CHAPTER – 29

Suvrat said:-

Then, in the evening of the eighth day of the month, Sri Hari, having finished his Sandhya ritual and having done the lamplustration, appeared in the assembly of the devotees of Lord Krishna. 1.

Then, that great sage, Muktanand, of great talent, with intension of removing all the doubts of the Krishna devotees, asked thus: 2.

O Lord, I want to know the true form of the beloved God, as it is the Agamas. 3.

How that Lord of the world is to be understood? Weather he is with qualities or without qualities, with form or formless? How is He the performing and non-performing Agent, at a time? 4.

O You kind hearted One, precisely tell me whether the God in human form is different from the divine form, present in the celestial Brahmic domain. 5.

All these devotees of the Lord Vishnu are eager to understand, in true perspective, the real theory about it based on experience and the scriptures. Hence, You deserve to expound it. 6.

Suvrat said:-

O Lord, when thus, asked by that curious sage, then, Shri Hari spoke these words pleasing to the people, who had taken shelter in Him. 7.

O you sage, listen to that Vaishnava theory, which must be learnt by the observers of Vaishnava vow and which must be always kept in heart. Listen, I am telling it to you, in true perspective. 8.

That Lord Shri krishna, Who is the Supreme light, transcendental above all, is to be understood as Narayan, God Vishnu, best among the human beings, Maheshwar, Vasudev, the magnanimous and the Supreme Lord, soul of the souls, spirit of the spirits, as described by the scriptures. He is the controller of the Time, Prakriti, the primordial Matter and Purusha, illuminator of all, and also self dependent and assuming divine body. His abode is known as imperishable Brahmapura. Only a small part of it is as illustrious as millions of suns. That which is known as sentient ether: Chidakasha is always known as stable like the sky, beginningless, endless and eternal and attributed as truth, consciousness and bliss. 9-13.

In His own divine abode, that Lord wearing divine clothes and embellished by divine ornaments glows with super white luster resembling fresh water-giving cloud, which illuminates the luster of sun, moon and fire. Only a particle of that light is so bright, even brighter than the whole luster of Akshardham, that it cannot even be compared with it, by the residents of that domain. That supreme Lord, shining by His divine attire, is served by Radha, Rama and His other prowesses. 14-16.

That Lord whose lotus like feet are being served by Shridama, Vishvaksena, by the attendants in divine form, with umbrella, Chamar and other paraphernalia. He is also served by divine disc: Sudarshana and other instruments with his weapons and His six attributes: knowledge, power, lordship and others, with His mystic powers like micro conversion, mega conversion etc. His lotuslike feet are also served by innumerable liberated souls, assuming beautiful divine forms, by many divine service courses. 17-19.

The Lord, though having two hands sometimes appears with four hands (Chaturbhuja) before his devotees, entertaining their ardent wish. 20.

Since He is not endowed with worldly attributes; so he is called as devoid of any attribute. Since, His behavior is above worldly behavioral norms, so He is called formless. 21.

Those who worship him with exclusive devotion, along with awareness of one’s own duties, knowledge and selflessness, are alone able to perceive Him in this genuine form. 22.

The devotees may be endowed with knowledge etc. but devoid of sincere devotion can experience his divine luster; but can not see the God directly. 23.

As people can not see the shining sun, in the same way, they can not directly see the divine form of God, with two hands and shining in the midst of the lustrous orb. 24.

Thus they perceive the supreme Brahman, to be formless; but the supreme Brahman, named as Krishna is not formless in that sense. 25.

Though He exists only in a part, still He pervades the universe, with His luster, just like the sun. Listen to remarks of Brahma in this matter. 26.

So lucky were the cowboys and residents of the Vraja i.e. Gokul country! They have been fortunate to have a friendship with the utmost pleasant full form of the supreme Self. When that attribute less Lord accepted the human form, for the benefit of all the living beings, through his Maya, the charming power, then he adopted the qualities and was known as Saguna. 27-28.

He appears in form of Aniruddha, borrows the Rajoguna of Maya and then being known as Brahma and He creates Brahmanda, the cosmos. At the time of causal cosmic desolution, He himself swallows the three worlds; and then takes rest in the unified oceanic waters. In course of proper time, He creates the cosmos again. 29-30.

He, the Lord Vasudeva, appears in form of Pradyumna, borrows Satvaguna from Maya and as Vishnu, the sustainer of the world,protects the whole world. 31.

