Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.33
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
When Śrī Kṛṣṇa by His own internal pleasure appears on earth, He does so by the agency of His internal potency. The attractive features of His transcendental body are desired in all the three worlds, namely the upper, middle and lower planetary systems. Nowhere in the universe are there such beautiful bodily features as those of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore His transcendental body has nothing to do with anything materially created. Arjuna is described here as the conqueror, and Kṛṣṇa is described as his intimate friend. Bhīṣmadeva, on his bed of arrows after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, is remembering the particular dress of Lord Kṛṣṇa which He put on as the driver of Arjuna’s chariot. While fighting was going on between Arjuna and Bhīṣma, Bhīṣma’s attraction was drawn by the glittering dress of Kṛṣṇa, and indirectly he admired his so-called enemy Arjuna for possessing the Lord as his friend. Arjuna was always a conqueror because the Lord was his friend. Bhīṣmadeva takes this opportunity to address the Lord as vijaya-sakhe (friend of Arjuna) because the Lord is pleased when He is addressed conjointly with His devotees, who are related with Him in different transcendental humors. While Kṛṣṇa was the charioteer of Arjuna, sun rays glittered on the dress of the Lord, and the beautiful hue created by the reflection of such rays was never forgotten by Bhīṣmadeva. As a great fighter he was relishing the relation of Kṛṣṇa in the chivalrous humor. Transcendental relation with the Lord in any one of the different rasas (humors) is relishable by the respective devotees in the highest ecstasy. Less intelligent mundaners who want to make a show of being transcendentally related with the Lord artificially jump at once to the relation of conjugal love, imitating the damsels of Vrajadhāma. Such a cheap relation with the Lord exhibits only the base mentality of the mundaner because one who has relished conjugal humor with the Lord cannot be attached to worldly conjugal rasa, which is condemned even by mundane ethics. The eternal relation of a particular soul with the Lord is evolved. A genuine relation of the living being with the Supreme Lord can take any form out of the five principal rasas, and it does not make any difference in transcendental degree to the genuine devotee. Bhīṣmadeva is a concrete example of this, and it should be carefully observed how the great general is transcendentally related with the Lord.
“What is the nature of your thoughts?”
Let me have pure prema (ratiḥ) without desire for results, for the friend of Arjuna (vijaya-sakhe), who accepts a body which is desired by all persons in the upper, middle and lower planets, which is clothed in garments golden in the sun’s rays. I saw that intense yellow from his upper and lower cloth sparkling in the sun’s rays as he stood on the chariot of Arjuna. My thoughts take the form of a prayer to have this prema for the most beautiful Kṛṣṇa as the charioteer of Arjuna. In the prayers of following verses also there is no use of the second person, though Kṛṣṇa was present before him This indicates his attraction for the sweetness of the Lord absorbed in vīra-rasa during the battle, and his absorption in relishing it.
- Bhrigupati Pr SB 01-09-33 - 2018-08-27 Los Angeles
- Manonatha Pr SB 01-09-33 - 2011-11-25
- Pariksit Pr SB 01-09-33 - The Pure Devotee Admires Lord Sri Krsna - 2022-04-25 Philadelaphia
- Radhe Shyam Pr SB 01-09-33 - Bhisma appreciating beauty of the Lord - 2007-01-01
- SDAP SB 01-09-33 - 2006-10-03 Tartu Estonia
- SDAP SB 01-09-33 - 2012-08-08 Austin
- SGP SB 01-09-33 Tamil - Why Bhisma fight from the Opposite Side
- Tribhuvanatha Pr SB 01-09-33 - 1997-02-10 Dublin
- Tribhuvanatha Pr SB 01-09-33 - Form is a very powerful thing - 1997-02-10 Dublin
- BCaitanyaS SB 01-09-33 Russian Translation - 2002-06-14 St.Petersburg
- Bhakti Vikas Sw SB 01-09-33 - Bhisma appreciates Krsnas form
- DGS SB 01-09-33 - 1992-11-25
- Hari Vilas Sw SB 01-09-33 - 2020-01-27
- IDS SB 01-09-33 - Caterpillar to-Butterfly - 2008-05-09 Karuna Bhavan-Scotland
- KavichandraSw SB 01-09-33 - 2013-12-21
- PrahladAnS SB 01-09-33 Slovenian Translation - Vdano slu%C5%BEenje nas navda s spoznanjem - 2025-08-21 ISKCON Slovenia
- PrahladAnS SB 01-09-33 - Devotional Service gives Realization - 2025-08-21 ISKCON Slovenia
- Romapada Sw SB 01-09-33-42 - Teachings of Bhismadeva Pt-06 - 05-03-18 Hyderabad
- HG Suresvara Pr - SB 01-09-33 - 2011-05-05 ISKCON Hawaii
- RSP SB 01-09-33 - Bhisma appreciating beauty of the Lord - 2007-01-01
- What part of the Lord's beauty do I dwell on most easily?
- Where could contemplation of form replace anxiety in my mind?
My note
Source: vedabase.io