Verse 33

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 33:

अद्वैतम् अच्युतम् अनादिम् अनन्त-रूपम् आद्यं पुराण-पुरुषं नव-यौवनं च
वेदेषु दुर्लभम् अदुर्लभम् आत्म-भक्तौ गोविन्दम् आदि-पुरुषं तम् अहं भजामि

advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṃ purāṇa-puruṣaṃ nava-yauvanaṃ ca
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau govindam ādi-puruṣaṃ tam ahaṃ bhajāmi

aham bhajāmi—I perform bhajana; tam—of that; ādi-puruṣam govindam—primeval person, Śrī Govinda; advaitam—who has no second; acyutam—who is infallible; anādim—who is beginningless; ananta-rūpam—who possesses limitless forms; ādyam—who is the origin; purāṇa-puruṣam—who is the primeval person; navayauvanam ca—yet is ever-youthful; vedeṣu durlabham—whose tattva is difficult to determine through study of the Vedas; adurlabham—but is understood without difficulty; ātma-bhaktau—by His own devotional service.

“Although He is non-dual, infallible, beginningless, possessed of unlimited forms and the oldest of all, nevertheless He is a beautiful person with everlasting, fresh youthfulness. Although He is incomprehensible through study of the Vedas, He is easily attained by spontaneous devotion of the soul (śuddha-prema). I worship that original personality, Śrī Govinda.” (33)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s Ṭīkā commentary (bhāvānuvāda):

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

In the three verses beginning with this verse 33, Brahmājī confirms that Śrī Bhagavān is possessed of extraordinary and unique characteristics. Extremely learned personalities who are fully conversant with all philosophical principles say that the Supreme Absolute Truth is non-dual knowledge. He is the shelter of the impersonal effulgence known as Brahman and of the all-pervading Supersoul known as Paramātmā. The Vedas refer to Him as one without a second (ekam eva advitīyam), for no one is equal to or greater than Him. He has no material senses and He is not bound by the results of His activities. That supreme, transcendental reality is the fully independent, singular, non-dual, transcendental enjoyer, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

In regard to His being one without a second, it has been stated:

स्वयं त्व् असाम्यातिशयस् त्र्यधीशः स्वाराज्य-लक्ष्म्य्-आप्त-समस्त-कामः
बलिं हरद्भिश् चिर-लोक-पालैः किरीट-कोट्य्-एडित-पाद-पीठः

svayaṃ tv asāmyātiśayas tryadhīśaḥ svārājya-lakṣmy-āpta-samasta-kāmaḥ
baliṃ haradbhiś cira-loka-pālaiḥ kirīṭa-koṭy-eḍita-pāda-pīṭhaḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.2.21)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the original form of Bhagavān, is the master of three potencies (sandhinī, saṃvit and hlādinī ). No one is equal to or greater than Him. He is completely self-satisfied in His own intrinsic form of supreme, transcendental bliss. All the demigods such as Indra, Candra, Kuvera, Varuṇa, Brahmā and Śiva, and all the countless guardians of the world, such as the puruṣa-avatāras, offer various kinds of worship, presentations and obeisances, and they keep their heads, which are decorated with millions of crowns, at His lotus feet.

विस्मापनं स्वस्य च सौभगर्द्धेः परं पदं भूषण-भूषणाङ्गम्

vismāpanaṃ svasya ca saubhagarddheḥ paraṃ padaṃ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇāṅgam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.2.12)

His pastimes are wonderful for everyone, even for those who are proud of their own opulence, including the Lord Himself in His form as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. Thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body is the ornament of all ornaments.

From this verse it is understood that, in order to show the influence of His Yogamāyā, Bhagavān manifests His own form of eternity, knowledge and bliss in this world, which is composed of five gross elements. This form of Kṛṣṇa, which is just suitable for performing pastimes resembling the activities of ordinary mortal humans, is so beautiful and enchanting that even Kṛṣṇa Himself is thoroughly astonished upon seeing it. This svarūpa is the ultimate limit of extremely great fortune, and it is so beautiful that it beautifies the ornaments with which it is adorned. In other words, it is transcendental to all material comparisons.

