Category:God's Playing
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, exhibits extraordinary and enchanting pastimes, often playing like an ordinary human being or a child to relish transcendental relationships with His pure devotees. Whether He is playing His flute to captivate the universe, crawling in the mud of Vṛndāvana, or playing the role of a perfect son, friend, or warrior, His actions are entirely spiritual and free from material contamination. Less intelligent persons misunderstand His playing, mistakenly thinking Him to be an ordinary person bound by karma. However, pure devotees understand that the Lord’s playful pastimes are the highest manifestation of His absolute nature, specifically intended to attract conditioned souls back to the spiritual world.
- Playing as a Perfect Human: Although the Lord is fully self-satisfied (ātmārāma), He descends to the material world and flawlessly plays the roles of a son, friend, or kṣatriya warrior to exchange love with His devotees.
- The Transcendental Cowherd Boy: In the spiritual land of Vṛndāvana, the Supreme Lord eternally plays with His cowherd boyfriends and calves, engaging in sweet, innocent childhood sports that bewilder the material mind.
- Bewildering the Less Intelligent: Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge deride the Lord when He plays like an ordinary child, failing to recognize the supreme, unlimited potency acting behind His charming pastimes.
- The Perfection of Meditation: The highest stage of yogic perfection, or samādhi, is not to meditate on a void, but to constantly absorb the mind in seeing Śrī Kṛṣṇa playing His flute and roaming the forests of Vṛndāvana.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Understanding the Supreme Nature of God's Playing.
Subcategories
This category has the following 5 subcategories, out of 5 total.
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Pages in category "God's Playing"
The following 54 pages are in this category, out of 54 total.
A
- After a short time passed, both brothers, Rama and Krsna, began to crawl on the ground of Vraja with the strength of Their hands and knees and thus enjoy Their childhood play - SB 10.8.21
- All the different incarnations of Lord Visnu have the right to play the roles of servitors of Lord Krsna by descending as devotees
- Another gopi said, "He is the only friend of the suffering living entities. When He plays His flute, all the cows and other animals of Vrndavana, although engaged in eating, simply take a morsel of food in their mouths and stop chewing"
- As a boy, He (Krsna) was playing the part of a cowboy. As the son of Nanda Maharaja, He discharged responsibility perfectly
- As confirmed in the prayers of Kunti (SB 1.8.19), nato natya-dharo yatha. The Lord was to play the part of a demon-killer, and a friend, son and brother to His devotees, and thus these devotees were all summoned
C
- Caitanya said, "Even though I do not see the moonlike face of Krsna as He plays on His flute, and although there is no possibility of My meeting Him, still I take care of My own body. That is the way of lust. In this way, I maintain My flylike life"
- Clear conception. The sastra, Brahma-samhita, clear description of God: venum kvanantam. He is playing on flute. It is not that the Muralidhara, Syamasundara, Krsna, has been imagined by some poet. No. It is described in the sastra
G
- God comes as Krsna or Kapiladeva and says, "Here I am. See My features. I am a person. I play the flute and enjoy Myself in Vrndavana. Why can't you see Me?" Thus God comes, explains Himself and leaves behind His instruction, Bhagavad-gita
- God has got many forms, but the original form is that playing on flute, curved in three places with barhavatamsam asitambuda-sundarangam, with a feather on the head. These are Vedic description of Krsna
- Gold is natural, and similarly God is natural. In His childhood pastimes, in the lap of His mother, He is God; while He is playing with His boyfriends, He is God; while He is dancing, He is God; while He is fighting at Kuruksetra
H
- He (God) plays exactly like the social, political or religious leaders. Because such roles ultimately culminate in the discussion of topics of the Lord, all such preliminary topics are also transcendental
- He (Krsna) is atmarama, self-satisfied; He can derive all pleasure by Himself, without anyone’s help. But when the Lord descends to play the part of a human being, He plays a role either as a husband, son, friend or enemy in full perfection
I
- If you continue that thinking, Krsna, how He's standing, how He is playing on flute, how Radharani is there - in this way, if you think, then you become the greatest yogi
- In the Bhakti-ratnakara it is said that Sri Krsna and Balarama used to play at Khela-tirtha with the cowherd boys during the entire day. Mother Yasoda had to call Them to take Their baths and eat Their lunch
- It was He (Krsna) who played the trick of taking away the brahmana's baby as well as the arrows, including the one given by Lord Siva, of which Arjuna was so proud
K
- Kindly describe how the Supreme Lord, who is all-powerful, engages His different energies and different expansions in maintaining and again winding up the phenomenal world in the sporting spirit of a player
- Krsna & Balarama, being attached to Their play, were playing with the other boys although it was very late. Therefore mother Yasoda called Them back for lunch. Because of her ecstatic love & affection for Them, milk flowed from her breasts - SB 10.11.14
- Krsna and Balarama passed Their childhood age in Vrajabhumi by engaging in activities of childish play, such as playing hide-and-seek, constructing a make-believe bridge on the ocean, and jumping here and there like monkeys - SB 10.11.59
- Krsna freely moves amongst His friends as a cowherd boy in Vrndavana, and when He plays His flute, all living creatures, mobile and immobile, become overwhelmed with ecstasy. They quiver, and tears flow from their eyes
