TEXT 20
krtavan kila karmani
saha ramena kesavah
atimartyani bhagavan
gudhah kapata-manusah
SYNONYMS
krtavandone by; kilawhat; karmaniacts; sahaalong with; ramenaBalarama; kesavahSri Krsna; atimartyanisuperhuman; bhagavanthe Personality of Godhead; gudhahmasked as; kapataapparently; manusahhuman being.
During Krsna and Balarama's advent, the forest of Vrndavana was full of bees, fruits, flowers, vegetables and pasturing grass. It was as sanctified as the clear mind of a devotee. There were chirping birds and clear lakes, whose waters could relieve one of all fatigue, and sweet-flavored breezes constantly refreshed the mind and body. TRANSLATION
Lord Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, along with Balarama, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts.
PURPORT
The doctrines of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism are never applicable to Sri Krsna, or the Personality of Godhead. The theory that a man becomes God by dint of penance and austerities is very much rampant nowadays, especially in India. Since Lord Rama, Lord Krsna and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were detected by the sages and saints to be the Personality of Godhead as indicated in revealed scriptures, many unscrupulous men have created their own incarnations. This process of concocting an incarnation of God has become an ordinary business, especially in Bengal. Any popular personality with a few traits of mystic powers will display some feat of jugglery and easily become an incarnation of Godhead by popular vote. Lord Sri Krsna was not that type of incarnation. He was actually the Personality of Godhead from the very beginning of His appearance. He appeared before His so-called mother as four-armed Visnu. Then, at the request of the mother, He became like a human child and at once left her for another devotee at Gokula, where He was accepted as the son of Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda Mata. Similarly, Sri Baladeva, the counterpart of Lord Sri Krsna, was also considered a human child born of another wife of Sri Vasudeva. In Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that His birth and deeds are transcendental and that anyone who is so fortunate as to know the transcendental nature of His birth and deeds will at once become liberated and eligible to return to the kingdom of God. So knowledge of the transcendental nature of the birth and deeds of Lord Sri Krsna is sufficient for liberation. In the Bhagavatam, the transcendental nature of the Lord is described in nine cantos, and in the Tenth Canto His specific pastimes are taken up. All this becomes known as one's reading of this literature progresses. It is important to note here, however, that the Lord exhibited His divinity even from the lap of His mother, that His deeds are all superhuman (He lifted Govardhana Hill at the age of seven), and that all these acts definitely prove Him to be actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet, due to His mystic covering, He was always accepted as an ordinary human child by His so-called father and mother and other relatives. Whenever some herculean task was performed by Him, the father and mother took it otherwise. And they remained satisfied with unflinching filial love for their son. As such, the sages of Naimisaranya describe Him as apparently resembling a human being, but actually He is the Supreme Almighty Personality of Godhead.
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