the love of Krsna. But in the case of the devotee who is not of unmixed aptitude this superexcellent mantra fulfills his heart's desire also. The transcendental kama-bija is inherent in the divine logos located in Goloka; and the kama-bija pervertedly reflected in the worldly affairs satisfies all sorts of desires of this mundane world.
 
 

Although the object of meditation is fully transcendental, yet owing to her nature which is permeated with the quality of active mundane hankering, Maya, the nonspiritual potency of Krsna, embodying the principles of mixed sattva, rajas, and tamas, in the forms of Durga, and other nonspiritual powers, meditated on the Supreme Lord Krsna as the object of their worship. So long as there is any trace of mundane desire in one's heart, it is the object of worship of Mayadevi (Durga) who has to be worshiped by such a person; nevertheless the fulfillment of one's heart's desire results from the worship of the object of worship of Mayadevi, and not from the worship of Mayadevi herself. This is in accordance with the sloka, akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih. tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param. The meaning of this sloka of the Bhagavatam is that though other gods, as distinct manifestations of the Supreme Lord, are bestowers of sundry specific boons, yet a sensible person should worship the all powerful Supreme Lord, giver of all good, with unalloyed devotion, without worshiping those mundane gift-giving deities. Accordingly. Brahma meditated upon Krsna in Goloka, the object of the worship, from a distance, of Mayadevi. True devotion is unalloyed devotional activity free from all mundane desire. The devotion of Brahma, etc., is not unmixed devotion. But there is a stage of unmixed predilection even in devotion for the attainment of one's selfish desire. This has been fully described in the concluding five slokas of this work. That is the easiest method of divine service, prior to the attainment of self-realization, by fallen souls.
 
 

The sound of Krsna's flute is the transcendental blissful sound; hence the archetype of all Veda, is present in it. The Gayatri is Vedic rhythm. It contains a brief meditation and prayer. Kama-gayatri is the highest of all the Gayatris, because the meditation and prayer contained in it are full of the perfect transcendental sportive activities which are not to be found in any other Gayatri. The Gayatri that is attained as the sequel of the eighteen-lettered mantra is kama-gayatri which runs thus: klim kama-devaya vidmahe puspa-banaya dhimahi tan no 'nangah pracodayat. In this Gayatri, the realization of the transcendental pastimes of Sri Gopijana-vallabha after perfect meditation and the prayer for the attainment of the transcendental god of love are indicated. In the spiritual world there is no better mode of endeavor for securing the superexcellent rasa-bedewed love. As soon as that Gayatri entered into the ear-holes of Brahma, he became the twice-born and began to chant the Gayatri. Whoever has received the same Gayatri in reality. has attained his spiritual rebirth. The status of a twice-born that is obtained in accordance with one's worldly nature and lineage, by the fettered souls in this mundane world, is far inferior to that of the twice-born who obtains admission into the transcendental world; because the initiation or acquisition of transcendental birth as a result of spiritual initiation is the highest of glories in as much as the jiva is thereby enabled to attain to the transcendental realm.
 
 

Brahma thought thus within himself, "By the recollection of kama-gayatri it seems to me that I am the eternal maidservant of Krsna." Though the other mysteries in regard to the condition of the maidservant of Krsna were not revealed to him, Brahma, by dint of his searching self-consciousness, became well acquainted with the ocean of truth. All the truths of the Vedas were revealed to him and with the help of those essences of the Vedas he offered this hymn to the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna. Sriman Mahaprabhu has taught this hymn to His favorite disciples in as much as it fully contains all the transcendental truths regarding the Vaisnava philosophy. Readers are requested to study and try to enter into the spirit of his hymn with great care and attention, as a regular daily function.
 
 

By the word cintamani is meant "transcendental gem." Just as Maya builds this mundane universe with the five material elements, so the spiritual (cit) potency has built the spiritual world of transcendental gems. The cintamani which serves as material in the building of the abode of the Supreme Lord of Goloka, is a far rarer and more agreeable entity than the philosopher's stone. The purpose tree yields only the fruits of piety. wealth, fulfillment of desire and liberation; but the purpose trees in the abode of Krsna bestow innumerable fruits in the shape of checkered divine love. Kama-dhenus (cows yielding the fulfillment of desire) give milk when they are milked; but the kama-dhenus of Goloka pour forth oceans of milk in the shape of the fountain of love showering transcendental bliss that does away with the hunger and thirst of all pure devotees. The words laksa and sahasra-sata signify endless numbers. The word sambhrama or sadara indicates "being saturated with love." Here laksmi denotes gopi. Adi-purusa means, "He who is the primeval Lord."
 
 

The matchless beauty of Krsna, the Supreme Lord of Goloka, is being described. Krsna, the all-pervading cognition, has a spiritual form of His own. The form of Krsna is not a fanciful creation of imagination formed after visualizing the beautiful things of the world. What Brahma saw in his ecstatic trance of pure devotion, is being described. Krsna is engaged in playing upon His flute. That flute by his enchanting musical sound attracts the hearts of all living beings. Just as a lotus petal produces a pleasant sight, so the two beautiful eyes of Krsna who causes the manifestation of our spiritual vision, display the unlimited splendor and beauty of His moonlike face. The loveliness that adorns His head with peacock feather figures, the corresponding feature of the spiritual beauty of Krsna. Just as a mass of blue clouds offers a specifically soothing, pleasant view, the complexion of Krsna is analogously tinged with a spiritual dark-blue color. The beauty and loveliness of Krsna is far more enchanting that that of Cupid multiplied a millionfold.
 
 

In the sloka beginning with cintamani-prakara the transcendental region and the spiritual names of Govinda, in the sloka beginning with venum kvanantam, the eternal beautiful form of Govinda and in this sloka the amorous pastimes of Govinda, the embodiment of His sixty-four excellences, have been described. All the spiritual affairs that come within the scope of description in the narration of the ecstatic mellow quality (rasa) are included in the spiritual amorous sports of Govinda.
 
 

PURPORT

For want of a taste of things spiritual, a grave doubt arises in the minds of those who are enchained by worldly knowledge. On hearing a narration of the pastimes of Krsna they think that the truth (tattva) regarding Krsna is the mental concoction of certain learned scholars, created by their imaginative brains out of material drawn from the mundane principles. With the object of removing this harmful doubt, Brahma in this and the three following slokas, after distinguishing between the two things, viz., spirit and matter, in a rational manner, has tried to make one understand the pure lila of Krsna, obtained by his unmixed ecstatic trance. Brahma wants to say that the form of Krsna is all "existence, all-knowledge and all-bliss, whereas all mundane experiences are full of palpable ignorance. Although there is specific difference between the two, the fundamental truth is that spiritual affairs constitute the absolute source. Specification and variegatedness are ever present in it. By them are established the transcendental abode, form, name, quality and sports of Krsna. It is only by a person, possessed of pure spiritual knowledge and freedom from any relationship with Maya, that those amorous pastimes of Krsna can at all be appreciated. The spiritual abode, the seat of pastimes, emanated from the cit potency and formed of cintamani (transcendental philosopher's stone), and the figure of Krsna, are all spiritual. Just as Maya is the perverted reflection of the spiritual potency. the variegatedness created by Maya (ignorance) is also a perverted reflection of spiritual variegatedness. So a mere semblance of the spiritual variegatedness is only noticed in this mundane world. Notwithstanding such semblance the two are wholly different from one another. The unwholesomeness of matter is its defect; but in the spirit there is variegatedness which is free from any fault or contamination. The soul and the body of Krsna are identical, whereas the body and soul of fallen creatures are not so. In the spiritual sphere there is no such difference as that between the body and soul, between the limbs and their proprietor, between the attributes and the object possessing them, of this world. But such difference really exists in the case of conditioned souls. Limbed though Krsna is, His every limb is the whole entity. He performs all varieties of divine spiritual functions with every one of His limbs. Hence He is an indivisible whole and a perfect transcendental entity. Both jiva-soul and Krsna are transcendental. So they belong to the same category. But they differ in this that the transcendental attributes exist in the jiva-soul in infinitesimally small degrees, whereas in Krsna they are found in their fullest perfection. Those attributes manifest themselves in their proper infinitesimality only when the jiva-soul attains his unadulterated spiritual status. The jiva-soul attains the nearest approach to the absolute identity only when the spiritual force of ecstatic energy appears in him by the grace of Krsna. Still Krsna remains the object of universal homage by reason of His possession of certain unique attributes. These fourfold unrivaled attributes do not manifest themselves in Narayana, the Lord of Vaikuntha or in primeval purusa-avataras, or in the highest deities such as Siva, not to speak of jivas.
 
