(Canto 1, Chapter 3: Description of the Lord’s Appearance)
King Bahulāśva said, “O sage, O master, what did the demigods do when they saw Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than the greatest? Please be kind and tell me.”
Śrī Nārada said: As everyone watched, Lord Hari, the eight-armed master of Vaikuṇṭha, appeared there and merged into the body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Then the master of Śvetadvīpa, decorated with a thousand arms, arrived in a splendid chariot drawn by a hundred thousand horses. He was opulent with many weapons, accompanied by the goddess of fortune, and served by many associates, and He too suddenly merged into the body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Then lotus-eyed Lord Rāmacandra came, holding His bow and arrows, glorious with Sītā-devī and accompanied by His brothers. He rode in a golden chariot as effulgent as a hundred million suns, decorated with waving cāmaras and ten thousand flags, surrounded by countless monkey kings, rumbling with ten thousand wheels and drawn by ten thousand horses. He also merged into the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Then Lord Yajña, who is also known as Nārāyaṇa and Hari, glowing like the fire at the time of cosmic annihilation, the master of the demigods, came with His consort Dakṣiṇā in a beautiful chariot, and He suddenly merged into Kṛṣṇa’s dark form.
Then Lord Nara-Nārāyaṇa came. His eyes were large and He had four arms. He was dressed as a sage, splendid like a dark cloud, with matted hair like lightning. He had taken an unbroken vow of celibacy and was surrounded by the greatest sages. As everyone looked on with hearts full of wonder, He too suddenly merged into the handsome dark form of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Filled with wonder, the demigods now understood that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they offered Him many prayers.
The demigods said, “Obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than the greatest, the master of sacrifice, the cause of all causes, the lover of Rādhā, the most perfect, the Lord who resides in Goloka.
“The masters of yoga say that You are the impersonal Brahman effulgence, and the great devotees say that You have a transcendental form. Today we have understood Your lotus feet. Obeisances to You, the master of the Brahman effulgence.
“We take shelter of You, the unborn Supreme, who are beyond the modes of nature and beyond the world of matter, and who cannot be described. The greatest philosophers cannot describe You, whether directly, indirectly, or by the faintest hint. Some say You are the Supreme, some say You are time, some say You are everything, some say You are karma, some say You are yoga, and some say You are the first cause. We take shelter of You, whom none of their words can perfectly describe.
“O Lord, those who reject the auspicious service of Your lotus feet, and instead visit holy places, perform sacrifices and austerities, and try to cultivate knowledge, are beaten down by a host of obstacles. How miserably they fail!
“What request shall we place before You today? You are the witness of everything, staying in everyone’s heart. Pure devotees, whose forms are not material, offer their obeisances to You.
“O Lord, You are the necklace of moons Śrī Rādhā wears over Her heart. You are the life of the gopīs’ eyes. You are the flag flying over Goloka. You are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. O Lord, please protect, please protect the demigods from all calamities!
“O King of Vṛndāvana, O Lord of Govardhana, the king of mountains, O King of Vraja, O King who eternally enjoys pastimes as a cowherd boy, O King of Rādhā, O King of the great philosophers, O lifter of Govardhana Hill, O Lord who can accomplish the impossible, please save us!”
Śrī Nārada said: Addressed in this way, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the King of Gokula, replied to the demigods, who were lying prostrate before Him, in a voice deep as thunder.
The Supreme Lord said, “I will descend. I will remove the burden of the earth and I will do the work you request. I will take birth in the family of the Yadus.
“The Vedas are My words. The brāhmaṇas are My mouth. The cows are My body. You demigods are My limbs. And My devotees are the life-breath within My heart.
“Millennium after millennium, whenever the blasphemers destroy religion, sacrifice, and mercy, I descend personally.”
Śrī Nārada said: When Her husband, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the master of all universes, spoke these words, Śrī Rādhā was overcome with fear of being separated from Him. Like a flowering vine burning in a great forest fire, She wept and trembled. She was about to faint, the hairs of Her body stood on end, and She spoke to Him.
Śrī Rādhā said, “Go to the earth and remove its burden. But hear My great vow: O Lord of My life, when You are gone I will not keep My body alive here. If You do not believe Me, I will say it again: if You go, My life, yearning to leave, will become like camphor dust and fly away.”
The Supreme Lord said, “I will go with You. O Rādhā, do not lament. I will remove the burden of the earth, and I will also keep Your word.”
Śrī Rādhā said, “But My heart cannot be happy where there is no Vṛndāvana forest, no Yamunā River, and no Govardhana Hill.”
Śrī Nārada said: Then Lord Kṛṣṇa sent Govardhana Hill, the Yamunā River, and a portion of His own abode to the earth.
Bowing down again and again together with the demigods, Brahmā addressed the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Lord Brahmā said, “Where will I take birth? Where will You take birth? Where will the demigods take birth? In which homes, and with which names?”
The Supreme Lord said, “I will take birth from Vasudeva in the womb of Devakī. My transcendental expansion Lord Śeṣa will take birth in Rohiṇī. Of this there is no doubt.
“The goddess of fortune will be born as Rukmiṇī, the daughter of King Bhīṣmaka. Lord Śiva’s consort will become Jāmbavatī. Tulasī will become Satyā, and Vasundharā, the earth, will become Satyabhāmā. Dakṣiṇā will become Lakṣmaṇā, Virajā will become Kālindī, Hrī will become Bhadrā, and the sin-destroying Jāhnavī will become Mitravindā.
“Kāmadeva will be born from Rukmiṇī and will be known as Pradyumna, and you, Brahmā, will take birth as his son. Of this there is no doubt.
“The Vasu named Droṇa will become Nanda, and his wife Dharā will be known as Yaśodā. Sucandra will take birth as Vṛṣabhānu, and his wife Kalāvatī will also take birth. On the earth she will be known as Kīrti, and from her Rādhā will take birth. Then again and again I will perform the rāsa dance with the gopīs in the circle of Vraja.”
Lessons to be learned
When all the incarnations merged into Kṛṣṇa’s body, the demigods saw with their own eyes what the scriptures declare: Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all incarnations, and all of Them are contained within Him. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that just as all rivers flow into the ocean, all the Lord’s expansions rest in Kṛṣṇa. This is why Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas worship Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme, while offering full respect to all His incarnations.
The demigods prayed that those who reject the service of the Lord’s feet and depend only on pilgrimage, sacrifice, austerity, and speculation meet with obstacles and fail. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī defines pure devotion as service to Kṛṣṇa free from other desires and not covered by karma and jñāna (anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam). All other processes succeed only when they lead to bhakti.
Kṛṣṇa says the Vedas are His words, the brāhmaṇas His mouth, the cows His body, and the demigods His limbs, but His devotees are the very life-breath of His heart. Nothing is dearer to the Lord than His devotee.
Śrī Rādhā’s vow shows the supreme height of pure love. She would not keep Her life for even a moment without Kṛṣṇa, and She could not be happy even with Kṛṣṇa unless Vṛndāvana, the Yamunā, and Govardhana were there. Therefore Kṛṣṇa brought the holy dhāma with Him. This is why the ācāryas teach that Vṛndāvana on earth is not an ordinary place but the spiritual abode itself, non-different from Goloka. Śrīla Prabhupāda called it the place where Kṛṣṇa never leaves.
The Lord arranged every detail of His descent: who would be His parents, His queens, His friends. His appearance is not like our birth, forced by karma. It is completely by His own will, as He says in the Bhagavad-gītā: janma karma ca me divyam. Whoever understands this transcendental nature of His birth and activities attains Him.
