SRI Caitanya siksamrita - chapter one part three
The eternal, blissful form of Krsna is the Supreme Lord. He is without beginning, and He is the origin of all else. In the scriptures He is called Govinda. He is the cause of all causes.
O Sanatana, please hear about the eternal form of Lord Krsna. He is the Absolute Truth, devoid of duality but present in Vrndavana as the son of Nanda Maharaja. Krsna is the original source of everything and the sum total of everything. He appears as the supreme youth, and His whole body is composed of spiritual bliss. He is the shelter of everything and master of everyone. The original Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krsna. His original name is Govinda. He is full of all opulences, and His eternal abode is known as Goloka Vrndavana. 1
C.C.Madhya 20 .152-154
It is possible for the jivas to realize the form of God, for God Himself has given man the ability to realize Him. By this ability the elevated jivas can realize the form of the Lord. Man has three means of realization: gross material organs of knowledge, the subtle body or the mind's comprehension power, and the ability of the jiva to perceive spiritual matters.
The eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin are the five organs by which the external world is understood. This is all material knowledge. By contemplation, remembrance, or meditation on objects of material knowledge, only more material knowledge, or at most, a perverted glimpse of spirit, is possible. Thus two ways of gathering knowledge are material. It is not possible to have realization of the form of the Lord, which is purely spiritual, by these bodily faculties. Unless a person takes shelter of the faculties of the soul, spiritual vision of the Lord is impossible.2 People who try to see the form of the Lord by taking shelter of the material senses practice asana, pranayama, dhyana and dharana of the yoga system, and by the process of negation, understand the Lord as the soul of the universe. The final goal is a vision of the Paramatma. But by such activity, the perfect, spiritual realization cannot be obtained. All that is achieved is fragmentary realization based upon negation of material knowledge. Those with extreme negativity consider material form as abominable and imagine a formless, unchanging existence of God; they attempt to realize Brahman. But actually their vision of brahman is only a show. 3
Mahaprabhu said the Sanatana:
There are three kinds of spiritual processes for understanding the Absolute Truth--the processes of speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and bhakti yoga. According to these three processes, the Absolute Truth is manifested as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan.
C.C.Madhya 20.157
When one accepts Vedic literature by interpretation or even by dictionary meaning, directly or indirectly the ultimate declaration of Vedic knowledge points to Lord Krsna.
C.C. Madhya 20.146
Thus, when a jiva desires to see the Lord, according to his qualification, he sees the appropriate form of the Lord. Accordingly as one practices karma yoga, jnana yoga or bhakti yoga, one will see paramatma, brahman or bhagavan. The wise call the non-dual spiritual entity "tattva" or absolute truth.4 But this absolute entity is perceived differently by differently qualified instruments. Brahman, paramatma and bhagavan are actually one entity, but the person thinks the object which he perceives to be supreme.
Bhagavan is Sri Krsna. Those who disregard Krsna, thinking him to be an ordinary mortal performing material activities, have very meager understanding of spiritual truth. Mahaprabhu taught Sanatana about Krsna as bhagavan, quoting from the Bhagavatam.5
Only by devotional activity can one understand the transcendental form of the Lord, which is perfect in all respects. Although His form is one, he can expand His form into unlimited numbers by His supreme will. The Supreme Personality of Godhead exists in three principal forms--svayam rupa, tadekatma rupa and avesa rupa. The original form of the Lord is exhibited in two forms--- svayam rupa and svayam prakasa. In His original form as svayam rupa, Krsna is observed as a cowherd boy in Vrndavana. In His original form, Krsna manifests Himself in two features--prabhava and vaibhava.
C.C.Madhya 20. 164-167
There are six types of incarnations of Krsna. One is the incarnations of Visnu, and another is the incarnations meant for the performance of pastimes. There are incarnations that control the material qualities, incarnations of the Manus, incarnations in different millenniums, and incarnations of empowered living entities.