 

PURPORT

Advaita means "indivisible truth who is knowledge absolute." Brahman, the infinite, emanates from Him as His effulgence and God-immanent (Paramatma) as His constituent; but nevertheless He remains one and indivisible. Acyuta means that though myriads of avataras emanate from Him as subjective portions and millions of jivas as separated spiritual particles, still He remains intact as the undivided whole of fullest perfection. Though He indulges in exhibiting the pastimes of births, etc., still He is without a beginning. Though He disappears after the pastimes of His appearance, still He is eternal. Though without origin, yet He is with an origin in His pastime of appearance; and although eternal in essence, He is still a person in the full bloom of youth. The sum and substance of it is that though He possesses diverse and apparently mutually contradictory qualities, still they are in universal harmonious concordance by dint of His unthinkable potency. This is what is meant by cid-dharma (transcendental nature) as distinguished from the material. His graceful threefold-bending form with flute in hand, possesses eternal blooming youth and is above all unwholesomeness that is to be found in limited time and space. In the transcendental realm there is no past and future but only the unalloyed and immutable present time. In the transcendental sphere there is no distinction between the object and its qualities and no such identity as is found in the limited mundane region. Hence those qualities that seem to be apparently contradictory in the light of mundane conception limited by time and space, exist in agreeable and dainty concordance in the spiritual realm. How can the jiva realize such unprecedented existence? The limited intellectual function of the jiva is always contaminated by the influence of time and space and is, therefore, not in a position to shake off this limitedness. If the potency of cognitive function does not extend to the realization of the transcendental, what else can? In reply. Brahma says that the transcendental Absolute is beyond the reach of the Vedas. The Vedas originate in sound and sound originates in the mundane ether. So the Vedas cannot present before us a direct view of the transcendental world (Goloka). It is only when the Vedas are imbued with the cit potency that they are enabled to deal with the transcendental. But Goloka reveals itself to every jiva-soul when he is under the influence of the spiritual cognitive potency joined to the essence of ecstatic energy. The ecstatic function of devotion is boundless and is surcharged with unalloyed transcendental knowledge. That knowledge reveals goloka-tattva (the principle of the highest transcendental) in unison with devotion, without asserting itself separately but as a subsidiary to unalloyed devotion.
 
 

Krsna is the highest of all entities. In Him is an entity which is termed cit (spiritual) which is distinct from the principle of limitation. By His inconceivable power, He can at will create numberless universes. All the mundane universes owe their origin to the transformation of His external potency. Again His abode is beyond human conception; since all worlds, limited and spiritual (cit) exist in Him and He resides simultaneously in His fullness and entirety in all the atoms in all the worlds. All-pervasiveness is only a localized aspect of the majesty of Krsna, the Lord of all. Though He is all-pervasive yet in His existence everywhere in a medium shape consists His spiritual Lordship beyond human conception. This argument favors the doctrine of simultaneous inconceivable distinction and nondistinction, and knocks down the contaminating Mayavada and other allied doctrines.
 
 

In discussing rasa we meet with five kinds of devotion or service. Santa or unattached, dasya or pertaining to reverential willing service, sakhya or friendship, vatsalya or parental love and srngara or juvenile love.

The devotees surcharged with the ideas of their respective service, serve Krsna eternally and ultimately reach the goal of their respective ideals. They attain the real nature of their self befitting their respective rasas, their glories, conveyances, seats befitting their sacred service, and transcendental qualities of ornaments enhancing the beauty of their real nature. Those who are advocates of santa-rasa attain the region of Brahma-Paramatma, the seat of eternal peace; those of dasya-rasa get to Vaikuntha, the spiritual majestic abode of Sri Narayana; those of sakhya, vatsalya and madhura-rasa (juvenile love) attain Goloka-dhama, Krsna's abode, above Vaikuntha. They worship Krsna by the suktas depicted in the Vedas with the ingredients and objects befitting their respective rasas, in those regions. The Vedas, under the influence of the spiritual potency in certain passages speak of the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. The liberated souls chant the name, qualities and pastimes of the Supreme Lord, under the guidance of the same spiritual potency.
 
 

Although the Lord Absolute and His potency are one and the self-same existence, still They exist eternally as separate entities, as Radha and Krsna. In both the ecstatic energy and the transcendental Lord Krsna, there exists srngara-rasa (amorous love) whose quality is inconceivable. The vibhava (extension) of that rasa (mellow quality) is twofold, viz., alambana (prop) and uddipana (stimulation). Of these alambana is twofold, viz., asraya (supported) and visaya (supporter). Asraya signifies Radhika Herself and the extensions of Her own form and visaya means Krsna Himself. Krsna is Govinda, Lord of Goloka. The gopis are the facsimile asraya of that rasa. With them Krsna indulges in eternal pastimes in Goloka. Nija-rupataya means "with the attributes manifested from the ecstatic energy." The sixty-four activities in fine arts and crafts are the following: (1) gita--art of singing. (2) vadya--art of playing on musical instruments. (3) nrtya--art of dancing. (4) natya--art of theatricals. (5) alekhya--art of painting. (6) visesakacchedya--art of painting the face and body with colored unguents and cosmetics. (7) tandula-kusuma-bali-vikara--art of preparing offerings from rice and flowers. (8) puspastarana--art of making a covering of flowers for a bed. (9) dasana-vasananga-raga--art of applying preparations for cleansing the teeth, cloths and painting the body. (10) mani-bhumika-karma--art of making the groundwork of jewels. (11) sayya-racana--art of covering the bed. (12) udaka-vadya--art of playing on music in water. (13) udaka-ghata--art of splashing with water. (14) citra-yoga--art of practically applying an admixture of colors. (15) malya-grathana-vikalpa--art of designing a preparation of wreaths. (16) sekharapida-yojana--art of practically setting the coronet on the head. (17) nepathya-yoga--art of practically dressing in the tiring room. (18) karnapatra-bhanga--art of decorating the tragus of the ear. (19) sugandha-yukti--art of practical application of aromatics. (20) bhusana-yojana--art of applying or setting ornaments. (21) aindra-jala--art of jugglery. (22) kaucumara--a kind of art. (23) hasta-laghava--art of sleight of hand. (24) citra-sakapupa-bhaksya-vikara-kriya--art of preparing varieties of salad, bread, cake and delicious food. (25) panaka-rasa-ragasava-yojana--art of practically preparing palatable drinks and tinging draughts with red color. (26) suci-vaya-karma--art of needleworks and weaving. (27) sutra-krida--art of playing with thread. (28) vina-damuraka-vadya--art of playing on lute and small x-shaped drum. (29) prahelika--art of making and solving riddles. (29-a) pratimala--art of caping or reciting verse for verse as a trial for memory or skill. (30) durvacaka-yoga--art of practicing language difficult to be answered by others. (31) pustaka-vacana--art of reciting books. (32) natikakhyayika-darsana--art of enacting short plays and anecdotes. (33) kavya-samasya-purana--art of solving enigmatic verses. (34) pattika-vetra-bana-vikalpa--art of designing preparation of shield, cane and arrows. (35) tarku-karma--art of spinning by spindle. (36) taksana--art of carpentry. (37) vastu-vidya--art of engineering. (38) raupya-ratna-pariksa--art of testing silver and jewels. (39) dhatu-vada--art of metallurgy. (40) mani-raga jnana--art of tinging jewels. (41) akara jnana--art of mineralogy. (42) vrksayur-veda-yoga--art of practicing medicine or medical treatment, by herbs. (43) mesa-kukkuta-lavaka-yuddha-vidhi--art of knowing the mode of fighting of lambs, cocks and birds. (44) suka-sarika-prapalana (pralapana)?--art of maintaining or knowing conversation between male and female cockatoos. (45) utsadana--art of healing or cleaning a person with perfumes. (46) kesa-marjana-kausala--art of combing hair. (47) aksara-mustika-kathana--art of talking with letters and fingers. (48) mlecchita-kutarka-vikalpa--art of fabricating barbarous or foreign sophistry. (49) desa-bhasa-jnana--art of knowing provincial dialects. (50) puspa-sakatika-nirmiti-jnana--art of knowing prediction by heavenly voice or knowing preparation of toy carts by flowers. (51) yantra-matrka--art of mechanics. (52) dharana-matrka--art of the use of amulets. (53) samvacya--art of conversation. (54) manasi kavya-kriya--art of composing verse mentally. (55) kriya-vikalpa--art of designing a literary work or a medical remedy. (56) chalitaka-yoga--art of practicing as a builder of shrines called after him. (57) abhidhana-kosa-cchando-jnana--art of the use of lexicography and meters. (58) vastra-gopana--art of concealment of cloths. (59) dyuta-visesa--art of knowing specific gambling. (60) akarsa-krida--art of playing with dice or magnet. (61) balaka-kridanaka--art of using children's toys. (62) vainayiki vidya--art of enforcing discipline. (63) vaijayiki vidya--art of gaining victory. (64) vaitaliki vidya--art of awakening master with music at dawn.

