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Asankhyata means

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

The word asaṅkhyāta means "unlimited."
SB 10.12.3, Translation and Purport:

Along with the cowherd boys and their own groups of calves, Kṛṣṇa came out with an unlimited number of calves assembled. Then all the boys began to sport in the forest in a greatly playful spirit.

In this verse the words kṛṣṇa-vatsair asaṅkhyātaiḥ are significant. The word asaṅkhyāta means "unlimited." Kṛṣṇa's calves were unlimited. We may speak of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, trillions, tens of trillions, and so on, but when we go further to speak of numbers impossible for us to count, we are speaking of unlimited numbers. Such unlimited numbers are indicated here by the word asaṅkhyātaiḥ. Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, His potency is unlimited, His cows and calves are unlimited, and His space is unlimited. Therefore He is described in Bhagavad-gītā as Para-brahman. The word brahman means "unlimited," and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Unlimited, Para-brahman. Therefore, we should not consider the statements of this verse to be mythological. They are factual, but inconceivable. Kṛṣṇa can accommodate an unlimited number of calves and an unlimited measurement of space. This is neither mythological nor false, but if we study Kṛṣṇa's potency with our limited knowledge, that potency will never be possible to understand. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our senses cannot perceive how He could keep an unlimited number of calves and cows and have unlimited space in which to do so. But this is answered in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta:

evaṁ prabhoḥ priyānāṁ ca
dhāmnaś ca samayasya ca
avicintya-prabhāvatvād
atra kiñcin na durghaṭam

Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, states that since everything about Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, nothing is impossible for Him. It is in this sense that we have to understand this verse.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Asaṅkhyāta means there is no limit.
Morning Walk -- November 10, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: Some devotees have fixed different number than sixteen. Some are chanting twenty minimum or twenty-five.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It should be increased.

Lokanātha: Is it recommended for our...

Prabhupāda: But don't decrease. Don't decrease; increase. Therefore one number is fixed. "At least this much I shall do." That is sixteen rounds.

Lokanātha: But you are recommending sixteen as a minimum, and some devotees are choosing twenty as a minimum.

Prabhupāda: So who forbids? Who says that "Don't do it"?

Lokanātha: They can chant?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is wanted. But because you cannot do it, therefore we have fixed up this minimum. Saṅkhyāta asaṅkhyāta Saṅkhyāta means with vow, numerical strength. And asaṅkhyāta means there is no limit. (break)

Yaśomatīnandana: ...are higher than any other activities or they are on the same platform? Any activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Is chanting the most exalted or...?

Prabhupāda: Everything is exalted. Therefore there are nine processes. śravaṇam kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam (SB 7.5.23), so many. They are all exalted.

Page Title:Asankhyata means
Compiler:Rishab
Created:18 of Jan, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:2