Glories of Purushottama - Part 9

Date: 2018-07-20 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic "Glories of Purushottama" wherein we began to meditate on the meanings of the word "Purushottama" as described in the scriptures. vii) Purushottama - (udgata tamaḥ yasmāt uttama) - Because He is beyond the darkness of this material world : He is called Uttama because He is beyond tamas; (ut - beyond or Higher than and tamaḥ - darkness). The Lord is all pervading and also eternally situated in the spiritual world which is far beyond the darkness of this material creation and He is also free from all ignorance. The material world is inherently dark and hence needs sun, moon for illumination but the spiritual world is full of light. The states this point as follows:

vedaaham etam purusham mahaantam aaditya varnam tamasa parastaat tam eva viditva ati mrityuam eti naanya paanta vidyate ayanaaya

I know the Infinitely great purusha who is brilliant like the sun, far beyond all darkness. One who knows Him transcends repeated birth and death. There is no path for liberation other than this.

The Lord demonstrated that He is the Purushottama residing in the spiritual world in a pastime explained in the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Once in Dvaraka a brahmana's wife gave birth to sons and they immediately died. This happened for nine sons. The Brahmana brought dead sons to the court of Ugrasena every time and accused the King of being a bad ruler which is causing such unfortunate happenings in the kingdom. On the ninth time, Arjuna promised the Brahmana that he will protect the child and if he fails, he will enter fire. When the brahaman's wife was about to give birth to the 10th son, Arjuna enveloped the maternity house with a protective cage of arrows. But, as soon as the child was born and began to cry, it disappeared into the sky. The brahmana profusely derided Arjuna and hence he set off for the abode of Yamaraja. But Arjuna did not find the brahmana's son there, and even after searching throughout the fourteen worlds he could find no trace of the infant. So he decided to enter the sacred fire. Lord Krishna stopped him and said, "I will show you the brahmana's sons." Lord Krishna then took Arjuna onto His transcendental chariot, and the two of them crossed over the seven universal islands with their seven oceans, passed over the Lokaaloka mountain range and entered the region of dense darkness. Since the horses could not find their way, Krishna sent His blazing Sudarshana disc ahead to pierce the gloom. Following the Sudarshana disc, the chariot went beyond the darkness and reached the endless spiritual light of the all pervasive brahmajyoti. Then they entered the abode of Lord Mahavishnu whose beauty was beyond imagination. There Arjuna saw the Lord seated on Ananta sesha and He was the Supreme of all personalities as stated in purana as follows:

SB 10.89.54 dadarśa tad-bhoga-sukhāsanaṁ vibhuṁ mahānubhāvaṁ puruṣottamottamam

Arjuna then saw the omnipresent and omnipotent Supreme Personality of Godhead, Maha-, sitting at ease on the serpent bed.

Srila Prabhupada described the form of Mahavishnu in Krishna book as, "He appeared all-pervading and very powerful, and Arjuna could understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead in that form is known as Purushottama. He is known as Purushottama, the supreme or best Personality of Godhead, because from this form emanates within the material world another form of Vishnu, known as Garbhodakaśayi Vishnu. The Maha-Vishnu form of the Lord is also called Purushottama (Puruṣa-uttama) because He is beyond the material world. Tama means "darkness" and ut means "above, transcendental". Therefore, uttama means "above the darkest region of the material world." The great Lord greeted Sri Krishna and Arjuna, saying "I brought the brahmana's sons here simply because I wanted to see the two of you." Then He returned the brahmana's sons."

The above pastime shows that the Lord is all pervading and also eternally situated in the spiritual world which is beyond (ut) the darkness (tamaḥ) and hence He is called Purushottama. By worshipping Him in devotional service, one can become free from darkness of ignorance and enter into His kingdom which is beyond all darkness.

Krishna willing, we will meditate more on the meaning of Purushottama in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai.