The spelling "Krishna" used in the Western countries and Eastern European countries including Ukraine and Russia, originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa.
This word is primarily an adjective meaning black, dark, dark blue or the all attractive.
The waning moon is called Krsna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening."
The name Krsna is also interpreted sometimes as "all-attractive."
Based on His name, Krsna is often depicted in Deities as black or blue-skinned.
How is Krsna seen in His Kingdom of Goloka Vrindavana? Is Krsna known there as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of ALL causes?
Srila Prabhupada - "One who worships the Lord by following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi attains Him in the transcendental planet of Vraja, where He is known as the son of Mahārāja Nanda." (CC Madhya 9.131)
Srila Prabhupada - "The inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, know Kṛṣṇa as the son of Mahārāja Nanda. They do NOT accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as people in general do. The Lord is the Supreme maintainer of everyone and the chief personality among all personalities. In Vrajabhūmi Kṛṣṇa is certainly the central point of love, but no one knows Him there as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, a person may know Him as a friend, son, lover or master. In any case, the center is Kṛṣṇa. The inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi are related to the Lord in servitude, friendship, parental love and conjugal love. A person engaged in devotional service may accept any one of these transcendental relationships, which are known as mellows. When such a person reaches the perfectional stage, he returns home, back to Kṛṣṇa, in his pure spiritual identity." (CC Madhya 9.131 Purport)
Krsna is also known by various other names, epithets, and titles that reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohan the enchanter; Govinda the chief herdsman, Keev the prankster and Gopala the Protector of the Go, which means Soul or the cows.
Some names for Krsna hold regional importance; Lord Jagannatha, found in the Puri Jaganath temple, is a popular expansion of Kṛṣṇa in Odisha state and famous over all nearby regions of Eastern India. Krsna may also be referred to as Vāsudeva-Krsna, Murlidhar, and Chakradhar.
The honorary title "Sri" (also spelled "Shri") is often used before the name of Krsna.
Gaudiya Vaisnavism was originally also known as Bengali Vaisnavism. Sri Caitanya Vaisnavism and the Gaudiya Sampradaya are a Vaisnava Vedic religious tradition inspired by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in Bengal India.
Gaudiya refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaisnavism meaning the worship of Visnu. Specifically, it is part of Krsnaism—Krsna-centric Vaisnavite traditions.
Its theological basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is and Bhagavata Purana (known within the tradition as the Srimad Bhagavatam), as handed down by early followers of Caitanya, such as
Sanatana Goswami,
Rupa Goswami,
Jiva Goswami,
Gopala Bhatta Goswami and others.
The focus of Gaudiya Vaisnavism is the devotional worship (known as bhakti yoga) of Radha and Krsna, and their many divine Visnu/Narayana incarnations as the supreme forms of God, Svayam Bhagavan. Most popularly, this worship takes the form of singing Krsna's holy names, such as
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Known as the Maha Mantra, and also as Kirtan or Sankirtan (Congregational chanting of Hare Krsna). That includes Street chanting in all Cities and Towns around the world.
This movement is known the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, referring to its belief in the succession of spiritual masters (gurus) believed to originate from Krsna who first instructed Brahma.
Gaudiya Vaisnavism is the spiritual and philosophical foundations of the world wide "International Society for Krishna Consciousness," or the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON) known in this way around the world.
Prabhupada spelt Krsna as Krishna in the English language for pronunciation and sound to make it easier for his western disciples.
According to Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy, consciousness is not a product of matter, but is instead a symptom of the jiva-soul. All living beings (known as marginal living entities or individual jiva-souls), includes animals and trees whose material bodily forms cover the jiva-soul within when in the material creation.
In the material world the eternal individual jiva-souls are distinct from their physical temporary body because the nature of the jiva-soul is eternal, immutable, and indestructible without birth or death, meaning the jiva-souls were never created nor will they ever cease to be unlike the material bodily vessel they are in as a passenger.
The individual jiva-soul do not die when the material body dies, but is transmigrated into another new material bodily vessel and takes birth in a new body out of 8 million 400 thousand species of life existing in the material world.
Those individual jiva-souls who choose to enter the material creation by leaving the spiritual world, are captivated by the illusory nature (Maya) once in the unlimited material worlds (known as Brahmanda universes) where they are repeatedly reborn again and again among the various species of life according to their desires and the laws of karma. This is consistent with the concept of samsara found within Vedic texts.
Being released from the process of samsara (known as moksha) is achievable through a variety of spiritual practices, most notablely for this age of Kali-yuga, as taught by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the congregational chanting of Hare Krsna.
Within Gaudiya Vaisnavism, it is bhakti in its purest state (or pure love of God) which is given as the ultimate aim, rather than liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition asserts that in the current yuga, which is Kali-yuga, singing and chanting the various sacred names of God (Krsna) known as Sankirtan is sufficient for spiritual liberation as taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
One of the defining aspects of Gaudiya Vaisnavism is that Sri Krsna is worshiped specifically as the original source of all Avataric incarnations of God (Visnu/Narayana Forms known as Visnu-tattva).
This is based on quotations from the Bhagavata Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam), such as krsnāstu bhagavan svayam, literally "Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of ALL causes."
Inconceivable oneness and difference.
A particularly distinct part of the Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy espoused by Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the concept of Achintya Bheda Abheda Tattva, which translates to "inconceivable oneness and difference" in the context of the jiva-soul's relationship with Krsna, and also Krsna's relationship with his other energies (i.e. the material creation).
In quality, the jiva-soul is described as being identical to God, but in terms of quantity, individual jiva-souls are said to be infinitesimal in comparison to the unlimited Supreme Being Krsna.
