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Gaudiya Discussions Archive » PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Discussions on the doctrines of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Please place practical questions under the Miscellaneous forum and set this aside for the more theoretical side of it.

Bhagavan tattva -



anAdi - Fri, 22 Apr 2005 14:50:14 +0530
In the beginning one should understand that Sri Krishna is Bhagavan, one should first understand His opulence.
In Vishnu Purana (6.5.74) it is said:

aiSvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yaSasam Sriyah
jnana-vairagyayos caiva sannam bhaga itingana

Bhagavan is the one who owns six attributes in full
1.aiSvarya – indicates Ishvarata, the quality of being the Supreme Lord, which means that He is the greatest in every respect, which means that He is not only the biggest but also the smallest, which encompasses all kind of wonder.
2. virya – indicates His unsurpassed potency, His Acintya Shakti, inconceivable Potency, by which He has all the power in every respect, like having a form which is simultaneously all pervading.
3. yasha- indicates the One who has all fame –yasha purna, which means that all that it is in relation with Him is auspicious, sarva mangala maya. His Name, Form, qualities, pastimes are transcendentaly auspicious, so that the one who touches His yasha than he will be purified.

yan-nama-sruti-matrena puman bhavati nirmalam
tasya tirtha-padam kim va dasanam avasisyate (Caitanya Caritamrita Madhy-lila 8.72)

A man becomes purified simply by hearing the holy name of the bhagavan, whose lotus feet create the holy places of pilgrimage. Therefore, what remains to be attained by those who have become His servants?”

If Sri Krshna is kind to someone, He is auspicious, if He kills someone, this is auspicious too, if He breaks all dharma and meets with the married gopis in the forest in the dead of night this is most auspicious, if He says the truth, is auspicious, if He lies, is auspicious, everything is auspicious, so that’s why He has all yasha.

4. Sri – beauty which indicates His all atractivness, through His unsurpassed beauty and sweetness.
His own beauty and sweetness makes Krishna to take the position of Her beloved Radha, in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, so that He can taste His own adbhuta beauty.
Ramananda Raya tells Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

rAdhikAra bhAva-kAnti kari’ aNgIkAra
nija-rasa AsvAdite kariyAcha avatara
(Caitanya-caritAmRta Madhya-lila 8.279)

To taste Your own transcendental mellow You appeared
accepting the sentiment and lustre of beloved RAdhikA.


Krishna von Vrindavan is full sweetness, madhuri: lila madhuri, venu madhuri, premA madhuri, that captivates the gopis and especially Radha.

From this four attributes one is angi, the principal and foremost, His beauty, Sri, and the three angas of this angi are aiSvarya, virya and yasha.
Jnana and vairagya are not atributes of Bhagavan but they are the qualities, or the efulgence of His yasha, fame.

5. Jnana means that Bhagavan has all knowledge, He is sarva jnata, but in Vrindavan mainly He is mugdhata, unaware of his aishvarya (opulence), due to His attachement to His devotees. But sometimes His sarva jnata (knowledge of everything) will come, when His devotees seem to be in danger.
Krishna is controlled by the love of His devotees, and therefore in their presence He is not aware of anything else, but when they seem to be in danger, in an instant He becomes aware of His aishvarya.
Due to the attachement to His devotees He wants to save them even if they cannot be in danger, because their body is transcendental. The ideea is that the madhurya, the sweetness of His attachement to the devotee in Vrindavan is higher than His opulence and jnana. This happens due to the power of the sweetness of prema of His devotees in Vraja.
But when He is outside of Vrindavan the sweetness of Krishna is partly covered by His aishvarya.

6. Vairagya means renunciation, which delineates His detachment from anything of this world.

Jnana and vairagya are the efulgence of His glory (yasha) and they are the svarUpa of nirvishesh brahma.

vasudeve bhagavati /bhakti-yogah prayojitah
janayaty asu vairagyam / jnanam ca yad ahaitukam (Srimad Bhagavatam1.2.7)

Jnana and vairagya quickly and causelessly appears in the heart of a devotee who is doing bhakti, because all glory of Krishna, which is sung by the devotee, has as its insignificant part this jnana and vairagya, which is the form of liberation, or brAhman, as the impersonal stage of spiritual realization, which is of no interest for the devotees of Krishna.

Inspiration from a lecture by Sripad Bhaktivedanta Aranya Maharaj.

Madhava - Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:06:16 +0530
Some good notes you have there. I'm sure we'll have more to say on that.

On another note, I implore you to either use Harvard-Kyoto correctly or not use it at all. Especially, please don't add just some diacritics into a verse, add them all or leave them all out. This topic will help you master the convention.
anAdi - Fri, 20 May 2005 13:50:40 +0530
The oldest of all the vedas is Rigveda. It is also the one considered most sacred by the Hindus. The Rigveda states in Book 1, hymn 164 and verse 46:
"Sages call one God by many names."
[Rigveda 1:164:46]

ps
Dear Madhava thank you for all.