Category:Describing Krsna's Pastimes
Theme Analysis
The ultimate subject matter of all Vedic literature is the transcendental pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Texts like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the writings of the Six Gosvāmīs are overflowing with these descriptions, particularly detailing the Lord's intimate affairs in Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā. Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly emphasizes that these pastimes—such as Kṛṣṇa's sporting with the cowherd boys or His rāsa-līlā with the gopīs—are entirely spiritual and absolute. They are the highest expression of the Absolute Truth, relished exclusively by pure devotees through submissive aural reception.
A crucial distinction must be made between authorized descriptions and mundane poetry. Śrīla Prabhupāda warns that materialistic poets and fiction writers, whose minds are absorbed in sensuous subjects, are entirely unqualified to describe Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. When unauthorized, so-called Vaiṣṇavas (sahajiyās) attempt to describe the intimate affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa without understanding the science of Godhead, it leads to their spiritual falldown. To authentically describe or understand these pastimes, one must be a pure, unalloyed devotee acting under the direct mercy and empowerment of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the disciplic succession.
When received properly, the effect of hearing and describing Kṛṣṇa's pastimes is miraculous. Rather than stimulating material desires, authorized narrations of the Lord's intimate affairs—even His interactions with the gopīs—act as a potent medicine. They completely eradicate the disease of lusty desires from the heart of the sincere listener, nullify the agitation caused by the modes of material nature, and awaken profound, ecstatic love of Godhead.
- Transcendental Subject Matter: The pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa described in the revealed scriptures are absolute, spiritual, and the highest subject of meditation.
- The Qualification to Describe: Only pure, unalloyed devotees empowered by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the predecessor ācāryas can authentically describe Kṛṣṇa's pastimes.
- The Danger of Mundane Poetry: Materialistic writers and unauthorized persons who attempt to describe Kṛṣṇa's intimate pastimes fall into illusion and degrade the teachings of Vaiṣṇavism.
- The Cure for Lust: Submissively hearing and describing the authorized pastimes of the Lord completely eradicates material lust from the heart and awakens pure love of God.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Describing Kṛṣṇa's Pastimes - Beyond Mundane Poetry.
Pages in category "Describing Krsna's Pastimes"
The following 57 pages are in this category, out of 57 total.
A
- A materialistic poet who describes in his poetry the material activities of men and women cannot describe the transcendental pastimes of the Lord or the transcendental conclusions of devotional service
- All the transcendental pastimes of Krsna described in Srimad-Bhagavatam are relished by pure devotees through submissive aural reception. They do not reject even a drop
- Although you (Vyasadeva) are birthless, you have appeared on this earth for the well-being of all people. Please, therefore, describe the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna more vividly
- Always chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and reminding Sri Madhavendra Puri about the pastimes of Lord Krsna in the last stage of his life, Isvara Puri gave the best service among his disciples
- "And out of all songs, what song do you think is the best of all?" Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked. And Ramananda replied that any song which describes the pastimes of Radha and Krsna is the best song. In conditional life, the soul is captivated by sex
- Anyone who hears, recites or chants them surely gets all his spiritual desires fulfilled. Thus Krsna's childhood pastimes, His sporting with Balarama and the cowherd boys in Vrndavana, were described
B
- Because of Your (Caitanya's) causeless mercy toward Your devotees, You want to describe the transcendental pastimes in Vrndavana. Anyone empowered to do this can bring the entire world under Your influence
- Before leaving the land of cows, Vrndavana, the Lord (Krsna) pleased His young girl friends, the transcendental gopis, in His rasa-lila pastimes. Here Uddhava stopped his description of the Lord's activities
- By His (Krsna's) unlimited potencies He performs unlimited pastimes, and no one can describe them in full, nor can anyone know them all
H
- Henceforward, may all our (Nalakuvara's and Manigriva's) words describe Your (Krsna's) pastimes, may our ears engage in aural reception of Your glories - SB 10.10.38
- Here is that very P of G whose attractive and confidential pastimes are described in the confidential parts of Vedic literature by His great devotees. It is He only who creates, maintains and annihilates the material world and yet remains unaffected
I
- I (Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami) shall therefore enumerate the chief books compiled by Srila Rupa Gosvami. He has described the pastimes of Vrndavana in 100,000 verses
- In previous verses we have seen also that the Lord's engagement in the affairs of the forest fire was described along with His pastimes of punishing Kaliya, similarly the pastimes of the rasa dance and the killing of Sankhacuda are also described herein
- In the first part of the Laghu-bhagavatamrta descriptions of His (Krsna's) pastimes and expansions in svamsa (personal forms) and vibhinnamsa
- It is not at all possible to describe the unlimited pastimes of Sri Krsna, even though He Himself describes them in His incarnation of Sahasra-vadana, the thousand-mouthed Sesa Naga
L
- Let us talk about Bhagavad-gita, let us talk about Srimad-Bhagavatam or any book which is describing the transcendental name, fame, glory, quality, pastime of Lord Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness
- Lord Caitanya said to Rupa Gosvami: "Your exalted poetic descriptions of the mellows of Lord Krsna's pastimes are like an ocean of nectar. But why have you put in a false prayer about Me? It is like a drop of detestable alkali"
- Lord Sri Krsna performed this pastime of killing Aghasura during His kaumara age. How then, during His pauganda age, could the boys have described this incident as having happened recently - SB 10.12.41
O
- O Suta Gosvami, you are a learned & pure devotee of the Lord because the P of G is your chief object of service. Therefore please describe to us the pastimes of the Lord, which are above all material conception, for we are anxious to receive such messages
