sri sri guru gauranga jayatah!
Issue 5, Fortnightly Centennial Edition
Posted: 31 August 2021
In honour of the centennial appearance year of
nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Dedicated to and Inspired by
nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Śrī Bhagavān is Beyond Material Time and Space
Excerpts from the writings of
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Presented in English for the first time
Śrī Gaurāṅga and Kṛṣṇa are a principle (tattva) not subject to the control of any illusory (māyika) object. Rather, nature, time, action (karma), etc. are under Their control. They are both composed of full knowledge (pūrṇa-jñāna-maya), of eternal existence, knowledge, and bliss (saccidānanda); They are the principle of the Supreme Personality (puruṣottama-tattva) and the primeval progenitors from before the creation of the material elemental space (bhūtākāśa). Śrī Gaura-Kṛṣṇa’s true manifestation is as the ultimate principle where all theories of cause and effect find their conclusion. Material history is not capable of making Them part of time, place, and circumstance, because They are the Absolute Truth (para-tattva).
As Śrī Bhagavān is unborn (aja) and eternal, the topic of His appearance in the age of Kali or at the end of Dvāpara is simply a pastime of manifesting within this material realm composed of five elements. His birth and pastimes exist on the supramundane platform for all eternal time. He does as He pleases (svecchamaya), which is why He manifests in the material world as a gesture of favor and reveals His causeless compassion towards the living entities. As per His purposeful design, that omnipotent Bhagavān is situated very close to the world and the living entities and very far from them, all the while pervading them through and through. He is the embodiment of all nectarean rasa. Though He is the original husband, dearer than life itself (prāṇapati) for the one–pointed living entity, He is Śrī Bāla-gopāla, the worshipful object of all fathers and mothers. He is Dīna-bandhu, the friend of the fallen, and Jagad-bandhu, the friend of the world. If the living entity fails to establish friendship, or sakhya-bhāva, with Him, then that entity lives in a city of foes, thinking vicious, formidable enemies to be his friends and thus finds himself in peril.
To rid the earth of its burden, Adhokṣaja Bhagavān (the Supreme Lord who is beyond the grasp of the senses) incarnates in this material realm with His supramundane name, form, etc., which are free from the differences between the body (deha) and the embodied soul (dehī). However, living entities who are enamored by māyā judge Him as being part of material time and space and, compelled by foolishness, disregard His transcendental pastimes on this earth. In discussing Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, many historians regard Him with material intelligence and think Him to be an ordinary human being. “Prākṛta kariyā māne viṣṇu-kalevara, viṣṇu-nindā nāhi āra ihāra upara*—there is no greater blasphemy of Viṣṇu than to regard Viṣṇu’s form as mundane.” This subject does not come within the grasp of such persons. A hellish destination is inevitable for one who attempts to measure Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s birth, disappearance and other pastimes with a mundane mentality. If one perceives Kṛṣṇa’s character and deeds as political and superimposes immorality onto them, one will have to be bound for hell. The desire to destroy Śrī Bhagavān’s transcendental form turns the living entity into an impersonalist, a māyāvādī. Bhagavān’s worshipful form (śrī vigraha) is saccidānanda. His name, form, qualities, and pastimes are eternal and supramundane. The auspiciousness of the soul is gained only through these sorts of conceptions.
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*Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 7.115)
Translated from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja’s Prabandhāvalī
By the Rays of The Harmonist team
