Shloka 23
Brahmā’s Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa (Brahmā-stuti) and the Restoration of Vraja’s Lunch Pastime
एकस्त्वमात्मा पुरुष: पुराण: सत्य: स्वयंज्योतिरनन्त आद्य: । नित्योऽक्षरोऽजस्रसुखो निरञ्जन: पूर्णाद्वयो मुक्त उपाधितोऽमृत: ॥ २३ ॥
ekas tvam ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ satyaḥ svayaṁ-jyotir ananta ādyaḥ nityo ’kṣaro ’jasra-sukho nirañjanaḥ pūrṇādvayo mukta upādhito ’mṛtaḥ
You are the one Supreme Soul, the primeval Supreme Person, the Absolute Truth—self-effulgent, endless, and without beginning. You are eternal and infallible, perfect and complete, without rival and free from all material designations; Your bliss can never be obstructed, nor are You touched by any contamination. Indeed, You are amrita, the indestructible nectar of immortality.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains how the various terms of this verse demonstrate that the transcendental body of Lord Kṛṣṇa is free from the characteristics of material bodies. All material bodies go through six phases: birth, growth, maturity, reproduction, decline and destruction. But Lord Kṛṣṇa does not take material birth, since He is the original reality, a fact clearly indicated here by the word adya, “original.” We take our material birth within a particular material atmosphere, in material bodies that are amalgamations of various material elements. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa existed long before the creation of any material atmosphere or element, there is no question of material birth for His transcendental body.
FAQs
This verse states that Kṛṣṇa is svayam-jyotiḥ—self-luminous—meaning His existence and consciousness do not depend on anything else; He is the original light of all knowledge and being.
After being humbled by Kṛṣṇa’s inconceivable power in the Brahmā-vimohana episode, Brahmā offers prayers acknowledging Kṛṣṇa as the one, eternal, unlimited Supreme Person beyond all material limitation.
It means reducing identity based on temporary labels (status, ego, roles) and cultivating devotion and self-knowledge—seeing oneself as the soul and aligning life with service to the Supreme.