Visnu Purana (CC and other books)

Expressions researched:
"Visnu Purana"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: Not included; "Brhad-visnu Purana".

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.96, Purport:

The primary potencies of the Absolute Truth are mentioned to be three: internal, external and marginal. By the acts of His internal potency, the Personality of Godhead in His original form exhibits the spiritual cosmic manifestations known as the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, which exist eternally, even after the destruction of the material cosmic manifestation. By His marginal potency the Lord expands Himself as living beings who are part of Him, just as the sun distributes its rays in all directions. By His external potency the Lord manifests the material creation, just as the sun with its rays creates fog. The material creation is but a perverse reflection of the eternal Vaikuṇṭha nature.

These three energies of the Absolute Truth are also described in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, where it is said that the living being is equal in quality to the internal potency, whereas the external potency is indirectly controlled by the chief cause of all causes.

CC Adi 4.60, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has three kinds of internal potency, namely the hlādinī-śakti, or pleasure potency, the sandhinī-śakti, or existential potency, and the samvit-śakti, or cognitive potency. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.69) the Lord is addressed as follows: "O Lord, You are the support of everything. The three attributes hlādinī, sandhinī and samvit exist in You as one spiritual energy. But the material modes, which cause happiness, misery and mixtures of the two, do not exist in You, for You have no material qualities."

CC Adi 4.62, Purport:

The material modes of nature control the conditioned souls, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never influenced by these modes, as all Vedic literatures directly and indirectly corroborate. Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself says in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.25.12), sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇā jīvasya naiva me: "The material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance are connected with the conditioned souls, but never with Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." The Viṣṇu Purāṇa confirms this as follows:

sattvādayo na santīśe yatra na prākṛtā gunāḥ

sa śuddhaḥ sarva-śuddhebhyaḥ pumān ādyaḥ prasīdatu

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, is beyond the three qualities goodness, passion and ignorance. No material qualities exist in Him. May that original person, Nārāyaṇa, who is situated in a completely transcendental position, be pleased with us."

CC Adi 4.63, Translation and Purport:

"O Lord, You are the support of everything. The three attributes hlādinī, sandhinī and samvit exist in You as one spiritual energy. But the material modes, which cause happiness, misery and mixtures of the two, do not exist in You, for You have no material qualities."

This text is from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.69).

CC Adi 4.116, Translation and Purport:

"Lord Madhusūdana enjoyed His youth with pastimes on autumn nights in the midst of the jewellike milkmaids. Thus He dispelled all the misfortunes of the world."

This is a verse from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (5.13.60).

CC Adi 5.36, Translation and Purport:

"Where it has been stated that the Lord's enemies and devotees attain the same destination, this refers to the ultimate oneness of Brahman and Lord Kṛṣṇa. This may be understood by the example of the sun and the sunshine, in which Brahman is like the sunshine and Kṛṣṇa Himself is like the sun."

This verse is from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.278) of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, who further discusses this same topic in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.41). There he refers to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (4.15.1), where Maitreya Muni asked Parāśara, in regard to Jaya and Vijaya, how it was that Hiraṇyakaśipu next became Rāvaṇa and enjoyed more material happiness than the demigods but did not attain salvation, although when he became Śiśupāla, quarreled with Kṛṣṇa and was killed, he attained salvation and merged into the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Parāśara replied that Hiraṇyakaśipu failed to recognize Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva as Lord Viṣṇu. He thought that Nṛsiṁhadeva was some living entity who had acquired such opulence by various pious activities. Being overcome by the mode of passion, he considered Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva an ordinary living entity, not understanding His form. Nevertheless, because Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed by the hands of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, in his next life he became Rāvaṇa and had proprietorship of unlimited opulence. As Rāvaṇa, with unlimited material enjoyment, he could not accept Lord Rāma as the Personality of Godhead. Therefore even though he was killed by Rāma, he did not attain sāyujya, or oneness with the body of the Lord. In his Rāvaṇa body he was too much attracted to Rāma's wife, Jānakī, and because of that attraction he was able to see Lord Rāma. But instead of accepting Lord Rāma as an incarnation of Viṣṇu, Rāvaṇa thought Him an ordinary living being. When killed by the hands of Rāma, therefore, he got the privilege of taking birth as Śiśupāla, who had such immense opulence that he could think himself a competitor to Kṛṣṇa. Although Śiśupāla was always envious of Kṛṣṇa, he frequently uttered the name of Kṛṣṇa and always thought of the beautiful features of Kṛṣṇa. Thus by constantly thinking and chanting of Kṛṣṇa, even unfavorably, he was cleansed of the contamination of his sinful activities. When Śiśupāla was killed by the Sudarśana cakra of Kṛṣṇa as an enemy, his constant remembrance of Kṛṣṇa dissolved the reactions of his vices, and he attained salvation by becoming one with the body of the Lord.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

