Text 57] Brahmā Stealing the Boys and Calves
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is the lubrication,” and so on. Similarly, as explained in the  Vedas ,
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
Kṛṣṇa’s power is variegated, and thus the same  śakti , or potency, works in variegated ways.  Vividhā  means “varieties.” There is unity in variety. Thus  yogamāyā  and  mahāmāyā  are among the varied individual parts of the same one potency, and all of these individual potencies work in their own varied ways. The  saṁvit ,  sandhinī  and  āhlādinī  potencies—Kṛṣṇa’s potency for existence, His potency for knowledge and His potency for pleasure—are distinct from  yogamāyā . Each is an individual potency. The  āhlādinī  potency is Rādhārāṇi. As Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has explained,  rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt  (Cc.  Ādi  1.5). The  āhlādinī-śakti  is manifested as Rādhārāṇi, but Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇi are the same, although one is potent and the other is potency.
Brahmā was mystified about Kṛṣṇa’s opulence ( nija-mahimani ) because this opulence was  atarkya , or inconceivable. With one’s limited senses, one cannot argue about that which is inconceivable. Therefore the inconceivable is called  acintya , that which is beyond  cintya , our thoughts and arguments.  Acintya  refers to that which we cannot contemplate but have to accept. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has said that unless we accept  acintya  in the Supreme, we cannot accommodate the conception of God. This must be understood. Therefore we say that the words of  śāstra  should be taken as they are, without change, since they are beyond our arguments.  Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet : “That which is  acintya  cannot be ascertained by argument.” People generally argue, but our process is not to argue but to accept the Vedic knowledge as it is. When Kṛṣṇa says, “This is superior, and this is inferior,” we accept what He says. It is not that we argue, “Why is this superior and that inferior?” If one argues, for him the knowledge is lost.
This path of acceptance is called  avaroha-panthā . The word  avaroha  is related to the word  avatāra , which means “that which descends.” The materialist wants to understand everything by the  āroha-panthā —by argument and reason—but transcendental matters cannot be understood in this way. Rather, one must follow the  avaroha-panthā , the process of