All these arts manifesting their own eternal forms are ever visible in the region of Goloka as the ingredients of rasa; and, in the mundane sphere, they have been unstintedly exhibited in the pastimes of Vraja by the spiritual (cit) potency. Yogamaya. So Sri Rupa says, sadanantaih... santi tah, i.e., Krsna is ever manifest in His beauty with His infinite pastimes in Goloka. Sometimes the variant manifestation of those pastimes becomes visible on the mundane plane. Sri Hari, the Supreme Lord, also manifests His pastimes of birth, etc., accompanied by all His paraphernalia. The divine sportive potency fills the hearts of His paraphernalia with appropriate spiritual sentiments in conformity with the will of Krsna. Those pastimes that manifest themselves on the mundane plane, are His visible pastimes. All those very pastimes exist in their nonvisible form in Goloka beyond the ken of mundane knowledge. In His visible pastimes Krsna sojourns in Gokula, Mathura and Dvaraka. Those pastimes that are nonvisible in those three places, are visible in their spiritual sites of Vrndavana.

From the conclusions just stated it is clear that there is no distinction between the visible and nonvisible pastimes. The apostle Jiva Gosvami in his commentary on this sloka as well as in the gloss of Ujjvala-nilamani and in Krsna-sandarbha remarks that "the visible pastimes of Krsna are the creation of His cit (spiritual) potency. Being in conjunction with the reference to mundane function they exhibit certain features which seem to be true by the influence of the limiting potency (Maya); but these cannot exist in the transcendental reality. The destruction of demons, illicit paramourship, birth, etc., are examples of this peculiarity. The gopis are the extensions of the ecstatic energy of Krsna, and so are exceptionally His own. How can there be illicit connection in their case? The illicit mistress-ship of the gopis found in His visible pastime, is but the mundane reflection of the transcendental reality." The hidden meaning underlying the words of Sri Jiva Gosvami, when it is made explicit, will leave no doubt in the minds of the readers. Sri Jiva Gosvami is our preacher of transcendental truth. So he is always under the influence of Sri Rupa and Sanatana. Moreover in the pastimes of Krsna Sri Jiva is one of the manjaris. So he is conversant with all transcendental realities.

There are some who, being unable to understand the drift of his statements, give meanings of their own invention and indulge in useless controversies. Sri Rupa and Sanatana say that there is no real and essential distinction between the lilas visible and nonvisible, the only distinction lies in this that one is manifest in the mundane sphere whereas the other is not so. In the supermundane manifestation there is absolute purity in the seer and the seen. A particularly fortunate person when he is favored by Krsna, can shake off worldly shackles and connections, enter the transcendental region after attaining the realized taste of the varieties of rasa that is available during the period of novitiate. Only such a person can have a view and taste of the perfect and absolutely pure lila of Goloka. Such receptive natures are rarely to be found. He, who exists in the mundane sphere, can also realize the taste of cid-rasa by the grace of Krsna by being enabled to attain the realized state of service. Such a person can have a view of the pastimes of Goloka manifested in the mundane lila of Gokula. There is certainly a difference between these two classes of eligible seekers of the truth. Until one attains the perfectly transcendental stage he must be hampered by his lingering limitations, in his vision of the pastimes of Goloka. Again, the vision of the transcendental reality varies according to the degree of self-realization. The vision of Goloka must also vary accordingly.

It is only those fettered souls who are excessively addicted to worldliness that are devoid of the devotional eye. Of them some are enmeshed by the variegatedness of the deluding energy while others aspire after self-annihilation under the influence of centrifugal knowledge. Though they might have a view of the mundanely manifested pastimes of the Supreme Lord, they can have only a material conception of those visible pastimes, this conception being devoid of transcendental reality. Hence the realization of Goloka appears in proportion to eligibility due to the degree of one's self-realization. The underlying principle is this, that, though Gokula is as holy and free from dross as Goloka, still it is manifested on the mundane plane by the influence of the cit potency. Yogamaya. In visible and nonvisible matters of transcendental regions there is no impurity. contamination and imperfection inherent in the world of limitation; only there is some difference in the matter of realization in proportion to the self-realization of the seekers after the Absolute. Impurity. unwholesomeness, foreign elements, illusion, nescience, unholiness, utter inadequacy. insignificance, grossness--these appertain to the eye, intellect, mind and ego stultified by the material nature of conditioned souls; they have nothing to do with the essential nature of transcendence. The more one is free from these blots the more is one capable of realizing the unqualified Absolute. The truth who has been revealed by the scriptures, is free from dross. But the realizations of the seekers of the knowledge of these realities, are with or without flaw in accordance with the degree of their individual realization.

Those sixty-four arts that have been enumerated above, do in reality exist unstintedly only in Goloka. Unwholesomeness, insignificance, grossness are found in those arts in accordance with the degree of self-realization on the part of aspirants after the knowledge of the Absolute. According to Srila Rupa and Srila Sanatana all those pastimes, that have been visible in Gokula, exist in all purity and free from all tinge of limitation in Goloka. So transcendental autocratic paramourship also exists in Goloka in inconceivable purity, judged by the same standard and reasoning. All manifestation by the cit potency. Yogamaya, are pure. So, as the above paramourship is the creation of Yogamaya, it is necessarily free from all contamination, and appertains to the absolute reality.

Let us pause to consider what the absolute reality is in Himself. Sri Rupa Gosvami says, purvokta-... saratah. In regard to these slokas Sripada Jiva Gosvami after mature deliberation has established the transcendental paramourship as vibhrama-vilasa, something seemingly different from what it appears to be; such are the pastimes of birth, etc., accomplished by Yogamaya.