(4) To answer Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on Vedānta-sūtra 2.2.45, the substance of the transcendental qualities and their spiritual nature is described in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 5.208–214) as follows: "Some say that transcendence must be void of all qualities because qualities are manifested only in matter. According to them, all qualities are like temporary, flickering mirages. But this is not acceptable. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, His qualities are nondifferent from Him. His form, name, qualities and everything else pertaining to Him are as spiritual as He is. Every qualitative expansion of the absolute Personality of Godhead is identical with Him. Since the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all pleasure, all the transcendental qualities that expand from Him are also reservoirs of pleasure. This is confirmed in the scripture known as Brahma-tarka, which states that the Supreme Lord Hari is qualified by Himself, and therefore Viṣṇu and His pure devotees and their transcendental qualities cannot be different from their persons. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped in the following words: "Let the Supreme Personality of Godhead be merciful toward us. His existence is never infected by material qualities." In the same Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is also said that all the qualities attributed to the Supreme Lord, such as knowledge, opulence, beauty, strength and influence, are known to be nondifferent from Him. This is also confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa, which explains that whenever the Supreme Lord is described as having no qualities, this should be understood to indicate that He is devoid of material qualities. In the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.16.29) it is said, "O Dharma, protector of religious principles, all noble and sublime qualities are eternally manifested in the person of Kṛṣṇa, and devotees and transcendentalists who aspire to become faithful also desire to possess such transcendental qualities."" It is therefore to be understood that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental form of absolute bliss, is the fountainhead of all pleasurable transcendental qualities and inconceivable potencies. In this connection we may recommend references to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, Chapter Twenty-six, verses 21, 25, 27 and 28.

CC Adi 5.76, Translation and Purport:

Garbhodaśāyī and Kṣīrodaśāyī are both called puruṣas. They are plenary portions of Kāraṇodaśāyī Viṣṇu, the first puruṣa, who is the abode of all the universes.

The symptoms of the puruṣa are described in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta. While describing the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the author has quoted from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.8.59), where it is said, "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Puruṣottama, Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is always free from the contamination of the six material dualities; whose plenary expansion, Mahā-Viṣṇu, glances over matter to create the cosmic manifestation; who expands Himself in various transcendental forms, all of which are one and the same; who is the master of all living entities; who is always free and liberated from the contamination of material energy; and who, when He appears in this material world, seems one of us, although He has an eternally spiritual, blissful, transcendental form." In summarizing this statement, Rūpa Gosvāmī has concluded that the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who acts in cooperation with the material energy is called the puruṣa.

CC Adi 5.112, Translation and Purport:

He is the Supersoul of all living entities. He maintains this material world, and He is its Lord.

The Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 2.36–42) gives the following description of the Viṣṇuloka within this universe, quoted from the Viṣṇu-dharmottara: "Above Rudraloka, the planet of Lord Śiva, is the planet called Viṣṇuloka, 400,000 miles in circumference, which is inaccessible to any mortal living being. Above that Viṣṇuloka and east of the Sumeru Hill is a golden island called Mahā-Viṣṇuloka, in the ocean of salt water. Lord Brahmā and other demigods sometimes go there to meet Lord Viṣṇu. Lord Viṣṇu lies there with the goddess of fortune, and it is said that during the four months of the rainy season He enjoys sleeping on that Śeṣa Nāga bed. East of Sumeru is the ocean of milk, in which there is a white city on a white island where the Lord can be seen sitting with His consort, Lakṣmījī, on a throne of Śeṣa. That feature of Viṣṇu also enjoys sleeping during the four months of the rainy season. The Śvetadvīpa in the milk ocean is situated just south of the ocean of salt water. It is calculated that the area of Śvetadvīpa is 200,000 square miles. This transcendentally beautiful island is decorated with desire trees to please Lord Viṣṇu and His consort." There are references to Śvetadvīpa in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Mahābhārata and Padma Purāṇa, and there is the following reference in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.15.18).

śvetadvīpa-patau cittaṁ śuddhe dharma-maye mayi

dhārayañ chvetatāṁ yāti ṣaḍ-ūrmi-rahito naraḥ

"My dear Uddhava, you may know that My transcendental form of Viṣṇu in Śvetadvīpa is identical with Me in divinity. Anyone who places this Lord of Śvetadvīpa within his heart can surpass the pangs of the six material tribulations: hunger, thirst, birth, death, lamentation and illusion. Thus one can attain his original, transcendental form."

CC Adi 6.14-15, Purport:

“The form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described to be transcendental, very subtle, eternal, all-pervading, inconceivable and therefore nonmanifested to the material senses of a conditioned living creature. He desired to expand Himself into many living entities, and with such a desire He first created a vast expanse of water within the universal space and then impregnated that water with living entities. By that process of impregnation a massive body appeared, blazing like a thousand suns, and in that body was the first creative principle, Brahmā. The great Parāśara Ṛṣi has confirmed this in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. He says that the cosmic manifestation visible to us is produced from Lord Viṣṇu and sustained under His protection. He is the principal maintainer and destroyer of the universal form.

CC Adi 7.113, Purport:

In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Personality of Godhead has classified His energies in two distinct divisions—namely, prākṛta and aprākṛta, or parā-prakṛti and aparā-prakṛti. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa the same distinction is made. The Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand these two prakṛtis, or natures—material and spiritual—but one who is actually intelligent can understand them. Considering the many varieties and activities in material nature, why should the Māyāvādī philosophers deny the spiritual varieties of the spiritual world?

CC Adi 7.117, Translation and Purport:

“The living entities are energies, not the energetic. The energetic is Kṛṣṇa. This is very vividly described in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and other Vedic literatures.

As already explained, there are three prasthānas on the path of advancement in spiritual knowledge—namely, nyāya-prasthāna (Vedānta philosophy), śruti-prasthāna (the Upaniṣads and Vedic mantras) and smṛti-prasthāna (the Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, etc.). Unfortunately, Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the smṛti-prasthāna. Smṛti refers to the conclusions drawn from the Vedic evidence. Sometimes Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the authority of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Purāṇas, and this is called ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya, "the logic of half a hen" (See Ādi-līlā 5.176). If one believes in the Vedic literatures, one must accept all the Vedic literatures recognized by the great ācāryas, but the Māyāvādī philosophers accept only the nyāya-prasthāna and śruti-prasthāna, rejecting the smṛti-prasthāna. Here, however, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cites evidence from the Gītā, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, etc., which are smṛti-prasthāna. No one can avoid the Personality of Godhead in the statements of the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures such as the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas. Lord Caitanya therefore quotes a passage from the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5).