- One who has accepted the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as his life and soul can describe the pastimes of Lord Krsna or the pastimes of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
R
- Ramananda Raya quoted a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 10.12.11) in which Sukadeva Gosvami describes Lord Krsna's lunch with His friends in the forest
- Rupa Gosvami writes, "I think now it is certain that gradually the verses of the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, describing the pastimes of the Lord, will enter your ears and go into your heart"
S
- Sanandana said, "The Vedas personified describing His (Lord's) wonderful transcendental pastimes, exactly like servants of a king"
- Sometimes, even in the presence of Lord Krsna, they (the queens of Dvaraka) vividly described the pastimes they had enjoyed in the lake or river with Him. Some of such talk is described here
- Special natural appreciation of the descriptions of a particular pastime of Godhead indicates the constitutional position of a living entity
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested all His personal associates to bless Rupa Gosvami so that he might continuously describe the pastimes of Vrndavana, which are full of emotional love of Godhead
- Srila Vyasadeva described the pastimes of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vyasa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Vrndavana dasa
- Such descriptions of Krsna’s transcendental pastimes and activities were remembered by the gopis during His absence from Vrndavana. They give us some idea of how attractive Krsna is, not only to human beings but to all animate and inanimate objects
- Sukadeva Gosvami says, "King Ambarisa first of all concentrated his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and then engaged his speech in describing the pastimes and activities of the Lord"
- Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva, has described these pastimes of Krsna throughout Srimad-Bhagavatam. Hearing the descriptions, the devotees become mad with love of God
- Svarupa Damodara replied for Srila Rupa Gosvami, "He wanted to compose a drama about the pastimes of Lord Krsna. He planned to describe in one book both the pastimes of Vrndavana and those of Dvaraka and Mathura"
T
- The Bhagavatam deals exclusively with devotional service. Only one who studies Srimad-Bhagavatam in the spirit of renunciation can understand the pastimes of the Lord which are described in the Tenth Canto
- The description of the pastimes of Lord Krsna is so attractive that it automatically gives us an impetus to study repeatedly
- The discussions between them (Lord Caitanya and Ramananda) were on the highest level of love for Krsna. Some of these talks are described, but most of them could not be described. In Caitanya-caritamrta this has been compared to metallurgic examination
- The fact is fact. Just like when I am describing Krsna's lila. I am writing Krsna's life. So I cannot give up that portion of His life, when Krsna is actually kissing the gopis in rasa dance
- The fiction writers, poets and celebrated litterateurs are generally engaged in writing of sensuous subjects, but if they turn towards the service of the Lord they can describe the transcendental pastimes of the Lord
- The foolishness is going on that without understanding Krsna, there are so-called rascal foolish poets. They are describing Krsna's pastimes with Radharani. That is the cause of falldown of the so-called Vaisnavism
- The importance of Vedic evidence is stressed in the first part of Laghu-bhagavatamrta, and this is followed by a description of the original form of the S.P. of G as Sri Krsna and descriptions of His pastimes and expansions in svamsa and vibhinnamsa
- The Lalita-madhava is a description of Krsna's pastimes in Dvaraka. These pastimes were made into a drama, and the work was finished in the year 1459 Sakabda
- The Lalita-madhava is a description of Krsna’s pastimes in Dvaraka. These pastimes were made into a drama, and the work was finished in the year 1459 Sakabda
- The personified Vedas said, "You (the Supreme Lord) appear even as a historical personality of this material world, & Your pastimes are very nicely described in the Vedic literature. Such pastimes are as attractive as the ocean of transcendental bliss"
- The position of Maharaja Pariksit and Sukadeva Gosvami is unique. Maharaja Pariksit is the right person to hear about the transcendental pastimes of Krsna, and Sukadeva Gosvami is the right person to describe them
- There (in Krsna-sandarbha) are also descriptions of the equality of the manifest and unmanifest pastimes, Sri Krsna’s manifestation in Gokula, the queens of Dvaraka as expansions of the internal potency, and, superior to them, the superexcellent gopis
- These descriptions of Lord Krsna's pastimes with His cowherd boys, His eating with them on the bank of the Yamuna, and Lord Brahma's prayers unto Him are all transcendental subject matters
- This (the glorification of the holy name of God) is found in the Sixth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, an epic work by Vyasadeva describing the pastimes of Lord Krsna and elaborating on the philosophy of Krsna consciousness
- Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Krsna relish in every step descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord. BG 1972 purports
- Thus I, Krsnadasa, humbly try to describe the nectar of the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which are mixed with the pastimes of Lord Krsna
W
- When one hears or describes with great faith the pastimes of Lord Krsna, such as His rasa dance with the gopis, the disease of lusty desires in his heart and the agitation caused by the three modes of material nature are immediately nullified
- When Raghupati Upadhyaya was requested to describe Krsna, he began to recite some verses he had personally composed about Krsna's pastimes. Hearing those verses, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was overwhelmed with ecstatic love
- When the Lord, hearing with great pleasure, said, "Go on speaking! Go on speaking!" Srivasa Thakura described the rasa-lila dance, which is filled with transcendental mellows
- When Uddhava was describing Krsna's pastimes to Vidura, he said, "One day the gopis became stunned when Krsna, in the dress of a gardening maid, entered the greenhouse and enlivened them with joking and laughter"
- Wherever the Lord is present, all His (Krsna's) different pastimes as described in the revealed scriptures take place at regular intervals
- While Krsna and Balarama and Their friends were engaged in the pastimes described above, the cows, being unobserved, began to wander off on their own, entering farther and farther into the deepest part of the forest, allured by fresh grasses