Part I (Continued in Issue No. 31)

Just before relating His various opulences to Arjuna, Lord Sri Krishna gives this list of conditions and qualities by way of an introduction. In no way is this list complete, but what is given should be considered to be of special significance. Krishna is the Original Cause of everything, and consequently He is the Cause of all good and bad qualities and all states of existence. Because of our limited perception, whatever we see in this phenomenal world has a dual nature: good and bad, pleasure and pain, hot and cold, joy and sorrow, and so on. "O son of Kunti, the non-permanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." (Gita, 2.14) Actually these states are alloyed qualities of the Supreme Lord. They exist in Krishna in full, and they are seen in part in the living entities.