Academy of Love
Raganuga-bhakti is the pure loving devotion towards Radha Krishna following the footsteps of inhabitants of Vrindavan .Under the guidance of a bonafide guru chanting the Holy Name and meditating on Their divine pastimes will lead one to Love of Divine Couple.
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Brahma Samhita : Sri Jiva Goswami commentary
Introduction:
This booklet is only the fifth chapter of the Hymns of Brahmā which were recorded in a hundred chapters. The Supreme Lord Śrī Caitanya picked up this chapter from the temple of Ādi-keśava at Tiruvattar, a village lying under the government of Travancore, for the assurance of all God-loving, and especially Kṛṣṇa-loving, people in this conditioned jurisdiction.
This booklet can easily be compared with another book which passes by the name of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Though it has got a reference in the pantheon of Purāṇas, the Srimad Bhāgavatam corroborates the same idea of this Pañcarātra.
The devotees should consider that these two books tend to the identical Kṛṣṇa who is the fountainhead of all transcendental and mundane entities and has a manifestive exhibition of the plenary variegatedness.
—- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
Bs 5.1 — Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.
Commentary by Shrila Jiva Gosvami
Mangalacarana
Within my heart I worship the splendor of Lord Krishna’s transcendental form. I desire that by Lord Krishna’s mercy I will be able to explain the verses of Brahma-samhita.
Although the Brahma-samhita is a very difficult book, the commentaries of the sages have made it easy to understand. My words follow their explanations.
Although the Brahma-samhita contains one hundred chapters, because this chapter briefly describes Lord Krishna’s transcendental form, it is the best.
The same transcendental sweetness the pure-hearted devotees see in Shrimad-Bhagavatam and other Vaishnava-shastras is also present in the Brahma-samhita. For this reason my heart is now happy.
After due reflection, in this book I have lightly touched on the same topics more elaborately explained in my Shri Krishna- sandarbha.
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Glorification of Krishna’s name:
Shrimad Bhagavatam (1.3.28) explains:
“All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Shri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead.”
Brahma-samhita begins with a similar declaration of the supremacy of Lord Krishna. In this verse the Supreme Personality of Godhead is specifically identified as Lord Krishna. As the name Lord Krishna is spoken first in the passage beginning “Krishnavatarotsava” and other statements of Shrila Sukadeva Gosvami and other great souls, as the name of Krishna is given first in the statement “krishnaya vasudevaya devaki-nandanaya” of the Sama Upanisad, as the name of Krishna is given first in Garga Muni’s revelation of the Lord’s holy names, and as the example “payasa kumbham purayati” is also given, in the same way this verse of Brahma-samhita gives the name Krishna first because the form of Lord Krishna is the origin of all other forms of Godhead.
That Krishna is the most important name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is explained in the Padma Purana, Prabhasa-khanda, where, in a conversation between Narada and Kusadhvaja, the following words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are repeated:
“O Arjuna, of all My holy names, Krishna is the most important.”
The importance of the name Krishna is also confirmed in the Brahmanda Purana, Shri Krishnastottara-sata-nama-stotra, where Lord Krishna says:
“The pious results derived from chanting the thousand names of Lord Vishnu three times can be attained by only one repetition of the holy name of Krishna.”
In the first verse of Brahma-samhita the name “Govinda” is also given. This name is given to Lord Krishna because He is the master of the spiritual surabhi cows. Because Lord Krishna is all-powerful, the first verse of Brahma-samhita describes Him as “isvara”. Lord Krishna is also described in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.8.13 and 15).
“Your son Krishna appears as an incarnations in every millennium. In the past He assumed three different colours: white, red, and yellow, and now He has appeared in a blackish colour.”
“From this son of yours there are many forms and names according to His transcendental qualities and activities. These are known to me, but people in general do not understand them.”
In these verses the word “asya” (of Him) refers to Lord Krishna “anuyugam means “in every millennium”, “tanuh” means “the forms of various incarnations”, “grhnatah” means “manifests”, “varnas trayah” means “the colours beginning with white”, and “asan” means “manifested. In these verses Garga Muni says, “In Satya yuga and other yugas the Lord appeared in a white form and forms of other colours, but now (idanim) He has appeared in His original form, the form of Lord Krishna (krishnatam gatah). Because Lord Krishna is the original, the best form of the Personality of Godhead, the name Krishna is the most important of His names, and the other forms of Godhead (bahuni rupani) are manifested from the original form, Krishna. That the transcendental qualities of the name Krishna make it the most important of God’s names is confirmed in the following statement of Vaishnava literature:
In this way the name Krishna is described. The verse of Vaishnava literature does not accept any other name as the most important name of God. In the Astadasaksara-mantra-vyakhya of both the Upasana Tantra and the Gautamiya Tantra the following similar verse may be seen:
“The word “krs” means ‘eternal transcendental existence” and ‘na’ means “spiritual pleasure”. When the verb “krs” is added to the affix “na”, it becomes Krishna, which indicates the eternally blissful Absolute Truth.”
The word “bhu” comes from the verb “bhu”, which may mean “to be” or “to attract”. In the quotation from Vaishnava literature the word is interpreted to mean “attraction” and in the quote from Gautamiya Tantra, “bhu” is interpreted to mean “existence”.
The word “bhu” may thus be interpreted to mean “existence”, but in this case it may not be interpreted to mean “movement” or “generalness”. The primary meaning is “attraction”. The secondary meaning is “existence”. The meanings “movement” and “generalness” cannot be accepted here.
The word “nirvrtti” means “bliss”. The phrase “tayor aikyam” means “when the two syllables are placed together into a word”. “Param brahma” means “the substance that is the greatest of all”. In the phrase “krishna ity abhidhiyate” an alternate reading replaces the word “abhidhiyate” with “iryate” (is named).
