You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, of the moving and the nonmoving. You are its worshipable chief, the supreme spiritual master. No one is greater than You, nor can anyone be one with You. How then could there be anyone greater than You within the three worlds, O Lord of immeasurable power?
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is worshipable as a father is worshipable for his son. He is the spiritual master because He originally gave the Vedic instructions to Brahmā and presently He is also instructing Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna; therefore He is the original spiritual master, and any bona fide spiritual master at the present moment must be a descendant in the line of disciplic succession stemming from Kṛṣṇa. Without being a representative of Kṛṣṇa, one cannot become a teacher or spiritual master of transcendental subject matter.
The Lord is being paid obeisances in all respects. He is of immeasurable greatness. No one can be greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, because no one is equal to or higher than Kṛṣṇa within any manifestation, spiritual or material. Everyone is below Him. No one can excel Him. This is stated in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8):
na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, has senses and a body like the ordinary man, but for Him there is no difference between His senses, His body, His mind and Himself. Foolish persons who do not perfectly know Him say that Kṛṣṇa is different from His soul, mind, heart and everything else. Kṛṣṇa is absolute; therefore His activities and potencies are supreme. It is also stated that although He does not have senses like ours, He can perform all sensory activities; therefore His senses are neither imperfect nor limited. No one can be greater than Him, no one can be equal to Him, and everyone is lower than Him.
The knowledge, strength and activities of the Supreme Personality are all transcendental. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjuna
Whoever knows Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body, activities and perfection, after quitting his body, returns to Him and doesn’t come back again to this miserable world. Therefore one should know that Kṛṣṇa’s activities are different from others. The best policy is to follow the principles of Kṛṣṇa; that will make one perfect. It is also stated that there is no one who is master of Kṛṣṇa; everyone is His servant. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.142) confirms, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya: only Kṛṣṇa is God, and everyone else is His servant. Everyone is complying with His order. There is no one who can deny His order. Everyone is acting according to His direction, being under His superintendence. As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, He is the cause of all causes.
TEXT 44
तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीडयम् ।
पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्युः प्रियः प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम् ।। 44 ।।
tasmāt praṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ
prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ
priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum
tasmāt – therefore; praṇamya – offering obeisances; praṇidhāya – laying down; kāyam – the body; prasādaye – to beg mercy; tvām – unto You; aham – I; īśam – unto the Supreme Lord; īḍyam – worshipable; pitā iva – like a father; putrasya – with a son; sakhā iva – like a friend; sakhyuḥ – with a friend; priyaḥ – a lover; priyāyāḥ – with the dearmost; arhasi – You should; deva – my Lord; soḍhum – tolerate.
You are the Supreme Lord, to be worshiped by every living being. Thus I fall down to offer You my respectful obeisances and ask Your mercy. As a father tolerates the impudence of his son, a friend the impertinence of a friend, or a husband the familiarity of his wife, please tolerate the wrongs I may have done You.
Kṛṣṇa’s devotees relate to Kṛṣṇa in various relationships; one might treat Kṛṣṇa as a son, or one might treat Kṛṣṇa as a husband, as a friend, or as a master. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are related in friendship. As the father tolerates, or the husband or a master tolerates, so Kṛṣṇa tolerates.
TEXT 45
अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे ।
तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपं प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ।। 45 ।।
adṛṣṭa-pūrvaṁ hṛṣito ’smi dṛṣṭvā
bhayena ca pravyathitaṁ mano me
tad eva me darśaya deva rūpaṁ
prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa
adṛṣṭa-pūrvam – never seen before; hṛṣitaḥ – gladdened; asmi – I am; dṛṣṭvā – by seeing; bhayena – out of fear; ca – also; pravyathitam – perturbed; manaḥ – mind; me – my; tat – that; eva – certainly; me – unto me; darśaya – show; deva – O Lord; rūpam – the form; prasīda – just be gracious; deva-īśa – O Lord of lords; jagat-nivāsa – O refuge of the universe.
After seeing this universal form, which I have never seen before, I am gladdened, but at the same time my mind is disturbed with fear. Therefore please bestow Your grace upon me and reveal again Your form as the Personality of Godhead, O Lord of lords, O abode of the universe.
