SB 10.14.55 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कृष्णमेनमवेहि त्वमात्मानमखिलात्मनाम् । जगद्धिताय सोऽप्यत्र देहीवाभाति मायया ॥ ५५ ॥

Verse text

kṛṣṇam enam avehi tvam ātmānam akhilātmanām jagad-dhitāya so ’py atra dehīvābhāti māyayā

Synonyms

kṛṣṇam — Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; enam — this ; avehi — just try to understand ; tvam — you ; ātmānam — the Soul ; akhila — ātmanām — of all living entities ; jagat — hitāya — for the benefit of the whole universe ; saḥ — He ; api — certainly ; atra — here ; dehī — a human being ; iva — like ; ābhāti — appears ; māyayā — by His internal potency .

Translation

You should know Kṛṣṇa to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

You should know Kṛṣṇa to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency. KB 10.14.55 Similarly, when one is further advanced, he knows that the spirit soul is pleasing because it is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Ultimately, it is Kṛṣṇa who is pleasing and all-attractive. He is the Supersoul of everything. And in order to give us this information, Kṛṣṇa descends and tells us that the all-attractive center is He Himself.

Purport

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līla, Chapter Twenty, text 162, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows: “Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī why Kṛṣṇa was so beloved by the residents of Vṛndāvana, who loved Him even more than their own offspring or life itself. At that time, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied that everyone’s ātmā, or soul, is very, very dear, especially to all living entities who have accepted material bodies. However, that ātmā, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. For this reason, Kṛṣṇa is very dear to every living entity. Everyone’s body is very dear to oneself, and one wants to protect the body by all means because within the body the soul is living. Due to the intimate relationship between the soul and the body, the body is important and dear to everyone. Similarly, the soul, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is very, very dear to all living entities. Unfortunately, the soul forgets his constitutional position and thinks he is only the body ( dehātma-buddhi ). Thus the soul is subjected to the rules and regulations of material nature. When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Kṛṣṇa, he can understand that he is not the body but part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to the body and everything related to the body ( janasya moho ’yam ahaṁ mameti ). Material existence, wherein one thinks, ‘I am the body, and this belongs to me,’ is also illusory. One must redirect his attraction to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7) states: vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jṣānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam ‘By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.’”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In bringing about the conclusion, the object more dear than the self will be shown. That object is Krsna. Krsna is the soul of the universe and the soul of all the souls. Just as sons are dear out of consideration of ones own body, and just as body is dear out of consideration of ones own soul, so, the soul is dear out of consideration of the paramatma. And paramatma’s perfection is Krsna. As Gita says: by one part I maintain the whole universe. As Krsna is the most dear object, for the gopis he is more dear than their own sons. This is the conclusion. The souls do not have bhakti and their knowledge is covered by maya, but Krsna is revealed only by bhakti. Then how is it possible for the sols covered by maya to realize him? They cannot do this by showing affection to their children. But because the inhabitants of Vraja were beyond maya and full of bhakti, they had direct realization of Krsna. It was natural that they should show more affection for Krsna than their own sons. When the Lord appears in the world for the benefit of the souls, the ignorant think he has a material body like their own, a body created by maya. But that is only an appearance, not the fact. Madhsudana sarasvati also describes this. One cannot measure the glories of Narayana the supreme person whose body is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. This Krsna, the form of knowledge and bliss, with the color of a rain cloud, glorified in the srutis, is the necklace around the neck of the women of Vraja. Or, another meaning: Paramamta is not perceived by the senses. But Krsna is perceived by all. Thus the verse says, for the auspiciousness of the universe he appears, by his causeless inconceivable mercy (mayaya). That Krsna appears in all the senses of everyone just like a person with a material body. He can be perceived by senses which are bestowed by him by his desire. He cannot be perceived by the power of the senses alone. Narayana says in bhagavatamrta: though the Lord is eternally unmanifest, he becomes visible by his own power. Otherwise who can see him? Sanata Goswami says: he becomes manifest by his own power. He is not revealed by the eye as an object of the eyes’.perception. Outside of Vrndavana, Krsna bestows his sweetness through his mercy to favorable persons and to the inimical persons he shows his form, but devoid of s sweetness for perfecting their meditation using their material senses, and as a result of their meditation, bestows liberation to extinguish their offenses. This is how he gives auspiciousness to them. As well, though he appears like an ordinary mortal before the inhabitants of Vraja with the absence of the Lord’s majesty and before the inimical persons, it is improper to call him a jiva with a material body (dehi), so therefore the verse describes him as dehi iva (appearing to be a soul with a body), for Madhvacarya has quoted from the varaha purana: in the lord there is no difference between body and soul (deha and dehi).

