QUESTION: According to your words, Krishna = Jehovah. But I wonder why the same God said differently in India and Israel, respectively.
REPLY: In the Vedic tradition, God is called Bhagavan. Bhagavan was defined by the sage Parasara as the one who is the most beautiful, the richest, the wisest, the most famous, the strongest and the most renounced. Every living being has some of these characteristics, but when Lord Krishna advented on this earth, it was noted that He exhibited all these six opulences fully.
The Srimad Bhagavatam states that Krishna is the source of all incarnations., "O brahmanas, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water....All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Shri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead." (SB 1.3.28)
Lord Brahma in Brahma samhita also supports this: "Krishna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes."
And although Krishna is the source of the material world, simultaneously He is aloof. It is comparable to a first class king who doesn't need to supervise His kingdom directly. He has unlimited expansions to do that, such as Lord Brahma in charge as secondary creator.
Vyasadeva in Srimad Bhagavatam states, "O my Lord, Shri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Shri Krishna because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmäji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Shri Krishna, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth."
So if Jehovah in the Bible can match this criteria then, yes, we could equate Jehovah with Krishna.
I do not know the meaning of "Jehovah" and how it was revealed, but coming from the Bible, it must has something to do with the Lord in His various categories concerning the material manifestation
But although devotees love to hear about the Lord in all His various appearances and never tire of such recitations, they are naturally most attracted to the more intimate names of the Lord which involve His direct loving dealings with His devotees. In other words, the pastimes of Krishna acting as one's dependent child, best friend or lover are more personal than His activities of creation, maintenance, killing demons, directing a person from within the heart as Paramatma, etc. . When Krishna descends on earth to display His lilas, His personal expansion of Vishnu is always present; it is Vishnu who takes care of those matters.
It's like the difference between knowing (but often never meeting personally) someone who is in charge of an entire business corporation, or knowing him as your best buddy you hang with. With His pure devotees, Krishna kicks back and takes His crown off. He wears a peacock feather on his head.
He has a picnic with His friends on the bank of the Yamuna River each day.
He teases His girlfriends.
He steals butter from the neighbor's houses.
He steals butter from the neighbor's houses.
He's runs home to his loving mother:
It's a whole other mood, and He displays all the propensities of a human being which makes Him a bewilderment. Often in India therefore, Krishna's expansion of Lord Narayana is considered God Supreme, and Krishna is His incarnation instead of vice versa, because Lord Narayana fits the God -mode. He is four-armed and worshiped in awe and reverence and has attractive opulences.
Krishna, on the other hand, prefers simple village life amongst His cows and intimate associates. He is the source of Narayana. Nectar of devotion explains sixty transcendental qualities Lord Narayana and Krishna share, but Krishna has four more, which are not manifest even in the Narayana form of Godhead, what to speak of the demigods or other living entities. They are as follows. (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.
In the beginning of my life, I could not think of God as anything beyond "Father" or"Master" or "Lord", whom I am sometimes angry at. I still think this way but with increasing affection because one cannot jump to a higher platform artificially. There are rules and regulations to prevent this, from becoming a sahajiya or mundane sentimentalist. We must be invited by the Lord and gradually we will see how we can naturally overstep these boundaries. I came to realize that although I feel totally unqualified to love Krishna any other way, it is He who wants this. He wants intimacy. Scriptures state that He is not satisified with awe and reverence. The Lord once said to His devotee:
"My dear child, please give up this attitude of fearful respect that your reverence toward Me has produced in you. I do not so much like this sentiment in My devotees. Instead, just feel free to express your love for Me. When a devotee looks at Me without hesitaiton and speaks to Me affectionately, My pleasure grows with every new moment. Although I am eternally free from all limitations, such behavior binds Me with ropes of love. Although I am unconquerable, My devotees can conquer Me. And although I am subject to no one's control, I become their subordinate subject." (Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta)
This explains to the atheist why God does not appear at our demands. He is only controlled by love. In Gita Krishna says, "Only by loving devotional service may I be understood as I am. Only in this way can you see Me standing before you."
But the love for God being described in this post is considered very rare. Why? Because for most montheists, awe and reverence is fine and dandy. It is the general rule of all the spiritual planets called Vaikuntha ruled by Lord Narayana's unlimited eternal expansions. You love God, you visit with your family and friends His holy temple daily to sing His glories and view His lotus feet, He rules His kingdom like a loving father, etc. But the Supreme Planet of the Supreme Vishnu, Lord Krishna, on the other hand, is only revealed once in a day of Brahma whenever Lord Chaitanya makes His advent. It is Chaitanya's special contribution. Once one has even heard there is more than awe and reverence and becomes attracted, their spiritual path is never ever the same. One just can't settle for anything less and a special hankering for associating with those in higher relationships with Krishna develops. You want to personally be with Krishna always, and even a moment of separation feels like years are passing by.
It's a whole other mood, and He displays all the propensities of a human being which makes Him a bewilderment. Often in India therefore, Krishna's expansion of Lord Narayana is considered God Supreme, and Krishna is His incarnation instead of vice versa, because Lord Narayana fits the God -mode. He is four-armed and worshiped in awe and reverence and has attractive opulences.
Krishna, on the other hand, prefers simple village life amongst His cows and intimate associates. He is the source of Narayana. Nectar of devotion explains sixty transcendental qualities Lord Narayana and Krishna share, but Krishna has four more, which are not manifest even in the Narayana form of Godhead, what to speak of the demigods or other living entities. They are as follows. (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.
In the beginning of my life, I could not think of God as anything beyond "Father" or"Master" or "Lord", whom I am sometimes angry at. I still think this way but with increasing affection because one cannot jump to a higher platform artificially. There are rules and regulations to prevent this, from becoming a sahajiya or mundane sentimentalist. We must be invited by the Lord and gradually we will see how we can naturally overstep these boundaries. I came to realize that although I feel totally unqualified to love Krishna any other way, it is He who wants this. He wants intimacy. Scriptures state that He is not satisified with awe and reverence. The Lord once said to His devotee:
"My dear child, please give up this attitude of fearful respect that your reverence toward Me has produced in you. I do not so much like this sentiment in My devotees. Instead, just feel free to express your love for Me. When a devotee looks at Me without hesitaiton and speaks to Me affectionately, My pleasure grows with every new moment. Although I am eternally free from all limitations, such behavior binds Me with ropes of love. Although I am unconquerable, My devotees can conquer Me. And although I am subject to no one's control, I become their subordinate subject." (Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta)
This explains to the atheist why God does not appear at our demands. He is only controlled by love. In Gita Krishna says, "Only by loving devotional service may I be understood as I am. Only in this way can you see Me standing before you."
But the love for God being described in this post is considered very rare. Why? Because for most montheists, awe and reverence is fine and dandy. It is the general rule of all the spiritual planets called Vaikuntha ruled by Lord Narayana's unlimited eternal expansions. You love God, you visit with your family and friends His holy temple daily to sing His glories and view His lotus feet, He rules His kingdom like a loving father, etc. But the Supreme Planet of the Supreme Vishnu, Lord Krishna, on the other hand, is only revealed once in a day of Brahma whenever Lord Chaitanya makes His advent. It is Chaitanya's special contribution. Once one has even heard there is more than awe and reverence and becomes attracted, their spiritual path is never ever the same. One just can't settle for anything less and a special hankering for associating with those in higher relationships with Krishna develops. You want to personally be with Krishna always, and even a moment of separation feels like years are passing by.