This God appearing in the form of Vairajpurusha is known as the guardian of the world. This God, the destroyer of the demons, bestows four types of emancipation (Mukti) to His own devotees. 32.

This Vasudev takes the form of Sankarshana borrows Tamoguna from that cosmic illusive power, assimilates it and then destroys the cosmos in the capacity of Lord Shiva. 33.

This Sankarshana sustains the globe of earth, in the role of Shesha cobra. These six incarnations of Vasudeva are considered to be inclusive of qualities (Saguna). 34.

There are thousands of such various derived forms for functionary purpose. They shed off that form as soon as the purpose is over; and thus they are called qualityless. 35.

This divine quality less personality became known as Krishna, who took birth in this world in form of human being in the womb of Devaki through Vasudeva. 36.

O you good-intentioned one, do understand that there is no difference between the divine form and human form; and know it to be the resolution of the Vaishnava preceptors. 37.

That Lord though he has a divine form, enacts the role of human being in the drama. In the same role he again and again changed his form to divine personality. 38.

This story is already described in Bharata and in Puranas in detail. I shall tell you only the essence of it in brief. 39.

That Vasudeva first entered the mind of Vasudeva for the prosecution of the rules of good people and for decreasing the burden of the earth. 40.

With the help of that he became embryo in the womb of Devaki. Then he was born at the proper time. As per the memory of previous birth, he was the very incarnation of Vishnu (i.e. Rama). 41.

On the request of the parents who were afraid of Kamsa, He took male human form. He displayed the whole universe to Yashoda while yawning. 42.

When he opened his mouth under the guise of eating soil, he again manifested the whole universe to her. 43.

Though in human form he had shown his immeasurableness to all milkmaids, at the time of tying him with the pounding mortar. 44.

When Brahma Deva tried to kidnap the cowboys and the calves, though he was in a human form, He appeared in the same form, just as Brahma Deva appeared for one year and just enjoyed it. 45.

Then he displayed his various forms of Vishnu, of calves and the cowboys, the guards of calves to Brahma Deva; and then again became the same as human being. 46.

He killed the Kaliya serpent and then revived the cattle and the herdsmen, who were affected by the poison of Kaliya by the shower of his nectarine glance. 47.

Though he had a human form he swallowed the forestconflagration on the bank of the river Kalindi at night and saved all the residents of the Vrajabhumi from the fire. 48.

He again swallowed up the forest fire and protected the cows. He held up mount Govardhana on the tip of his finger for a week. 49.

He had shown his own idol, being worshipped by Lokapalas (the protectors of the globes) in the globe of Varuna. 50.

He again showed his own form being praised with Vedic chants to all the cowherds and to Nanda and others in the region of Vaikuntha. 51.

He joined and relished the circular dance and chorus music,while assuming equal number of His own forms as that of Gopis, for complete satiation of all the milkmaids. 52.

He showed his own form simultaneously in the stream of Yamuna and outward in the chariot, to His devotee Akrura, who has doubt in his mind that Kamsa may kill Sri Krishna. 53.

He appeared before everybody separately, according to His individual interest and respective capacity of perception in Kamsa’s assembly. 54.

Though Krishna was running away, He was perceived, in the form of Vishnu, by the demon Kalayavana. In the same way he was perceived as Vishnu by the king Mucha-kunda. 55.

He rescued his teacher’s son, who was dead long ago, from the cluthes of Yama, the god of death. He also brought back his siblings, from the neither world for the happiness of his mother. 56.

When Draupadi’s clothes were snatched by Dushasana, she remembered him. He immediately got up from his bed, reached there and supplied clothes to her. 57.

He was remembered by Draupadi in the forest, in difficulty caused by the sage Durvasa. He suddenly reached there, ate a leaf of food-remnant and then satiated all the troop of Durvasa and the three worlds. 58.

Then, as the charioteer of Partha, though in human form, showed his form to Arjuna. For fetching the divine Parijata tree, he went to heaven, by mounting on Garuda. 59. 

He lived in Dwarka with all the (sixteen thousand) ladies, appearing in multiple forms as they liked, in each house, for their pleasure and thus showed Himself to Narad. 60.

He went to the domain of Brahma, in a chariot along with Arjuna, situated beyond the primordial darkness for bringing back the sons of a Brahmin. 61.

While he was practicing penance in Himalaya for obtaining a son, he burnt the whole forest along with movables and immovables through His oral fire and then again revived it. 62.

