Text 45
haṁsāya dahra-nilayāya nirīkṣakāya
kṛṣṇāya mṛṣṭa-yaśase nirupakramāya
sat-saṅgrahāya bhava-pāntha-nijāśramāptāv
ante parīṣṭa-gataye haraye namas te
haṁsāya — unto the most exalted and pure (pavitraṁ paramam, the supreme pure); dahra — in the core of the heart; nilayāya — whose abode; nirīkṣakāya — supervising the activities of the individual soul; kṛṣṇāya — unto the Supersoul, who is a partial manifestation of Kṛṣṇa; mṛṣṭa-yaśase — whose reputation is very bright; nirupakramāya — who has no beginning; sat-saṅgrahāya — understood only by pure devotees; bhava-pāntha-nija-āśrama-āptau — being obtainment of the shelter of Kṛṣṇa for persons within this material world; ante — at the ultimate end; parīṣṭa-gataye — unto Him who is the ultimate goal, the highest success of life; haraye — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; namaḥ — respectful obeisances; te — unto You.
O Lord, O supreme pure, You live within the core of everyone’s heart and observe all the desires and activities of the conditioned souls. O Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Lord Kṛṣṇa, Your reputation is bright and illuminating. You have no beginning, for You are the beginning of everything. This is understood by pure devotees because You are easily accessible to the pure and truthful. When the conditioned souls are liberated and sheltered at Your lotus feet after roving throughout the material world for many millions of years, they attain the highest success of life. Therefore, O Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, we offer our respectful obeisances at Your lotus feet.
The demigods certainly wanted Lord Viṣṇu to relieve their anxiety, but now they directly approach Lord Kṛṣṇa, for although there is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa descends to this planet in His Vāsudeva feature for the purpose of paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām — protecting His devotees and annihilating the miscreants. Demons, or atheists, always disturb the demigods, or devotees, and therefore Kṛṣṇa descends to punish the atheists and demons and fulfill the desire of His devotees. Kṛṣṇa, being the original cause of everything, is the Supreme Person, above even Viṣṇu and Nārāyaṇa, although there is no difference between these different forms of the Lord. As explained in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.46):
dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya
dīpāyate vivṛta-hetu-samāna-dharmā
yas tādṛg eva hi ca viṣṇutayā vibhāti
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
Kṛṣṇa expands Himself as Viṣṇu the way a bright candle kindles another. Although there is no difference between the power of one candle and another, Kṛṣṇa is compared to the original candle.
The word mṛṣṭa-yaśase is significant herein because Kṛṣṇa is always famous for relieving His devotee from danger. A devotee who has sacrificed everything for the service of Kṛṣṇa and whose only source of relief is the Lord is known as akiñcana.
As expressed in the prayers offered by Queen Kuntī, the Lord is akiñcana-vitta, the property of such a devotee. Those who are liberated from the bondage of conditioned life are elevated to the spiritual world, where they achieve five kinds of liberation — sāyujya, sālokya, sārūpya, sārṣṭi and sāmīpya. They personally associate with the Lord in five mellows — śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya. These rasas are all emanations from Kṛṣṇa. As described by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the original mellow, ādi-rasa, is conjugal love. Kṛṣṇa is the origin of pure and spiritual conjugal love.