C.C.Madhya 20.245-246
The conclusion is that Lord Brahma and Lord Siva are simply devotee incarnations who carry out orders. However, Lord Visnu, the maintainer, is the personal feature of Lord Krsna. 6
C.C.Madhya 20.317
The six opulences, or bhaga are complete wealth, complete courage, complete fame, complete beauty, complete knowledge and complete renunciation. That person who has all these qualities is called bhagavan. Krsna is svayam bhagavan, because He reveals most completely all the qualities by His very nature. There is no entity equal to or greater than Krsna. He resides eternally in His original form in Goloka. His direct expansions or tad ekatma rupa, perform their activities by His will. Mahavisnu is Krsna's first purusavatara. He lies on the Karana ocean. His partial expansions are Garbodasayi and Ksirodasayi Visnu. The avataras such as Rama and Nrsimha are expansions from them. But Krsna is svayam bhagavan, the source of the purusavataras. Though Krsna is supreme, he appears in the material world as the son of Nanda, by his inconceivable power.
The brahman which is mentioned in the Upanisads is but His effulgence. 7 The paramatma which is mentioned in the Upanisads and the Yoga scriptures is one part of Krsna8. There are many proofs for these two statements in the scriptures. This cannot be understood by reasoning or logical rules.
As the light spreads out from the sun, from Krsna, endowed with all wonderful qualities, unlimited rays spread out in all directions. Characterized by negative attributes such as formlessness, those rays take the form of impersonal Brahman in the hearts of men cultivating negation of material consciousness. Yogis seek out Paramatma, the expansion of Krsna, who creates and enters into the universe. The object of worship for the less intelligent men is but a transformation of material sattva guna, which has qualities such as formlessness. Out of fear of contamination by worship of human forms or material qualities, the less intelligent resort to the formless and unchanging concept, but by this they are deprived of Krsna prema. By material conception, the pure dharma of the jiva becomes polluted. Those who become attracted to Krsna's glories and beauty are saved from the negative, impersonal mentality and see the kingdom of God. The jiva can by good fortune attain this unlimited happiness, but a man whose intelligence is overcome by material knowledge cannot reach this spiritual kingdom.
Though Krsna is eternally the lord of Goloka, by his inconceivable power he descends to the material world by his own will along with his residence, Vraja, and yet carries out his activities in a pure, variegated way. The jiva can understand these transcendental activities of the Lord by the pure vision of his soul, and not by the material eye.9 Though Krsna may become visible to the material eye by his power, usually he remains invisible. As the pastimes of Krsna are eternal, not polluted by material time and place, they are visible only to the devotional eye of the pure spirit soul, and held in the mind saturated with love. 10 As long as a person tries to approach Krsna with pride of material knowledge, Krsna will remain far away. When a person calls out to Krsna with a humble heart, he sees Krsna and experiences the Lord's unlimited bliss. With the appearance of genuine faith, he loses his material pride and offensive nature. There is no room for caste, birthright, material knowledge, beauty, power, influence of material science, position, wealth, or kingdom in cultivating Krsna consciousness. For this reason understanding of Krsna remains far away from those who are proud of their material status. Thus it is easy to understand why Krsna is disregarded in the modern world.11
The unfortunate position of science is that it tries to know truths which are beyond is scope. Though it has no qualification for spiritual matters, it tries recklessly to understand, and ends up with worthless conclusions and a depraved mentality. Krsna gives his mercy when a jiva shows humility born of association with devotees. This is his qualification for spiritual matters. It is impossible to gain spiritual knowledge by material intellect.12
Krsna's energies
Krsna's energies are unlimited. The meager knowledge of the jiva can not even understand what energies exist in the various parts of the unlimited universe. In the spiritual world, across the Viraja, exists Vaikuntha and above that, Goloka Vraja. In Vaikuntha four armed Narayana displays all majesty. In Goloka, with the predominance of sweetness, all majesty is hidden.13 Krsna is the possessor of all energies. He has one great energy, which is called maya in many places in the scriptures. Maya means the external manifestation of Krsna, by the definition "miyate anaya," --"that by which things are measured". Krsna cannot be understood except through the agency of maya. Learned men divide Krsna's energy into the superior, spiritual energy (cit sakti) and inferior or material energy (maya sakti). Actually the superior energy is the inconceivable energy. The inferior energy is its shadow. That inferior energy is the controller of the material universe.14 The maya sakti which is condemned in spiritual discussions is this inferior energy, not the spiritual energy.