He, acting in a human form stayed simultaneously in the house of the king Bahulashva and in the house of Shrutadeva along with sages, in Mithila. 63.

He gave pleasure to his devotees, Rajarshi and Brahmarshis, by discussing about the Supreme Brahman and stayed at both places for one month. 64.

Moreover, this Lord Krishna, behaving as a super human being killed the demons who were harassing human beings and the Gods and were undefeatable for to them. 65.

He killed many other demons like Putana, Trunavarta, Shakata, Vatsaka, Baka, Agha, Vrusha, Keshin, Gajamalla and kings like Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, who were very jealous and very cruel. Thus, he killed many demons and established law and order, on the land, by removing obstructions. 66 - 67.

Thus even though being in human form, there are many such instances of his superhuman behavior; only wise persons know it. 68.

Thus the Super human and human form of Krishna is one and the same. Those who perceive them to be different from each other are just ignorant people. Even though assuming various forms, he is one though with supreme behavior, he is human. Those who know this are really intelligent persons. 69.70.

As in ancient times, Lord Vamana was visualized by king Bali, the same Vamana, in Vairaja form, took four different forms, at the time of churning the ocean by His divine feat, as Ajita, churned the ocean, in the form of tortoise, sustained mount Mandara, brought Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, skillfully distributed the nectar amongst gods, by assuming the form of a delusive damsel Mohini, at time of dividing it. 71-73.

He took the form of a Brahmin who was suffering from a disease, prayed the Lord Krishna with the intension of burning the Khandava forest. Then he by taking the form of a fire by His order, burnt the whole forest all the living beings and then again appeared in the form of a cured Brahmin. 74-75.

Know Him to be a divine person, though in human form; know Him to be a human being, though he is in a divine form. (These are two different aspects; still they are of the one and same personality.) 76.

Thus one should understand His super human deeds, (in proper context). One should always keep in mind that His super human and human form are identical. 77.

Know Him to be the master of the world, the God named Vasudeva. He independently is responsible for creation, maintenance and destruction. 78.

It is said to be without beginning or end. He is the creator of the attributes: Time, Action and the Illusive power; primal sovereign lord-controller. 79.

He is described as, creator this universe, by his powers named Kala and others. He is said to be the doer and at same time non-doer like a sovereign ruler. 80.

Thus Kala and others (powers) are the independent causes; and it should not be understood that they are the cause of creation. 81.

The Lord himself is self-dependent and does not require the help of Kala, Maya etc. As he is possessed of power, he is capable of independently creating millions and billions of universes. 82.

Though bearing a human form, that Lord is that much powerful. His human and divine super human nature is thus described as identical. 83.

The Lord Krishna is bearing such wonderful nature. Those who speak about his birth, deeds and physical form to be ordinary are really demons. 84.

They only find faults in his behavior of punishing the demons, cruel persons, jealous of God and harassing innocent persons. 85.

They envy the devotees who praise the God Instead, those wicked and dumb fellows praise others, the saint-haters. 86.

It is the very nature of wicked persons that they always look with biased mind, at good people; they always find fault and are jealous of good people and always keep friendship and look at the vices of wicked persons, as virtues. 87.

There are (many) famous well-known stories describing such incidents, narrated in Puranas etc.. I will narrate in brief, so that one can differentiate between the nature of virtues and vices. 88.

At the time of Rajsuya sacrifice Bhishma praised all the qualities of the Lord Sri krishna in the assembly of Dharmaraja; still Shishupal condemned him. 89.

He killed the demoness Putana who was engrossed in killing babies; yet, Shishupal charged him with the crime of killing a woman, and did not look at Him as the saver of other children. 90.

In the incident of killings the demon Shakata in the life-storey of Sri krishna, he (Shishupal) found the fault of whimsical mood in unnecessarily smashing a dry wood and his Rashmen. 91.

He looked at the incidents of the killing of Agha and Baka as the killing of a serpent and the bird and the same way, the killing Vatsasura and Arishtasura as the sin of killing a cow-clan. 92.

He found the crime of uprooting the anthill in the incident of upholding the mountain Govardhana. He also evaluated the act of killing the serpent Kaliya and swallowing the forest fire, as just an act of jugglery. 93.

He (Shishupal) found the fault of adultery with other’s wives, when the self controlled Krishna, capable of assuming various forms relished the musical dance with Gopi just for humbling the cupid. 94.