CC Adi 7.119, Translation and Purport:

“"The potency of Lord Viṣṇu is summarized in three categories—namely, the spiritual potency, the living entities and ignorance. The spiritual potency is full of knowledge; the living entities, although belonging to the spiritual potency, are subject to bewilderment; and the third energy, which is full of ignorance, is always visible in fruitive activities."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61).

In the previous verse, quoted from the Bhagavad-gītā, it has been established that the living entities are to be categorized among the Lord's potencies. The Lord is potent, and there are varieties of potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). Now, in this quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, this is further confirmed. There are varieties of potencies, and they have been divided into three categories—namely, spiritual, marginal and external.

The spiritual potency is manifested in the spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa's form, qualities, activities and entourage are all spiritual. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.6):

ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san

prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā

(BG 4.6)

"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, by My spiritual potency I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." Ātma-māyā refers to the spiritual potency. When Kṛṣṇa comes to this or any other universe, He does so with His spiritual potency. We take birth by the force of the material potency, but as stated here with reference to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, the kṣetra-jña, or living entity, belongs to the spiritual potency; thus when we free ourselves from the clutches of the material potency we can also enter the spiritual world.

CC Adi 7.119, Purport:

In this verse from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa the total energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is classified in three divisions—namely, the spiritual or internal potency of the Lord, the marginal potency, or kṣetra-jña (the living entity), and the material potency, which is separated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and appears to act independently. When Śrīla Vyāsadeva, by meditation and self-realization, saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he also saw the separated energy of the Lord standing behind Him (apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam). Vyāsadeva also realized that it is this separated energy of the Lord, the material energy, that covers the knowledge of the living entities (yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam (SB 1.7.5)). The separated, material energy bewilders the living entities (jīvas), and thus they work very hard under its influence, not knowing that they are not fulfilling their mission in life. Unfortunately, most of them think that they are the body and should therefore enjoy the material senses irresponsibly since when death comes everything will be finished.

CC Adi 7.120, Purport:

In the Vedānta-sūtra, Vyāsadeva has described that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is potent and that everything, material or spiritual, is but an emanation of His energy. The Lord, the Supreme Brahman, is the origin or source of everything (janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)), and all other manifestations are emanations of different energies of the Lord. This is also confirmed in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa:

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā

parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

"Whatever we see in this world is simply an expansion of different energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is exactly like a fire that spreads illumination for a long distance although it is situated in one place." This is a very vivid example. Similarly, it is stated that just as everything in the material world exists in the sunshine, which is the energy of the sun, so everything exists on the basis of the spiritual and material energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus although Kṛṣṇa is situated in His own abode (goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37)), where He enjoys His transcendental pastimes with the cowherd boys and gopīs, He is nevertheless present everywhere, even within the atoms of this universe (aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35)). This is the verdict of the Vedic literature.

CC Adi 9.42, Purport:

The Bhāgavatam says that it is the duty of an advanced human being to act in such a way as to facilitate human society's attainment of the ultimate goal of life. There is a similar verse in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Part Three, Chapter Twelve, verse 45, which is next quoted in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

CC Adi 12.73, Purport:

The actual Vedic system of religion is called varṇāśrama-dharma, as confirmed in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa:

varṇāśramācāra-vatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

(CC Madhya 8.58) (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.9)

The Vedic literature recommends that a human being follow the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma. Accepting the process of varṇāśrama-dharma will make a person's life successful because this will connect him with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the goal of human life. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for all of humanity. Although human society has different sections or subdivisions, all human beings belong to one species, and therefore we accept that they all have the ability to understand their constitutional position in connection with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 6.137, Translation and Purport:

"The Vedic statements are self-evident. Whatever is stated there must be accepted. If we interpret according to our own imagination, the authority of the Vedas is immediately lost."

Out of four main types of evidence—direct perception, hypothesis, historical reference and the Vedas—Vedic evidence is accepted as the foremost. If we want to interpret the Vedic version, we must imagine an interpretation according to what we want to do. First of all, we set forth such an interpretation as a suggestion or hypothesis. As such, it is not actually true, and the self-evident proof is lost.

Śrīla Madhvācārya, commenting on the aphorism dṛśyate tu (Vedānta-sūtra 2.1.6), quotes the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa as follows:

ṛg-yajuḥ-sāmātharvāś ca bhārataṁ pañcarātrakam

mūla-rāmāyaṇaṁ caiva veda ity eva śabditāḥ

purāṇāni ca yānīha vaiṣṇavāni vido viduḥ

svataḥ-prāmāṇyam eteṣāṁ nātra kiñcid vicāryate

The Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, Mahābhārata, Pañcarātra and original Rāmāyaṇa are all considered Vedic literature. The Purāṇas (such as the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Nāradīya Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Purāṇa and Bhāgavata Purāṇa) are especially meant for Vaiṣṇavas and are also Vedic literature. As such, whatever is stated within the Purāṇas, Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa is self-evident. There is no need for interpretation. The Bhagavad-gītā is also within the Mahābhārata; therefore all the statements of the Bhagavad-gītā are self-evident. There is no need for interpretation, and if we do interpret, the entire authority of the Vedic literature is lost.

CC Madhya 6.153, Translation and Purport:

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead has three primary potencies. Are you trying to prove that He has no potencies?