Acyuta refers to one who never deviates from His own form, nature and occupation. In the Kāśī-khaṇḍa it has been stated: 

अतोऽच्युतोऽखिले लोके स एकः सर्वगो’व्ययः

ato'cyuto'khile loke sa ekaḥ sarvago’vyayaḥ

“His devotees do not fall down even at the time of the cosmic annihilation. Therefore, in all the worlds, only the all-pervading personality Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been called Acyuta.” 

Śrī Akrūra has also spoken about the subject of Acyuta-Kṛṣṇa in his prayers:

Aho! Today Kaṃsa has bestowed great mercy upon me, by which all inauspiciousness in my life has been vanquished. The lotus feet of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa have descended upon the surface of the Earth. Now my human birth has become successful, because today I will be able to bow down directly to those lotus feet, although they are the highest object of meditation for yogīs. In ancient times great liberated personalities such as Ambarīṣa, having attained just one glimpse of the radiance emanating from the nails of those lotus feet, have crossed over the insurmountable ocean of birth and death. Aho! The demigods headed by Brahmā and Śiva are possessed of all opulence, yet they never tire of worshiping those lotus feet, which the supremely fortunate Lakṣmī-devī worships incessantly, because they bestow all good fortune. Those lotus feet are also worshiped by the devotees and sages, because they bestow the ultimate success of life. And because they are an ocean of mercy, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boyfriends serve them with newer and newer feelings of deep love when He sports in the forest at the time of cow grazing. Those very same lotus feet are colored by the vermillion kuṅkuma powder from the breasts of the gopīs, who are full of the highest spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa (mahābhāva).

Similarly, in describing the glories of those lotus feet, Śrī Uddhavajī has said:

या वै श्रियार्चितम् अजादिभिर् आप्त-कामैर्
योगेश्वरैर् अपि यद् आत्मनि रास-गोष्ठ्याम्
कृष्णस्य तद् भगवतश् चरणारविन्दं
न्यस्तं स्तनेषु विजहुः परिरभ्य तापम्

yā vai śriyārcitam ajādibhir āpta-kāmair
  yogeśvarair api yad ātmani rāsa-goṣṭhyām
kṛṣṇasya tad bhagavataś caraṇāravindaṃ
  nyastaṃ staneṣu vijahuḥ parirabhya tāpam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.47.62)

The lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa are served by Lakṣmī-devī, the goddess of fortune, and are worshiped in the heart by the self-satisfied masters of mystic yoga headed by Brahmājī. Yet at the time of the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs of Vṛndāvana relieved the burning of their hearts by directly embracing those lotus feet to their breasts.

The glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet have been described in this way throughout the scriptures.

Similarly, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental abode is also beyond this world, beyond the illusory energy and beyond the three modes of material nature. For instance, Bhagavān gave Nanda Mahārāja and all the Vrajavāsīs a vision of the spiritual abode of Vaikuṇṭha, which is transcendental to material nature. That abode is supramundane, composed of conscious spiritual energy, indivisible, real, self-luminous, eternal and the embodiment of truth. The great sages who have attained a state beyond the three modes of material nature are incapable of seeing the abode of Kṛṣṇa even in their pure trance. On seeing the personified Vedas offering reverent prayers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in that world, Nanda and the Vrajavāsīs were utterly astonished.

