Is Krishna God? – In Bhagavad Gita whenever Krishna speaks, Vyasadeva didn’t write Sri Krishna uvaca, rather he writes this as Sri Bhagavan uvaca. Everybody knows that Krishna spoke Bhagavad Gita then why did he write “Sri Bhagavan uvaca”? Because he anticipated that a time will come in future when people will ascribe Lord Krishna as a mere human being. Such understanding would minimize the Absolute position of Bhagavad Gita. Therefore to prevent such abuse of this great literature, Srila Vyasadev wisely preserves Lord Krishna’s supreme position.
Not only the great Vyasadeva ascertains Lord Krishna to be the Absolute Truth, all great acharyas (spiritual authorities) such as Adi Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Nimbarka swami, Vishnu swami, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also confirm this truth. In all Vedic literatures, this truth that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been established by great spiritual authorities like Srila Narada, Bhishma deva, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, Sage Kapila, Prahlada, Janaka, Sukadeva Goswami, Manu, Four Kumaras, Bali Maharaja, and Yamaraja. Let’s see some scriptural evidence regarding this.
Table of Contents
Krishna declares himself The Absolute Truth Multiple Times in Bhagavad Gita
Every sense of our infinity concept is just a reflection of the original Infinity – Lord Krishna. He says so in Bhagavad Gita 7.7:
mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaḿ protaḿ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
Translation: “O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.”
Any faithful person who approaches Bhagavad Gita accepts Lord Krishna as the Absolute Truth. He is the greatest. How great is our Lord Krishna?
In Bhagavad Gita 10.2 Krishna Himself says:
na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ
prabhavaḿ na maharṣayaḥ
aham ādir hi devānāḿ
maharṣīṇāḿ ca sarvaśaḥ
Translation: “Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages.”
Thus Krishna is saying that nobody can understand Him. Because if you can understand God it implies that you become superior to God, by simple logic. That is why He (Lord Krishna) is saying that neither the hosts of demigods, nor the great sages (rishis) know Krishna’s origin or Krishna’s opulence, for in every respect Krishna is the source of all of them (both demigods and sages). So He is the Absolute Truth. He further confirms this in Bhagavad Gita 10.8:
ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaḿ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māḿ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
Translation: “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.”
This is the definition of infinity. Here Krishna says – aham sarvasya prabhavo – He is the ultimate source of everything that exists. You can see in how Krishna as Mahavishnu lying in the Karanodaka Ocean and from every pore of His body comes out one seed of the universe and it grows to become gigantic in size.
Krishna says that He is the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Him. Lord Krishna not only conceptualizes each of these Universes, but also He alone supplies all ingredients (upadana) to give shape and structure to these Universes. He is simultaneously the efficient cause in terms of conceptual construct and purpose of this Universe and causal principle of universal ingredients that make up this Universe. That means Krishna is wholly and solely the source of everything that exists.
After hearing Lord Krishna, Arjuna made a pertinent statement regarding the Absolute Position of Lord Krishna as the ultimate form of Infinity – the Absolute Truth in Bhagavad Gita 10.12-13
arjuna uvāca
paraḿ brahma paraḿ dhāma
pavitraḿ paramaḿ bhavān
puruṣaḿ śāśvataḿ divyam
ādi-devam ajaḿ vibhum
āhus tvām ṛṣayaḥ sarve
devarṣir nāradas tathā
asito devalo vyāsaḥ
svayaḿ caiva bravīṣi me
Translation: “Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn and the greatest. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala and Vyāsa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.”
Upon being requested by Arjuna, Lord Krishna further elaborates His multifarious energy by which He pervades His entire creation. This knowledge would help us to remember Krishna always: Krishna says in the 10th chapter, “I am the Supersoul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of
all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.” He further says, “Among the Ādityas He is Viṣṇu, among the luminaries and is the radiant Sun, among the stars He is moon, among the Vedas. Sama Veda, among the demigods He is Indra, among the Rudras He is Lord shiva, among the priests He is Brihaspati, and among the mountains He is Meru. He is the Supersoul situated in every spiritual and material atom. He is the ability of men.” After such narrations, He unequivocally declares in Bhagavad Gita 10.42:
atha vā bahunaitena
kiḿ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaḿ kṛtsnam
ekāḿśena sthito jagat
Translation: “But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.”
By His mere will, Lord Krishna manifests millions of Universes effortlessly. This is His Absolute Infinite nature where any so called wondrous activity is just like raising eye-brows. Krishna effortlessly creates, sustains and maintains every aspect of all Universes. It is not that He has to work very hard to do this. God doesn’t have to take any stress for maintaining and sustaining His creation. That’s why Lord Krishna is advising Arjuna that this detailed knowledge of Him in terms of His opulence will not help anyone to comprehend Krishna – The Infinity.
