Learning more about Sri Krishna on Janmastami day

Did you ever ask yourself why, if Krishna was born only some 5000 years ago, His Name appears in Vedas and Puranas, which are there since time immemorial? Today I want to share with you something that you perhaps never knew about Lord Krishna. Almost everyone in India, and in the world, “knows” that Janmastami is Krishna’s birthday, Krishna is a Hindu God, is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and is a son of Devaki and Vasudev. However, what they do not know is, Krishna did not and does not born, He is not just a Hindu God, not just an incarnation of Vishnu as commonly understood, and not just a son of Devaki and Vasudev. I also thought like most of you prior to reading Srila Prabhupada books and understanding in detail how the creation, maintenance and destruction of, not only this but trillions of other universes, are carried out. I also came to know how it is terrifically accurate, systematic, and precisely scientific. In other words, it is mind boggling and beyond our sensory powers. No surprise our scientists friends are baffled again and again in understanding and explaining even this tiny universe. The science that Krishna uses for universal affairs is much more difficult than the so-called rocket science. We will talk about it sometimes later.

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (7.4)

bhumir apo ‘nalo vayuh  kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara itiyam me  bhinna prakrtir astadha

Translation: Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego–all together these eight comprise My separated material energies.

In the purport, Srila Prabhuapada explains: “The science of God analyzes the constitutional position of God and His diverse energies. Material nature is called prakriti, or the energy of the Lord in His different purusha incarnations (expansions) as described in the Satvata-tantra:

visnos tu trini rupani purusakhyany atho viduh
ekam tu mahatah srastr dvitiyam tv anda-samsthitam
trtiyam sarva-bhuta-stham tani jnatva vimucyate

For material creation, Lord Krsna’s plenary expansion assumes three Visnus. The first one, Maha-Visnu, creates the total material energy, known as mahat-tattva. The second, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, enters into all the universes to create diversities in each of them. The third, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, is diffused as the all-pervading Supersoul in all the universes and is known as Paramatma, who is present even within the atoms. Anyone who knows these three Visnus can be liberated from material entanglement.

This material world is a temporary manifestation of one of the energies of the Lord. All the activities of the material world are directed by these three Vishnu expansions of Lord Krishna. These purushas are called incarnations. Generally one who does not know the science of God (Krishna) assumes that this material world is for the enjoyment of the living entities and that the living entities are the purushas—the causes, controllers and enjoyers of the material energy. According to Bhagavad-gita this atheistic conclusion is false. In the verse under discussion it is stated that Krishna is the original cause of the material manifestation. Srimad-Bhagavatam also confirms this. The ingredients of the material manifestation are separated energies of the Lord. Even the brahma-jyoti, which is the ultimate goal of the impersonalists, is a spiritual energy manifested in the spiritual sky.

There are no spiritual diversities in the brahmajyoti as there are in the Vaikuntha lokas, and the impersonalist accepts this brahmajyoti as the ultimate eternal goal. The Paramatma manifestation is also a temporary all-pervasive aspect of the Ksirodakashayi Vishnu. The Paramatma manifestation is not eternal in the spiritual world. Therefore the factual Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna. He is the complete energetic person, and He possesses different separated and internal energies.

In the material energy, the principal manifestations are eight, as above mentioned. Out of these, the first five manifestations, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, are called the five gigantic creations or the gross creations, within which the five sense objects are included. They are the manifestations of physical sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Material science comprises these ten items and nothing more. But the other three items, namely mind, intelligence and false ego, are neglected by the materialists. Philosophers who deal with mental activities are also not perfect in knowledge because they do not know the ultimate source, Krishna. The false ego—”I am,” and “It is mine,” which constitute the basic principle of material existence—includes ten sense organs for material activities. Intelligence refers to the total material creation, called the mahat-tattva. Therefore from the eight separated energies of the Lord are manifest the twenty-four elements of the material world, which are the subject matter of Sankhya atheistic philosophy; they are originally offshoots from Krishna’s energies and are separated from Him, but atheistic Sankhya philosophers with a poor fund of knowledge do not know Krishna as the cause of all causes. The subject matter for discussion in the Sankhya philosophy is only the manifestation of the external energy of Krishna, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita.”

