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Indian Art and Brahman Verse

chintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vriksha
lakshavriteshu surabhir abhipalayantam
lakshmi-sahasra-shata-sambrahma-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami
(Brahma-samhita verse 29)

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada chants this verse
© 1994 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

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 lakshmis or gopis.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

By the word chintamani is meant "transcendental gem." Just as Maya builds this mundane universe with the five material elements, so the spiritual (cit) potency has built the spiritual world of transcendental gems. The chintamani which serves as material in the building of the abode of the Supreme Lord of Goloka, is a far rarer and more agreeable entity than the philosopher's stone. The purpose tree yields only the fruits of piety, wealth fulfillment of desire, and liberation; but the purpose trees in the abode of Krishna bestow innumerable fruits in the shape of checkered divine love. Kama-dhenus (cows yielding the fulfillment of desire) give milk when they are milked; but the kama-dhenus of Goloka pour forth oceans of milk in the shape of the fountain of love showering transcendental bliss that does away with the hunger and thirst of all pure devotees. The words laksha and sahasra-shata signify endless numbers. The word sambrahma or sadara indicates, "being saturated with love." Here lakshmi denotes gopi. Adi-purusha means, "He who is the primeval Lord."

venum kvanantam aravinda-dalayataksham
barhavatamsam asitambuda-sundarangam
kandarpa-koti-kamaniya-vishesha-shobam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami
(Brahma-samhita verse 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.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

The matchless beauty of Krishna, the Supreme Lord of Goloka, is being described. Krishna, the all-pervading cognition, has a spiritual form of His own. The form of Krishna is not a fanciful creation of imagination formed after visualizing the beautiful things of the world. What Brahma saw in his ecstatic trance of pure devotion, is being described. Krishna is engaged in playing upon His flute. That flute by his enchanting musical sound attracts the hearts of all living beings. Just as a lotus petal produces a pleasant sight, so the two beautiful eyes of Krishna who causes the manifestation of our spiritual vision, display the unlimited splendor and beauty of His moonlike face. The loveliness that adorns His head with peacock feather figures, the corresponding feature of the spiritual beauty of Krishna. Just as a mass of blue clouds offers a specifically soothing, pleasant view, the complexion of Krishna is analogously tinged with a spiritual dark-blue color. The beauty and loveliness of Krishna is far more enchanting than that of Cupid multiplied a millionfold.

Originally published by Shri Gaudiya Matha, India, 1932.

alola-candraka-laksad-vanamalya-vamshi-
ratnangadam pranaya-keli-kala-vilasam
shyamam tri-bhanga-lalitam niyata-prakasham
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami
(Brahma-samhita verse 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 Shyamasundara is eternally manifest.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

In the shloka (verse) beginning with chintamani-prakara the transcendental region and the spiritual names of Govinda, in the shloka beginning with venum kvanantum, the eternal beautiful form of Govinda, and in the shloka the amorous pastimes of Govinda, the embodiment of His sixty-four excellences, have been described. All the spiritual affairs that come within the scope of description in the narration of the ecstatic mellow quality (rasa) are included in the spiritual amorous sports of Govinda.

angani yasya sakalendriya-vritti-manti
pasyanti pant kalayanti ciram jaganti
ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami
(Brahma-samhita verse 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.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

For want of a taste of things spiritual, a grave doubt arises in the minds of those who are enchanted by worldly knowledge. On hearing a narration of the pastimes of Krishna they think that the truth (tattva) regarding Krishna is the mental concoction of certain learned scholars, created by their imaginative brains out of material drawn from the mundane principles. With the object of removing this harmful doubt, Brahma in this and the three following shlokas, after distinguishing between the two things, viz., spirit and matter, in a rational manner, has tried to make one understand the pure lila of Krishna, obtained by his unmixed ecstatic trance.

Brahma wants to say that the form of Krishna is all-existence, all-knowledge, and all-bliss, whereas all mundane experiences are full of palpable ignorance. Although there is specific difference between the two, the fundamental truth is that spiritual affairs constitute the absolute source. Specification and variegatedness are ever present in it. By them are established the transcendental abode, form, name, quality, and sports of Krishna. It is only by a person, possessed of pure spiritual knowledge and freedom from any relationship with Maya, that those amorous pastimes of Krishna can at all be appreciated.

The spiritual abode, the seat of pastimes, emanated from the cit potency and formed of cintamani (philosopher's stone), and the figure of Krishna, are all spiritual. Just as Maya is the perverted reflection of the spiritual potency, the variegatedness created by Maya is also a perverted reflection of spiritual variegatedness. So a mere semblance of the spiritual variegatedness is only noticed in this mundane world. Notwithstanding such semblance the two are wholly different from one another. The unwholesomeness of matter is its defect; but in the spirit there is variegatedness which is free from any fault or contamination.

The soul and the body of Krishna are identical, whereas the body and soul of fallen creatures are not so. In the spiritual sphere there is no such difference as that between the body and the soul, between the limbs and their proprietor, between the attributes and the object possessing them, of this world. But such difference really exists in the case of conditioned souls. Limbed though Krishna is, His every limb is the whole entity. He performs all varieties of spiritual functions with every one of His limbs. Hence He is an indivisible whole and a perfect transcendental entity. Both jiva-soul and Krishna are transcendental. So they belong to the same category. But they differ in this that the transcendental attributes exist in the jiva-soul in infinitesimally small degrees, whereas in Krishna they are found in their fullest perfection.

Those attributes manifest themselves in their proper infinitesimality only when the jiva-soul attains his unadulterated spiritual status. The jiva-soul attains the nearest approach to the absolute entity only when the spiritual force of ecstatic energy appears in him by the grace of Krishna. Still Krishna remains the object of universal homage by reason of His possession of certain unique attributes. These fourfold unrivaled attributes do not manifest themselves in Narayana, the Lord of Vaikuntha or in primeval purusha-avataras, or in the highest deities such as Shiva, not to speak of jivas.

Reunion On a Moonlit Night

Gouache on paper - 18th century

evam sasankamsu-virajata nisah
sa satya-kamo ’nuratabala-ganah
siseva atmany avaruddha-sauratah
sarvah sarat-kavya-katha-rasasra yah

Translation

Although the gopis were firmly attached to Lord Krishna, whose desires are always fulfilled, the Lord was not internally affected by any mundane sex desire. Still, to perform His pastimes the Lord took advantage of all those moonlit autumn nights, which inspire poetic descriptions of transcendental affairs.

Commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

It is difficult to translate into English the word rasa, which indicates the spiritual bliss derived from one’s loving relationship with Lord Krisna.That bliss is experienced in the midst of spiritual pastimes with the Lord and His devotees. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti explains that great Vaiñëava poets like Vyasa, Parasara, Jayadeva, Lilasuka (Bilvamaìgala Thakura), Govardhanacarya and Srila Rupa Gosvami have tried in their poetry to describe the conjugal affairs of the Lord. These descriptions are never complete, however, since the Lord’s pastimes are unlimited; thus the attempt to glorify such pastimes is still going on and will go on forever. Lord Krsna arranged an extraordinary season of beautiful autumn nights to enhance His loving affairs, and those autumn nights have inspired transcendental poets since time immemorial.

Source: The Transcendental Gallery

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