Krishna Bends All Logic

Date: 2011-07-20 Author: Sharada devi dasi

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble pranams! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!

The below verse is a nice prayer by Kunti Maharani in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.8.30. Even though Kunti Maharani is the Lord's aunt she completely understands that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and declares that everything about Krishna is bewildering.

janma karma ca viśvātmann ajasyākartur ātmanaḥ tiryaṅ-nṝṣiṣu yādaḥsu tad atyanta-viḍambanam

Of course it is bewildering, O soul of the universe, that You work, though You are inactive, and that You take birth, though You are the vital force and the unborn. You Yourself descend amongst animals, men, sages and aquatics. Verily, this is bewildering.

Krishna's logic cannot be understood by material vision. It is inconceivable. We cannot understand Krishna's lilas. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 3.6.39, Maitryea Muni while explaining the glories of Supreme Lord, says to saintly Vidura - " The wonderful potency of the Supreme Lord Krishna is bewildering even to the jugglers. That potential power is unknown even to the self-sufficient Lord, so it is certainly unknown to others."

In the Govardhan pastime, if we apply our math and science logic, nothing would fit the puzzle but that is Krishna. As Maharaj always says, "In the spiritual world one minus one is also two." So with our Kali yuga brains, if we try to interpret what Krishna does, we would definitely not be able to understand. Even souls like Bhishmadev, Kunti Maharani, Vasudev, Mother Devaki, Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda Ma were always bewildered by the actions performed by the Lord. There are many instances where Krishna bewildered everyone and I would like to share a few of them in this offering.

1. This beautiful translation of verse 10.11.8 of Srimad Bhagavatam very nicely describes how much pleasure Krishna gave to Yashoda Ma and the other gopis. "Sometimes mother Yashoda and her gopi friends would tell Krishna, "Bring this article" or "Bring that article." Sometimes they would order Him to bring a wooden plank, wooden shoes or a wooden measuring pot, and Krishna, when thus ordered by the mothers, would try to bring them. Sometimes, however, as if unable to raise these things, He would touch them and stand there. Just to invite the pleasure of His relatives, He would strike His body with His arms to show that He had sufficient strength." Thats our little Krishna, He would bend every rule possible to shower love to His devotees. When Krishna used to go happily for grazing his cows, Yashoda ma would pack his tiffin box and all the other gopas thought they would carry it, since our Krishna was too small and tender to carry the weight of tiffin box. But the same little Krishna surprised everyone by the act of lifting the Govardhan hill, which is so many miles long and He carried it just like a mushroom that too with His tiny left finger. These gopas and gopis would have been literally amazed to see the sight, since the same small boy who never used to carry the tiffin box or the wooden planks is lifting a hill. If the Gopas were shocked, imagine how it would have been for Indra, when Krishna was requesting Nanda Maharaj to do puja for Govardhan instead of Indra. Initially Indras took it very casually. He assumed that Krishna was a talkative child and is talking beyond His age limits. What a marvellous sight, Krishna did not have six packs to lift the Govardhan hill, but His soft lotus body is packed only with love for all the fallen souls. For Kamsa, Krishna's body looked like a six pack thunderbolt well built body, but for all the other audience He was a young person and they were scared and worried if Krishna would get hurt in the fight. As our beloved God-brother HG Devakinandan Prabhuji tells, "Krishna bends every rule possible to protect the devotees." Similarly in the above pastimes also Krishna bewildered everyone, by bending the rules. His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada very nicely writes in the purport to verse 1.8.16 of Srimad Bhagavatam - "The activities of the Lord are always inconceivable to the tiny brain of the living entities. Nothing is impossible for the Supreme Lord, but all His actions are wonderful for us, and thus He is always beyond the range of our conceivable limits."

2. When Lord appeared as Narasimhadev, Hiranyakashipu was surprised to see the Lord's form which is half man and half lion. Before he started the foolish fight with Narasimhadev, he studied the form and was completely surprised by the appearance. When Narasimhadev appeared before him all the permutations and combinations Hiranyakashipu sought as a boon to protect his body did not work. Lord Narashimadev just caught Hiranyakashipu like how Garuda catches a snake. Again the Lord created a new form and bewildered everyone and bent every rule possible.

3. When the Lord took the form of Kurma avatar to uplift the Mandara mountain, the tortoise size was eight hundred thousand miles and looked like a large island. When Mandara Mountain was being pulled by both demons and demigods, the Lord took the form of another mountain and appeared on the summit with thousands of hands to balance the weight of the mountains. Krishna was present as Tortoise. He was also the mountain and later He became Mohini as well. No cloning methodology used, but Krishna expanded in different forms to protect the devotees.

4. If we see the pastimes of the Lord with Gopal Bhatta Goswami, they are so mind boggling. Once, on a trip to the Gandaki River in Nepal, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami obtained twelve salagrama-silas. The silas entered his water pot as he filled it with water from the river. When he tried to return them to the river and refill his pot, they again entered the pot. Accepting this as the Lord's mercy, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami decided to bring the silas back to Vrindavana. It so happened that a wealthy merchant offered a lot of gold jewellery to Gopala Bhatta Goswami. That night, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami felt the need to worship a Deity form of Krishna so that he can decorate the deity with the jewellery. The next morning he saw that one of his silas had transformed into a beautiful Deity of Lord Krishna. Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami named the Deity Radha-Ramana, Krishna, who brings pleasure to Radharani. If we have sincere desire to serve the Lord, "the Lord bends all logic", He is so merciful to the devotees.

Hence we should pray to the Lord and listen to each and every pastime of the Lord in the mood of Bramhaji, then every class would be inspiring, every service would bring a lot of satisfaction, every day mangala arati would not be a ritual - but a pleasure in serving the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord Bramha wonderfully prays in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 10.14.38:

There are people who say, "I know everything about Krishna." Let them think that way. As far as I am concerned, I do not wish to speak very much about this matter. O my Lord, let me say this much: As far as Your opulences are concerned, they are all beyond the reach of my mind, body and words.

Sri Sri Radha Giridhari ki jai, Sri Sri Yashodanandana Balagopal ki jai, Srila Prabhupada ki jai, Srila Gurudev ki jai.

Thank you very much, Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Sharada devi dasi, Bangalore