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has explained the meaning of advaita and acyuta in this verse recited by Brahmājī, and now he comments on the word anādi. In the discussion regarding sāṅkhya found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.24.27), the verse kālo māyāmaye jīve states that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the origin of that which has no origin. He remains present in one svarūpa throughout the creation, maintenance and annihilation. Even at the time that Brahmā and Śaṅkara cease to exist, Bhagavān alone remains present. Although the universe is eventually destroyed, He remains absorbed in His eternal pastimes with His eternal associates in His eternal abode. Therefore, there is never a time when He is not present.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.24.22–27), the annihilation has been described thus: 

“At the time of the cosmic annihilation, the mortal bodies of the living entities enter into grains, grains enter into seeds, seeds into the earth, earth into fragrance, fragrance into water, water into the sense-object taste, taste into fire, fire into form, form into air, air into touch, touch into space, and space into the sense-object sound. All the senses enter their respective presiding demigods, the demigods enter into the controlling mind, mind enters into false ego, sound enters the tamasic phase of false ego, all the three modes of false ego enter into the mahat-tattva, the mahat-tattva enters into the modes of material nature, the modes of material nature enter into the predominated principle (prakṛti), the predominated principle (prakṛti) enters into time, time enters into Bhagavān who is the controller of māyā, and finally enters into Me. However, My svarūpa, which is the cause of creation, maintenance and annihilation, is never absent at any time.”

Śrī Kṛṣṇa has also been described as the oldest person in the following way:

{DEV}

ekas tvam ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ. 

Brahmājī said, 

“O Bhagavān, You are the only truth, because You are Paramātmā, and You are separate from this world of misleading appearances. You are the root cause of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the universe. You are the oldest person, and You are eternal, perfect, complete and unchanging. You are the embodiment of nectar, composed of eternal bliss, and free from all mundane designations and the qualities of the illusory energy. You are pure, endless, indivisible and non-dual.”

The Yadu wives of Mathurā said (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.44.13):

गूढः पुराण-पुरुषो वन-चित्र-माल्यह्

gūḍhaḥ purāṇa-puruṣo vana-citra-mālyah

This Kṛṣṇa is the eternal and primeval personality, whose lotus feet are worshiped by Brahmā, Śaṅkara and Lakṣmī-devī. 

अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिम् आपन्नं मन्यन्ते माम् अबुद्धयः

Avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ

“You are unknown to ignorant people who harbor the misconception that the formless, undifferentiated, unmanifest Brahman has manifested separately by the knowledge function of the illusory potency, and has descended to this world in Nanda-bhavana in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.”

Therefore You are confidential. Your original form is decorated with a wonderful garland of forest flowers, and You perform many varieties of pleasing pastimes while playing on Your flute and grazing cows along with Baladeva.

This is the meaning of primeval personality (purāṇa-puruṣa).It has also been mentioned in the śruti that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ever-fresh adolescent form is the eternal form in which He is forever situated. Although He is the oldest, He is eternally young.

It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.44.14):

गोप्यस् तपः किम् अचरन् यद् अमुष्य रूपं
लावण्य-सारम् असमोर्ध्वम् अनन्य-सिद्धम्
दृग्भिः पिबन्त्य् अनुसवाभिनवं दुरापम्
एकान्त-धाम यशसः श्रिय ऐश्वरस्य

gopyas tapaḥ kim acaran yad amuṣya rūpaṃ
  lāvaṇya-sāram asamordhvam ananya-siddham
dṛgbhiḥ pibanty anusavābhinavaṃ durāpam
  ekānta-dhāma yaśasaḥ śriya aiśvarasya

Aho! What kind of austerities did the gopīs perform to be able to constantly drink the unequaled and unsurpassed sweetness of His bodily beauty, which is newer and newer at every moment? The gopīs directly see with their own eyes the very rare and ever-fresh loveliness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s form, which is the essence of all luster, and is the unrivaled, exclusive reservoir of independently perfect fame, beauty and opulence. When He begins to laugh, the makaras haped ornaments adorning His two charming ears cast sparkling reflections that play with astonishing beauty upon His two cheeks. With His form and qualities He attracts the hearts, minds and lives of all pure devotees.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.16.26–30) Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s qualities are described thus:

सत्यं शौचं दया क्षान्तिस् त्यागः सन्तोष आर्जवम्
शमो दमस् तपः साम्यं तितिक्षोपरतिः श्रुतम्
ज्ञानं विरक्तिर् ऐश्वर्यं शौर्यं तेजो बलं स्मृतिः
स्वातन्त्र्यं कौशलं कान्तिर् धैर्यं मार्दवम् एव च
प्रागल्भ्यं प्रश्रयः शीलं सह ओजो बलं भगः
गाम्भीर्यं स्थैर्यम् आस्तिक्यं कीर्तिर् मानोऽनहङ्कृतिः
एते चान्ये च भगवन् नित्या यत्र महा-गुणाः
प्रार्थ्या महत्त्वम् इच्छद्भिर् न वियन्ति स्म कर्हिचित्
तेनाहं गुण-पात्रेण श्री-निवासेन साम्प्रतम्
शोचामि रहितं लोकं पाप्मना कलिनेक्षितम्

satyaṃ śaucaṃ dayā kṣāntis tyāgaḥ santoṣa ārjavam
śamo damas tapaḥ sāmyaṃ titikṣoparatiḥ śrutam
jñānaṃ viraktir aiśvaryaṃ śauryaṃ tejo balaṃ smṛtiḥ
svātantryaṃ kauśalaṃ kāntir dhairyaṃ mārdavam eva ca
prāgalbhyaṃ praśrayaḥ śīlaṃ saha ojo balaṃ bhagaḥ
gāmbhīryaṃ sthairyam āstikyaṃ kīrtir māno'nahaṅkṛtiḥ
ete cānye ca bhagavan nityā yatra mahā-guṇāḥ
prārthyā mahattvam icchadbhir na viyanti sma karhicit
tenāhaṃ guṇa-pātreṇa śrī-nivāsena sāmpratam
śocāmi rahitaṃ lokaṃ pāpmanā kalinekṣitam

Bhagavān Śrī Hari has unlimited qualities, some of which are being described here simply to afford us a glance in the direction of His excellence. (1) His words are true. (2) He is pure. (3) He is unable to tolerate the distress of others. (4) He protects those who are unconditionally surrendered to Him. (5) He is the friend of the devotees. (6) His consciousness is equipoised even when there is cause to be angry. (7) He is generous. (8) He naturally feels satisfied. (9) He is simple-hearted. (10) His activities are auspicious for everyone because He is the well-wisher of all. (11) His mind is steady and not prone to attachment and aversion. (12) He is firmly avowed toward favorable subjects. (13) He controls the external senses. (14) When He descends and performs pastimes as a kṣatriya or a member of any other caste, He adheres responsibly to the appropriate principles of religious conduct. (15) He is equally disposed to friends and enemies. (16) He tolerates great offenses committed against Him. (17) He is indifferent to things that are ordinarily most desirable. (18) He abides by the injunctions of the scriptures. (19) He possesses five types of knowledge, namely that which pertains to direct sense perception of gross phenomena (pratyakṣa), to Svarga (parokṣa), to the unmanifest, formless Brahman (aparokṣa), to Vaikuṇṭha (adhokṣaja) and to Goloka Vṛndāvana (aprākṛta). (20) He is intelligent. (21) He is grateful for services rendered by others. (22) He is an expert judge of time, place and persons, and He acts accordingly. (23) He is omniscient. (24) He is self-realized. (25) He is the controller of all opulence. (26) He is enthusiastic in battle. (27) He is influential. (28) He can subdue others by His influence. (29) He is expert in quickly accomplishing that which is ordinarily impossible. (30) He can ascertain what kind of duty should be performed in any particular situation. (31) His mind is never agitated. (32) He is not dependent on others. (33) He is expert in all activities. (34) He can accomplish many activities at the same time. (35) He is expert in all arts. (36) His limbs are beautiful. (37) His color, taste, fragrance, touch and sound are beautiful. (38) His adolescence is beautiful. (39) He is attractive to all women. (40) He is patient. (41) His heart melts with prema. (42) He is controlled only by love. (43) His bold speech is remarkably witty. (44) He is an eloquent speaker. (45) He is gentle. (46) He is bashful when He thinks someone has detected His amorous affairs, or when others glorify Him. (47) He offers appropriate respect to all. (48) His words are sweet and pleasing. (49) His natural disposition is charming. (50) He is partial to the sādhus. (51) He is sharp-witted. (52) His knowledgeacquiring senses are acute. (53) His working senses are dexterous. (54) He is the abode of all enjoyment. (55) He is always happy. (56) He possesses all opulence. (57) It is very difficult to understand His intentions. (58) He is immovable. (59) He sees through the eyes of scripture. (60) He is famous for His sterling qualities. (61) He is the object of love and attachment for everyone. (62) He is worshipable for everyone. (63) He is devoid of pride, despite being worshiped by everyone. (64) He is possessed of brahminical qualities. (65) All mystic powers are under His control. (66) He is the concentrated embodiment of eternal existence, consciousness and bliss. (67) Some qualities, such as satisfaction, are also found in devotees, karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs. However, all such qualities are present only in a common way, whereas in Bhagavān they are fully present to the ultimate extent. Therefore all these qualities are transcendental, fully spiritual and inherent in His very nature. (69) Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s qualities, pastimes, associates, transcendental abode, devotees and paraphernalia are all eternal, supramundane and complete. Therefore the qualities that the ordinary living entities cannot possibly possess are all present only in Bhagavān. For example: (70) His avowed intention becomes reality. (71) He is the controller of māyā. (72) He is situated in pure goodness (viśuddha-sattva). (73) He is the maintainer of the universe. (74) He awards salvation to the enemies killed by Him. (75) He attracts even the self-satisfied liberated souls. (76) He is served by the demigods such as Brahmā and Śiva. (77) He is equipped with unlimited, inconceivable potency. (78) His beauty is eternally increasing in freshness at every moment. (79) He is the predominating deity of māyā in the form of the puruṣa-avatāra. (80) He is the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the universes. (81) He is the source of all incarnations. (82) Unlimited universes are situated in the pores of His skin. (83) He is complete with the aggregate of all inconceivable energies in His forms such as Vāsudeva and Nārāyaṇa. (84) In His original form as Śrī Kṛṣṇa He can bestow mukti and even bhakti upon His enemies. (85) His form is so sweet that it astonishes even Himself. (86) Unlimited qualities are eternally present in Bhagavān, such as bestowing boundless joy upon an unconscious substance in His proximity.

This type of description is found in both Brahmājī’s meditation on one pastime in a single location (mantramayī-upāsanā), and also in his broader meditation.

In the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad it has been stated: 

गोप-वेशम् अब्भ्राभं तरुणं कल्प-द्रुमाश्रितम्

gopa-veśam abbhrābhaṃ taruṇaṃ kalpa-drumāśritam

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is dressed as a cowherd boy, whose divine luster resembles the hue of a raincloud, who is a fresh youth and who is seated at the foot of a desire tree, has been called Gopāla.” 

Here the word taruṇa indicates His everyouthful personal form, which is the storehouse of elegance and beauty.

By the phrase vedeṣu durlabham in this verse 33, Brahmājī has explained that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is very difficult to comprehend even for the personified Vedas, what to speak of the adherents of Vedic paths such as karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs. 

This is confirmed in the statement of Śrī Uddhava (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.61):

“The śrutis have become exhausted by continually searching for the lotus feet of Mukunda, and they are still searching to this very day for those lotus feet, which the gopīs of Vṛndāvana have already attained.”

Similarly, Brahmājī also stated (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.34): 

अद्यापि यत् पद-रजः श्रुति-मृग्यम् एव

adyāpi yat pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva

“Motivated by an intense greed to attain the dust of His lotus feet, the śrutis are still performing austerities to this very day.”

Although Yaśodā-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa is inaccessible to the karmīs and yogīs, He is easily accessible through the love of His devotees:

भक्त्याहम् एकया ग्राह्यः

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ

“He is attained only through devotion.”