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

This verse states that the pure ātmā separate from gross and subtle bodies is by nature dear. kṛṣir bhū-vāckaḥ śabdo ṇaś ca nirvṛti-vācakaḥ tayor aikyaṁ paraṁ brahma kṛṣṇa ity abhidīyate Kṛṣ means “existence” and ṇa means “bliss.” Combined together, the two roots indicate that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme form of God. One should know that Kṛṣṇa as defined in scriptures, the son of Yaśodā, is the supreme soul with the supreme form, for all pure souls who are like photons in the rays of the sun. How does he reveal himself in this world visibly? Though he is the supreme form among all souls, he appears in the world to benefit the world in association with his devotees, out his great mercy, since he is endowed with all auspicious qualities. He appears kalpa after kalpa by his svarūpa-śakti. “If this is so, why does he appear with contrary qualities, with distinction of soul and body?” This is not so, since there is no mixture of the Lord’s svarūpa with a differing substance, since he, as the supreme soul, is in all his parts the shelter of the purest prema for his devotees and the ātmārāmas. He is the shelter of pure prema. He is the real ātmā. He is bliss. Madhva quotes Mahavarāha Purāṇa: deha-dehi-vibhāgo ‘tra neśvare vidyate kvacit: there is never a distinction between the Lord and his body. He does not appear to be like this however because of the covering of māyā on the demons and others. nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ | nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ mūḍho yam nābhijānāti loko māṁ ajam avyayam| Being covered by my bewildering power of māyā, I am not visible to all these people. The foolish do not know me, who am without birth and unchanging in qualities. SB 7.25 Śrīdhara Svāmī comments that it is impossible for his intelligence to comprehend the power of the Lord’s māyā, which makes the impossible possible. In the hearts of his devotees filled with prema, Kṛṣṇa, who has prema as his nature, reveals himself in an even greater fashion with his sweet qualities, like milk with sugar added. He appears to others according to their qualities. Then what can one say of the people of Vraja whose quality is the most intense prema?

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Kṛṣṇa is the soul of all jīvas because he is the antaryāmī. He is paramātmā. He is the son of Yaśodā (enam). Even so, he has appeared here or in this world (atra). He seems to be like other people (dehīva) because of māyā. By not knowing the truth about him one thinks in this way. Though acting like a human, everything he does is beyond this world. That was stated in the beginning of the verse. He appears like (iva) an ordinary person but in truth he manifests himself with supreme power. Or by his mercy (māyayā) he appears like a jīva, and shines gloriously (ābhāti). Because of that, know that Kṛṣṇa, for the benefit of the world, is the soul of all beings who are dear. He has appeared in this world as Kṛṣṇa to destroy the suffering of the world and give it the highest bliss. “One should have affection for Kṛṣṇa. Affection for Paramātmā is limited. If you say this, why do the demons not have affection for Kṛṣṇa?” In answer to this it is said that though he is devoid of difference of body and soul, he appears to have a material body (dehīva) for the demons (atra) by his āvaraṇa-śakti (māyayā). Deha-dehi-vibhāo atra neśvare vidyate kvacit There is no difference between the body of the Lord and his soul. Mahāvarāha Purāṇa The meaning is this. Without the covering one will have affection for the Lord. One see people covered by the worst faults, obstructing the ātmā. The covering however is completely destroyed by bhakti. By the intensity of bhakti, one develops intensity of prema. The people of Vraja have the most intense prema because of their special intense mode of worship.