Arjuna is always in confidence with Kṛṣṇa because he is a very dear friend, and as a dear friend is gladdened by his friend’s opulence, Arjuna is very joyful to see that his friend Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and can show such a wonderful universal form. But at the same time, after seeing that universal form, he is afraid that he has committed so many offenses to Kṛṣṇa out of his unalloyed friendship. Thus his mind is disturbed out of fear, although he had no reason to fear.
Arjuna therefore is asking Kṛṣṇa to show His Nārāyaṇa form, because He can assume any form. This universal form is material and temporary, as the material world is temporary. But in the Vaikuṇṭha planets He has His transcendental form with four hands as Nārāyaṇa. There are innumerable planets in the spiritual sky, and in each of them Kṛṣṇa is present by His plenary manifestations of different names. Thus Arjuna desired to see one of the forms manifest in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Of course in each Vaikuṇṭha planet the form of Nārāyaṇa is four-handed, but the four hands hold different arrangements of symbols – the conchshell, mace, lotus and disc. According to the different hands these four things are held in, the Nārāyaṇas are variously named. All of these forms are one with Kṛṣṇa; therefore Arjuna requests to see His four-handed feature.
TEXT 46
किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्तमिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव ।
तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहरत्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते ।। 46 ।।
kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakra-hastam
icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭum ahaṁ tathaiva
tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena
sahasra-bāho bhava viśva-mūrte
kirīṭinam – with helmet; gadinam – with club; cakra-hastam – disc in hand; icchāmi – I wish; tvām – You; draṣṭum – to see; aham – I; tathā eva – in that position; tena eva – in that; rūpeṇa – form; catuḥ-bhujena – four-handed; sahasra-bāho – O thousand-handed one; bhava – just become; viśva-mūrte – O universal form.
O universal form, O thousand-armed Lord, I wish to see You in Your four-armed form, with helmeted head and with club, wheel, conch and lotus flower in Your hands. I long to see You in that form.
In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.39) it is stated, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan: the Lord is eternally situated in hundreds and thousands of forms, and the main forms are those like Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Nārāyaṇa, etc. There are innumerable forms. But Arjuna knew that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead assuming His temporary universal form. He is now asking to see the form of Nārāyaṇa, a spiritual form. This verse establishes without any doubt the statement of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and all other features originate from Him. He is not different from His plenary expansions, and He is God in any of His innumerable forms. In all of these forms He is fresh like a young man. That is the constant feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who knows Kṛṣṇa becomes free at once from all contamination of the material world.
TEXT 47
श्रीभगवानुवाच
मया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदं रूपं परं दर्शितमात्मयोगात् ।
तेजोमयं विश्वमनन्तमाद्यं यन्मे त्वदन्येन न दृष्टपूर्वम् ।। 47 ।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṁ
rūpaṁ paraṁ darśitam ātma-yogāt
tejo-mayaṁ viśvam anantam ādyaṁ
yan me tvad anyena na dṛṣṭa-pūrvam
śrī-bhagavān uvāca – the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; mayā – by Me; prasannena – happily; tava – unto you; arjuna – O Arjuna; idam – this; rūpam – form; param – transcendental; darśitam – shown; ātma-yogāt – by My internal potency; tejaḥ-mayam – full of effulgence; viśvam – the entire universe; anantam – unlimited; ādyam – original; yat – that which; me – My; tvat anyena – besides you; na dṛṣṭa-pūrvam – no one has previously seen.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, happily have I shown you, by My internal potency, this supreme universal form within the material world. No one before you has ever seen this primal form, unlimited and full of glaring effulgence.
Arjuna wanted to see the universal form of the Supreme Lord, so Lord Kṛṣṇa, out of His mercy upon His devotee Arjuna, showed His universal form, full of effulgence and opulence. This form was glaring like the sun, and its many faces were rapidly changing. Kṛṣṇa showed this form just to satisfy the desire of His friend Arjuna. This form was manifested by Kṛṣṇa through His internal potency, which is inconceivable by human speculation. No one had seen this universal form of the Lord before Arjuna, but because the form was shown to Arjuna, other devotees in the heavenly planets and in other planets in outer space could also see it.
They had not seen it before, but
