CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
\nQualities of \u015ar\u012b K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a
\nPersonal features can be divided into two: one feature is covered and the other feature is manifested. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is covered by different kinds of dress, His personal feature is covered. There is an example of His covered personal feature in \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam in connection with His dv\u0101rak\u0101-l\u012bl\u0101 (His residence in Dv\u0101rak\u0101 as its king). Sometimes Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a began to play by dressing Himself like a woman. Seeing this form, Uddhava said, \u201cHow wonderful it is that this woman is attracting my ecstatic love exactly as Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a does. I think she must be K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a covered by the dress of a woman!\u201d
\nOne devotee praised the bodily features of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a when he saw the Lord in His manifested personal feature. He exclaimed, \u201cHow wonderful is the personal feature of Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a! How His neck is just like a conch shell! His eyes are so beautiful, as though they themselves were encountering the beauty of a lotus flower. His body is just like the tam\u0101la tree, very blackish. His head is protected with a canopy of hair. There are the marks of \u015ar\u012bvatsa on His chest, and He is holding His conch shell. By such beautiful bodily features, the enemy of the demon Madhu has appeared so pleasing that He can bestow upon me transcendental bliss simply by my seeing His transcendental qualities.\u201d
\n\u015ar\u012bla R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body; (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pleasing; (4) effulgent; (5) strong; (6) ever youthful; (7) wonderful linguist; (8) truthful; (9) talks pleasingly; (10) fluent; (11) highly learned; (12) highly intelligent; (13) a genius; (14) artistic; (15) extremely clever; (16) expert; (17) grateful; (18) firmly determined; (19) an expert judge of time and circumstances; (20) sees and speaks on the authority of the Vedas, or scriptures; (21) pure; (22) self-controlled; (23) steadfast; (24) forbearing; (25) forgiving; (26) grave; (27) self-satisfied; (28) possessing equilibrium; (29) magnanimous; (30) religious; (31) heroic; (32) compassionate; (33) respectful; (34) gentle; (35) liberal; (36) shy; (37) the protector of surrendered souls; (38) happy; (39) the well-wisher of devotees; (40) controlled by love; (41) all-auspicious; (42) most powerful; (43) all-famous; (44) popular; (45) partial to devotees; (46) very attractive to all women; (47) all-worshipable; (48) all-opulent; (49) all-honorable; (50) the supreme controller. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has all these fifty transcendental qualities in fullness as deep as the ocean. In other words, the extent of His qualities is inconceivable.
\nAs parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the individual living entities can also possess all of these qualities in minute quantities, provided they become pure devotees of the Lord. In other words, all of the above transcendental qualities can be present in the devotees in minute quantity, whereas the qualities in fullness are always present in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
\nBesides these, there are other transcendental qualities, which are described by Lord \u015aiva to P\u0101rvat\u012b in the Padma Pur\u0101\u1e47a, and in the First Canto of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam in connection with a conversation between the deity of the earth and the king of religion, Yamar\u0101ja. It is said therein, \u201cPersons who are desirous of becoming great personalities must be decorated with the following qualities: truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, perseverance, renunciation, peacefulness, simplicity, control of the senses, equilibrium of the mind, austerity, equality, forbearance, placidity, learning, knowledge, detachment, opulence, chivalry, influence, strength, memory, independence, tactfulness, luster, patience, kind-heartedness, ingenuity, gentility, mannerliness, determination, perfection in all knowledge, proper execution, possession of all objects of enjoyment, gravity, steadiness, faithfulness, fame, respectfulness and lack of false egotism.\u201d Persons who are desiring to become great souls cannot be without any of the above qualities, so we can know for certain that these qualities are found in Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the supreme soul.
\nBesides all of the above-mentioned fifty qualities, Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a possesses five more, which are sometimes partially manifested in the persons of Lord Brahm\u0101 or Lord \u015aiva. These transcendental qualities are as follows: (51) changeless; (52) all-cognizant; (53) ever fresh; (54) sac-cid-\u0101nanda (possessing an eternal blissful body); (55) possessing all mystic perfections.
\nK\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a also possesses five other qualities, which are manifest in the body of N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a, and they are listed as follows: (56) He has inconceivable potency. (57) Uncountable universes generate from His body. (58) He is the original source of all incarnations. (59) He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills. (60) He is the attractor of liberated souls. All these transcendental qualities are manifest wonderfully in the personal feature of Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.
\nBesides these sixty transcendental qualities, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a has four more, which are not manifest even in the N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a form of Godhead, what to speak of the demigods or living entities. They are as follows. (61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes). (62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead. (63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute. (64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty that cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation.
\nAdding to the list these four exceptional qualities of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, it is to be understood that the aggregate number of qualities of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is sixty-four. \u015ar\u012bla R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b has attempted to give evidences from various scriptures about all sixty-four qualities present in the person of the Supreme Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Qualities of \u015ar\u012b K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Personal features can be divided into two: one feature is covered and the other feature is manifested. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is covered by different kinds of dress, His personal feature is … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 17:54:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}