The goal of the Bhagavatam is to glorify Krishna. This is important
because Krishna is a special form of the Supreme Lord. That is why in
the list of avatars given by Suta Goswami, he says Krsnas tu bhagavan
svayam - the original Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna.
We may ask that why is Krishna superior to other forms of God because
God is equal. Just like the example of a moon. The moon is one but
sometimes its half moon, small moon (punima, amavasya etc) similarly
the Lord will manifest a certain amount of qualities in every form so
if we take all of these different forms we will see that some will
manifest less qualities and some manifest more qualities just like the
moon sometimes will manifest less light and sometimes more light.
It's not that Krishna created all other forms of the Lord, they were
all eternal (like Narsimhadev, Lord Rama, Visnu etc) but Krishna is
purna bhagavan because He is manifesting all the qualities.
What makes the beauty of Krishna special? It is the madhurya or
sweetness in His form which makes Him special as it allows greater
intimacy with devotees. Krishna's beauty becomes unrestricted and the
form itself allows a greater relationship. The other forms of God will
manifest dasya relationship (servitorship) and vatsalya rasa (in case
of Lord Ramacandra) but Krishna has billions of sakhya rasa friends,
vatsalya rasa (as parent), madhurya rasa and all are intimately
connected with Krishna.Then is Krishna's madhurya flute. He has a very
sweet flute and when He plays it, everyone who hears it gets madhurya
prema. So in this way Krishna has these remarkable qualities which are
very sweet not manifested in any other forms of the Lord and therefore
He is put in the position of svayam bhagavan.
Because He is manifesting such sweet qualities, that's why this form
and qualities are very suitable for people of Kali-yuga. Because the
people are always distracted in material enjoyment, are unintelligent
absorbed in material things, they need some powerful attraction to
pull them out of Maya. That's why Narada Muni told Vedavyasa to tell
people to worship Krishna because telling them to worship devatas and
gradually advance from tamo guna to rajo guna to sattva guna
(ignorance - passion - goodness) is difficult.
The only way we will understand why Krishna is swayam bhagavan is by
appreciating His extra qualities and by appreciating His pastimes with
His devotees. By hearing the pastimes of Krishna, we can appreciate
the extraordinary qualities of Krishna. One of the main angas of
Bhakti is to relish the Srimad Bhagavatam in association of devotees
as this will attract us to Krishna. By that attraction we will lose
our absorption in the material world. That is the mood of Narada Muni
while giving advise to Veda-vyasa.
Even the atmaramas become attracted to Krishna. When Sukadeva heard
about the qualities of Krishna, he forgot all about Brahman or
formless/impersonal realization. He was an impersonalist but he became
an exalted devotee of the Lord. So exalted that he surpasses
Vedavyasa. So when Bhagavatam comes out from the mouth of Sukadeva it
becomes very sweet becuase His realization is very high.
- HH Bhanu Swami (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1 Lecture)
You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!
Comments
Hare Krishna !! All glories to Krishna and his bhakthas!!
Very beautiful post. Krishna is indeed a special form of the Supreme Lord. Once we start loving the glorious lovable form of Krishna, one might not be interested in the effulgent, brahma-jyothi or the pure light form of the Supreme Lord (Nirakar Svarupa). Krishna is all love. Once Krishna's love enters your heart, you won't feel like hating anyone else hereafter. Krishna is the best friend of a man, the very paramatma that exists inside the depths of our heart/Atman. Krishna is the ultimate gift of the Supreme Lord manifestations to the lost mankind in this dreaded Kali-Yuga and escape the storming seas of Samsara !
Hare Krishna prabhu!!! Thnkx a lot for giving such a beautiful post!!! Once, I used to worship Lord Ramchandra but I could fully overcome lust only when I started loving Krishna!!! He is soooooooo beautiful that our lust is uprooted when we behold His beauty and splendour!!!!