Kṛṣṇa; Origin, Source, Preserver

Being the origin of all, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is necessarily greater than His creation. He is the ultimate reality, the ultimate perfection. An effect cannot possess a greater reality than the cause that produces it, nor can it possess more perfection than its cause. Again the speculations of Western philosophy echo the Vedic conclusions: "It follows not only that what is cannot be produced by what is not, but likewise that the more perfect-in other words, that which contains in itself more reality-cannot be the effect of the less perfect …" (Rene Descartes, "The Meditations of God: that He Exists") It is interesting that the philosopher Descartes accepted as proof of God the very idea of God Himself. He maintained that, being finite, man could not even have an idea of the infinite unless that idea were given to him by the infinite. The nature of the infinite is that it cannot be comprehended or intellectualized by the finite. Therefore the very fact that we can predicate an infinite or even speak of an infinite is proof that this infinite exists. "By the name God, I understand a substance infinite, eternal, immutable, independent, all-knowing, all-powerful, and by which I myself, and every other thing that exists, if any such there be, were created. But these properties are so great and excellent, that the more attentively I consider them, the less I feel persuaded that the idea I have of them owes its origin to myself alone. And thus it is absolutely necessary to conclude from all that I have foresaid that God exists: for though the idea of substance be in my mind owing to this, that I myself am substance, I should not, however, have the idea of an infinite substance, seeing I am a finite being, unless it were given me by some substance in reality infinite." (Descartes, "The Meditations," Ibid.)

Krsna is not only the origin of the creation, but is the preserver as well. ("The conservation of a substance in each moment of its duration requires the same power and act that would be necessary to create it." Descartes, Ibid.) In Srimad-Bhagavatam Lord Krsna tells Brahma that He is not only the cause of the creation but is, in fact, the creation itself. And it follows that being the force that brings about the appearance of an object and that maintains that object during its duration, Krsna is also the cause of the annihilation of that object by dint of His withdrawing potency. Therefore it is said that when Lord Krsna wants someone killed, there is no possibility of his being saved, and when He wants someone to live, there is no possibility of killing him. This is what is meant by ultimate controller.

The conception of origin also implies separation. Etymologically the word "origin" comes from the Latin word oriri, meaning to rise or to arise out of. The word "source," coming from the word "surge," has its origin in the Latin word surgere, also meaning to rise. Therefore the idea of origin or source can be compared to the rising of waves from the ocean, the surging of the billows, their brief manifestation, and their lapsing and falling back into the ocean. The waves never exist outside the ocean, yet they are distinct from the ocean which is their source. Nor do the waves effect the ocean in any substantial way. They are simply the surface play of the ocean, as the material creation is but one of the manifestations of Krsna's incidental energies, one of His waste products or gratuities. The play of the waves on the surface is forever removed from the great depths inhabited by the mighty denizens, the great souls swimming in the effulgence of the Lord. "Again everything that is created does not rest on Me. Behold My mystic opulence: although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, still My Self is the very source of creation." (Bg. 9.5)

The absurdity of any created entity maintaining that he is God is obvious here. To extend the simile, it is as ridiculous as asserting a wave to be the entire ocean. One should notice that the existence of waves is very brief, that they appear to have no individuality, that they are countless, that they seem to have been appearing from time immemorial, that their motion cannot be stopped, that they never perish, that they return to the ocean to eventually become another wave and that each wave in its own right is infinite, having arisen from infinite waves, composed of infinite bubbles. One of the wonders of God's creation is that one particle, like the wave or bubble, can reflect the totality.