Brahma Samhita meditation 2 – Krishna is not just the greatest in a hierarchy but the greatest beyond any hierarchy

With his will. Thank you Vishwara, Parama, Krishna Satchitananda Vigraha Anadhiradhir Govinda Sarvakaranakaram Vishwara, Parama, Krishna In the extract of the Nama Samhita which is often recited as a stand alone prayer this is usually the first verse that is recited Vishwara, Parama, Krishna Vishwara is controller Parama is supreme controller Krishna is god what is this characteristic Satchitananda Vigraha Parama Satchitananda this eternal blissful form Vigraha Anadhiradhir Govinda Anadhiradhir that beginningless beginning Govinda it is the giver of the pleasure of the thoughts and the senses Sarvakaranakaram is the cause of all causes Nama Samhita is a philosophically condensed set of prayers and this verse in fact is more of a Sampradhanatmika wherein there is glorification of the lord there is the focus that his supreme position is being conveyed through this prayer so the focus is on conveying his supremacy underscoring his supremacy and while doing so Vishwara, Parama, Krishna that he is the supreme set Satchitananda he has a form which is eternal blissful and conscious Brahmaji is offering this prayer and he is himself known as a Ishwara he is himself a celebrated controller and being a celebrated controller he is by no means a small person he is the first person in the universe very great but he is unambiguously declaring here that among the hierarchy of controllers Krishna is the highest and it is not just that sometimes like we have say in tennis the ATP ranking is there so this person is 6th this person is 5th this person is 2nd and this person is 1st so it is not just that within a hierarchy in the tennis rankings one particular player in the topmost is number 1 but then yes that person may be one above the rest of the pack but that person can be replaced can be displaced from that position and replaced by someone else but Krishna is the topmost not just because he has greater power than others or he has better performance than others no, he is in a different category of existence itself and that is conveyed in the rest of the three lines that is all the other controllers no matter how powerful they may be none of them have eternal blissful form eternal conscious blissful form now of course they as shown in their swaroopa they do have an eternal blissful form but in the functional positions which they have as the reigning Ishwaras they don’t have a satchitananda form and further the speciality of Krishna is anadhyahir govinda so he is not just the topmost in the hierarchy he is way above everyone else how is that categorical difference between Krishna and others conveyed that everybody has a beginning anadhyahir everybody has a beginning but he has no beginning in fact he is the beginningless beginning of everything now you may say how is this possible how can something have no beginning at all for this we need to get a more philosophical understanding of God a philosophical comprehension of God and we need to sometimes open our minds to not let God be restricted to what we conceive of as cultural depiction so within the cultural depiction we might see Krishna as one among the pantheon of Gods sometimes there are temples in which there are many duties and Krishna is just one of those duties so in such cultural depictions Krishna will be positioned as just one of the others of course sometimes he will be positioned as superior but that superiority is not just in quantity because quantity to superiority may be upstaged one player may be number one, a particular tennis player may be number one because he has 500 ATP points above the second ranked player but the second ranked player gets many points then he will become first and the first will be upstaged and replaced now that is not the case with Krishna he is, when we understand him from the philosophical perspective he is the source of everything source of everything means that he himself has no source whatsoever it is not that he is just another person between existence just another of the Devatas he is the source of everything without him nothing could exist तत्तस्ति विनायत्यान् नया भूतं चराच्छन न तत्तस्ति विनायत्यान् that there is nothing beyond, nothing can exist without him एच्छाकि सर्वधूताना बीजं तद हम अर्जुन Arjuna of whatever exists I am the foundation, I am the seed बीजं now moving onwards once we understand this categorically different position of Krishna then we can wholeheartedly call out to him then we can confidently seek his shelter we see this when Krishna says दिन्दे माया में ता अंगरन्ती थे that those who surrender to me they can cross over Maya this may seem to be like a very big claim but Krishna positions this claim in the middle of the second chapter and prefacing and succeeding that claim Arjuna has got a strong analysis of Krishna’s supreme position किंचि दस्ति धनन्जय there is no truth beyond me, there is no truth superior to me that is 7.7 and 7.19 is वासुदेव सर्वधूति and वासुदेव is everything so in this way to the extent we understand that Krishna is not just one among many Krishna is the one way above many and he is above not because he is just more powerful than Arjuna it’s not that he has IQ power or a bicep weight or a head size that is bigger than others he is above everyone because he exists in a different category itself he is the cause of all causes so whereas all other living beings are manifested as a combination of matter and spirit Krishna himself is the source of all this he is the one who exists even before creation exists and he is the primary source and sustainer of everything by meditating philosophically on Krishna’s position we can bring intensity in our prayers to him when we seek liberation from material existence just as a prisoner who understands truly that this judge, this king this authority has the power to release me to such a degree that no one else has that power once we understand this then we will wholeheartedly call out to that authority similarly once we understand Krishna’s position we will call out to him wholeheartedly and that is the direction towards which it is beautiful verse of Ramasamhita where we meditate on Krishna’s supreme position to awaken within us feelings of wholehearted, confident and intense submission towards him