The Attributes of Kṛṣṇa (10/13/13)

The Attributes of Kṛṣṇa (10/13/13)

Dear _____ Dāsī,

The liberated associates of Kṛṣṇa also share some of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental attributes but not all the attributes. So the 64 associates would not actually correspond to the 64 attributes.

The last 4 of Kṛṣṇa’s 64 attributes are only had by him and no others:

(61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes).
(62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead.
(63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute.
(64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation.

Fifty of the Lord’s qualities are shared in part and in full by some jīvas. These are as follows:

1) beautiful features of the entire body;
(2) marked with all auspicious characteristics;
(3) extremely pleasing;
(4) effulgent;
(5) strong;
(6) ever youthful;
(7) wonderful linguist;
(8) truthful;
(9) talks pleasingly;
(10) fluent;
(11) highly learned;
(12) highly intelligent;
(13) a genius;
(14) artistic;
(15) extremely clever;
(16) expert;
(17) grateful;
(18) firmly determined;
(19) an expert judge of time and circumstances;
(20) sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures;
(21) pure;
(22) self-controlled;
(23) steadfast;
(24) forbearing;
(25) forgiving;
(26) grave;
(27) self-satisfied;
(28) possessing equilibrium;
(29) magnanimous;
(30) religious;
(31) heroic;
(32) compassionate;
(33) respectful;
(34) gentle;
(35) liberal;
(36) shy;
(37) the protector of surrendered souls;
(38) happy;
(39) the well-wisher of devotees;
(40) controlled by love;
(41) all-auspicious;
(42) most powerful;
(43) all-famous;
(44) popular;
(45) partial to devotees;
(46) very attractive to all women;
(47) all-worshipable;
(48) all-opulent;
(49) all-honorable;
(50) the supreme controller.

Attributes/qualities 51 to 55 are shared with Demigods like Brahmā and Śiva:

(51) changeless;
(52) all-cognizant;
(53) ever fresh;
(54) sac-cid-ananda (possessing an eternal blissful body);
(55) possessing all mystic perfections.

Qualities 56 to 60 are shared with avatāras such as Nārāyaṇa:

(56) He has inconceivable potency.
(57) Uncountable universes generate from His body.
(58) He is the original source of all incarnations.
(59) He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills.
(60) He is the attractor of liberated souls.

And the last 4 are only possessed by Kṛṣṇa:

(61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes).
(62) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead.
(63) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute.
(64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation.

Additionally the number 64 in Vedic literature is used like 64 associates, 64 rounds japa, 64,000 disciples, etc. It is not always an exact number but often times just expresses that there were many.

As in today’s world I might say, “there were a million people at the surf event.” But actually that is only a figure of speech. So sometimes the number 64 is accurate as in the number of transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṇa but in other cases it may just be figurative. In any case there is not a direct correlation between Kṛṣṇa’s 64 qualities and his 64 associates.

Nice topic and more can be said on this topic for a future conversation if you can remember to ask me in a class or such.

SN