According to Vedic scriptures Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Appearing on earth in India over 5,000 years ago, Krishna’s activities are called leela or divine pastimes.
Krishna and Vedic Scriptures
The Srimad Bhagavatam discusses the appearance of Krishna in detail. After describing previous incarnations such as Vamana, Nrsimha and Rama. Sukadeva Goswami states that the previous incarnations are partial expansions of the Lord and only Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead. The scriptures also explain that Krishna permanently resides in the eternal spiritual world called Vaikuntha on the highest planet named Goloka Vrindavana. His complexion is likened to a rain-filled cloud with eyes like lotus petals. He is ever youthful, self-satisfied, enjoys playing the flute and wears a crown with a peacock feather.
In the Padma Purana it is concluded that Lord Narayana (another name for Krishna) is the only worshipable Supreme Absolute Truth. The position of Krishna as supreme is confirmed by acaryas such as Narada, Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Visnusvami, Lord Caitanya and all their followers by disciplic succession. Krishna personally confirms in the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna that: "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts."
The Qualities of Krishna
The founder of ISKCON or the Hare Krishna movement Srila Prabhupada describes the six unlimited opulences of Krishna as being wealth, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, and coined the term Supreme Personality of Godhead for Krishna as translation for the Sanskrit word Bhagavan.
The wealth of Krishna is described in Srimad Bhagavatam where Krishna personally maintains over 16,000 wives each with opulent palaces. Examples of power and fame are demonstrated in the divine pastimes where several demons are killed by Krishna from childhood. The beauty and attractive qualities of Krishna are described in the Caitanya-caritamrita as being relishable due to being completely transcendental. Rupa Gosvami described Krishna’s sixty-four qualities in the Bhakti rasamrita-sindhu. Some of the qualities include:
- sat-cid-ananda-vigraha - possessing a transcendental form of eternity, full of unlimited knowledge and bliss possessing all mystic perfection.
- inconceivable potency
- the original source of all incarnations
- the giver of salvation.
- the attractor of liberated souls.
Lord Brahma also describes in the Brahma-samhita that Krishna has an eternal blissful spiritual body. Krishna possesses unlimited knowledge and memory unaffected by time. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita that they both had reincarnated numerous times. He (Krishna) could remember all of them and that Arjuna could not.
Krishna’s Divine Pastimes
Krishna descends on earth to please the devotees, punish the miscreants, and reestablish the principles of religion. The purpose of the divine pastimes is to attract souls back to spiritual life by developing Krishna consciousness.
Krishna appeared in the Dvapara yuga, at midnight of the eighth day of the dark portion of the Shravan month. He was born in Mathura in the prison cell of Kamsa and carried to Gokul by father Vasudeva. The first three years were spent in Gokul with adoptive parents Yashoda and Nanda, then the family moved on to Vrindavan and Nandagoan. Krishna killed Kamsa at the age of eleven Krishna and stayed in Mathura for around eighteen years. The rest of Krishna’s time on earth was spent in Dwaraka.
The stories of Krishna's childhood record his mischievous pastimes as a butter thief and stealing the bathing gopis clothes. The most famous pastimes include killing demons like Putana, taming the serpent Kaliya, lifting the Govardhana hill and the Rasa lila which are captured in the poetry of Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda. After reinstating King Ugrasen as the King of Mathura Krishna established his own kingdom with his Yadava subjects in the city of Dwaraka.
Krishna married Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, by kidnapping her from her wedding on her request. Krishna then took on another seven wives. After rescuing 16,100 captive women from demon Narakasura, social custom deemed all of the captive women as degraded (not suitable for marriage). Krishna married them to protect their future and reinstate their status in the society. The most famous later pastime was of being Arjuna's charioteer on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, this is captured in detail in the Mahabharata. The conversation recorded before battle commenced formed the Bhagavad Gita.
To understand Krishna properly it is stated in the Bhagavad Gita that it is important to approach a qualified spiritual master in disciplic succession. Information about Krishna is found in numerous Vedic texts most notably the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad Gita. To find out more about Krishna read The Hare Krishna Movement (ISKCON). Anyone seeking advice about Krishna or wants to become a devotee can get personal email advice using the live help function on Krishna.com.
Sources:
Krishna.org. Krishna (accessed April 20, 2010).
SrimadBhagavatam.com. Canto 10 (accessed April 20, 2010).
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