By the explanation tathapi... vraja-vanitanam, Srila Jiva Gosvami has expressed his profound implication. Joyous pastimes by the medium of seeming error, vibhrama-vilasa, as the contrivance of Yogamaya, has also been admitted in the concluding statements of Rupa and Sanatana. Still, since Sripada Jiva Gosvami has established the identity of Goloka with Gokula, it must be admitted that there is transcendental reality underlying all the pastimes of Gokula. A husband is one who binds oneself in wedlock with a girl, while a paramour is one who, in order to win another's wife's love by means of love, crosses the conventions of morality. by the impulse of the sentiment that regards her love as the be-all and end-all of existence. In Goloka there is no such function at all as that of the nuptial relationship. Hence there is no husbandhood characterized by such connection. On the other hand since the gopis, who are self-supported real entities are not tied to anybody else in wedlock, they cannot also have the state of concubinage. There can also be no separate entities in the forms of svakiya (conjugal) and parakiya (adulterous) states. In the visible pastimes on the mundane plane the function in the form of the nuptial relationship is found to exist. Krsna is beyond the scope of that function. Hence the said function of the circle of all-love is contrived by Yogamaya. Krsna tastes the transcendental rasa akin to paramourship by overstepping that function. This pastime of going beyond the pale of the apparent moral function manifested by Yogamaya, is, however, also observable only on the mundane plane by the eye that is enwrapped by the mundane covering; but there is really no such levity in the pastimes of Krsna. The rasa of paramourship is certainly the extracted essence of all the rasas. If it be said that it does not exist in Goloka, it would be highly deprecatory to Goloka. It is not the fact that there is no supremely wholesome tasting of rasa in the supremely excellent realm of Goloka. Krsna, the fountainhead of all avataras. tastes the same in a distinct form in Goloka and in another distinct form in Gokula. Therefore, in spite of the seeming appearance, to the mundane eye, of outstepping the bounds of the legitimate function by the form of paramourship, there must be present the truth of it in some form even in Goloka. Atmaramo 'py ariramat, atmany avaruddha-sauratah, reme vraja-sundaribhir yatharbhakah pratibimba-vibhramah and other texts of the scriptures go to show that self-delightedness is the essential distinctive quality of Krsna Himself. Krsna in His majestic cit realm causes the manifestation of His own cit potency as Laksmi and enjoys her as His own wedded consort. As this feeling of wedded consorthood preponderates there, rasa expands in a wholesome form only up to the state of servanthood (dasya-rasa). But in Goloka He divides up His cit potency into thousands of gopis and eternally engages in amorous pastimes with them by forgetting the sentiments of ownership. By the sentiments of ownership there cannot be the extreme inaccessibility of the rasa. So the gopis have naturally. from eternity. the innate sentiment of being others' wedded wives. Krsna too in response to that sentiment, by assuming the reciprocal sentiment of paramourship, performs the rasa and the other amorous pastimes with the aid of the flute, His favorite cher ami. Goloka is the transcendental seat of eternally self-realized rasa, beyond limited conception. Hence in Goloka there is realization of the sentimental assumption of the rasa of paramourship.

Again such is the nature of the principle of the majesty that in the realm of Vaikuntha there is no rasa of parental affection towards the source of all avataras. But in Goloka, the seat of all superexcellent deliciousness, there is no more than the original sentimental egoistic assumption of the same rasa. There Nanda and Yasoda are visibly present, but there is no occurrence of birth. For want of the occurrence of birth the assumed egoistic sentiment of parental affection of Nanda and Yasoda has no foundation in the actual existence of such entities as father and mother, but it is of the nature of sentimental assumption on their parts, cf. jayati jana-nivaso devaki-janma-vadah, etc. For the purpose of the realization of the rasa the assumed egoistic sentiment is, however, eternal. In the rasa of amorous love if the corresponding egoistic sentiments of concubinage and paramourship be mere eternal assumptions there is nothing to blame in them and it also does not go against the scriptures. When those transcendental entities of Goloka becomes manifest in Vraja then those two egoistic sentiments become somewhat more palpable to the mundane view in the phenomenal world and there comes to be this much difference only. In the rasa of parental affection the sentiments of Nanda and Yasoda that they are parents becomes manifest in the more tangible form in the pastimes of birth etc., and in the amorous rasa the corresponding sentiments of concubinage in the respective gopis become manifest in the forms of their marriages with Abhimanyu, Govardhana, etc. In reality there is no such separate entity as husbandhood of the gopis either in Goloka or in Gokula. Hence the sastras declare that there is no sexual union of the gopis with their husbands. It is also for the same reason that the authorized teacher of the principle of rasa, Sri Rupa, writes that in the transcendental amorous rasa the hero is of two different types, viz., the wedded husband and the paramour--patis copapatis ceti prabhedav iha visrutav iti. Sri Jiva, in his commentary by his words patih pura-vanitanam dvitiyo vraja-vanitanam, acknowledges the eternal paramourship of Krsna in Goloka and Gokula and the husbandhood of Krsna in Vaikuntha and Dvaraka etc. In the Lord of Goloka and the Lord of Gokula the character of paramourship is found in its complete form. Krsna's deliberate overstepping of His own quality of self-delightedness is caused by the desire of union with another's wedded wife. The state of being another's wedded wife is nothing but the corresponding assumed sentiment on the part of the gopis. In reality they have no husbands with independent and separate existence; still their very egoistic sentiment makes them have the nature of the wedded wives of others. So all the characteristics, viz., that "desire makes the paramour overstep the bounds of duty." etc., are eternally present in the seat of all "deliciousness." In Vraja that very thing reveals itself, to an extent, in a form more tangible to persons with mundane eyes.

So in Goloka there is inconceivable distinction and nondistinction between the rasas analogous to mundane concubineship and wifehood. It may be said with equal truth that there is no distinction in Goloka between the two as also that there is such distinction. The essence of paramourship is the cessation of ownership and the abeyance of ownership is the enjoyment of His own cit potency in the shape of abeyance of paramourship or enjoyment without the sanction of wedlock. The conjunction of the two exists there as one rasa accommodating both varieties. In Gokula it is really the same with the difference that it produces a different impression on observers belonging to the mundane plane. In Govinda, the hero of Goloka, there exist both husbandhood and paramourship above all piety and impiety and free from all grossness. Such is also the case with the hero of Gokula although there is a distinction in realization caused by Yogamaya. If it be urged that what is manifested by Yogamaya is the highest truth being the creation of the cit potency and that, therefore, the impression of paramourship is also really true, the reply is that there may exist an impression of analogous sentimental egoism in the tasting of rasa free from any offense because it is not without a basis in truth. But the unwholesome impression that is produced in the mundane judgment is offensive and as such cannot exist in the pure cit realm. In fact Sripada Jiva Gosvami has come to the true conclusion, and at the same time the finding of the opposing party is also inconceivably true. It is the vain empirical wranglings about wedded wifehood and concubinage which is false and full of specious verbosity. He who goes through the commentaries of Sripada Jiva Gosvami and those of the opposing party with an impartial judgment cannot maintain his attitude of protest engendered by any real doubt. What the unalloyed devotee of the Supreme Lord says is all true and is independent of any consideration of unwholesome pros and cons. There is, however, the element of mystery in their verbal controversies. Those, whose judgment is made of mundane stuff, being unable to enter into the spirit of the all-loving controversies among pure devotees, due to their own want of unalloyed devotion, are apt to impute to the devotees their own defects of partisanship and opposing views. Commenting on the sloka of Rasa-pancadhyayi, gopinam tat-patinam ca, etc., what Sripada Sanatana Gosvami has stated conclusively in his Vaisnava-tosani has been accepted with reverence by the true devotee Sripada Visvanatha Cakravarti without any protest.

