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His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 13 January 2021, part 12
Translated from Bengali

Does anybody have any questions? Have you been able to hear what I was saying? Do not be afraid to ask if you want to know anything.

Question: How many Krishnas are there?

একলা ঈশ্বে কৃষ্ণ, আর সব ভৃত্য ।
যারে যৈছে নাচায়, সে তৈছে করে নৃত্য ॥

ekala isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya
yare yaiche nachaya, se taichhe kare nrtya

"Lord Krishna alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.142)

There is Mathuresh Krishna, there is Dvarakesh Krishna, and there is Vraja Krishna—They are all one, They exist and perform Their pastimes simultaneously. You should try to understand that this is achintya bhedabheda tattva (inconceivable oneness and difference). Are you trying to say that Krishna is an adopted son of Nanda Maharaj and Mother Yasoda? Srimad Bhagavatam always says "Yasoda-atmaja" and "Nanda-atmaja" (the son of Yasoda, the son of Nanda Maharaj), but for the sake of His pastimes Krishna appeared from the womb of Devaki.

Later, when Krishna left Vrindavan, the residents of Vrindavan were overcome by separation. There can be no union without separation. Actually, Krishna never leaves Vrindavan, but His pastime was such that externally He did leave for Mathura. This is the whole idea behind Ratha-yatra. Why does Jagannath come out in His chariot? In Dvapar-yuga, everybody assembled at Kuruksetra on that particular day to take bath in the holy river as it was the day of a solar eclipse. Vraja gopis came there too to see Krishna. When they came, they saw Krishna sitting surrounded by all kinds of royal opulence and they became upset thinking, "We do not want this Krishna! We did not come here to see this Krishna. We want Krishna who is a cowherd boy." Then, they pulled Krishna away saying, "Come, You must come with us!" This is how the chariots' procession took place.

So, there is only one Krishna, but He performs His different pastimes in different places. He performed His pastimes in Dvaraka, Mathura, etc., and we say 'Dvarakesh Krishna', 'Mathuresh Krishna", and 'Vraja's Krishna'. The Vraja gopis cry in separation from Krishna—Mother Yasoda cried so much that the tears from her eyes formed a drain. Yet we see in the scriptures that although there is Dvarakesh Krishna, Mathuresh Krishna and Vraja's Krishna, but in fact Krishna never leaves Vrindavan.

Are there any other questions?

Question: Why does Laksmi Devi sit in Belvan?

Because she does not accept gopis' guidance. She thinks, "I am more beautiful than Radha, I am Narayan's sakti and always stay with Narayan in Vaikuntha!" There are millions of Laksmi Devi's in Vaikuntha serving Lord Narayan, but even the chief among them (Maha-Laksmi) could not enter Vrindavan. Why? Because she had no chastity to gopis. Without chastity (anugatya, strict adherence) to the gopis no one can ever enter the rasa-lila of Vrindavan. Sivji Maharaj could enter though because he had accepted chastity to the gopis, but Laksmi Devi did not. That is why, she is sitting in Belvan and crying. To this day she has not been able to enter there—she still has not earned the right to enter Vrindavan. These are very high things. Even somebody like Laksmi Devi cannot enter there because she thinks, "I am very beautiful, I will not accept devotion to Radharani, a mere milkmaid." Why is Radharani's Name 'Radha'? Because She is the best worshipper of the Lord—She worships (aradhana) the Lord the most. Gopis' devotion is different from anybody else's devotion. We also sometimes think how much devotion the Vraja gopis have. Even Lord Brahma, even Siva, even Narada, even the queens who stayed with Krishna (Rukmini, Satyabhama and many others) do not have as much devotion to Krishna as they do. Krishna says about all of them, "You are staying with Me, you are saying you are My big devotees, but you cannot compare to those who live in Vrindavan!"

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