Upon requested by Arjuna, Lord Krishna showed His Universal form – the way He pervades this entire creation. We will just cite two verses that are sufficient to recognize the inconceivable nature of Lord Krishna:
divi sūrya-sahasrasya
bhaved yugapad utthitā
yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād
bhāsas tasya mahātmanaḥ
[Bhagavad Gita 11.12]
Translation: “If hundreds of thousands of suns were to rise at once into the sky, their radiance might resemble the effulgence of the Supreme Person in that universal form.
aneka-bāhūdara-vaktra-netraṁ
paśyāmi tvāṁ sarvato ’nanta-rūpam
nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na punas tavādiṁ
paśyāmi viśveśvara viśva-rūpa
[Bhagavad Gita 11.16]
Translation: “O Lord of the universe, O universal form, I see in Your body many, many arms, bellies, mouths and eyes, expanded everywhere, without limit. I see in You no end, no middle and no beginning.”
3 Interesting Pastimes from Srimad Bhagavatam that depicts the inconceivable nature of Lord Krishna
1. Lord Kṛṣṇa Shows the Universal Form Within His Mouth
Once, mother Yashoda looks into the mouth of Krishna (the Absolute Infinite) as she wanted to verify if Lord Krishna has eaten mud. At this time He is less than 3 years old.
“When Kṛṣṇa opened His mouth wide by the order of mother Yaśodā, she saw within His mouth all moving and nonmoving entities, outer space, and all directions, along with mountains, islands, oceans, the surface of the earth, the blowing wind, fire, the moon and the stars. She saw the planetary systems, water, light, air, sky, and creation by transformation of ahaṅkāra. Also saw the senses, the mind, sense perception, and the three qualities, goodness, passion and ignorance.
She saw the time allotted for the living entities, she saw natural instinct and the reactions of karma, and she saw desires and different varieties of bodies, moving and nonmoving. Seeing all these aspects of the cosmic manifestation, along with herself and Vṛndāvana-dhāma, she became doubtful and fearful of her son’s nature.” [Srimad Bhagavatam 10.8.37-39]
Is it not inconceivable to see that Mother Yoshoda sees herself within the mouth of her son? She is simultaneously inside and outside of Krishna.It is very clear that Infinity has no end and no beginning. Infinity must be beyond mathematical constructs like openness or closed, bounded or unbounded. For example, a house is a finite object, hence we can define the inside and outside of the house. But for infinite, there cannot be any inside or outside, as we can saw in the above incident.
2. Narada Muni visits Krishna’s Palaces in Dwarka
After Lord Krishna married the 16000 princesses in Dwaraka, sage Narada once decided to visit Dwarka and see how the Lord was maintaining all His wives. To his astonishment, he saw that Lord Krishna expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms and entered into each of the sixteen thousand palaces! He was seen in each of the palace with a different engagement. This incident beautifully illustrates the wondrous opulence of Krishna that we discussed above.
3. The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahmā.
Once Lord Brahma, just to examine the potency of Kṛṣṇa, took away all the calves and cowherd boys and kept them in a secluded place. When Kṛṣṇa was unable to find the calves and boys, He could understand that this was a trick performed by Brahmā. Than Krishna expanded Himself to become the calves and boys, exactly as they were before when one full year had passed, Brahmā returned and saw that Kṛṣṇa was still engaged as usual with His friends and the calves and cows. Then Kṛṣṇa exhibited all the calves and cowherd boys as four-armed forms of Nārāyaṇa. Brahmā could then understand Kṛṣṇa’s potency, and he was astonished by the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, his worshipable Lord. Kṛṣṇa, however, bestowed His causeless mercy upon Brahmā and released him from illusion. Thus Brahmā began to offer prayers to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
He says in Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.7:
“In time, learned philosophers or scientists might be able to count all the atoms of the earth, the particles of snow, or perhaps even the shining molecules radiating from the sun, the stars and other luminaries. But among these learned men, who could possibly count the unlimited transcendental qualities possessed by You, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Person, who have descended onto the surface of the earth for the benefit of all living entities?”
Lord Brahma is a great authority and he is also accepting the Krishna as God- The Absolute Truth
Conclusion
This human life is very precious. The beauty of this human life is that ONLY in the body of a human we can understand God. Animals do not discuss the subject matter of God. Lord Krishna is that Absolute Truth which includes every possible concept of God. Let’s use this human life to understand this Krishna. Seers have described Him in thousands of ways as if having thousands of mouths. It requires the grace of Krishna to appreciate Him and in the process, our consciousness transcends from imperfection to perfection. In that transcendental consciousness, that infinity (Krishna) reveals Himself with all His grandeur as well as compassion.
Such revelations have been made by various saints from various traditions like Suradas, Meera, Purandar, Tygaraj, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Chaitanya Dev and many others. These descriptions are like sand particles in the sand-bank along the sea-beach kept for the benefit of all jivas (mortals) who inhabit this world.