Lord Krsna naturally has three energetic transformations, and these are known as the spiritual potency, the living entity potency and the illusory potency.
C.C.Madhya 20.111
Krsna has unlimited potencies, out of which three are chief--willpower, the power of knowledge and the creative energy.
C.C.Madhya 20.252
The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original form is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The spiritual potency in these three portions assumes three different forms. The three portions of the spiritual potency are called hladini, sandhini and samvit. We accept knowledge of these as full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears in three phases--internal, marginal and external. These are all engaged in His devotional service in love.
C.C.Madhya 20.158-160
This means that Krsna has one personal energy called svarupa sakti or para sakti. This para sakti has three vibhavas, three prabhavas and three anubhavas by Krsna's will. 15 The three vibhavas are the cit sakti, jiva sakti and maya sakti. The three prabhavas are the iccha sakti, kriya sakti and jnana sakti. The three anubhavas are sandhini, hladini and samvit.
By the influence of the iccha sakti (Supreme Will), the cit sakti manifests Goloka, Vaikuntha and other places of the Lord's pastimes, Krsna's names, the Lord's various two handed or four handed or six handed forms, the pastimes with his associates in Goloka, Vrndavana, and Vaikuntha, and spiritual qualities such as mercy, forgiveness, and generosity. By the influence of the jnana sakti, the cit sakti produces various perceptions: aisvarya, madhurya, and beauty of the spiritual world. Krsna alone possesses the iccha sakti. The controller of the jnana sakti is Vasudeva and the controller of the kriya sakti is Baladeva, or Sankarsana. By the influence of the iccha sakti, jnana sakti and kriya sakti upon the jiva sakti, the forms of eternal associates, devatas, men, demons and raksasas appear. By the influence of Krsna's kriya sakti, the Lord's activities become manifest.
Within the cit sakti, the sandhini, samvit and hladini saktis combine to produce the distinctive ecstasies of prema. This energy is unlimited and endless. All the activities of the cit sakti are eternal.
Although there is no question of creation as far as the spiritual world is concerned, the spiritual world is nonetheless manifest by the supreme will of Sankarsana. The spiritual world is the abode of the pastimes of the eternal spiritual energy.
C.C.Madhya 20.257
By the agency of the material energy, this same Lord Sankarsana creates all the universes. The dull material energy--known in modern language as nature--is not the cause of the material universe. Without the Supreme Personality of Godhead's energy, dull matter cannot create the cosmic manifestation. Its power does not arise from the material energy itself but is endowed by Sankarsana. Dull matter alone cannot create anything. The material energy produces the creation by the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Iron itself has no power to burn, but when iron is placed in fire, it is empowered to burn.
C.C.Madhya 20.259-261
Another name of the shadow energy is material nature. The kriya sakti is also called sankarsana sakti. The transitory transformation of maya sakti is the material world. The jiva sakti will be more clearly delineated in the next chapter.
Rasa
Krsna is the embodiment of rasa. That is the statement of the Vedas. One can appreciate the nature of rasa by consulting the seventh part of first chapter. Words are material and therefore whatever is said, even with great care, is bound to have material connotation. If the reader is endowed with faith however, the transcendental rasa will appear in his heart. This will arise through association and good fortune. It cannot arise through reasoning. And by bad association, a material conception of rasa ( as with sahajiyas), will lead to the downfall of the inquisitive. The nature of rasa must be understood with great care.