Whenever any dispute arises regarding the pure cognitive pastimes, such as Goloka, etc., we would do well to remember the precious advice from the holy lips of Sriman Mahaprabhu and His associates, the Gosvamis, viz., that the Truth Absolute is ever characterized by spiritual variegatedness that transcends the variegatedness of mundane phenomena; but He is never featureless. The divine rasa is lovely with the variegatedness of the fourfold distinction of vibhava, anubhava, sattvika and vyabhicari and the rasa is ever present in Goloka and Vaikuntha. The rasa of Goloka manifests as vraja-rasa on the mundane plane for the benefit of the devotees by the power of Yogamaya. Whatever is observable in gokula-rasa should be visible in goloka-rasa, in a clearly explicit form. Hence the distinction of paramourship and concubinage, the variegatedness of the respective rasas of all different persons, the soil, water, river, hill, portico, bower, cows, etc., all the features of Gokula exist in Goloka, disposed in an appropriate manner. There is only this peculiarity that the mundane conceptions of human beings possessed of material judgment, regarding those transcendental entities, do not exist there. The conception of Goloka manifests itself differently in proportion to the degree of realization of the various pastimes of Vraja and it is very difficult to lay down any definite criterion as to which portions are mundane and which are uncontaminated. The more the eye of devotion is tinged with the salve of love, the more will the transcendental concept gradually manifest itself. So there is no need of further hypothetical speculation which does not improve one's spiritual appreciation, as the substantive knowledge of Goloka is an inconceivable entity. To try to pursue the inconceivable by the conceptual process is like pounding the empty husk of grain, which is sure to have a fruitless ending. It is, therefore, one's bounden duty. by refraining from the endeavor to know, to try to gain the experience of the transcendental by the practice of pure devotion. Any course, the adoption of which tends to produce the impression of featurelessness, must be shunned by all means. Unalloyed parakiya-rasa free from all mundane conception is a most rare attainment. It is this which has been described in the narrative of the pastimes of Gokula. Those devotees, who follow the dictate of their pure spontaneous love, should base their devotional endeavors on that narrative. They will attain to the more wholesome fundamental principle on reaching the stage of realization. The devotional activities characterized by illicit amour, as practiced by worldly-minded conditioned souls, are forbidden mundane impiety. The heart of our apostle Sripada Jiva Gosvami was very much moved by such practices and induced him to give us his conclusive statements on the subject. It is the duty of a pure Vaisnava to accept the real spirit of his statements. It is a great offense to disrespect the acarya and to seek to establish a different doctrine in opposition to him.
 
 

The Syamasundara form of Krsna is His inconceivable simultaneous personal and impersonal self-contradictory form. True devotees see that form in their purified hearts under the influence of devotional trance. The form Syama is not the blue color visible in the mundane world but is the transcendental variegated color affording eternal bliss, and is not visible to the mortal eye. On a consideration of the trance of Vyasadeva as in the sloka, bhakti-yogena manasi etc., it will be clear that the form of Sri Krsna is the full Personality of Godhead and can only be visible in the heart of a true devotee, which is the only true seat in the state of trance under the influence of devotion. When Krsna manifested Himself in Vraja, both the devotees and nondevotees saw Him with this very eye; but only the devotees cherished Him, eternally present in Vraja, as the priceless jewel of their heart. Nowadays also the devotees see Him in Vraja in their hearts, saturated with devotion although they do not see Him with their eyes. The eye of devotion is nothing but the eye of the pure unalloyed spiritual self of the jiva. The form of Krsna is visible to that eye in proportion to its purification by the practice of devotion. When the devotion of the neophyte reaches the stage of bhava-bhakti the pure eye of that devotee is tinged with the salve of love by the grace of Krsna, which enables him to see Krsna face to face. The phrase "in their hearts" means Krsna is visible in proportion as their hearts are purified by the practice of devotion. The sum and substance of this sloka is that the form of Krsna, who is Syamasundara, Natavara (Best Dancer), Muralidhara (Holder of the Flute) and Tribhanga (Triple-bending), is not a mental concoction but is transcendental, and is visible with the eye of the soul of the devotee under trance.
 
 

His subjective portions as the avataras, viz., Rama, etc., appear from Vaikuntha and His own form Krsna manifests Himself with Vraja in this world, from Goloka. The underlying sense is that Krsna Caitanya, identical with Krsna Himself, also brings about by His appearance the direct manifestation of Godhead Himself.
 
 

The mundane universe created by Maya is one of the infinite external manifestations accommodating space, time and gross things. The impersonal aspect of Godhead, the nondifferentiated Brahman, is far above this principle of mundane creation. But even the nondifferentiated Brahman is only the external effulgence emanating from the boundary wall of the transcendental realm of Vaikuntha displaying the triquadrantal glory of Govinda. The nondifferentiated Brahman is indivisible, hence is also one without a second, and is the infinite, and residual entity.
 
 

The active mundane quality of rajas brings forth or generates all mundane entities. The quality of sattva (mundane manifestive principle) in conjunction with rajas stands for the maintenance of the existence of entities that are so produced, and the quality of tamas represents the principle of destruction. The substantive principle, which is mixed with the threefold mundane qualities, is mundane, while the unmixed substance is transcendental. The quality of eternal existence is the principle of absolute entity. The person whose proper form abides in that essence, is alone unalloyed entity. nonmundane, supermundane and free from all mundane quality. He is cognitive bliss. It is the deluding energy who has elaborated the regulative knowledge (Vedas) bearing on the threefold mundane quality.
 
 

Those who constantly recollect in accordance with spiritual instructions the name, figure, attributes and pastimes of the form of Krsna appearing in the amorous rasa, whose loveliness vanquishes the god of mundane love, conqueror of all mundane hearts, are alone meditators of Krsna. Krsna, who is full of pastimes, always manifests Himself with His realm only in the pure receptive cognition of such persons. The pastimes of that manifested divine realm triumphantly dominates in every way all the majesty and beauty of the mundane world.
 
 

The realm of Goloka stands highest above all others. Brahma looking up to the higher position of Goloka is speaking of the other realms from the point of view of his own realm: the first in order is this mundane world called Devi-dhama consisting of the fourteen worlds, viz., Satyaloka, etc.; next above Devi-dhama is located Siva-dhama one portion of which, called Mahakala-dhama, is enveloped in darkness; interpenetrating this portion of Siva-dhama there shines the Sadasivaloka, full of great light. Above the same appears Hari-dhama or the transcendental Vaikunthaloka. The potency of Devi-dhama, in the form of the extension of Maya, and that of Sivaloka, consisting of time, space and matter, are the potency of the separated particles pervaded by the penumbral reflection of the subjective portion of the Divinity. But Hari-dhama is ever resplendent with transcendental majesty and the great splendor of all-sweetness predominates over all other majesties in Goloka. The Supreme Lord Govinda by his own direct and indirect power has constituted those respective potencies of those realms.
 
 

(The aforesaid presiding deity of Devi-dhama is being described.) The world, in which Brahma takes his stand and hymns the Lord of Goloka, is Devi-dhama consisting of the fourteen worlds and Durga is its presiding deity. She is ten-armed, representing the tenfold fruitive activities. She rides on the lion, representing her heroic prowess. She tramples down Mahisasura, representing the subduer of vices. She is the mother of two sons, Karttikeya and Ganesa, representing beauty and success. She is placed between Laksmi and Sarasvati, representing mundane opulence and mundane knowledge. She is armed with the twenty weapons, representing the various pious activities enjoined by the Vedas for suppression of vices. She holds the snake, representing the beauty of destructive time. Such is Durga possessing all these manifold forms. Durga is possessed of durga, which means a prison house. When jivas begotten of the marginal potency (tatastha sakti) forget the service of Krsna they are confined in the mundane prison house, the citadel of Durga. The wheel of karma is the instrument of punishment at this place. The work of purifying these penalized jivas is the duty devolved upon Durga. She is incessantly engaged in discharging the same by the will of Govinda. When, luckily. the forgetfulness of Govinda on the part of imprisoned jivas is remarked by them by coming in contact with self-realized souls and their natural aptitude for the loving service of Krsna is aroused, Durga herself then becomes the agency of their deliverance by the will of Govinda. So it behooves everybody to obtain the guileless grace of Durga, the mistress of this prison house, by propitiating her with the selfless service of Krsna. The boons received from Durga in the shape of wealth, property, recovery from illness, of wife and sons, should be realized as the deluding kindness of Durga. The mundane psychical jubilations of dasa-maha-vidya, the ten goddesses or forms of Durga, are elaborated for the delusion of the fettered souls of this world. Jiva is a spiritual atomic part of Krsna. When he forgets his service of Krsna he is at once deflected by the attracting power of Maya in this world, who throws him into the whirlpool of mundane fruitive activity (karma) by confining him in a gross body constituted by the five material elements, their five attributes and eleven senses, resembling the garb of a prisoner. In this whirlpool jiva has experience of happiness and miseries, heaven and hell. Besides this, there is a subtle body. consisting of the mind, intelligence and ego, inside the gross body. By means of the subtle body. the jiva forsakes one gross body and takes recourse to another. The jiva cannot get rid of the subtle body. full of nescience and evil desires, unless and until he is liberated. On getting rid of the subtle body he bathes in the Viraja and goes up to Hari-dhama. Such are the duties performed by Durga in accordance with the will of Govinda. In the Bhagavata sloka, vilajyamanaya... durdhiyah--the relationship between Durga and the conditioned souls has been described.

