Verse 1.2.25

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.2.25:

কৃষ্ণ-বর্ণং ত্বিষাকৃষ্ণং সাঙ্গোপাঙ্গাস্ত্র-পার্ষদম্ যজ্ঞৈঃ সঙ্কীর্তন-প্রাযৈর্ যজন্তি হি সু-মেধসঃ ॥ ২৫ ॥

कृष्ण-वर्णं त्विषाकृष्णं साङ्गोपाङ्गास्त्र-पार्षदम् यज्ञैः सङ्कीर्तन-प्रायैर् यजन्ति हि सु-मेधसः ॥ २५ ॥

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṃ tviṣākṛṣṇaṃ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ || 25 ||

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah (25)

English translation:

(25) In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons, and confidential companions.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The word tviṣā refers to He whose color is not blackish; in other words, He whose luster is golden. Intelligent persons worship this Lord. “Your son Kṛṣṇa appears as an incarnation in every millennium. In the past, He assumed three different colors—white, red and yellow—and now He has appeared in a blackish color.” In these words spoken by Gargamuni to Nanda Mahārāja in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.8.13) it is proved that apart from white, red, and black, the Lord also appears with a yellow or golden complexion. The word idānīṃ, or “now,” in this verse indicates that the Lord has accepted a blackish color in His present incarnation. It is understood from this statement that the Lord appeared in Dvāpara-yuga in a blackish complexion and that He had previously appeared in the Satya-yuga and Tretā-yuga with white and red complexions. The word pīta, or golden, is used in the past tense to confirm that the Lord had appeared with a golden complexion in previous Kali-yugas.

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa will be fully glorified in this book (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam), so in order to confirm that all incarnations are included in Kṛṣṇa, He was also known as the yuga-avatāra. Whenever Lord Kṛṣṇa appears in Dvāpara-yuga, Lord Gaurasundara appears in the immediately following Kali-yuga. From this statement it is concluded that Śrī Gaurasundara is Himself Lord Kṛṣṇa, because there has never been an exception. The fact

that Śrī Gaurasundara is Himself Lord Kṛṣṇa is being disclosed by the author by his use of the following adjectives.

The word kṛṣṇa-varṇa indicates one who possesses the two syllables kṛ and ṣṇa. In other words, He whose name, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanyadeva, includes these two syllables, kṛ and ṣṇa (the Supreme Personality of Godhead). In his commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.3.3), Śrīdhara Svāmī has explained that of the words śriyaḥ savarṇena, śriyaḥ means “of Śrī or of Rukmiṇī,” and savarṇena refers to one who possesses the two equal syllables ru and kmī. Such dual meanings are found in various places within the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

Alternatively, the word kṛṣṇa-varṇa means “one who describes Kṛṣṇa.” In other words, He personally chants the holy names while remembering His own ecstatic spiritual pastimes, and He mercifully instructs everyone about His holy names.

Alternatively, although He is personally a-kṛṣṇa, or golden, He is nevertheless tviṣā, or lustrous. In other words, He distributes the holy names of Kṛṣṇa to everyone by His sweet beauty; or in other words, everyone becomes Kṛṣṇa consciousness by seeing Him.

Alternatively, although Śrī Kṛṣṇa appears as Gaura, in the eyes of His devotees He is tviṣā, or of lustrous blackish complexion. In other words, He is seen by His devotees as Śrī Śyāmasundara. Therefore Śrī Gaurasundara is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, or, in other words, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has personally appeared as Śrī Gaurasundara. Therefore the conclusion is that Śrī Gaurasundara is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself.

The supremacy of Śrī Gaurasundara is established by the words sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. In other words, the Lord appears with His aṅga, upāṅga, astra, and pārṣada—His limbs, decorations, weapons, and associates. (This term has been used in karma-dhāraya, an appositional compound. According to Śrīla Vyāsadeva the aṅgas of the Lord are also called upāṅgas, astras, and pārṣadas.) Since the limbs of the Supreme Lord are most enchanting, they are known as decorations; since the limbs of the Supreme Lord are most powerful, they are known as weapons; and

since the limbs of the Supreme Lord always remain with the Lord, they are called associates of the Lord. Many great personalities have seen this form of the Lord. This is a well-known fact among the residents of West Bengal, Orissa, and Bangladesh. Another meaning of this phrase is that the Lord has appeared along with His most powerful devoted companions, like Śrīmad Advaita Ācārya, who are counted as aṅgas, upāṅgas, and astras of the Lord.

By which processes do the devotees worship Śrī Gaurasundara? In answer to this, it is explained that people worship Him by sacrifice. The evidence of this fact is the statement of the demigods in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.19.24): na yatra yajñeśa-makhā mahotsavāḥ—“where there are no festivals of saṅkīrtana-yajña to satisfy the Lord.” The use of the adjective saṅkīrtana-prāyair is a confirmation of accepting this sacrifice as the means of attaining perfection. The word saṅkīrtana refers to a large gathering of people chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. The process of saṅkīrtana-yajña, or congregational glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which is prominently displayed by devotees of the Lord, is thus concluded to be the process of attaining perfection.

In the Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma of the Mahābhārata (Dāna-dharma 149.92, 75) the following characteristics of the Lord (Śrī Gaura) are described: suvarṇa-varṇaḥ—He whose body is the color of gold; hema-aṅgaḥ—He whose body is like molten gold; sutham—He whose body is most beautiful; candana-balai-yukta—He whose body was smeared with sandalwood; sannyāsa-līlā-avinaya-kari—He who practices the renounced order of life; śama-guna-yukta—He who is equipoised; and śāntaḥ—He who is peaceful. Śrī Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, the crest jewel amongst learned scholars, also described this subject matter (the appearance of Gaura) in the following verse: “Let my consciousness, which is like a honeybee, take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has just now appeared as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach the ancient system of devotional service to Himself. This system had almost been lost due to the influence of time.” (Jīva

Gosvāmī’s Krama-sandarbha and Sarva-saṃvādinī)