Aside from these varied considerations, the primary meaning of the two syllables Krishna is that “krs” means “attraction” and “na” means “transcendental bliss”. The word “krs” meaning “attracting” should be understood to mean ” that which attracts”, just as in the adage “ayur ghrtam” (ghee is long life) ghee is equated with long life because eating foods cooked in ghee makes one long-lived.
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Krishna is supreme Brahman:
Various explanations of the word “param brahma” are given in the scriptures. For example, the Vishnu Purana declares:
“The wise know that the word ‘param brahma’ means ‘He who is the greatest’ and ‘He who nourishes and protects all living entities’”.
The Gautamiya Tantra also gives the following explanation of the word “param brahma”:
“The word ‘krs’ means ‘eternal transcendental existence’ and ‘na’ means ‘spiritual pleasure’. These two syllables, meaning eternal existence and spiritual pleasure, are joined to become the word ‘Krishna’, the name of the param brahma.”
The advaitavadis (monists) think the phrase “satta-svanandayor yogat” in this verse means “distinction such as eternal existence and transcendental bliss lose their separateness and become one in the impersonal absolute.” Because the words “sat” and “ananda” have different meanings, and because, even if these two words are taken to be synonyms, their repetition in a sentence is meaningless (as if we were to repeat the word “vrksa” and “taru”, which both mean “tree” within a single sentence), the conclusion of the impersonalists must be false.
The word “sat” (eternal) is used here to mean “the Supreme Eternal, who is the source of all other eternals”. This is described in these words of the Sruti-sastra:
“O noble student, in the beginning only the eternal existed.”
The verse from the Gautamiya Tantra may be explained in the following way. The first half of the verse describes Lord Krishna, who is all-attractive and full of transcendental bliss. The second half of the first states that because Lord Krishna is blissful and all-attractive He delights all living entities. For this reason the scriptures declare:
“Because they find transcendental bliss in Him, the devotees have fallen in love with Shri Krishna.”
In this way the word Krishna should be understood to mean “He who is full of transcendental bliss, and whose handsome form and transcendental qualities attract all living entities.” For this reason popular usage interprets the word “devakinandana” to mean “He who pleases Devaki.” Shri Krishna’s delighting everyone may be seen in the following statement of the Vasudeva Upanisad:
“Lord Krishna, the son of Devaki delights everyone”.
“Lord Krishna is independently perfect, eternally changeless, and the origin of all transcendental bliss.”
For these reasons the popular explanation of the word Devakinandana (He who pleases Devaki) should be accepted and not rejected in favour of the views of pedantic grammarians. This is confirmed by the following statement of great scholars:
“When popular usage interprets a word in a way very appropriate to the object it describes, that interpretation should be accepted. When scientific etymology interprets a word in a way not appropriate to the object described, that meaning should not be accepted.”
That Shri Krishna is the Supreme Brahman is affirmed in the words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam:
“The form of the Supreme Brahman is the humanlike form of Shri Krishna.”
In Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.32) is also said:
“How greatly fortunate are Nanda Maharaja, the cowherd men and all the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi! There is no limit to their fortune because the Absolute Truth, the source of transcendental bliss, the eternal Supreme Brahma, has become their friend.”
In the Vishnu Purana it is said:
“The Supreme Brahman, who has a humanlike form and who bears the name Krishna, has descended to this world.”
In the Bhagavad-gita (14.27) Lord Krishna declares:
“I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman.”*
In the Gopala-tapani Upanisad it is said:
“The cowherd boy Krishna is the Supreme Brahman.”
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Isvara
Now let us return to the first verse of Brahma-samhita. Now that we have explained the word “Krishna”, we will proceed to the word “isvara”. “Isvara” means “the supreme controller of everyone”. This is seen in the following description of the word Krishna in the Gautamiya Tantra:
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller, controls (krs) all moving and unmoving beings. Therefore He is name ‘Krishna’“.
In this verse the word “kala” means “controller”. It is derived from the verb “kal”, which means “to control”. That Shri Krishna is the supreme controller is also confirmed by the following words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (3.2.21):
“Lord Shri Krishna is the Lord of all kinds of threes and is independently supreme by achievement of all kinds of fortune. He is worshipped by the eternal maintainers of the creation, who offer Him the paraphernalia of worship by touching their millions of helmets to His feet.”*
In Bhagavad-gita (10.42) Lord Krishna declares:
“With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.“*
In the Gopala-tapani Upanisad it is said:
“Shri Krishna is the worshipable and all-pervading supreme controller.”
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Parama
Now that the word “isvara” has been explained, we will describe the word “parama”. “Para” means “supreme” and “ma” means “mother”. The “para-mas” therefore are the goddesses of fortune who are Lord Krishna’s internal potencies. They are described in these words of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.59.43).
“Full of transcendental bliss, Lord Krishna enjoyed pastimes with the beautiful gopis, who were all goddesses of fortune.”
In Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.47.60) it is also said:
“When Lord Shri Krishna was dancing with the gopis in the rasa-lila, the gopis were embraced by the arms of the Lord. This transcendental favour was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or the other consorts in the spiritual world. Indeed, never was such a thing even imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets whose bodily lustre and aroma resemble the lotus flower. And what to speak of worldly women who are very beautiful according to material estimation.”
In Shrimad-Bhagavatam (10.33.6) it is also said:
“Although the son of Devaki, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is also the reservoir of all kinds of beauty, when He is among the gopis He nonetheless becomes more beautiful, for He resembles a marakata jewel surrounded by gold and other jewels.”
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