Krsna Himself, endowed with sixty four transcendental qualities, is the perfect embodiment of continuous rasa.16 Of these fifty qualities are present in small amount in the jivas. These fifty qualities and an additional five qualities are present in Siva, Brahma, Ganesa, Surya and other devatas. For that reason, though they are not God, they are also called isvara or Lord. These fifty-five qualities and an additional five are present in fullness in Narayana and the avataras. These sixty qualities and an additional four extraordinary qualities are present in Krsna. For this reason Krsna is the Supreme Lord, the Supreme possessor of power.
All the variety existing in the svarupa sakti become personified forms who assist in the santa, dasya, vatsalya, sakhya and madhurya rasas. The embodiment of hladini, Radha, is the principal personality. Though this rasa is present in Goloka Vraja, by Krsna's will, yogamaya, the cit sakti, manifests this same rasa perfectly in the Vraja of the material world. But those whose intelligence cannot surpass material qualities, not being able to appreciate or understand the transcendental nature of rasa, will disregard it.
As Srimad Bhagavatam says, those who are filled with faith and describe or hear about rasa quickly attain prema, the perfect stage of devotion, and become freed from the material disease afflicting the heart. 17 This is Mahaprabhu's highest teaching.
1 Lowest of all is located Devi dhama, next above it is Mahesa dhama; above Mahesa dhama is placed Hari dhama and above them all is located Krsna's own realm named Goloka. I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda, who has allotted their respective authorities to rulers of those graded realms. B.S. 5.43
2 When a diseased eye is treated with medicinal ointment it gradually recovers its power to see. Similarly, as a conscious living entity cleanses himself of material contamination by hearing and chanting the pious narrations of My glories, he regains his ability to see me, the absolute truth, in My subtle spiritual form. S.B. 11.14.26
3 Therefore, control your speaking, subdue the mind, conquer the life air, regulate the senses and through purified intelligence bring your rational faculties under control. In this way you will never again fall onto the path of material existence. A transcendentalist who does not completely control his words and mind by superior intelligence will find that his spiritual vows, austerities and charity flow away just as water flows out of an unbaked clay pot. Being surrendered to Me, one should control the speech, mind and life air, and then through loving devotional intelligence one will completely fulfill the mission of life. S.B.11.16.42-44
4 Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or bhagavan. S.B.1.2.11
5 All the above mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists. S.B.1.3.28
6 By his will, I create, Lord Siva destroys, and He himself, in His eternal form as the Personality of Godhead, maintains everything. He is the powerful controller of these three energies. S.B. 2.6.31
7 I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the non-differentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upanisads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe and which appears as the indivisible, infinite and limitless truth. B.S.5.40
8 You should know Krsna to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary, human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency. S.B.10.14.55
9 O Vyasadeva, your vision is completely perfect. Your good fame is spotless. You are firm in vow and situated in truthfulness. And thus you can think of the pastimes of the Lord in trance for the liberation of the people in general from all material bondage. S.B.1.5.13
10 Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaged it by linking it in devotional service, without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with his external energy, which was under full control. S.B.1.7.4
11 The intelligence of cruel-minded persons is blinded by false pride based on great wealth, opulence, prestigious family connections, education, renunciation, personal beauty, physical strength and successful performance of Vedic rituals. Being intoxicated with this false pride, such cruel persons blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. S.B.11.5.9
12 My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years. S.B.10.14.29
13 O supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul, master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in these three worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employing Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one can understand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts. S.B.10.14.21
14 O Brahma, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality. Know it as My illusory energy, that reflection which appears to be in darkness. S.B.2.9.33
15 My dear Lord, in Your impersonal manifestation of Brahman there are always two opposing elements--knowledge and ignorance. Your multienergies are continually manifest, but the impersonal Brahman, which is undivided, original, changeless, unlimited and blissful, is the cause of the material manifestation. Because You are the same impersonal Brahman, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. S.B.4.9.16
16 B.R.S.2.1
17 Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord's playful affairs with the young gopis of Vrndavana will attain the Lord's pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart. S.B.10.33.39