- Krsna sometimes played with His intimate friends by engaging in fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball, sometimes by playing chess
- Ksatriya's business is to give protection. Just like Krsna was playing as a ksatriya in Dvaraka. As soon as there is some attack, immediately whole family goes to fight - Krsna, Balarama, Pradyumna
M
- Mother Yasoda requested Krsna, "Instead of being enthusiastic in playing, now please come and be enthusiastic in charity." - because it was Krsna's birthday
- Mother Yasoda told Krsna, "You should also be cleansed and decorated with nice dress and ornaments. Please, therefore, come back, take Your bath, dress Yourself nicely, and then again You may go on playing"
- Mother Yasoda told Krsna: My dear son, because of playing all day, Your body has become covered with dust and sand. Therefore, come back, take Your bath and cleanse Yourself - SB 10.11.18
N
- Nanda continued, "We remember Him (Krsna) playing in those places, because He was constantly visiting them. When His appearance within our minds becomes manifest, we immediately become absorbed in thought of Him"
- Not far away from Their residential quarters, both Krsna and Balarama, equipped with all kinds of playthings, played with other cowherd boys and began to tend the small calves - SB 10.11.38
S
- She (Mother Yasoda) concluded that she was either dreaming or seeing the play of the illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She thought that she had become mad, mentally deranged, to see all those wonderful things
- Since He had assumed the form of a boar, He began to search out the earth by smelling, just like a hog. The Lord can perfectly play the part of any living entity
- Sometimes Krsna and Balarama would play on Their flutes, sometimes They would throw ropes and stones devised for getting fruits from the trees, sometimes They would throw only stones - SB 10.11.39-40
- Sometimes, Their ankle bells tinkling, They (Krsna and Rama) would play football with fruits like bael and amalaki. Sometimes They would cover Themselves with blankets and imitate cows and bulls and fight with one another, roaring loudly - SB 10.11.39-40
T
- The elder gopis of Vrndavana were so absorbed in affection for Krsna that they wanted to save Him, although there was no need to, for He had already protected Himself. They could not understand Krsna was the Supreme Personality of God playing as a child
- The foolish with a poor fund of knowledge cannot know the transcendental nature of the forms, names and activities of the Lord, who is playing like an actor in a drama. Nor can they express such things, neither in their speculations nor in their words
- The less intelligent deride the Lord because He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being
- The Lord and His different authorized devotees sometimes have to play the role of many lower creatures to claim the conditioned souls, but both the Lord and His pure devotees are always in the transcendental position
- The Lord could have killed the demon at once, but He played with him in the same way as a child plays with a snake before killing it
- The Lord is omnipotent; simply by His will He can perform anything and everything. When the Lord appeared as Lord Krsna, He played the part of the son of Yasoda and Nanda, and He lifted the Govardhana Hill, although lifting a hill is not His concern
- The Lord is supremely perfect, and whenever He enacts His transcendental pastimes as a son, a rival or an object of enmity, He plays the part so perfectly that even pure devotees like Uddhava are bewildered
- The Personality of Godhead and His different incarnations and forms played the parts of devotees to instruct the conditioned souls how to approach the transcendental stage of devotional service
- The transcendental devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so ecstatic that even the Lord Himself plays the part of a devotee
- There is nothing impossible for the Personality of Godhead, and although He played the part of a boar, by the devotees He is worshiped, staying always in transcendence
- These were Brahma's questions: (1) What are the forms of the Lord both in matter and in transcendence? (2) How are the different energies of the Lord working? (3) How does the Lord play with His different energies
- This verse (of CC Adi-lila 6.64), quoted from Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 10.15.17), describes how Lord Krsna and Lord Balarama were playing with the cowherd boys after killing Dhenukasura in Talavana
- To discourage such imaginative speculation, He descends and exhibits Himself as He is, as Syamasundara. Unfortunately, the less intelligent deride Him because He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being. BG 1972 Introduction
W
- What is the difference between us and God, or Krsna? He is also living entity. Just like we see Krsna is playing on flute and He is enjoying the company of Radharani
- When an incarnation gives up the understanding of His Godhood and plays the part of a servitor, He enjoys a greater taste of transcendental mellows than when He plays the part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- When He (Krsna) was playing the part of a ksatriya as the son of Maharaja Vasudeva, He displayed all the skill of a martially spirited ksatriya
- When Krsna was playing in so many ways, sometimes it appeared that He caused distress to the gopis, but actually such dealings were full of transcendental bliss
- When the Lord (Krsna) descends on this material world by His all-merciful energy, He plays like a human being, and therefore it appears that the Lord is partial to His devotees only, but that is not a fact
- Without fear, the child Krsna was playing on the upper portion of Putana Raksasi's breast, and when the gopis saw the child's wonderful activities, they immediately came forward with great jubilation and picked Him up - SB 10.6.18