Knowing Krsna as He Is 53

names of God are either parts of God or portions
of parts. The parts are called amsa, and the portions
of parts are called kalah. As living entities, we are
amsa, but we are very fragmental amsa. All others
are either amsa or kalah, but Krsna is bhagavan
svayam—the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Our prayers should be directed to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and none else. Therefore we
pray with Brahma:

cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vurksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam

laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the. first
progenitor, who is tending the cows, fulfilling all
desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surround-
ed by millions of wish-fulfilling trees, always served
with great reverence and affection by hundreds of
thousands of Laksmis, or gopis.”’ (Bs. 5.29)

Here Krsna is called the original person (adi-
purusam). We are all persons. Our father is a person,
and therefore we are persons. If we trace our
father’s father back, we will find that he was also a
person, and that his father was a person, and so on
all the way back to Lord Brahma, who was the first
created person in this universe. Then we will also
find that Lord Brahma’s father, Visnu, is also a
person. Everyone is a person, and Krsna is the su-
preme person. The impersonalists’ understanding of