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu now quotes four verses from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61–63 and 1.12.69) to explain the different potencies of the Lord.

CC Madhya 8.58, Translation and Purport:

""The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varṇa and āśrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One must be situated in the institution of the four varṇas and āśramas.""

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.9). As stated by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya, "The purport is that one can realize life's perfection simply by satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

CC Madhya 8.153, Translation and Purport:

“"The original potency of Lord Viṣṇu is superior, or spiritual, and the living entity actually belongs to that superior energy. But there is another energy, called the material energy, and this third energy is full of ignorance."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61).

CC Madhya 13.77, Translation and Purport:

“"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the worshipable Deity for all brahminical men, who is the well-wisher of cows and brāhmaṇas, and who is always benefiting the whole world. I offer my repeated obeisances to the Personality of Godhead, known as Kṛṣṇa and Govinda."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.19.65).

CC Madhya 19.138, Purport:

The living entities are described as ananta, or unlimited; nonetheless, they are said to belong to 8,400,000 species. As stated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa:

jala-jā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati

kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam

triṁśal-lakṣāṇi paśavaḥ catur-lakṣāṇi mānuṣāḥ

"There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities (sthāvara), such as trees and plants. There are also 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species." Some of these species may exist on one planet and not on another, but in any case within all the planets of the universe—and even in the sun—there are living entities. This is the verdict of the Vedic literatures.

CC Madhya 20.110, Translation and Purport:

“"Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman, are spread all over this universe."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.22.53).

CC Madhya 20.112, Translation and Purport:

“"Originally, Kṛṣṇa"s energy is spiritual, and the energy known as the living entity is also spiritual. However, there is another energy, called illusion, which consists of fruitive activity. That is the Lord's third potency.’

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61). For a further explanation of this verse, refer to Ādi-līlā, Chapter Seven, verse 119.

CC Madhya 20.113, Translation and Purport:

“"All the creative energies, which are inconceivable to a common man, exist in the Supreme Absolute Truth. These inconceivable energies act in the process of creation, maintenance and annihilation. O chief of the ascetics, just as there are two energies possessed by fire—namely heat and light—these inconceivable creative energies are the natural characteristics of the Absolute Truth."

This is also a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.3.2).

CC Madhya 20.114, Translation and Purport:

“‘O King, the kṣetra-jña-śakti is the living entity. Although he has the facility to live in either the material or the spiritual world, he suffers the threefold miseries of material existence because he is influenced by the avidyā (nescience) potency, which covers his constitutional position.

This and the following verse are also quoted from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.62–63). For an explanation, see Madhya-līlā, Chapter 6, verses 155–156.

CC Madhya 20.337, Translation and Purport:

“"In Dvāpara-yuga the Personality of Godhead appears in a blackish hue. He is dressed in yellow, He holds His own weapons, and He is decorated with the Kaustubha jewel and the mark of Śrīvatsa. That is how His symptoms are described."

This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.27). The śyāma color is not exactly blackish. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura compares it to the color of the atasī flower. It is not that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself appears in a blackish color in all the Dvāpara-yugas. In other Dvāpara-yugas, previous to Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance, the Supreme Lord appeared in a greenish body by His own personal expansion. This is mentioned in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Hari-vaṁśa and Mahābhārata.

CC Madhya 20.345, Translation and Purport:

“"Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord"s lotus feet can also be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.’

This verse is quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.3.52). At the present moment in Kali-yuga there are many false meditators who concoct some imaginary form and try to meditate upon it. It has become fashionable to meditate, but people know nothing about the object of meditation. That is explained here. Yad dhyāyato viṣṇum. One has to meditate upon Lord Viṣṇu or Lord Kṛṣṇa. Without referring to the śāstras, so-called meditators aim at impersonal objects. Lord Kṛṣṇa has condemned them in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5):

kleśo ’dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām

avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ dehavadbhir avāpyate

"For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied." Not knowing how to meditate, foolish people simply suffer, and there is no benefit derived from their spiritual activities.

The same idea expressed in this verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can be found in the following verse from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.2.17), Padma Purāṇa (Uttara-khaṇḍa 72.25) and Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa (38.97).

CC Madhya 23.117-118, Purport:

As far as the keśa-avatāra (incarnation of a hair) is concerned, it is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.7.26). The Viṣṇu Purāṇa also states, ujjahārātmanaḥ keśau sita-kṛṣṇau mahā-bala.

Similarly, it is stated in the Mahābhārata (Ādi-parva 189.31–32):

sa cāpi keśau harir uccakarta

ekaṁ śuklam aparaṁ cāpi kṛṣṇam

tau cāpi keśāv āviśatāṁ yadūnāṁ

kule striyau rohiṇīṁ devakīṁ ca

tayor eko balabhadro babhūva

yo ‘sau śvetas tasya devasya keśaḥ

kṛṣṇo dvitīyaḥ keśavaḥ sambabhūva

keśaḥ yo "sau varṇataḥ kṛṣṇa uktaḥ

Thus in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata there are references to Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma being incarnations of a black hair and a white hair respectively. It is stated that Lord Viṣṇu snatched two hairs—one white and one black—from His head. These two hairs entered the wombs of Rohiṇī and Devakī, members of the Yadu dynasty. Balarāma was born from Rohiṇī, and Kṛṣṇa was born of Devakī. Thus Balarāma appeared from the first hair, and Kṛṣṇa appeared from the second hair. It was also foretold that all the asuras, who are enemies of the demigods, would be cut down by Lord Viṣṇu by His white and black plenary expansions and that the Supreme Personality of Godhead would appear and perform wonderful activities. In this connection, one should see the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, the chapter called Kṛṣṇāmṛta, verses 156–164. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has refuted this argument about the hair incarnation, and his refutation is supported by Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa"s commentaries. This matter is further discussed in the Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha (29) and in the commentary known as Sarva-saṁvādinī, by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.