Durga, worshiped by the people of this mundane world, is the Durga described above. But the spiritual Durga, mentioned in the mantra which is the outer covering of the spiritual realm of the Supreme Lord, is the eternal maidservant of Krsna and is, therefore, the transcendental reality whose shadow, the Durga of this world, functions in this mundane world as her maidservant.
 
 

(The real nature of Sambhu, the presiding deity of Mahesa-dhama, is described.) Sambhu is not a second Godhead other than Krsna. Those, who entertain such discriminating sentiment, commit a great offense against the Supreme Lord. The supremacy of Sambhu is subservient to that of Govinda; hence they are not really different from each other. The nondistinction is established by the fact that just as milk treated with acid turns into curd so Godhead becomes a subservient when He Himself attains a distinct personality by the addition of a particular element of adulteration. This personality has no independent initiative. The said adulterating principle is constituted of a combination of the stupefying quality of the deluding energy, the quality of nonplenitude of the marginal potency and a slight degree of the ecstatic-cum-cognitive principle of the plenary spiritual potency. This specifically adulterated reflection of the principle of the subjective portion of the Divinity is Sadasiva, in the form of the effulgent masculine-symbol-god Sambhu from whom Rudradeva is manifested. In the work of mundane creation as the material cause, in the work of preservation by the destruction of sundry asuras and in the work of destruction to conduct the whole operation, Govinda manifests Himself as guna-avatara in the form of Sambhu who is the separated portion of Govinda imbued with the principle of His subjective plenary portion. The personality of the destructive principle in the form of time has been identified with that of Sambhu by scriptural evidences that have been adduced in the commentary. The purport of the Bhagavata slokas, viz., vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh, etc., is that Sambhu, in pursuance of the will of Govinda, works in union with his consort Durgadevi by his own time energy. He teaches pious duties (dharma) as stepping-stones to the attainment of spiritual service in the various tantra-sastras, etc., suitable for jivas in different grades of the conditional existence. In obedience to the will of Govinda, Sambhu maintains and fosters the religion of pure devotion by preaching the cult of illusionism (Mayavada) and the speculative agama-sastras. The fifty attributes of individual souls are manifest in a far vaster measure in Sambhu and five additional attributes not attainable by jivas are also partly found in him. So Sambhu cannot be called a jiva. He is the lord of jiva but yet partakes of the nature of a separated portion of Govinda.
 
 

The presiding Deities of Hari-dhama, viz., Hari, Narayana, Visnu, etc., the subjective portions of Krsna, are being described. The majestic manifestation of Krsna is Narayana, Lord of Vaikuntha, whose subjective portion is Karanodakasayi Visnu, the prime cause, whose portion is Garbhodakasayi. Ksirodakasayi is again the subjective portion of Garbhodakasayi Visnu. The word "Visnu" indicates all-pervading, omnipresent and omniscient personality. In this sloka the activities of the subjective portions of the Divinity are enunciated by the specification of the nature of Ksirodakasayi Visnu. The personality of Visnu, the embodied form of the manifestive quality (sattva-guna) is quite distinct from that of Sambhu who is adulterated with mundane qualities. Visnu's subjective personality is on a level with that of Govinda. Both consist of the unadulterated substantive principle. Visnu in the form of the manifest causal principle is identical with Govinda as regards quality. The manifestive quality (sattva-guna) that is found to exist in the triple mundane quality, is an adulterated entity. being alloyed with the qualities of mundane activity and inertia. Brahma is the dislocated portion of the Divinity. manifested in the principle of mundane action, endowed with the functional nature of His subjective portion; and Sambhu is the dislocated portion of the Divinity manifested in the principle of mundane inertia possessing similarly the functional nature of His subjective portion. The reason for their being dislocated portions is that the two principles of mundane action and inertia being altogether wanting in the spiritual essence any entities, that are manifested in them, are located at a great distance from the Divinity Himself or His facsimiles. Although the mundane manifestive quality is of the adulterated kind, Visnu, the manifestation of the Divinity in the mundane manifestive quality. makes His appearance in the unadulterated manifestive principle which is a constituent of the mundane manifestive quality. Hence Visnu is the full subjective portion and belongs to the category of the superior isvaras. He is the Lord of the deluding potency and not alloyed with her. Visnu is the agent of Govinda's own subjective nature in the form of the prime cause. All the majestic attributes of Govinda, aggregating sixty in number, are fully present in His majestic manifestation, Narayana. Brahma and Siva are entities adulterated with mundane qualities. Though Visnu is also divine appearance in mundane quality (guna-avatara), still He is not adulterated. The appearance of Narayana in the form of Maha-Visnu, the appearance of Maha-Visnu in the form of Garbhodakasayi and the appearance of Visnu in the form of Ksirodakasayi, are examples of the ubiquitous function of the Divinity. Visnu is Godhead Himself, and the two other guna-avataras and all the other gods are entities possessing authority in subordination to Him. From the subjective majestic manifestation of the supreme self-luminous Govinda emanate Karanodakasayi, Garbhodakasayi, Ksirodakasayi and all other derivative subjective divine descents (avataras) such as Rama, etc., analogous to communicated light appearing in different candles, shining by the operation of the spiritual potency of Govinda.
 
 

Brahma is two types: in certain kalpas when the potency of the Supreme Lord infuses Himself in an eligible jiva, the latter acts in the office of Brahma and creates the universe. In those kalpas when no eligible jiva is available, after the Brahma of the previous kalpa is liberated, Krsna, by the process of allotment of His own potency. creates the Brahma who has the nature of the avatara (descent) of the Divinity in the active mundane principle (rajo-guna). By principle Brahma is superior to ordinary jivas but is not the direct Divinity. The divine nature is present in a greater measure in Sambhu than in Brahma. The fundamental significance of the above is that the aggregate of fifty attributes, belonging to the jiva, are present in a fuller measure in Brahma who possesses, in a lesser degree, five more attributes which are not found in jivas. But in Sambhu both the fifty attributes of jivas as also the five additional attributes found in Brahma are present in even greater measure than in Brahma.
 
 

The power of destroying all obstacles to mundane prosperity has been delegated to Ganesa who is the object of worship to those who are eligible to worship him. He has obtained a rank among the five gods as Brahma possessing mundane quality. The self-same Ganesa is a god in possession of delegated power by infusion of the divine power. All his glory rests entirely on the grace of Govinda.
 
 

There is nothing in the three worlds save the five elements, ten quarters, time, jiva-soul, and the mental principle allied with the subtle body consisting of mind, intelligence and ego of conditioned souls. The elevationists (karmis) make their offerings in sacrifice in the fire. Conditioned souls know nothing beyond this perceptible world of nine elements. The jiva is the self-same soul whose ecstatic delight the joyless liberationists (jnanis) aspire after. Both the principles that are respectively depicted as atma and prakrti by the system of Sankhya are included in the above. In other words all the principles that have been enunciated by all the speculative philosophers (tattva-vadis) are included in these nine elements. Sri Govinda is the source of the appearance, continuance and subsidence of all these principles.
 
 

Certain professors of the Vedic religion worship the sun as Brahman. The sun is one of the hierarchy of the five gods. Some people target in heat the source of this world and therefore designate the sun, the only location of heat, as the root cause of this world. Notwithstanding all that may be said to the contrary, the sun is after all only the presiding deity of a sphere of the sum total of all mundane heat and is hence a god exercising delegated authority. The sun performs his specific function of service certainly by the command of Govinda.
 