When Krishna killed that wicked Kamsa. He (Shishupal), the mischievous person, called it to be the murder of a elderly kinsman, the bread-giver and the king and to be more sinful than the killing of a Brahmin. 95.

When Jarasandha, an enemy of Yadavas, attacked with his (full-fledged) army for killing Sri krishna for seventeen times, he (Shishu-pal) called it an act of killing a pious person by cheating. 96.

About the amusing behavior of the Lord Krishna, that was for the betterment of the world and establishment of the right virtuous path, he just passed such jealous comments. 97.

He censured Bhishma the strict observer of the vow of celibacy, when he was praising the qualities of God that way, as eunuch, a slave minded and a person suffering from the sin of being devoid of male issue. 98.

He charged the pious King Yudhishtira the worshipper of Krishna as a fool, follower of the path of beasts and a defaulter of religion. 99.

Those, the followers of sinful path of lust, wrath, greed, and other vices, linked with un-righteousness and are jealous of Krishna and his devotees are really of vicious nature and are only a burden for the earth. 100.

He says that the kings like Rukmi Salva Ekalavya etc. bearing partially a demon origin should be prominently honored at the time of the great sacrifice. 101.

Though the supreme Lord is endowed with many virtues, like kindness forgiveness, piousness and having knowledge of the true path, with a good lineage, bearing many charitable qualities and still bearing a human form, that wicked fellow calls Him to be like barking dog and shouting crow and not deserving that honor. 102. 103.

Thus that offspring of the Chedi clan did not see any good quality in Lord Krishna and his devotees. On the contrary, he considered all those to be vices and not a single to be virtue. 104.

Others also who think alike, believe him to be true and persons like them should be known as demons only. 105.

Others also who follows this wicked/their ideology believe in them. Their opinions to be true and are like them only should be known as demons. Such type of men or women who are really wicked, find something wrong in sportive acts of Krishna in this world; but nobody else. 106.

Ignorance, dependency, difference in rituals, assumption of the physical body, giving up this body at the time of death etc., all these happenings are for the infatuations of the demons. They are not the faults of the God Vishnu. These infatuations are clearly explained in Brahmpurana. 107-108.

God has told to Arjuna in Gita that the non-devotees only get infatuated due to their wicked and demon like thinking and not the devotees. 109.

Oh! Arjuna ! Those who know that my birth and my these divine activities are super human in its real sense, are never reborn after giving away this body. 110.

The human form does not bind the Lord who is not bound by the ties of Karman also. Forms taken by the other four elements do not limit Akasa. While containing all of them in itself it expands undivided into infinity. The same is the case with the Cid-akasa as well. It is internally pure, wakeful and free. Though this Parmatman is the common background of the entire creation, He assumes occasionally a perfect human form and seems to be enshrined in it, solely with the object of teaching humanity that it is possible for them also not to be bound by the body, while residing in it. Not knowing this divine play of the Lord, they treat the Incarnation also as an earth-bound one and slight Him. 111.

Mohini Prakriti is the delusive nature, which makes men believe that bodily existence is the be-all and end-all of life. The transistoriness of the mundane existence does not occur to them. Sense- indulgence is the one thing that appeals to them. Their hopes, activities and understanding are all directed to this one end. It is impossible for them to discern between the real and the unreal, between the permanent and the impermanent. Among the men of this base make up, Rakshasas are they in whom Rajasic nature predominates and those others are Asuras in whom Tamasic element predominates. 112.

I put those jealous, cruel, inauspicious wicked fellows to defiled demon origin only. 113.

O Kaunteya, those ignorant people, after sinking in the demonic birth, live there for birth after birth, do not attain the true knowledge and then slip in the lowest path. 114.

O Partha, the great souls, who have resorted to divine nature, know my unchangeable form; and worship Me with exclusive mind. 115.

Thus, He has emphasized the same theory in various ways. So one should give up the worldly attitude towards Him and serve Him in every way. 116.

As the wish-yielding gem, wish-yielding tree or wish-yielding cow is sought after by the people in this world. In the same way, this Lord Krishna, yielding an auspicious fruit to everybody, is sought after, by all. 117.

In whichever place, He may live, He bestows the right way of living, wealth prosperity and success, even if it is not requested. 118.

He lives in Dwarka puri even now-a-days. Sometimes, His exclusive devotees see Him; and sometimes he appears to his exclusive devotees. 119.

