Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.24.45-46

snigdha-prāvrid-ghana-śyāmam

sarva-saundarya-sańgraham

cārv-āyata-catur-bāhu

sujāta-rucirānanam

padma-kośa-palāśāksham

sundara-bhru sunāsikam

sudvijam sukapolāsyam

sama-karna-vibhūshanam

SYNONYMS

snigdha — glistening; prāvrit — rainy season; ghana-śyāmam — densely cloudy; sarva — all; saundarya — beauty; sańgraham — collection; cāru — beautiful; āyata — bodily feature; catuh-bāhu — unto the four-armed; su-jāta — ultimately beautiful; rucira — very pleasing; ānanam — face; padma-kośa — the whorl of the lotus flower; palāśa — petals; aksham — eyes; sundara — beautiful; bhru — eyebrows; su-nāsikam — raised nose; su-dvijam — beautiful teeth; su-kapola — beautiful forehead; āsyam — face; sama-karna — equally beautiful ears; vibhūshanam — fully decorated.

TRANSLATION

The Lord's beauty resembles a dark cloud during the rainy season. As the rainfall glistens, His bodily features also glisten. Indeed, He is the sum total of all beauty. The Lord has four arms and an exquisitely beautiful face with eyes like lotus petals, a beautiful highly raised nose, a mind-attracting smile, a beautiful forehead and equally beautiful and fully decorated ears.

PURPORT

After the scorching heat of the summer season, it is very pleasing to see dark clouds in the sky. As confirmed in Brahma-samhitā: barhāvatamsam asitāmbuda-sundarāńgam. The Lord wears a peacock feather in His hair, and His bodily complexion is just like a blackish cloud. The word sundara, or snigdha, means "very pleasing." Kandarpa-koti-kamanīya. Krishna's beauty is so pleasing that not even millions upon millions of Cupids can compare to it. The Lord's form as Vishnu is decorated in all opulence; therefore Lord Śiva is trying to see that most opulent form of Nārāyana, or Vishnu. Generally the worship of the Lord begins with the worship of Nārāyana, or Vishnu, whereas the worship of Lord Krishna and Rādhā is most confidential. Lord Nārāyana is worshipable by the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, or regulative principles, whereas Lord Krishna is worshipable by the bhāgavata-vidhi. No one can worship the Lord in the bhāgavata-vidhi without going through the regulations of the pāñcarātrika-vidhi. Actually, neophyte devotees worship the Lord according to the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, or the regulative principles enjoined in the Nārada-pañcarātra. Rādhā-Krishna cannot be approached by the neophyte devotees; therefore temple worship according to regulative principles is offered to Lakshmī-Nārāyana. Although there may be a Rādhā-Krishna vigraha, or form, the worship of the neophyte devotees is acceptable as Lakshmī-Nārāyana worship. Worship according to the pāñcarātrika-vidhi is called vidhi-mārga, and worship according to the bhāgavata-vidhi principles is called rāga-mārga. The principles of rāga-mārga are especially meant for devotees who are elevated to the Vrindāvana platform.

The inhabitants of Vrindāvana — the gopīs, mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, the cowherd boys, the cows and everyone else — are actually on the rāga-mārga or bhāgavata-mārga platform. They participate in five basic rasas — dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya and śānta. But although these five rasas are found in the bhāgavata-mārga, the bhāgavata-mārga is especially meant for vātsalya and mādhurya, or paternal and conjugal relationships. Yet there is the vipralambha-sakhya, the higher fraternal worship of the Lord especially enjoyed by the cowherd boys. Although there is friendship between Krishna and the cowherd boys, this friendship is different from the aiśvarya friendship between Krishna and Arjuna. When Arjuna saw the viśva-rūpa, the gigantic universal form of the Lord, he was afraid for having treated Krishna as an ordinary friend; therefore he begged Krishna's pardon. However, the cowherd boys who are friends of Krishna in Vrindāvana sometimes ride on the shoulders of Krishna. They treat Krishna equally, just as they treat one another, and they are never afraid of Him, nor do they ever beg His pardon. Thus the rāga-mārga, or bhāgavata-mārga, friendship exists on a higher platform with Krishna, namely the platform of vipralambha friendship. Paternal friendship, paternal service and conjugal service are visible in the Vrindāvana rāga-mārga relationships.

