View source for Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|Iswaraj}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|2017-04-25T17:25:18Z}}
{{last|2017-04-25T17:25:18Z}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=1|Lec=0|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|1}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:Ordinary Person]]
[[Category:Who Cannot]]
[[Category:Cannot Understand]]
[[Category:How]]
[[Category:Exalted]]
[[Category:Are]]
[[Category:Krsna's Bodily Features]]
[[Category:Simply]]
[[Category:Given The Chance]]
[[Category:By]]
[[Category:Material]]
[[Category:Comparison]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 21 - Qualities of Sri Krsna]]
</div>
<div id="section">
<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
</div>
<div id="sub_section">
<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
</div>
<div class="quote">
<div class="quote_heading">
Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison. It is said that Kṛṣṇa's face is as beautiful as the moon, His thighs are powerful, just like the trunks of elephants, His arms are just like two pillars, His palms are expanded like lotus flowers, His chest is just like a doorway, His hips are dens, and the middle of His body is a terrace.
</div>

<div class="quote_link">
[[Vanisource:NOD 21 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 21]]
</div>
<div class="text">
Besides these sixty transcendental qualities, Kṛṣṇa has four more, which are not manifest even in the Nārāyaṇa form of Godhead, not to speak of the demigods or living entities. They are as follows: 61) He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes (especially His childhood pastimes). 62) He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute. 63) He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead. 64) He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivalled anywhere in the creation.

Adding to the list these four exceptional qualities of Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that the aggregate number of qualities of Kṛṣṇa is sixty-four. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has attempted to give evidences from various scriptures about all sixty-four qualities present in the person of the Supreme Lord.

1. Beautiful Bodily Features

Any comparison of the different parts of the Lord's body to different material objects cannot factually be a complete comparison. Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison. It is said that Kṛṣṇa's face is as beautiful as the moon, His thighs are powerful, just like the trunks of elephants, His arms are just like two pillars, His palms are expanded like lotus flowers, His chest is just like a doorway, His hips are dens, and the middle of His body is a terrace.

2. Auspicious Characteristics

There are certain characteristics of different limbs which are considered to be very auspicious and are fully present in the body of the Lord. In this connection, one friend of Nanda Mahārāj, speaking about Lord Kṛṣṇa's auspicious bodily symptoms, said, "My dear King of the cowherds, I can find 32 auspicious symptoms on the body of your son! I am wondering how this boy could have taken his birth in the family of cowherd men." Generally, when Lord Kṛṣṇa appears He does so in a family of kṣatriyas (kings), as did Lord Rāmacandra, and sometimes in a family of brāhmaṇas. But Kṛṣṇa accepted the role of son to Mahārāj Nanda, despite the fact that Nanda belonged to the vaiśya community. The business of the vaiśya community is trade, commerce and the protection of cows. Therefore his friend, who may have been born into a brāhmaṇa family, expressed his wonder at how such an exalted child could take birth in a family of vaiśyas. Anyway, he pointed out the auspicious signs on the body of Kṛṣṇa to the boy's foster father.

He continued: "This boy has a reddish luster in seven places—His eyes, the ends of His hands, the ends of His legs, His palate, His lips, His tongue and His nails. A reddish luster in these seven places is considered to be auspicious. Three parts of His body are very broad: His waist, forehead and chest. Three parts of His body are short: His neck, thighs and genitals. Three parts of His body are very deep: His voice, intelligence and navel. There is highness in five parts of His body: His nose, arms, ears, forehead and thighs. In five parts of His body there is fineness—His skin, the hairs on His head and on the other parts of His body, His teeth and finger tips. The aggregate of all these bodily features are manifest only in the bodies of great personalities."

The fate lines on the palm are also considered to be auspicious bodily symptoms. In this connection, one old gopī informed King Nanda: "Your son possesses various wonderful fate lines on His palms. There are the signs of lotus flowers and wheels on His palms, and on His soles there are the signs of a flag, thunderbolt, fish, rod for controlling elephants and a lotus flower. Please observe how auspicious these signs are!"
</div>
</div>
</div>