Section 59
The Lord's Body
is the Lord.
In this way first it has been proven that the Lord's opulence and so on are part of His essential nature. And this is appropriate because these are the internal qualification of His svarüpa. Just as the internal qualities of fire, such as its qualities of whiteness, are part of he fire but not that of darkness, Lord's opulence's are similar. Thereafter it was established that the Lord's body is completely His essential nature. This is also appropriate, because the Lord is the one supreme object endowed with all supreme potencies. Out of these potencies the eternal attribute which is eternal and is suggestive of form; which has corresponding limbs such a qualified object having the quality of Supreme bliss is the body of the Lord. Like the pure sugar laddu, this very form, which is the eternal shelter of all other internal attributes and opulence's, is directly the Personality of Godhead, just as the particles of pure powdered sugar, which has the quality of being the parts of the laddu, is verily the ladduh and it has the fragrance, taste and so on that naturally exists in the powdered sugar and is recognized and used so by the people.
Similarly, the Supreme Absolute Truth, defined in the verses such as rupam yadetata (3.9.2), is the form of the Lord. And that very form is recognized and described by scholars as Bhagavän, the Supreme Lord.
In this way, after proving that the form of the Lord is contained in His essential nature, to further substantiate this point, a new topic is begun, which will continue upto the description of the Lord's associates. The attire and ornaments of the Lord are also part of His svarüpa. This is hinted by the following two verses, which describe that He was adorned with them when He appeared (SB.10.3.9,10):
"Vasudeva then saw the newborn child, who had very wonderful lotuslike eyes and who bore in His four hands the four weapons--sankha, cakra, gada, and padma. On His chest was the mark of Srivasta and on His neck the brilliant Kaustubha gem. Dressed in yellow, His body blackish like a dense cloud, He appeared very wonderful."
The meaning is clear.
PURPORT
In this Text Çréla Jéva Gosvämé concludes his discussion about the body of the Lord being nondifferent from Himself. This means that all characteristics found in the Lord are found in His body as well. Light has an internal nature that has characteristics like whiteness. This characteristic is part of light. It does not belong to anything external or outside itself. Similarly, the characteristics of the Lord belong to Him. They are not illusory manifestations and can never be taken away: They are part of His svarüpa and thus all the characteristics of the Lord are in His body. Indeed the Lord, His body, and His characteristics are all one and the same.
To clarify this Çréla Jéva Gosvämé gives the example of a ball of sugar. (laddukam). The sugar ball is made of sugar and there is absolutely no difference between it and its parts. The very same taste, texture, smell, and color that is in the parts, are also present in the ball. Similarly, the Absolute Truth, is like the sugar ball. All His characteristics exist in His body. There is absolutely no difference between the two. Just as the ball and its constituent sugar are non-different, so is Lord and His body. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé uses the word suddha khanda, or pure powdered sugar. "Pure" indicates there is nothing foreign in it, and "powdered" indicates uniformity. This nullifies the possibility that a particular portion of the ball is sweeter, or in some other way different from any another part of the ball. Hence all the limbs of the Lord have all the characteristics of the Absolute Reality, as is stated in Brahma Saàhitä (5.32):
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendour. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally see, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane."
This is the verdict of experienced transcendentalists such as Brahmä.
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé refers to the three verses the first one beginning with rüpam (S.B. 3.9.2-4) which describe Lord Brahmä's personal experience about the Lord and His body. These verses were discussed in Section fifty-one. These verses explicitly state that there is absolutely no difference between the Lord and His body.
To further substantiate his conclusions, Çréla Jéva Gosvämé begins to establish that even the Lord's ornaments and dress are part of His svarupa. If this is proven then it automatically establishes that the Lord's body is part of His essential nature. He cites two verses describing how, bedecked with ornaments and dress, four-armed Lord Visnu appeared in Kaàsa's prison. Later, the four-armed form disappeared along with all His ornaments and He reappeared as a normal child, as Kåñëa. Just as He appears and disappears so also His ornaments and dress. This is because they all belong to His svarüpa.