Brahma-saṁhitā 5.29–41 & Purport , New York , 1966-11-05
Prabhupāda: [sings, accompanied by karatāls]
[00:00] [sings Brahma-saàhitä, verses 29–32]
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.29]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.]
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.30]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.]
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.29]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.]
ratnāṅgadaṁ praṇaya-keli-kalā-vilāsam
śyāmaṁ tri-bhaṅga-lalitaṁ niyata-prakāśaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.31]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, round whose neck is swinging a garland of flowers beautified with the moon-locket, whose two hands are adorned with the flute and jeweled ornaments, who always revels in pastimes of love, whose graceful threefold-bending form of Śyāmasundara is eternally manifest.]
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.29]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.]
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.32]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.]
[09:15] Purport
Prabhupāda: This verse is particularly important, because it describes the significance of sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [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.]
The Lord's body is sac-cid-ānanda. His body is not like ours. Our body is acit and..., asat, acit and nirānanda, just the opposite. Asat means it will not exist, and acit means it is full of ignorance, and nirānanda... Nirānanda means full of miseries. These three qualification of our body, whereas the Lord's body is sac-cid-ānanda: it is eternal and full of knowledge and full of bliss.
Our body and with our self... My body and my self are different. But Lord and Lord's body is absolute. What is Lord, Lord's body is also the same. So that description is given here: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti. The Lord is not impersonal. He has got His form. And what sort of form? We should not consider that whenever there is a question of form, the form must be just like one of us. This is foolishness. Now, His form is completely different, just like we have explained. His form is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, and our this present material body is asat, acit and nirānanda. Just completely different.
So His form, His different parts of the body, described in the Vedas, apāṇi-pādo javano grahītā paśyati... [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.19]:
[The Supreme Lord has no material hands and feet but accepts whatever is offered to Him and moves very quickly. The Supreme Person has no material ears and eyes but sees and hears everything. He is the knower of everything, and He is all that is to be known. It is said that He is the best and the greatest of all persons.]
"He has no hands and legs; still, He accepts all that you offer to Him.'' In the Bhagavad-gītā also we'll find that,
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
[Bg 9.26]
[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]
"My devotees..." God is not... The Lord is not in need of our offering, but still, He is so kind, if we offer Him something... Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. Not that we have to offer him very luxurious things, very highly valuable things. He says that even a piece of leaf, patraṁ, a piece of flower, patraṁ puṣpam, a piece of fruit and little water... That means these four things can be secured by any poor man in any part of the world. There is no botheration for securing a piece of leaf, a piece of flower a little water or a piece of fruit. Any poor man, any rich man can secure.
And the Lord says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg 9.26]:
"Anyone who offers Me these four things with devotion, with love, I accept them." "I accept them." Why? Now, tad ahaṁ bhaktyā upahṛtam aśnāmi: "Because that is secured with sincere love for Me." So God..., the Lord accepts our love.
Now, the Lord is... We cannot see. He is far, far away, and still, He is within us. Therefore His hand is not like our hands. The Vedas... When the Vedas describes, "The Lord has no hand," that means He has no hand like ours, not that a two-feet hand which we have got, or two- or three-feet hand; largest hand. His hand is so large that He can extend His hand in any part of His creation, millions and billions miles away, and everywhere. That is the specific significance of His body. So this is described here. [sings:]
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sadujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.32]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.]
And another special significance of the parts of His body, limbs or hands or legs, eyes, ears... What is that significance? Now, each part of His body has got all the potency of other parts of the body. Just like with our eyes we can simply see; but the Lord, He can not only see by His eyes, transcendental eyes, but He can also hear, He can also eat. All the... All the functions of all other parts of the body, He can function by any part of His body. Not that a particular part of the body can function only for a particular purpose. No.
Just like simply by glancing... In the Vedic literature it is said, sa aikṣata sa asṛjata: "Simply by seeing—simply by seeing—He impregnated all the energies for creation. Simply by seeing." Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].
[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]
Simply by His glance. Simply by His glance He impregnates the material energy for functioning. It is going on.
So He has got all the potencies in all the parts of His body. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti paśyanti pānti kalayanti. That is the difference between His body and our body. So when there is description in the Vedas that "He has no leg, no hand, no eyes," that does not mean He has no eyes. He has got eyes, but not these eyes just like we have got conception. So here it is explained that aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti. His parts of the body are invested with all the potencies of other parts of the body. With any part of His body He can function any work.
verses 32–35, 37, 38]
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.32]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.]
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.33]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]
vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām
so 'py asti yat prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.34]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, only the tip of the toe of whose lotus feet is approached by the yogīs who aspire after the transcendental and betake themselves to prāṇāyāma by drilling the respiration; or by the jñānīs who try to find out the nondifferentiated Brahman by the process of elimination of the mundane, extending over thousands of millions of years.]
yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.35]
[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.37]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.38]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]
[33:21] Purport
Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti [Bs 5.38]. Now, people say that "Whether God can be seen? If anyone has seen God?" Yes, God can be seen. There is no doubt about it. But it requires some qualification. Not some, but only one qualification. God is so kind that He does not require any material qualification. He does not require that you should be very learned man, very beautiful, or very rich man, or a king or emperor or minister or president, no, nothing of the sort. You can be anything. But only one qualification required. Then you can see God. What is that qualification?
[sings:] Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. That qualification is unalloyed love. That's all.
One who has achieved that unalloyed..., unalloyed love for God... Unalloyed love means without any tinge of philosophical speculation or fruitive activities. That's another subject; it requires great explanation. But unalloyed love means without any tinge of material color. That is called unalloyed. Even philosophical speculation or fruitive activities, even if it is offered to the Supreme Lord, that is not love. Love is above this. So if one can achieve that unalloyed love for God, with that, I mean to say, magic wand, the eyes become eligible for seeing God. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. And that, that eye, is called devotional eye. Devotional.
We have to... Not only eyes, but every part of our body, we have to spiritualize by the contact. By the contact of spiritual service in devotion of the Lord, we can gradually spiritualize our whole set of senses. Just like a iron rod given to the fire: gradually the temperature rises. It becomes warm, warmer, warmest, very hot, then red hot. When it is red hot, then it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, by our contact in devotional service of the Lord we can change the whole position of our material existence. And we have... If we have developed to that stage of unalloyed love for God, then God can be seen twenty-four hours, not that once seen and again not seen. No.
This is described here, that santaḥ, the great devotees, unalloyed devotees, who are liberated souls, have no connection with material activities or philosophical speculation, such unalloyed devotees, because their eyes are smeared with the ointment of love only, therefore they can see the Lord sadaiva, always, twenty-four hour.
[39:04] [sings Brahma-saàhitä, verses 38–39.
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.38]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.39]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who manifested Himself personally as Kṛṣṇa and the different avatāras in the world in the forms of Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, etc., as His subjective portions.]
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs 5.29]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.]
[end]