Vaishnava Philosophy Sri Krishna The Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna is God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the original and primeval person who is simultaneously expanded everywhere throughout existence and yet is still situated in His eternal abode in His original, transcendental form. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-merciful being. He is the chief eternal living entity amongst all eternal living entities who are His parts. He is responsible for fulfilling all the desires of the subordinate living entities since time immemorial. Krishna is the original name for God. He has many other names which will be described in the section entitled, The Names of God. Krishna has many other names according to the country, culture and language of different peoples. To the Jews He is Yahweh, to the Christians He is Jehovah, to the Muslims He is Allah. To all He is God, the supreme being. Some people think that God is the Brahman, or the formless and eternal manifestation of spiritual energy. They say everything is one and God is therefore everything and everything is therefore God. This is one conception of the Supreme described in more detail in the section about the three phases of the absolute truth, but the devotees of the Lord, called Vaishnavas, accept that Krishna is not only the Brahman but a person. We do not say that Krishna is a person like you or me, on the contrary, He is the supreme person who is all-powerful and unlimited, whereas we living entities are in every way, limited. Krishna is the infinite source of all living beings and we are His eternal infinitesimal parts and parcels. Krishna possesses qualities. He possesses all opulent qualities in the infinite degree. He is the most beautiful personality. Since He is the Supreme, He has the supreme form and personality. No one is more beautiful or attractive than He. Krishna attracts everyone. Therefore He is called Krishna, the all-attractive one. Except for the liberated souls, everyone in the material world is attracted by Cupid. But Krishna is so attractive that He not only attracts the liberated souls but He attracts Cupid as well. Krishna is the strongest personality. By His desire alone all the universes are created and destroyed by one portion of a portion of His personal form. He can do anything and everything as He likes. He has no limitations. Krishna is also the wealthiest person since all wealth in all worlds everywhere come from Him. Everything animate and inanimate within all creation is owned and controlled by the Lord, who is the actual proprietor of everything. One who knows this perfectly well never claims anything as his own but uses everything in the service of the Lord. Krishna is the most learned personality for He possesses all knowledge. As He describes in the Bhagavad-gita, "I know everything that has happened in the past, everything that is happening at present, everything that will happen in the future, and I know all living entities. But Me no one knows." There is nothing in existence outside of Krishna since everything is the energy of Krishna, and therefore there is nothing He cannot know at any time. He is also existing within the hearts of all living entities as the Supersoul and therefore He knows everything which they do or desire. No one is more famous than God. Although people of this world know Him in His different forms and names, everyone is aware of the Lord. Some know about Him by worshiping Him in love and service, and some know Him by negating His existence (the atheists) but everyone knows about God. Someone may be famous for some years on this Earth planet, but he certainly may not be known on other planets or at other historical times. Krishna, God, is known in all planets in all universes throughout all time. And finally, Krishna is the most renounced personality. He is not attached to anything in this world. The only thing which can bind Him is the loving devotional service of His devotees. And even then, if it will expand the devotee's love, He is capable of temporarily renouncing them as well as He did with the gopis in the famous rasa dance in Vrindavan. Sometimes God appears in this world just to show the people His original, eternal form. Sometimes He appears in other forms according to the requirements of His pastimes. More than 5,100 years ago, Krishna appeared in His original, transcendental form just to please His devotees, annihilate the miscreants, and reestablish the principles of religion. During this time on Earth, the Lord spoke Bhagavad-gita, which is one of the most famous books on this planet. In this literature, He gives the practical method to attain devotional service to His lotus feet. The perfection of life is to attain pure, loving devotional service to the Lord. This is the real goal of all living entities. When one is perfected after a life of pure service, often attained after many, many births and deaths of endeavoring to attain real knowledge, one becomes eligible to go back to the spiritual world, the eternal abode of the Lord, which is far beyond the material realm of birth, death, old age and disease.

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