CC Madhya 24.72, Translation and Purport:

“"I offer my respectful obeisances to the Absolute Truth, the summum bonum. He is the all-pervasive, all-increasing subject matter for the great yogīs. He is changeless, and He is the soul of all."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.57).

CC Madhya 24.94, Translation and Purport:

“"O best among the Bharatas (Arjuna), four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute."

This is a quotation from the Bhagavad-gītā (7.16). The word sukṛtinaḥ is very important in this verse. Su means "auspicious," and kṛtī means "meritorious" or "regulated." Unless one follows the regulative principles of religious life, human life is no different from animal life. Religious life means following the principles of varṇa and āśrama. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said:

varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

(CC Madhya 8.58)

According to religious life, society is divided into four social divisions—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra—and four spiritual divisions—brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. One needs to be trained to become a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, just as one is trained to become an engineer, doctor or lawyer. Those who are properly trained can be considered human beings; if one is not trained socially and spiritually—that is, if one is uneducated and unregulated—his life is on the animal platform. Among animals there is no question of spiritual advancement. Spiritual life can be attained by proper training-either by following the principles of varṇa and āśrama or by being directly trained in the bhakti school by the methods of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam/ arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam (SB 7.5.23). Without being trained, one cannot be sukṛtī, auspicious. In this verse Kṛṣṇa says that people approach Him when in distress, in need of money or when actually inquisitive to understand the Supreme Being, or the original source of everything. Some people approach Him in the pursuit of knowledge of the Absolute Truth, and others approach Him when they are distressed, like the devotee Gajendra. Others are inquisitive, like the great sages headed by Śaunaka, and others need money, like Dhruva Mahārāja. Śukadeva Gosvāmī approached the Lord when he pursued knowledge. All these great personalities thus took to the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.

CC Madhya 24.308, Translation and Purport:

“"The potency of Lord Viṣṇu is summarized in three categories—namely the spiritual potency, the living entities and ignorance. The spiritual potency is full of knowledge; the living entities, although belonging to the spiritual potency, are subject to bewilderment; and the third energy, which is full of ignorance, is always visible in fruitive activities."

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. For an explanation, see Ādi-līlā 7.119.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 3.85, Translation and Purport:

“"Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead may be seen, glorified or remembered with an attitude of envy, He nevertheless awards the most confidential liberation, which is rarely achieved by the demigods and demons. What, then, can be said of those who are already fully engaged in devotional service to the Lord?"

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (4.15.17).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 3:

This simultaneous oneness and difference always exists in the relationship between the living entities and the Supreme Lord. From the marginal position of the living entities, this conception of "simultaneously one and different" can be understood. The living entity is just like a molecular particle of sunshine, whereas Kṛṣṇa may be compared to the blazing, shining sun itself. Lord Caitanya compared the living entities to blazing sparks from a fire and the Supreme Lord to the blazing fire of the sun. In this connection, the Lord cites a verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.22.52):

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner

jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā

parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis

tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

"Everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but the energy of the Supreme Lord. As fire emanating from one place diffuses its illumination and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere. Indeed, the whole cosmic creation is composed of different manifestations of His energy."

The energy of the Supreme Lord is transcendental and spiritual, and the living entities are part and parcel of that energy. There is another energy, however, called material energy, which is covered by the cloud of ignorance. This energy, which is material nature, is divided into three modes, or guṇas (goodness, passion and ignorance). Lord Caitanya quoted from Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.3.2) to the effect that all inconceivable energies reside in the Supreme Personality of the Lord and that the whole cosmic manifestation acts due to the Lord's inconceivable energy.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

"In the age of Kali the Lord incarnates as a devotee, yellowish in color, and is always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Although He is Kṛṣṇa, His complexion is not blackish like Kṛṣṇa's in Dvāpara-yuga but is golden. It is in Kali-yuga that the Lord engages in preaching love of Godhead through the saṅkīrtana movement, and those living entities who are intelligent adopt this process of self-realization." It is also stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.3.52):

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ

tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ

dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ

kalau taddhari-kīrtanāt

"The self-realization which was achieved in the Satya millennium by meditation, in the Tretā millennium by the performance of different sacrifices, and in the Dvāpara millennium by worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa, can be achieved in the age of Kali simply by chanting the holy names, Hare Kṛṣṇa." This is also confirmed in Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.2.17) where it is stated:.

dhyāyan kṛte yajan yajñais

tretāyāṁ dvāpare 'rcayan

yad āpnoti tad āpnoti

kalau saṅkīrtya keśavam

"In this age there is no use in meditation, sacrifice and temple worship. Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—one can achieve perfect self-realization."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 14:

The last phase of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as mausala-līlā. This includes the mystery of Kṛṣṇa's disappearance from this material world. In that pastime the Lord played the part of being killed by a hunter. There are many improper explanations of the last portion of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes (such as descriptions of the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa's hair), but Lord Caitanya properly described these pastimes and gave them the right interpretation. As far as the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa's hair is concerned, there is mention in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, and the Mahābhārata. It is stated there that the Lord snatched a gray hair and a black hair from His head and that these two hairs entered into the wombs of two queens of the Yadu dynasty, namely Rohiṇī and Devakī. It is also stated that Lord Kṛṣṇa descends to the material world in order to vanquish all the demons, but some say that Kṛṣṇa is the incarnation of Viṣṇu who lies in the ocean of milk within this universe. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta and his commentator, Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, have discussed these points fully and have established the exact truth. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī also discussed these points in the Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 15:

The words api and ca are adverbs and can be used for virtually any purpose. The word ca, or "and," can render seven different readings to the whole construction.

The Lord thus established the import of the eleven words in the Ātmārāma verse, and then He began to explain the import of each item as follows. The word brahman indicates the greatest in all respects. The Lord is the greatest in all opulences. No one can excel Him in wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Thus the word brahman indicates the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.57) the word brahman is given to indicate the greatest of all; the Supreme Lord is the greatest, and there is no limit to His expanding as the greatest. One may conceive of Brahman's greatness, yet this greatness grows in such a way that no one can estimate how great He actually is.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 16:

Just as some devotees are perfected by the execution of devotional service, so some of them are eternally perfect. Of those following the regulative principles of devotional service, there are the advanced and the beginners; and in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, there are sixteen types of devotees. Thus the ātmārāmas can be considered to exist in thirty-two divisions. If the words muni, nirgrantha, ca and api are applied to the thirty-two classes, then there are fifty-eight different types of devotees. All these devotees can be described by one word: ātmārāma. There may be many different kinds of trees standing in the forest, but the word "tree" describes them all.

Thus the Lord gave sixty different meanings to the word ātmārāma. In addition, He said that ātmā means "the living entity, beginning from the first living creature, Brahmā, down to the ant." He cited a verse from the Sixth Chapter of Viṣṇu Purāṇa in which it is stated that all the energies of the Lord are spiritual. Although this is the case, the energy which is known as the source of the living entity is called spiritual, but the other energy, which is full of ignorance and is manifested in material activities, is called material nature. Even in the material creation, the living entities are innumerable. If by chance a living entity in the material world can associate with a pure devotee, he can engage in the pure devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. "Formerly I thought of sixty different meanings for the word ātmārāma," the Lord told Sanātana Gosvāmī, "but here another meaning comes to My mind by your association."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

In all Vedic literatures, including Bhagavad-gītā and Viṣṇu Purāṇa, much evidence is given to distinguish between the energy and the energetic. In Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.4) it is clearly stated that earth, water, fire, air and ether are the five principal gross elements of the material world and that mind, intelligence and false ego are the three subtle elements. All material nature is divided into these eight elements which together comprise the inferior nature, or energy, of the Lord. Another name for this inferior nature is māyā, or illusion. Beyond these eight inferior elements there is a superior energy, which is called parā-prakṛti. That parā-prakṛti is the living entity, who is found in great numbers throughout the material world. He is indicated in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.5) as jīva-bhūtām. The purport is that the Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, the energetic, and as such He has His energies. When His energy is not properly manifested, or when it is covered by some shadow, it is called māyā-śakti. The material cosmic manifestation is a product of that covered māyā-śakti.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25:

According to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61-3), the living entities are considered kṣetrajña energy. Although the living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and is fully cognizant, he nonetheless becomes entrapped by material contamination and suffers all the miseries of material life. Such living entities live in different ways in accordance to the degree of their entanglement in material nature. The original energy of the Supreme Lord is spiritual and nondifferent from the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead. The living entity is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord, and the material energy is called the inferior energy. Due to his material inebriety, the living entity in the marginal position becomes entangled with the inferior energy, matter. At such a time he forgets his spiritual significance, identifies himself with material energy and thereby becomes subjected to the threefold miseries. Only when he is free from such material contamination can he be situated in his proper position.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 27:

That evening, after the Lord had taken His bath and seated Himself, Rāmānanda Rāya came to see Him with a servant. He offered his respects and sat down before the Lord. Before Rāmānanda Rāya could even ask the Lord a question about the advancement of spiritual knowledge, the Lord Himself said, "Please quote some verses from scripture about the ultimate goal of human life."

Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya at once replied: "A person who is sincere in his occupational duty will gradually develop a sense of God consciousness." He also quoted a verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.9) which states that the Supreme Lord is worshiped by one's occupational duty and that there is no alternative for satisfying Him. The purport is that human life is meant for understanding one's relationship with the Supreme Lord, and by acting in that way any human being can dovetail himself in the service of the Lord by discharging his prescribed duties. For this purpose human society is divided into four classes: the intellectuals (brāhmaṇas), the administrators (kṣatriyas), the merchants (vaiśyas), and the laborers (śūdras). For each class there are prescribed rules and regulations as well as occupational functions. The prescribed duties and qualities of the four classes are described in Bhagavad-gītā (18.41-44). A society which is civilized and organized should follow the prescribed rules and regulations for the particular classes. At the same time, for spiritual advancement, the four stages of āśrama must also be followed: namely, student life (brahmacarya), householder (gṛhastha), retired (vānaprastha) and the renounced life (sannyāsa).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 28:

Lord Caitanya rejected the statement cited by Rāmānanda Rāya from Viṣṇu Purāṇa because the Lord wished to reject a class of philosophers known as karma-mīmāṁsa. Karma-mīmāṁsa followers accept God to be subject to one's work. Their conclusion is that if one works nicely, God is bound to give good results. Thus one can understand from the statement of Viṣṇu Purāṇa that Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, has no independence but is bound to award a certain kind of result to the worker. Such a dependent goal becomes subjected to the worshiper, who accepts the Supreme Lord to be both impersonal and personal, as he may wish. Actually this philosophy stresses the impersonal feature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Because Lord Caitanya did not like such impersonalism, He rejected it.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 31:

After giving a summary of the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, Rāmānanda Rāya began to speak of the spiritual energy of Kṛṣṇa, which is headed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa has immense energetic expansions. Three energies are predominant: the internal energy, external energy and marginal energy. This is confirmed in the Sixth Chapter of Viṣṇu Purāṇa where it is said that Viṣṇu has one energy, which is called spiritual energy, and it is manifested in three ways. When spiritual energy is overwhelmed by ignorance, it is called marginal energy. As far as spiritual energy itself is concerned, it is exhibited in three forms because Kṛṣṇa is a combination of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As far as His bliss is concerned, His spiritual energy is manifested as the pleasure giving potency. His eternity is manifested as energy, and His knowledge is manifested as spiritual perfection. As confirmed in Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.69): "The pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa gives Kṛṣṇa transcendental pleasure and bliss." Thus when Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy pleasure, He exhibits His own spiritual potency known as hlādinī.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 10:

Some way or other, if someone establishes in his mind his continuous relationship with Kṛṣṇa, this relationship is called remembrance. About this remembrance there is a nice statement in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, where it is said, "Simply by remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead all living entities become eligible for all kinds of auspiciousness. Therefore let me always remember the Lord, who is unborn and eternal." In the Padma Purāṇa the same remembrance is explained as follows: "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, because if someone remembers Him, either at the time of death or during his span of life, he becomes freed from all sinful reactions."

Nectar of Devotion 30:

It is described in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that when Akrūra came to take Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to Mathurā, just by seeing Their faces he became so cheerful that all over his body there were symptoms of ecstatic love. This state is called happiness.

Nectar of Instruction

Nectar of Instruction 10, Purport:

At the present moment almost everyone is engaged in some kind of fruitive activity. Those who are desirous of gaining material profits by working are called karmīs, or fruitive workers. All living entities within this material world have come under the spell of māyā. This is described in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61):

viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā

kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā

avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā

tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate

(CC Madhya 6.154)

Sages have divided the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead into three categories—namely, the spiritual energy, marginal energy and material energy. The material energy is considered to be the third-class energy (tṛtīyā śaktiḥ). Those living beings within the jurisdiction of the material energy sometimes engage themselves like dogs and hogs in working very hard simply for sense gratification. However, in this life, or, after executing pious activities, in the next life, some karmīs become strongly attracted to performing various kinds of sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas. Thus on the strength of their pious merit, they are elevated to heavenly planets. Actually those who perform sacrifices strictly according to Vedic injunctions are elevated to the moon and planets above the moon.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

According to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, the material energy is called avidyā, or nescience, and is exhibited in the fruitive activities of sense enjoyment. But although the living being has the tendency to be illusioned and trapped by the material energy for sense enjoyment, he belongs to the antimaterial energy, or spiritual energy. In this sense the living being is the positive energy, whereas matter is the negative energy. Matter does not develop unless in contact with the superior spiritual, or antimaterial, energy, which is directly part and parcel of the spiritual whole. The subject matter of this spiritual energy exhibited by living beings is undoubtedly very complicated for an ordinary man, who is therefore astounded by the subject. Sometimes he partially understands it through the imperfect senses, and sometimes he fails to know it altogether. It is best, therefore, to hear from the highest authority, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or from His devotee who represents Him in the chain of disciplic succession.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 2:

Devakī was very much afraid of her brother Kaṁsa because he had already killed so many of her children. So she was very anxious about Kṛṣṇa. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is stated that in order to pacify Devakī, all the demigods, along with their wives, used to visit her to encourage her not to be afraid that her son would be killed by Kaṁsa. Kṛṣṇa, who was within her womb, was to appear not only to diminish the burden of the world but specifically to protect the interests of the Yadu dynasty, and certainly to protect Devakī and Vasudeva. It is understood that Kṛṣṇa had been transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devakī, and from there to her womb. Thus all the demigods worshiped Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa.

Krsna Book 13:

In the form of a cowherd boy, Lord Kṛṣṇa was very little in comparison to Brahmā, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He could immediately understand that all the calves and boys had been stolen by Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa thought, "Brahmā has taken away all the boys and calves. How can I alone return to Vṛndāvana? The mothers will be aggrieved!"

Therefore in order to satisfy the mothers of His friends, as well as to convince Brahmā of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead, He immediately expanded Himself as the cowherd boys and calves. In the Vedas it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has already expanded Himself into so many living entities by His energy. Therefore it was not very difficult for Him to expand Himself again into so many boys and calves. He expanded Himself to become exactly like the boys, who were of all different features and facial and bodily construction, and who were different in their clothing and ornaments and in their behavior and personal activities. In other words, although each boy, being an individual soul, had entirely different tastes, activities and behavior, Kṛṣṇa exactly expanded Himself into all the different positions of the individual boys. He also became the calves, who were also of different sizes, colors, activities, etc. This was possible because everything is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Whatever we actually see in the cosmic manifestation—be it matter or the activities of the living entities—is simply an expansion of the energies of the Lord, as heat and light are the different expansions of fire.

Krsna Book 50:

While Jarāsandha was attempting his eighteenth attack, a Yavana king somewhere to the south of Mathurā became attracted by the opulence of the Yadu dynasty and also attacked the city. It is said that the King of the Yavanas, known as Kālayavana, was induced to attack by Nārada. This story is narrated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. Once, Garga Muni, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, was taunted by his brother-in-law. When the kings of the Yadu dynasty heard the taunt they laughed at him, and Garga Muni became angry at the Yadu kings. He decided that he would produce someone who would be very fearful to the Yadu dynasty, so he pleased Lord Śiva and received from him the benediction of a son. He begot this son, Kālayavana, in the wife of a Yavana king. This Kālayavana inquired from Nārada, "Who are the most powerful kings in the world?" Nārada informed him that the Yadus were the most powerful. Thus informed, Kālayavana attacked the city of Mathurā at the same time that Jarāsandha tried to attack it for the eighteenth time. Kālayavana was very eager to declare war on a king of the world who would be a suitable combatant for him, but he had not found any. However, being informed about Mathurā by Nārada, he thought it wise to attack this city with thirty million Yavana soldiers.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.2:

Because the spirit soul (jīva) is born of the Lord's superior, spiritual energy, it has little in common with the material energy, just as the aquatics have no affinity for the land and the land beasts are out of place in the water. The apparent close connection between the material energy and the spiritual energy is in fact illusory. The jīvas, being a product of the spiritual energy, try to exploit the material energy, but ultimately such attempts fail, because it is impossible for one energy to always exploit and lord it over another energy. The jīvas can, however, eternally serve the Supreme Energetic, Lord Kṛṣṇa. When the jīva exploits the material energy in his endeavor to serve the Lord, that activity is transcendental—the performance of sacrifice. Any other kind of activity amounts to nothing but materialistic, fruitive work.

In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61) one reads about the three kinds of energy:

viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā

kṣetra jñākhyā tathā parā

avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā

tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate

(CC Madhya 6.154)

The potency of Lord Viṣṇu is summarized in three categories—namely, the spiritual potency, the living entities, and ignorance. The spiritual potency is full of knowledge; the living entities, although belonging to the spiritual potency, are subject to bewilderment; and the third energy, which is full of ignorance, is always visible in fruitive activities.

Thus all phenomena in this material world are simply interactions of the Supreme Lord's superior, spiritual energy with His inferior, material energy. The material energy is known as the kṣetra, or field of activity, and the spiritual energy is known as the kṣetra-jña, or the knower of the field of activity. All the different species of living entities, with their varied characteristics, are produced by the interaction of the kṣetra and the kṣetra-jña. The energetic principle, the controller of both these energies, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. He must be recognized as the ultimate cause of the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of this cosmic manifestation.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.3:

One obtains another kind of piety by strictly executing his duties under the system of varṇāśrama-dharma, a social system containing four spiritual orders and four social orders. Learned sages have long propagated this system. As the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.9) states,

varṇāśramācāravatā

puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā

nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

(CC Madhya 8.58)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varṇa and āśrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One must be situated in the institution of the four varṇas and āśramas.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.3:

To shed more light on the meaning of the Upaniṣadic aphorism sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, we cite a verse from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.22.56):

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner

jyotsnā vistārinī yathā

parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis

tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

A fire radiates light all around although remaining in one spot. Similarly, the Supreme Brahman radiates energy everywhere, which is manifested as this material world.

In their philosophical discussions the Māyāvādīs deny the existence of the Supreme Lord's multifarious energies. Such sub-standard debates are indeed on the kindergarten level. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the Māyāvādīs have a poor fund of knowledge and are thus prevented from understanding that the Supreme Brahman is full with six opulences.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.1:

To refute this impersonal conception of the Absolute, the previously quoted verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam unequivocally states that the Absolute Truth is a person. This transcendental personality is so powerful that He could impart the knowledge of the Vedas even to Lord Brahmā, who then went on to create the material universe. Lord Brahmā did not receive this extraordinary Vedic knowledge after creation but before he began the work of creation. The knowledge that existed before the mundane nature came into being is transcendental and is known as saṁvit. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa delves into the subjects of sandhinī, saṁvit, and hlādinī, the Lord's potencies of existence, knowledge, and pleasure. All together, these are known as the Lord's internal potency, or spiritual potency. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also discusses the subject of the Lord's internal potency. This superior potency is quite different form the Lord's inferior, external potency, which is qualified by the three material modes. An example of the Lord's superior, spiritual potency is the jīvas. One who can understand that the jīvas are a product of the Lord's internal potency, not His external potency, can immediately grasp the difference between these two potencies.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 4, Translation and Purport:

Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.

Through mental speculation, even the greatest philosopher cannot know the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He can be known only by His devotees through His mercy. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.34) it is stated that even if a nondevotee philosopher travels through space at the speed of the wind or the mind for hundreds of millions of years, he will still find that the Absolute Truth is far, far away from him. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) further describes that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode, known as Goloka, where He remains and engages in His pastimes, yet by His inconceivable potencies He can simultaneously reach every part of His creative energy. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa His potencies are compared to the heat and light that emanate from a fire. Although situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat for some distance; similarly, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, although fixed in His transcendental abode, can diffuse His different energies everywhere.

Sri Isopanisad 14, Purport:

Material scientists and politicians are trying to make this place deathless because they have no information of the deathless spiritual nature. This is due to their ignorance of the Vedic literature, which contains full knowledge confirmed by mature transcendental experience. Unfortunately, modern man is averse to receiving knowledge from the Vedas, Purāṇas and other scriptures.

From the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61) we receive the following information:

viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā

kṣetra-jñākhyā tathā parā

avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā

tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate

(CC Madhya 6.154)

Lord Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead, possesses different energies, known as parā (superior) and aparā (inferior). The living entities belong to the superior energy. The material energy, in which we are presently entangled, is the inferior energy. The material creation is made possible by this energy, which covers the living entities with ignorance (avidyā) and induces them to perform fruitive activities. Yet there is another part of the Lord's superior energy that is different from both this material, inferior energy and the living entities. That superior energy constitutes the eternal, deathless abode of the Lord.