24
On the Way to Kṛṣṇa
In this verse Kṛṣṇa also points out that His descent into the material world is transcendental. The word  divyam  means transcendental. His activities are not in any way ordinary. Even today, in India, at the end of August the people are accustomed to celebrating Kṛṣṇa's birthday, regardless of sect, just as in the Western world Jesus Christ's birthday is celebrated at Christmas. Kṛṣṇa's birthday is called  Janmāṣṭamī , and in this verse Kṛṣṇa uses the word  janma  in referring to "My birth." Because there is birth, there are some activities. Kṛṣṇa's birth and activities are transcendental, which means they are not like ordinary births and activities. One may ask how it is that His activities are transcendental. He is born, He takes part in a battle with Arjuna, he has a father by the name of Vasudeva and a mother Devakī and a family—what can be considered transcendental? Kṛṣṇa says,  evam yo vetti tattvataḥ —we must know of His birth and activities in truth. When one knows of Kṛṣṇa's birth and activities in truth, the result is:  tyaktvā deham punar janma naiti mām eti so 'rjuna —when he leaves this material body, he is not born again but goes directly to Kṛṣṇa. This means that he becomes a liberated soul. He goes to the eternal spiritual world and attains his constitutional position full of bliss, knowledge and eternality. All this can be obtained simply by knowing in truth the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa's birth and activities.
Ordinarily when one quits the body he has to take up another body. The lives of the living entities are going on simply due to the living entities' changing dress from one body to another—transmigration of