Text 32] The Hamsa-guhya Prayers 231

iSvarah paramah krsnah
sac-cid-Gnanda-vigrahah
andadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

“Krsna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an
eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other
origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.”” The conception of the
Absolute without hands and legs and the conception of the Absolute with
hands and legs are apparently contradictory, but they both coincide with
the same truth about the Supreme Absolute Person. Therefore the word
vastu-nisthayoh, which is used herein, indicates that both the yogis and
Sankhyites have faith in the reality, but are arguing about it from the
different viewpoints of material and spiritual identities. Parabrahman,
or brhat, is the common point. The Sankhyites and yogis are both situ-
ated in that same Brahman, but they differ because of different angles of
vision.

The directions given by the bhakti-sdstra point one in the perfect
direction because the Supreme Personality of Godhead says in
Bhagavad-gita, bhaktya mam abhijanati: “Only by devotional service
am I to be known.” The bhaktas know that the Supreme Person has no
material form, whereas the jfdnis simply deny the material form. One
should therefore take shelter of the bhakti-marga, the path of devotion;
then everything will be clear. Janis concentrate on the virdta-ripa, the
gigantic universal form of the Lord. This is a good system in the begin-
ning for those who are extremely materialistic, but there is no need to
think continuously of the virdta-riipa. When Arjuna was shown the
virdta-ripa of Krsna, he saw it, but he did not want to see it perpetually.
He therefore requested the Lord to return to His original form as two-
armed Krsna. In conclusion, learned scholars find no contradictions in
the devotees’ concentration upon the spiritual form of the Lord (iSvarah
paramah krsnah sac-cid-Gnanda-vigrahah). In this regard, Srila
Madhvacarya says that less intelligent nondevotees think that their con-
clusion is the ultimate, but because devotees are completely learned, they
can understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate
goal.