His action of giving away the body etc. is just for the infatuation of demons. Actually, there is no confusion among the devotees in this regard. Here is the example for it. 120.

Just as some magician entrusts his wife, to a king; and goes to heaven for fighting with demons. Then, he falls down on earth with shattered limbs; then his wife crying, enters the fire, along with the shattered limbs. 121-122.

Then again, creating excitement in the minds of public, he becomes ready with his weapon again; and he urges the king to return his wife. 123.

Those who know the trick- play, do not get confused. But other persons like king, who are ignorant of the trick, get confused. 124.

In the same way, the mythology of the abandoning of body, by Sri Krishna, and Rukmini and others entering the fire along with body, are tricks of virtual illusion only. 125.

Thus, when the God hides himself with His own will, the ignorant people get confused; but those who know His real form, do not get confused. 126.

As in ancient times, the God played the trick confusing the demons; the devotees look with the same view here, at these actions. 127.

Men and women, who observe the rules like celibacy etc, should serve this God Krishna, who stands above all the qualities. 128.

O you sage, those who serve Him, also reach the level of being devoid of any quality, due to his association. And those who know him thoroughly become Selfsame by all means. 129.

God Himself explained this to His exclusive devotee: Uddhava, in Shrimad Bhagavatam, which, you please now listen. 130.

The knowledge of absolute unity is the genuine Satvic knowledge; indecisive worldly knowledge is Rajasic; and the Prakritic knowledge is Tamasic. 131

Living in forest is auspicious and spiritual; living in a town, it is of average active type; and living in a gamble hall is as good as living in darkness. Living in My abode is of supreme type i.e. devoid of any such quality. 132.

A person, who acts with detachment to the fruit, is a meri-torious person; one who does it with passion is of medium type; one who acts with senility, is Tamasic i.e. destined to darkness.133.

Spiritual faith is called Satvic; faith in action is Rajasic faith; and faith in irreligious conduct is Tamasic. Faith in service to Me is supra-quality. 134.

The diet which is wholesome, purified, non laborious is said to be Satvic in scriptures. Diet which is palatable to sense organs is said to be Rajasic and the food, which is giving pain and which is impure, is deemed to be Tamasic. 135.

Pleasure, emanating from soul is Satvic; that produced from gratification of sense organs, is Rajasic; pleasure arising out of infatuation and distress is Tamasic. The pleasure belonging to Me is trans-attribute. 136.

In this way, by the persons attached to Me, the attributive and trans-attributive attitude is to be understood; and not otherwise. 137.

O righteous talent, in this way, the nature of Vasudeva is decisively explained to you; and also the unity between divine and human form also. 138.

By virtue of this sermon, the criticisms about Krishna’s sportive acts, according to place and time which are spread among people, and are leading to chain of rebirths, get absorbed. 139.

So also, the understanding about the cosmic evolution and involution, having independent causation emanating from listening to the atheist scriptures, get lost. 140.

The person aspiring for emancipation should always practice this sermon alone, for enhancement of his own devotional sentiment and for the grasp of precise nature of Shri Krishna, the true Lord. 141.

Those persons, who study this knowledge, even just ones with respect, all their doubts perish. 142.

The form of Krishna is divine and His eternal globe of residence is also divine; The enjoyments and objects of enjoyments of that Lord, are also divine. The attendants of Him, who has revealed human body, are also divine; His prowesses (consorts) are also divine and all the devotees, of the leader of Yadus, and all His activities, in this world are also divine. 143.

In this way, having understood Shri Vasudev, assuming flawless form and the divine personality endowed with all galaxy of qualities, do always sing His praise, O devotees of Mine! 144.

Suvrat said:-

After listening to the non-duality i.e. identity between two forms (divine and human) of the Lord of Rama, explained by Shri Hari, the king of sages, along with all other devotees, became highly pleased. Consequently, he was instantly struck by strong divine presence, in Lord Narayan muni, conspicuous in human body. 145.

One who reads this formal identity and also listens, in this world, to pure sublime knowledge, revealed through the mouth of Narayan muni, he obtains devotional sentiments in that Lord, assuming the happiness par excellence and also the supreme liberation, along with material enjoyment and all the pleasure, aspired by him. 146.

Thus ends the twenty ninth chapter entitled, ‘Narration of dialogue between Narayan and Muktananda discussing the Advaita philosophy inthe context of Shri Krishna’ in the third prakaran of Satsangi Jivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as Dharmashastra, (the rules of the code of conduct). 29