In this regard Bhagavān has also said (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.21):

“O Uddhava, bhakti is the powerful method of attaining Me. I am completely controlled by that devotion, but I am never controlled by yoga, philosophical deliberation, adherence to religious principles, meticulous study of the Vedas, austerities, giving charity, nor by any other method. I am the Supersoul in everyone’s heart, and I am easily attained by the sādhus alone, not by anyone else. This is because they have unadulterated and undivided devotion, which is born of their unflinching faith in Me. This type of exclusive devotion has the power to purify even a member of the caste of dog-eaters. However, all qualities such as truthfulness, mercy, observing silence, following scriptural injunctions, austerities and the cultivation of knowledge definitely cannot purify the heart of a human being who is devoid of bhakti unto Me.”

Brahmājī has declared (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.5): 

पुरेह भूमन् बहवोऽपि योगिनः

pureha bhūman bahavo'pi yoginaḥ

“O indivisible one! O Acyuta! There were many yogīs in this world in ancient times who, being unable to attain success in the path of yoga, began to perform their worldly and religious duties as an offering unto Your lotus feet. As a result of this, they began to practice bhakti in the form of hearing and chanting the narrations of Your glories. Thus they realized the essential reality of the self without any extraneous endeavor, and without difficulty they attained the excellent destination of becoming Your associates.”

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura (tātparya):

The word advaita denotes the non-dual, undivided principle; He remains undivided, although the radiance of His limbs comprises the endless brahmajyoti, and the Supreme Lord in the form of Paramātmā in countless millions of expansions is His partial manifestation. Acyuta means that He remains full and complete, although there are billions of incarnations who are His personal expansions, and although unlimited millions of living entities emanate from Him as His separated expansions. Although He exhibits the pastime of being born, He actually Has no beginning. Although He winds up His manifest pastimes in this world, He is endless. Although He is without a beginning, He also has an origin, because He performs pastimes such as being born in His prakaṭa-līlā. Although he is the primordial personality, He is also the embodiment of fresh youthfulness. The purport is that although all kinds of contradictory qualities co-exist within Him, all compatible qualities as well as mutually incompatible qualities are reconciled by His inconceivable potency. This is the nature of transcendence and its distinction from mundane material characteristics.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s utterly enchanting, threefold-bending personal form as Śyāmasundara is eternally in the bud of youth. It is beyond the confines of time and space and the mundane defects of the illusory energy. He exists splendidly in the transcendental, spiritual abode, where time is in the pure present, devoid of past and future. In the material world, there is a distinction between substances and their qualities. This distinction allows material substances to sometimes take on various qualities, and to sometimes become bereft of particular qualities, but this distinction is absent from the transcendental realm. Therefore, the qualities of the inert universe are all simultaneously present, reconciled, harmonious and purposeful in the transcendental world, although they seem to be mutually contradictory in the estimation of intelligence that is covered by the experience of māyā’s time, place and person. How can the living entity under the influence of the illusory energy realize the spiritual existence when he has no comparable experience?

The conditioned soul’s knowledge is always polluted by the defects of material time and space, and therefore he is helpless in the matter of renouncing his mundane conception. If the conditioned soul is incapable of understanding the spiritual substance by the faculty of knowledge, then by which faculty can one realize the specific nature of the aforementioned pure spiritual substance? In answer to this question, Brahmājī has said, “Transcendental affairs are incomprehensible even for the Vedas, for the Vedas are based on sound, which is material. Thus they cannot give us direct experience of the supramundane Goloka. Only when the Vedas are infused with the transcendental knowledge potency (saṃvit-śakti) can they say something about transcendental affairs.”

However, when that knowledge potency, combined with the essence of the transcendental pleasure potency (hlādinī-śakti), is manifest in the living entities in the form of bhakti, then realization of the essential reality of Goloka becomes possible. The bliss function of bhakti is endless and unlimited, and is by nature full of pure transcendental knowledge. When knowledge attains oneness with the function of bhakti—that is to say, when it does not express an identity separate from bhakti—at that time it bestows perception of the essential reality of Goloka.