 

By dharma is meant the allotted functions of varna and asrama manifested by the twenty dharma-sastras on the authority of the Vedas. Of these two divisions varna-dharma is that function which is the outcome of the distinctive natures of the four varnas, viz., brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra and asrama-dharma is that function which is appropriate to the respective asramas or stations of those who belong to the four stages, viz., brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. All customary activities of mankind have been targeted in these twofold divisions. Sins mean nescience, the root of all sins and sinful desire, also the greatest iniquities and sins flowing from them and the ordinary sins, i.e., all sorts of unprincipled conduct. The category of the srutis means Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva and the Upanisads which form the crest jewels of the Veda. The tapas mean all regular practices that are learnt with the view of the attainment of the proper function of the self. In many cases, e.g., in the form known as panca-tapas these practices are of a difficult character (yoga) with its eight constituents limbs and devotedness to the knowledge of the undifferentiated Brahman are included therein. All these are so many distinctive features within the revolving round of the fruitive activities of conditioned souls. The conditioned souls are embarked on a sojourn of successive births from 84 lakhs of varieties of generating organs. They are differentiated into different orders of beings as devas, danavas, raksasas, manavas, nagas, kinnaras, and gandharvas. These jivas, from Brahma down to the small insect, are infinite in type. They make up the aggregate of the conditioned souls from the degree of Brahma to that of the little fly and are the distinctive features within the revolving wheel of karma. Every one of them is endowed with distinctive powers as individuals and is powerful in a particular sphere. But these powers are by their nature not fully developed in them. The degree of power and nature of property vary according to the measure of manifestation of the possessions of the individual conferred upon him by Sri Govinda.
 
 

God impartially induces the fallen souls to act in the way that is consequent on the deeds of their previous births and to enjoy the fruition of their labors but, out of His great mercy to His devotees, He purges out, by the fire of ordeal, the root of all karma, viz., nescience and evil desires. Karma, though without beginning, is still perishable. The karma of those, who work with the hope of enjoying the fruits of their labors, becomes everlasting and endless and is never destroyed. The function of sannyasa is also a sort of karma befitting an asrama and is not pleasant to Krsna when it aims at liberation, i.e., desire for emancipation. They also receive fruition of their karma and, even if it be disinterested, their karma ends in atma-mamata, i.e., self-pleasure; but those who are pure devotees always serve Krsna by gratifying His senses forsaking all attempts of karma and jnana, and being free from all desires save that of serving Krsna. Krsna has fully destroyed the karma, its desires and nescience of those devotees. It is a great wonder that Krsna, being impartial, is fully partial to His devotees.
 
 

Devotion is of two kinds, viz., (1) of the nature of deference to regulation and (2) constituted of natural feeling. Bhakti is roused by following with a tinge of faith in the rule of the sastras and instruction of the preceptors. Such bhakti is of the nature of loyalty to the scriptural regulations. It continues to be operative as long as the corresponding natural feeling is not roused. If a person loves Krsna out of natural tendency. there is the principle of raga, which is no other than a strong desire to serve, which turns into bhava or substantive feeling. When the substantive feeling is aroused the devotee becomes an object of mercy of Krsna. It takes much time to attain this stage. Devotion which is of the nature of feeling is superior to that connected with scriptural regulation, soon attains to the realized state and is attractive to Krsna. Its various aspects are described in this sloka. Santa-bhava, full of reverence to superior, dasya-bhava, full of service for carrying out the commands of the object of worship, sakhya-bhava or natural friendly love, vatsalya-bhava or parental affection and madhura-bhava or amorous love, are all included in the category of devotion of the nature of instinctive attachment. But anger, fear and delusion, though they are of the nature of instinctive impulse, are not devotion in the strict sense of the term, because they are not friendly but hostile to the object. Anger is found in asuras like Sisupala, fear in Kamsa, and delusion in the panditas of the pantheistic school. They have the feelings of anger, fear and instinctive impulse marked by complete self-forgetful identification with the nondifferentiated Brahman. But as there is no friendly feeling towards the object of devotion there is no bhakti. Again among the feelings of santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhura--santa, though indifferent and dormant in raga, is still reckoned as bhakti on account of its being a little friendly. There is an immense volume of raga in the other four varieties of emotion. By the promise of Gita, ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham ("I serve one according to his submission"), those, who allow themselves to be actuated by the sentiments of fear, anger and delusion, attain to sayujya-mukti (merging in the Absolute). The santas obtain bodily forms with aptitude for addiction to Brahman and Paramatma. The dasya and sakhya classes of worshipers attain bodily forms characterized by masculine or feminine disposition according to their respective grades of eligibility. The vatsalya class of worshipers get bodily forms befitting fatherly and motherly sentiments. The amorous lovers of Krsna attain the pure forms of gopis (spiritual milkmaids of Vraja).
 
 

That region which jivas attain by the best performance of their rasa-bhajana, though purely transcendental, is by no means devoid of variegatedness. The nondifferentiated region is attained by indulging in anger, fear and delusion. The devotees attain Goloka, the transcendental region above Vaikuntha, according to the quality of rasa of the respective services. In reality that region is no other than Svetadvipa or "the White Island," being exceedingly pure. Those, who attain the highest rasa in the shape of the realization of pure devotion in this world, viewing the reality of Svetadvipa in Gokula, Vrndavana and Navadvipa within this mundane world, designate the same as "Goloka." In that transcendental region of Goloka there are always visible, in their supreme beauty. all the distinctive entities that are incorporated in the pure cognitive principle, viz., the lover and His beloved ones, trees and creepers, mountains, rivers and forests, water, speech, movement, music of the flute, the sun and the moon, tasted and taste (i.e., the unthinkable wonders of the 64 aesthetic arts), milk cows yielding nectarean flow of milk and transcendental ever-existing time.

Descriptions that supply the clue to Goloka are found in various places in the Vedas and the other sastras such as the Puranas, tantras etc. The Chandogya says: bruyad yavan va ayam akasas tavan esa antar hrda akasah ubhe asmin dyava-prthivi antar eva samahite. ubhav agnis ca vayus ca surya--candramasav ubhau vidyun naksatrani yac casyehasti yac ca nasti sarvam tad asmin samahitam iti.

The sum and substance of it is that all the variegatedness of this mundane world and much more variety over and above the mundane, are to be found in Goloka. The variety in the transcendental world is fully centralized whereas in the mundane world it is not so and hence productive of weal and woe. The centralized variety of Goloka is unalloyed and full of transcendental cognitive joy. The Vedas and sadhus practicing devotion revealed by the Vedas, by availing the support of their individual cognitional aptitude actuated by devotion, may have a sight of divine realm and by the power of the grace of Krsna their tiny cognitive faculty attaining the quality of infinitude they are enabled to be on the level of the plane of enjoyments of Krsna.

There is a hidden meaning of the proposition "even the Supreme that is also nevertheless the object of enjoyment" (param api tad asvadyam api ca). The word param api indicates that Sri Krsna is the only Truth Absolute in all the transcendental blissful principles and tad asvadyam api means His object of enjoyment. The glory of Radha's love for Krsna, tasty quality (rasa) of Krsna that is realized by Radha and the bliss of which Radha is conscious in the process of such realization, all these threefold bhavas (emotional entities) becoming available for enjoyment by Krsna He attains His personality of Sri Gaurasundara. It is also this that constitutes the transcendental bliss of the delicious loving (rasa) service manifested by Sri Gaurasundara. This also eternally exists only in the selfsame Svetadvipa.
 
 

The Supreme Lord became propitious when Brahma with great eagerness chanted the names, "Krsna" and "Govinda" expressive of the form, attribute and pastimes. Brahma was actuated by the desire for mundane creation. Krsna then said to Brahma how pure unalloyed devotion can be practiced by souls engaged in worldly occupations by combining the same with the desire for carrying out the behest of the Supreme Lord. "The knowledge absolute is knowledge of the glory of Godhead; if you want to procreate offspring being endowed with such knowledge, listen attentively to the science of devotion that is contained in the following five slokas."

(How bhakti is practiced by performing worldly duties in the form of carrying out the commands of the Supreme Lord, is being described).
 
 

Real knowledge is nothing but knowledge of one's relationship to the Absolute. Real knowledge is identical with the knowledge of subjective natures of cit (animate), acit (inanimate) and Krsna and of their mutual relationship. Here mental speculation is not alluded to, since that is antagonistic to service (bhakti). The knowledge that embraces only the first seven of the ten basic principles (dasa-mula) is the knowledge of relationship. The substantive nature of the spiritual function (abhidheya) inculcated by the science of devotion hearing, chanting, meditation, tending His holy feet, worshiping by rituals, making prostrations, doing menial service, practicing friendship and surrendering oneself are identical with practicing the search for Krsna. It is specifically described in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. Devotion (bhakti) characterized by love for Godhead makes her appearance by being awakened by such knowledge and practice. Such devotion is superexcellent bhakti and is no other than the final object of attainment of all spiritual endeavor of the individual soul (jiva).
 
 

Evidence--the devotional scriptures, e.g., Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Vedas, the Puranas, the Gita, etc. Theistic conduct--the conduct of pious persons (sadhus) who are pure devotees and the conduct of those pious persons who practice devotion to Godhead actuated by spontaneous love. Practice--to learn about the ten basic principles (dasa-mula) from the sastras and on receiving the name of Hari as laid down in the same, embodying the name, form, quality and activity of the Divinity. to practice the chanting of the name by serving Him night and day. By this are meant study of the sastras and association with the sadhus. The tenfold offense to holy name ceases by serving the name of Hari and simultaneously practicing pious conduct. "Practice" is no other than following the mode of service of the name practiced by the sadhus without offense. By perseverance in such practice and devotion characterized by love which is the fruit of spiritual endeavor makes her appearance in the pure essence of the soul.
 
 

The jiva-soul has no better well-being than loving devotion. In this is realized the final beatitude of jivas. The lotus feet of Krsna are attainable only by loving devotion. He who cultivates the preliminary devotional activities anxiously keeping in view that realized state of devotion can alone attain to that object of all endeavor. None else can have the same.
 
 

The function characterized by unalloyed devotion is the real function of all individual souls (jivas). All other varieties of function are activities of the external cases. These exoteric and esoteric dharmas (functions) are manifold, e.g., nondifferential knowledge of the Brahman aiming at extinction of individuality. the astanga-yoga-dharma having as its goal attainment of the state of exclusive existence (kaivalya), atheistical fruitive ritualism aiming at material enjoyment, jnana-yoga-dharma seeking to combine knowledge with fruitive activity and the practice of the function of barren asceticism. Getting rid of all these, serve Me by pure devotion rooted in faith. Exclusive faith in Me is trust. Faith in the form of trust by the process of gradual purification tends to become a constant engagement (nistha), an object of liking (ruci), of attachment (asakti) and a real sentiment (bhava). The more transparent the faith, the greater the degree of realization. If you ask--How will the preservation and conduct of worldly affairs be feasible if one is continuously engaged in the endeavor for the realization of bhakti? What also will be the nature of the endeavor for the realization of bhakti when the body will perish consequent on the cessation of the function of the body and of society?

In order to strike at the root of this misgiving the Supreme Lord says, "This world subsists by the constant performance of certain activities. Fill all these activities with meditation of Me. This will destroy the quality that makes those activities appear as acts done by you. They will then be of the nature of My service (bhakti).

"Mankind live by the threefold activities of body. mind and society. Eating, seating, walking, resting, sleeping, cleansing the body. covering the body. etc., are the various bodily activities; thinking, recollecting, retaining an impression, becoming aware of an entity. feeling pleasure and pain, etc., are the mental feats; marrying, practicing reciprocal relationship between the king and subject, practicing brotherhood, attending at sacrificial meetings, offering oblations, digging wells, tanks, etc., for the benefit of the people, maintaining one's relations, practicing hospitality. observing proper civic conduct, showing due respect to others are the various social activities. When these acts are performed for one's selfish enjoyment, they are called karma-kanda; when the desire for attainment of freedom from activity by knowledge underlies these actions, they are termed jnana-yoga or karma-yoga. And when these activities are managed to be performed in this way that is conducive to our endeavor for attainment of bhakti they are called jnana-bhakta-yoga, i.e., the subsidiary devotional practices. But only those activities that are characterized by the principle of pure worship are called bhakti proper. My meditation is practiced in every act when bhakti proper is practiced in due time while performing the subsidiary devotional activities in one's intercourse with the ungodly people of this world. In such position, a jiva does not become apathetic to Godhead even by performing those worldly activities. This constitutes the practice of looking inwards, i.e., turning towards one's real self, vide Isopanisad--

The commentator says in regards to this, tena isa-tyaktena visrstena. The real significance being that if whatever is accepted be received as favor vouchsafed by the Supreme Lord, the worldly activity will cease to be such and will turn into service of Godhead (bhakti). So Isavasya says kurvann eveha karmani... karma lipyate nare.

If the worldly acts are performed in the above manner one does not get entangled in karma even in hundreds of years of worldly life. The meaning of these two mantras from the jnana point of view is renouncement of the fruits of one's worldly actions; but from the bhakti point of view they mean the attainment of Krsna's favor (prasadam) by their transfer to His account. In this method, which is the path of arcana, you should do your duties of the world by the meditation of worshiping Godhead thereby. Brahma cherishes the desire for creation in his heart. If that creative desire is practiced by conjoining the same with the meditation of obeying therein the command of the Supreme Lord, then it will be a subsidiary spiritual function (gauna-dharma) being helpful for the growth of the disposition for the service of the Divinity by reason of its characteristic of seeking the protection of Godhead. It was certainly proper to instruct Brahma in this manner. There is no occasion for such instruction in the case of a jiva in whom the spontaneous aversion for entities other than Krsna manifests itself on his attainment of the substantive entity of spiritual devotion (bhava).
 
 

Certain thinkers conclude that the nondifferentiated Brahman is the ultimate entity and by undergoing self-delusion (vivarta) exhibits the consciousness of differentiation; or, the limiting principle itself (Maya), when it is limited, is the phenomenal world and is itself the Brahman, in its unlimited position; or, the Brahman is the substance and this phenomenal world is the reflection; or, everything is an illusion of the jiva. Some think that Godhead is evidently a separate entity. Jiva is another different entity. and the phenomenal world, although it is a singular principle, exists separately as an eternally independent entity; or, Godhead, is the substantive entity and all other entities, as cit and a-cit attributes, are one in principle. Some suppose that by the force of inconceivable potency sometimes the monistic and sometimes the dualistic principle is realized as the truth. Some again arrive at the conclusion that the theory of the nondual minus all potency is meaningless; whence the Brahman is the one eternally unalloyed entity vested with the pure potency.

These speculations have originated from Veda relying on the support of the Vedanta-sutra. In these speculations although there is no truth that holds good in all positions, there is yet a certain measure of truth. Not to speak of the anti-Vedic speculations Sankhya, Patanjala, Nyaya and Vaisesika, nor even of Purva-mimamsa which is fond of exclusive fruitive activity in conformity with the teaching of one portion of the Veda, the bodies of opinions detailed above have also come into existence by relying outwardly on the Vedanta itself. By discarding all these speculations, you and your bona fide community should adopt the ultimate principle identical with the doctrine of acintya-bhedabheda (inconceivable simultaneous distinction and nondifference). This will make you eligible for being a true devotee. The basic principle is that this animate world is made up of jivas and the inanimate world is constituted of matter. Of these all the jivas have been manifested by My supreme (para) potency and this phenomenal world has been manifested by My secondary (apara) potency. I am the cause of all causes. In other words, I regulate all of them by the power of My will although I am not a different entity from the marginal and material (tatastha and acit) potencies. By the transformation of those distinct potencies pradhana (substantive material principle), prakrti (material cause) and purusa (efficient cause) have been produced. Hence although as regards the subjective nature of all potency I am pradhana, prakrti and purusa, yet as the possessor of power I am eternally distinct from all those potencies. This simultaneous distinction and nondifference has also sprung from My inconceivable power. So let the attainment of love for Krsna by the practice of pure devotion through the knowledge of their mutual true relationship that subsists between the jiva, the jada (matter) and Krsna based on the principle of inconceivable simultaneous distinction and non-difference, be My instruction for being handed down in the order of spiritual preceptional succession in your community (Sri Brahma-sampradaya).