In preparation for Janmastami, we are presenting in this post two verses which adorn the Temple of Love and Affection that describe the general position and supremacy of the Pastimes of Svayam Bhagavan Sri Krishna, followed by a discussion of these verses by Srila Govinda Maharaj excerpted from the upcoming release Amnaya-Tattva.
Temple of Love and Affection Verse 13
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sach-chid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.1)
“The personification of spiritual existence, consciousness and ecstasy, Sri Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Lord of all Lords. He has no origin, He is the origin of all and He is the cause of all causes.”
Temple of Love and Affection Verse 14
kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā,
nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa
gopa-veśa, veṇu-kara, nava-kiśora, naṭa-vara,
nara-līlāra haya anurūpa
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 21.101)
“Of all the Pastimes of the Supreme Lord Krishna, His human-like Pastimes are topmost. His human-like form is His original, personal form. His cowherd-boy garb, the flute He carries in His hand, His ever-youthful appearance as an adolescent, and His quality of being the best of dancers all beautifully befit His human-like Pastimes.”
The following is an excerpt from the upcoming release Amnaya-Tattva by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj.
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sach-chid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Śrī Brahmā-saṁhitā: 5.1)
In this first sloka of Brahma-samhita we will see the real form of Lord Krishna expressed. This sloka describes Krishna’s aprakrita form, His supramundane form, in which He plays with the cows, cowherd boys and Gopis in His eternal abode of Vrindavan in five kinds of relationships. Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami described this,
kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā,
nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa
gopa-veśa, veṇu-kara, nava-kiśora, naṭa-vara,
nara-līlāra haya anurūpa
kṛṣṇera madhura rūpa, śuna, sanātana
ye rūpera eka kaṇa, ḍubāya saba tribhuvana,
sarva prāṇī kare ākarṣaṇa
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 21.101–102)
“Of all the Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, His Pastimes in His original human-like form of Krishna are the best and most attractive of all. As an ever-youthful cowherd boy of Vrindavan, the best of dancers, He enjoys His Pastimes, always playing His flute. His human-like Pastimes are most befitting to His all-attractive nature. His beauty is so charming and sweet that the whole universe is overflooded by even the tiniest atom of it, and all beings are irresistibly attracted to Him.”
Krishna’s original form is like that of a human, like that of our own relative. The human form is the original form of the Lord and is the Sweet Absolute. When this is understood then we can harmonise everything with that Reality, and without this realisation it is very difficult to harmonise so much of our worldly experience. The Pastimes of Krishna can harmonise everything. Evam sva-chitte svata eva siddha (Srimad-Bhagavatam: 2.2.6), when Krishna’s transcendental Pastimes reveal themselves in our hearts we will understand everything perfectly.