How we came to know that Krishna is the Supreme Lord?

Hare Krishna

How we came to know that Krishna is the Supreme Lord? If so, is Adhi Sankacharya’s advaita concept wrong?

COUNSELLING:

Sharma Pranav asked like this:

Prabhuji I have lots of questions on this matter. first of all - how we know that Krishna is the supreme source.and if advaitism is not correct so the great saints like Adi shankaracharya and swami vivekanand are wrong.

REPLY:

We come to know that Krishna is the Supreme Source from the scriptures. You may ask that some puranas and texts say Shiva, Ganapati, Shakthi, etc are supreme.

The reply for that is: Out of all the puranas, some are Rajo guna puranas, some are thamo guna puranas and some are Satva guna puranas.

If you take these puranas, after writing all the Puranas and even Mahabharatha, Vyasadeva was not satisfied. Then Sage Naradha told him to write the glories of Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, exclusively. So, as a final work, Vyasadeva wrote Srimad Bhagavatham. After that he got satisfied.

Thus, the verdict of Bhagavatham is final about the positions of various gods. It is authority to learn about Krishna. As per Bhagavatham, Lord Krishna is the Adhi purusha and al creations originate from Him.

For your understanding, even in advaita sects, when a person dies, the purohits offer that soul to Krishna only, by reciting manthras.

Even Adhi Shankaracharya who was preaching the Advaita Philosophy, in his last few days before leaving, sang BHAJAGOVINDHAM that says Krishna is Supreme.

The source can be only one, not many. Eventhough ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is managed by a team, it too has a single chairman, not many. Though a government is administered by a team of ministers, the President can be only one.

Similarly, Krishna is the source for all the creations and he is considered as Supreme Lord.

Next, About Advaita. Advaita means NON DUALITY. ie, athma does not have separate identity and Brahmam is spreading as athma in the bodies of living beings. Advaita Vedanta says the one unchanging entity (Brahman) alone exists, and that changing entities do not have absolute existence, much as the ocean's waves have no existence in separation from the ocean.

The different acharyas had to please a different group of people according to their nature. Adhi Shankara was sent to earth to propogate the gloris of Lord Shiva, vedas, vedanta sudras, etc because the people will involve more in material activities thereby maintaining the affairs of this material planet. So, to satisfy such conditioned souls, such saintly persons preached about different deities.

Adi Shankara, in order to bring unity among various Hindu sects of those times, wrote five pancharathna stotras for each of the following prime deities - Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesh and Surya. The idea was that if you believed in Lord Shiva, you would chant Shiva pancharathna stotra by placing Shiva's idol in the center other four Hindu deities surrounding Him, two on each side. Similarly if you believed in Vishnu, you would place Vishnu in the center. Those five stotras are Ganesha pancharathna and Lalitha pancharathna.

Thus, these works by different ahcryas are meant to satisfy different category of people. We know that Many people consider Shiva and Vishnu as same. So, the acharyas thought that by satisfying them in their own belief, they can bring them to the higher state.

For example, by allowing a Ganapati worshipper to read about the glories of Ganapati, stage by stage he can be brought to the topmost level of devotion -Krishna Bakthi.

That is why, different concepts exist in our country. However, the verdict of Srimad Bhagavatham is final that says Krishna is The supreme lord.

Hare Krishna.