Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, O Arjun, at that time I manifest myself on earth – Bhagavad Gita 4.7

It is an interesting question to ask who Sri Krishna is and what constitutes His real self. The significance of His worship rests upon His remarkable divine personality.

The shastras define the etymological meaning of the word Krishna as follows:

‘The word Krishna is composed of the root ‘krish’ meaning ‘bhu’, the shelter of all existence, and the word ‘na’, meaning ‘nivriti’ or the form of supreme bliss. Combined, they form the word Krishna, which signifies Param Brahma, the Supreme Absolute Truth.’

Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

The word Krishna means ‘self-existing bliss.’ The Vedanta has defined this as anandam brahm, and Taittiriya Upanishas says ‘He is that ras (anand or bliss). One who drinks that ras, become full of bliss.’

In another sense, the word Krishna means ‘krish’ ― to attract (karshan) and ‘na’― giving bliss. The one who attracts all and gives them bliss, and who is blissful Himself, is known as Krishna.

In other words, Krishna means ‘all attractive’ and ‘all-bliss-giving’. He cannot be all attractive without being super excellent in every respect. When He exhibits His aspect of being smaller than the smallest, Krishna is known as Parmatma. When He exhibits His aspect of being greater than greatest, He is known as Brahm. Then again, reconciling both His anu (microcosmic) and vibhu (macrocosmic) natures and accepting a medium-sized Form, Sri Krishna performs wonderful pastimes of infinite variegatedness.

Knowers of the truth call that non-dual, absolute knowledge tattva ―the Absolute Truth.

This non-dual knowledge is referred to by the words Brahm, Parmatma or Bhagavan. The word Brahm signifies the largest (Brihattva); Parmatma , the smallest (anutva); and Bhagavan, the all opulent (Sarvaishvaryamayatva: possessing all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation). In other words, this encompasses the largest, the smallest, the middle and everything else in existence.

The word Bhagavan reveals all the different aspects of the Absolute Truth. The gyani experiences that non dual tattva as Brahm, the yogi realises Him as Parmatma and the bhakt sees Him as Bhagavan. Bhagavan manifests infinite pastimes in infinite Forms, among which Sri Krishna is His original Form (svayam rupa).

The Supreme Lord does not interfere in the relative independence of conditioned souls, but as the indwelling monitor, existing within their hearts, He bestows upon them the discriminating power of understanding what is good and bad, eternal and non-eternal. Sometimes He Himself appears to help the jévas to make good use of their relative independence and take absolute shelter of Him, and He also inspires the conditioned souls through His personal associates. The individual soul should submit to God willingly.

Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj was President-Acharya of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math from 1979 till he left his physical body on April 21, 2017 at the age of 92. For more than six decades, he preached the philosophy of universal unity, travelling the globe to spread his message of transcendental divine love, interacting with theologians of all faiths.

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