Without serving Krishna according to the vidhi-mārga regulative principles of the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, unscrupulous persons want to jump immediately to the rāga-mārga principles. Such persons are called sahajiyā. There are also demons who enjoy depicting Krishna and His pastimes with the gopīs, taking advantage of Krishna by their licentious character. These demons who print books and write lyrics on the rāga-mārga principles are surely on the way to hell. Unfortunately, they lead others down with them. Devotees in Krishna consciousness should be very careful to avoid such demons. One should strictly follow the vidhi-mārga regulative principles in the worship of Lakshmī-Nārāyana, although the Lord is present in the temple as Rādhā-Krishna. Rādhā-Krishna includes Lakshmī-Nārāyana; therefore when one worships the Lord according to the regulative principles, the Lord accepts the service in the role of Lakshmī-Nārāyana. In The Nectar of Devotion full instructions are given about the vidhi-mārga worship of Rādhā-Krishna, or Lakshmī-Nārāyana. Although there are sixty-four kinds of offenses one can commit in vidhi-mārga worship, in rāga-mārga worship there is no consideration of such offenses because the devotees on that platform are very much elevated, and there is no question of offense. But if we do not follow the regulative principles on the vidhi-mārga platform and keep our eyes trained to spot offenses, we will not make progress.

In his description of Krishna's beauty, Lord Śiva uses the words cārvāyata-catur-bāhu sujāta-rucirānanam, indicating the beautiful four-armed form of Nārāyana, or Vishnu. Those who worship Lord Krishna describe Him as sujāta-rucirānanam. In the vishnu-tattva there are hundreds and thousands and millions of forms of the Supreme Lord, but of all these forms, the form of Krishna is the most beautiful. Thus for those who worship Krishna, the word sujāta-rucirānanam is used.

The four arms of Lord Vishnu have different purposes. The hands holding a lotus flower and conchshell are meant for the devotees, whereas the other two hands, holding a disc and mace, or club, are meant for the demons. Actually all of the Lord's arms are auspicious, whether they are holding conchshells and flowers or clubs and discs. The demons killed by Lord Vishnu's cakra disc and club are elevated to the spiritual world, just like the devotees who are protected by the hands holding the lotus flower and conchshell. However, the demons who are elevated to the spiritual world are situated in the impersonal Brahman effulgence, whereas the devotees are allowed to enter into the Vaikuntha planets. Those who are devotees of Lord Krishna are immediately elevated to the Goloka Vrindāvana planet.

The Lord's beauty is compared to rainfall because when the rain falls in the rainy season, it becomes more and more pleasing to the people. After the scorching heat of the summer season, the people enjoy the rainy season very much. Indeed, they even come out of their doors in the villages and enjoy the rainfall directly. Thus the Lord's bodily features are compared to the clouds of the rainy season. The devotees enjoy the Lord's beauty because it is a collection of all kinds of beauties. Therefore the word sarva-saundarya-sańgraham is used. No one can say that the body of the Lord is wanting in beautiful parts. It is completely pūrnam. Everything is complete: God's creation, God's beauty and God's bodily features. All these are so complete that all one's desires can become fully satisfied when one sees the beauty of the Lord. The word sarva-saundarya indicates that there are different types of beauties in the material and spiritual worlds and that the Lord contains all of them. Both materialists and spiritualists can enjoy the beauty of the Lord. Because the Supreme Lord attracts everyone, including demons and devotees, materialists and spiritualists, He is called Krishna. Similarly, His devotees also attract everyone. As mentioned in the Sad-gosvāmī-stotra: dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau — the Gosvāmīs are equally dear to the dhīra (devotees) and adhīra (demons). Lord Krishna was not very pleasing to the demons when He was present in Vrindāvana, but the six Gosvāmīs were pleasing to the demons when they were present in Vrindāvana. That is the beauty of the Lord's dealings with His devotees; sometimes the Lord gives more credit to His devotees than He takes for Himself. For instance, on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna fought simply by giving directions. Yet it was Arjuna who took the credit for fighting. Nimitta-mātram bhava savyasācin: "You, O Savyasācī [Arjuna], can be but an instrument in the fight." (Bg. 11.33) Everything was arranged by the Lord, but the credit of victory was given to Arjuna. Similarly, in the Krishna consciousness movement, everything is happening according to the predictions of Lord Caitanya, but the credit goes to Lord Caitanya's sincere servants. Thus the Lord is described herein as sarva-saundarya-sańgraham.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness