A Letter to the Editor of the Navbharat Times

In this letter from 1958, Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda writes to the editor of the Navbharat Times newspaper complaining of certain philosophical mistakes in an article published on Janmāṣṭamī – in particular, he protests that the article states that Śrī Kṛṣṇa was a ‘human incarnation.’ This letter was published in Śrī Bhāgavat Patrikā (Vol.4 Issue 5), the Hindi journal of the Gauḍīya Samiti in October 1958, and has been translated here for the first time in English.

Camp: Bombay

Dated: September 2nd, 1958

The respected editor,

Navbharat Times,

Bombay

Sir,

In the article published on September 1st, 1958 regarding Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī in your renowned newspaper ‘Navbharat Times’, there are many things that are foundationally incorrect from the point of view of the conclusions of the Bhāgavatam – in particular that Bhagavān is a human being. This conclusion is completely wrong. Nowadays, it has become a modern trend to make humans in God and consider the birthdays of humans as a jayantī. It is clearly written in Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā that those who consider Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be a human being are foolish people. Considering Bhagavān to be a man and a man to be Bhagavān are both foolishness. Whenever Bhagavān incarnates, He appears through the superior potency i.e. cit-śakti.

There is no such thing anywhere in the scriptures that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa came out of the womb of Devakī in a four-armed form, but you have clearly written that Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared as an incarnation of Śrī Hari from the womb of Devakī, the wife of Vasudeva. In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been considered to be the avatārī (source of all incarnations) – kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān-svayaṁ. The four-armed form of Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha is a vilāsa–vigraha (pastime form) of Svayaṁ-rūpa Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Rāma etc. and the Viṣṇu forms are expansions of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although in principle there is no difference between them, yet the Supreme Personality is the ādi-puruṣa – two-armed Muralīdhara, Śyāmasundara, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. There is no other reality greater than Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, calling Śrī Kṛṣṇa a human incarnation is extremely offensive.

“By observing His birth-date one gets liberation” – you have written like this. Then, can such a person be a human being? Can one get liberation by observing the birth-date of a human being? It is considered an offence to make a human being into Bhagavān and to declare his birth date to be a jayantī, to consider Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be a human being, and to make a differentiation between His form and His self as is the case with ordinary humans. It is hypocrisy to consider viṣṇu-tattva such as Rāma, Nārāyaṇa etc, simply to be equal to big, big demigods. Therefore, treating them like human beings or considering them to be human beings is very offensive.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ* sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam*

(Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes. – Brahma-saṁhitā 5.1)

Whenever Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa appears, He only incarnates in His sac-cid-ānanda form. Unlike human beings, there is no difference between Him and His body. They are of the same non-dual nature (advaya-jñāna). I hope that you will give permission to print this letter in your ‘Navbharat Times’.

Sincerely,

Śrī Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedānta

(Editor, Back To Godhead)

(Translated into English by Swami Bhakti Vijñāna Giri)

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