ISKCON New Zealand

The Supreme Lord

Indian theology recognizes three aspects of God: Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan - the Lord's impersonal feature, His all-pervading localized aspect, and His supreme personhood. The three primary attributes of God - sat (being, or eternality), chit (full cognition), and ananda (unending bliss) - are present in progressively greater degrees in these three aspects. Bhagavan realization represents the sum total of all of God's qualities. Thus Krishna, Bhagavan himself, has a distinct place in the stratification of divinity.

Three Aspects: An Analogy

To make the three levels of God-realization more understandable, later Vaishnava commentators have supplied the following apt analogy.

Three simple villagers and their guide are at a railway station, waiting in great anticipation for the train to arrive. The three have never seen a train before. As one of them notices a massive structure pulling in at a distance, he comments on the headlight: "What is this?" he asks. The guide responds: "That is the train." Confident that he has seen the train, the first villager leaves, satisfied.

When the train approaches the platform, one of the remaining villagers exclaims: "Oh! This is a train!" He has seen the series of cars pulling into the station - the form behind the headlights. He is now also confident that he has seen all there is to see and leaves.

The third man patiently remains behind. And when the train comes into the station he has the opportunity to meet the conductor and to see the various passengers on board.
The three villagers went back to their small village and began to tell everyone what they had seen. Though it was an undeniable truth that each had seen the same train, their descriptions were diverse; their realizations were different. The third villager obviously had a more complete experience than the other two. He was able to convince the others for this, for he perfectly described what his two comrades had seen, and more.

Analogically, the big light represents the effulgent impersonal aspect of the Lord (Brahman). This light with something more behind it conveys the idea of divine substance, a personality that pervades all existence (Paramatma). And the third villager's vision represents the most complete aspect of God realization (Bhagavan), wherein one meets the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and develops a relationship with him.

In the Vaishnava view, the above are considered different aspects of the same Absolute Truth, and they are all valid. One views these different aspects of God according to one's spiritual advancement.

Sri Krishna

Krishna is also known as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the repository of all three above mentioned aspects. He is the origin of the many incarnations of Godhead described in the Vedic literature. Krishna is the complete whole, and thus all plenary expansions and incarnations live with him. Krishna appears in this world in His original form to demonstrate His wonderful pastimes, and in this way to attract the conditioned souls, and invite them back home, back to Godhead.

The Lord's abode is transcendental to this manifested material realm, and is not subject to creation or annihilation, but remains as it is, eternally. That supreme abode, known as Goloka Vrndavan, is full of palaces made of touchstone, wish-fulfilling desire trees, and Surabhi cows. In that spiritual kingdom, every step is a dance and every word a song. Due to forgetfulness of our eternal blissful nature and relationship with Krishna, we struggle in this material realm, mistakenly identifying ourselves as the temporary body and flickering mind.

Residents of Goloka Vrndavan engage in ever-increasing blissful pastimes with Krishna, in multifarious relationships free from contaminated mentality or selfish desire. In that realm, Krishna, also known as Govinda, plays His flute. His eyes are like lotus petals, and the colour of His body is like a beautiful cloud. On His head is a peacock feather. He is so attractive that He excels thousands of Cupids.

The summary study of the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, "Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead", translated by Srila Prabhupada, delineates the super excellent qualities and pastimes of Lord Krishna, that took place during His advent on this planet five thousand years ago. These pastimes are considered non-different to those enacted in the spiritual kingdom. Hearing and chanting the pastimes of Krishna is so auspicious that the process purifies all people involved: those who recite the transcendental topics of Krishna, those who hear such topics, and those who enquire about Him.

Holy Name - the Sound Incarnation of Krishna

Speaker: His Holiness Indradyumna Swami
Verse: Bhagavad Gita As It Is (4.8)
Where: New Varshana, New Zealand, Jan 12, 2008
Essence: "Like the other incarnations, holy name - the sound incarnation of the Lord delivers the devotees, annihilates the demoniac mentality and establishes dharma. Therefore, having obtained the association of the holy name, one should feel very fortunate and spread its glories far and wide."

Navigation

Quick Links

Keep in Touch

Contact Us

Useful Links