12 TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI

Devaki) just after His appearance and went to the lap of YaSodamayi to
play the part of an ordinary cowherd boy in the blessed Vrajabhimi,
which is very sanctified because of His childhood pastimes. Therefore
Lord Krsna is more merciful than Lord Rama. He was undoubtedly very
kind to Kunti’s brother Vasudeva and the family. Had He not become
the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, Queen Kunti could not claim Him to be
her nephew and thus address Krsna in parental affection. But Nanda and
Yasoda are more fortunate because they could relish the Lord’s child-
hood pastimes, which are more attractive than all other pastimes. There
is no parallel to His childhood pastimes as exhibited at Vrajabhimi,
which are the prototypes of His eternal affairs in the original Krsnaloka,
described as the cintamani-dhama in the Brahma-samhita. Lord Sri Krsna
descended Himself at Vrajabhimi with all His transcendental entourage
and paraphernalia. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore confirmed that no
one is as fortunate as the residents of Vrajabhimi, and specifically the
cowherd girls, who dedicated their everything for the satisfaction of the
Lord. His pastimes with Nanda and Yasoda and His pastimes with the
cowherd men and especially with the cowherd boys and the cows have
caused Him to be known as Govinda. Lord Krsna as Govinda is more in-
clined to the brahmanas and the cows, indicating thereby that human
prosperity depends more on these two items, namely brahminical culture
and cow protection. Lord Krsna is never satisfied where these are lacking.

In the beginning of her prayers, Kuntidevi said, namasye purusam
tvadyam isvaram prakrteh param: ‘‘! offer my obeisances unto the person,
purusa, who is prakrteh param, beyond this material manifestation.’’ Thus
in the beginning Kuntidevi gave us the understanding that God is the
supreme purusa, the Supreme Person. He is not impersonal. He is a per-
son, but He is not a person of this material world or this material cre-
ation, and He does not have a material body. This is to be understood.
The poor fund of knowledge held by the impersonalists cannot accom-
modate how the Supreme Absolute Truth can be a person, because
whenever they think of a person they think of a person of this material
world. That is their defect. Why should God be a person of this material
world? Therefore in the beginning Kuntidevi cleared away this mis-
understanding by saying that the Lord is prakrteh param, beyond this ma-
terial creation. Yet He is a person, and now by the grace of Kunti we can
understand that this Supreme Person, although alaksyam, invisible, has
now visibly appeared as Krsna.

Kuntidevi says, krsndya vasudevaya. The word vasudeva is sometimes
understood to mean ‘‘the all-pervading.’’ The impersonalists have this