Interestingly, not even once, in the entire Bhagavad Gita, does Lord Krishna utter the word “hindu”. He never said that He is a Hindu god. He says he is the master of the whole universes! He says He is the Supreme Lord and that there is no superior Truth than Him. Who else can say this if not the Supreme Personality Godhead? People fight in the name of religion but they need to understand the Supreme Lord is beyond all religions. Apart from that His so called birth is not actually birth. He descends from the spiritual world. His taking “birth” is different from the birth of ordinary living entities.He says in Bhagavad Gita (9.17): “I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support, and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable om. I am also the Rg, the Sama, and the Yajur [Vedas]”. In the purport Srila Prabhupada says:

“The entire cosmic manifestations, moving and nonmoving, are manifested by different activities of Krishna’s energy. In the material existence we create different relationships with different living entities who are nothing but Krishna’s marginal energy, but under the creation of prakrti some of them appear as our father, mother, grandfather, creator, etc., but actually they are parts and parcels of Krishna. As such, these living entities who appear to be our father, mother, etc., are nothing but Krishna. In this verse the word dhata means “creator.” Not only are our father and mother parts and parcels of Krishna, but their creator, grandmother, and grandfather, etc., are also Krishna. Actually any living entity, being part and parcel of Krishna, is Krishna. All the Vedas, therefore, aim only toward Krishna. Whatever we want to know through the Vedas is but a progressive step to understand Krishna. That subject matter which helps us purify our constitutional position is especially Krishna. Similarly, the living entity who is inquisitive to understand all Vedic principles is also part and parcel of Krishna and as such is also Krishna. In all the Vedic mantras the word om, called pranava, is a transcendental sound vibration and is also Krishna. And because in all the hymns of the four Vedas, Sama, Yajur, Rg and Atharva, the pranava or omkara, is very prominent, it is understood to be Krishna.”

When we talk about Lord Krishna, it is important we understand that He is never alone but surrounded by His devotees. His topmost devotee is Srimati Radharani. There is a common misunderstanding about the position of Srimati Radharani. In short, one must understand that Radha is not a woman of this world. She appeared when Krishna appeared because she is His eternal and inseparable transcendental expansion.  Unfortunately, unscrupulous people and pseudo scholars, how have not even the faintest idea of Radha and Krishna, have taken to writing articles and delivering lectures on Them. Their presentations are contaminated by their own lusty desires, and prove their poor fund of knowledge. Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam (10.13.57) explains”

“Kṛṣṇa’s power is variegated, and thus the same śakti, or potency, works in variegated ways. Vividhā means “varieties.” There is unity in variety. Thus yogamāyā and mahāmāyā are among the varied individual parts of the same one potency, and all of these individual potencies work in their own varied ways. The saṁvit, sandhinī and āhlādinī potencies—Kṛṣṇa’s potency for existence, His potency for knowledge and His potency for pleasure—are distinct from yogamāyā. Each is an individual potency. The āhlādinī potency is Rādhārāṇī. As Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has explained, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt (Cc. Ādi 1.5). The āhlādinī-śakti is manifested as Rādhārāṇī, but Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī are the same, although one is potent and the other is potency.”

There are many more verses from the Vedic scriptures, and purports by SrilIa Prabhupada that make Lord Krishna’s transcendental position clear to a serious student. While there is no way one can to have understood Krishna, who is difficult to be understood even by Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva, but if one gets even a theoretical idea of His personality, it is a definite step forward towards the perfection of human life. I have no words to express my gratitude towards Srila Prabhupada for his merciful contribution to my understanding of Lord Krishna. Let us remember that Srila Prabhupada appeared on the day after Janmastami, commonly known in India as the Nandotsava day. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, who brought the pure and eternal knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and other Vedic scriptures to the world without any adulteration. Today, when the whole world is confused without a proper direction in economical, social and religious affairs, and when there are so many pseudo spiritualists misguiding the mass due to their own ignorance and for their personal benefit, the only hope for the word is Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. All glories to Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Hare Krishna.