The exact nature of this relationship (being simultaneously one and different with Krsna) is inconceivable to the human mind but can be experienced through the process of Bhakti yoga that includes the chanting of Hare Krsna.
This philosophy serves as a meeting of two opposing schools of Vedanta philosophy, pure monism (God and the jiva-soul as one entity) and pure dualism (God and the jiva-soul as absolutely separate).
This philosophy largely recapitulates the concepts of qualified nondualism practiced by the other Vedantic schools but emphasizes the figure of Krsna over Narayana and holy sites in and around Bengal over sites in Tamil Nadu.
In practice, Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy has much more in common with the dualistic schools especially closely following theological traditions established by Madhvacharya's Dvaita Vedanta.
The practical process of devotional life is described as bhakti or bhakti-yoga.
The two main elements of the bhakti-yoga process are vaidhi bhakti, which is devotional service through practice of rules and regulations (sadhana) and raganuga bhakti, which is taken as a higher stage of more spontaneous devotional service based on a selfless desire to please one's chosen Ishta-deva of Krsna or his associated expansions and Visnu/Narayana Avatars.
Practicing vaidhi-bhakti with a view to cultivate prema creates eligibility for raganuga-sadhana.
Both vaidhi and raganuga bhakti are based on the chanting or singing of Krsna's names.
Attainment of the raganuga stage means that rules of lifestyle are no longer important and that emotions or any material activities for Krsna should not be repressed.
Vaidhi-bhakti's purpose is to elevate the devotee to raganuga; something which generally takes a very long time.
Within His Siksastaka prayers, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu compares the process of bhakti-yoga to that of cleansing a dirty place of dust, wherein our consciousness is the object in need of purification.
This purification takes place through the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, sung by practitioners and devotees on a daily basis for many hours each day (including chanting a minimum of 16 rounds of 108 beads every day)
Famously within the tradition, one of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's close associates, Haridasa Thakur, is reported to have chanted 300,000 holy names of God each day!
Diet and lifestyle.
Gaudiya Vaisnavas follow a lacto vegetarian (or stricter) diet, abstaining from all types of animal flesh, including fish and eggs.
Onions, garlic and red Lentils are also avoided as they are believed to promote a more tamasic form of consciousness in the eater when taken in large quantities.
Gaudiya Vaisnavas also avoid the intake of caffeine, as they believe it is addictive and an intoxicant.
Many Gaudiya Vaisnavas will live for at least some time in their life within the Temple as monks for training, this is necessary to be trained up in the philosophy of Krsna Consciousness.
A parampara (lineage) denotes a succession of teachers and disciples within some sampradaya (school, tradition). In accordance with the tradition, Gaudiya Vaisnavism belongs to the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya, one of the four "orthodox" Vaisnavite schools.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a disciple of Isvara Puri who was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri who was a disciple of Lakshmipati Tirtha who was a disciple of Vyasatirtha (1469-1539) of Madhvacharya's Sampradaya.
As said above, the Gaudiya Vaisnava's tradition is called the "Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya", which originates from Krsna who imparted it to Brahma and has Madhvacharya and Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the acharya-successors.
The following list of 32 Spiritual Masters are presented by Srila Prabhupada in his Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
"Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh (Bhagavad-gita 4.2).
This Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is received through this disciplic succession-
1. Krsna
2. Brahma
3. Narada
4. Vyasa
5. Madhva
6. Padmanabha
7. Nrhari
8. Madhava
9. Aksobhya
10. Jaya Tirtha
11. Jnanasindhu
12. Dayanidhi
13. Vidyanidhi
14. Rajendra
15. Jayadharma
16. Purusottama
17. Brahmanya Tirtha
18. Vyasa Tirtha
19. Laksmipati
20. Madhavendra Puri
21. Isvara Puri, (Nityananda, Advaita)
22. Lord Caitanya
23. Rupa, (Svarupa, Sanatana)
24. Raghunatha, Jiva
25. Krsnadasa
26. Narottama
27. Visvanatha
28. (Baladeva) Jagannatha
29. Bhaktivinoda
30. Gaurakisora
31. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
32. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's direct disciples.
Srila Prabhupāda - "The Nectar of Devotion is a summary study of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which was written in Sanskrit by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda. He was the chief of the six Gosvāmīs, who were the direct disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When he first met Lord Caitanya, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda was engaged as a minister in the Muhammadan government of Bengal. He and his brother Sanātana were then named Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika respectively, and they held responsible posts as ministers of Nawab Hussain Shah.
At that time, five hundred years ago, the Hindu society was very rigid, and if a member of the brāhmaṇa caste accepted the service of a Muhammadan ruler he was at once rejected from brāhmaṇa society. That was the position of the two brothers, Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika. They belonged to the highly situated sārasvata-brāhmaṇa community, but they were ostracized due to their acceptance of ministerial posts in the government of Hussain Shah.
It is the grace of Lord Caitanya that He accepted these two exalted personalities as His disciples and raised them to the position of gosvāmīs, the highest position of brahminical culture. Similarly, Lord Caitanya accepted Haridāsa Ṭhākura as His disciple, although Haridāsa happened to be born of a Muhammadan family, and Lord Caitanya later on made him the ācārya of the chanting of the holy name of the Lord:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." (Nectar of Devotion Preface)
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, 18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534 is the combination of Radha and Krsna in Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
Lord Caitanya is Krsna himself in the mood of Srimati Radharani who appeared in the form of His own devotee in order to teach the people of this world the process of Bhakti and how to attain the perfection of life.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a disciple of Isvara Puri who was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri who was a disciple of Lakshmipati Tirtha who was a disciple of Vyasatirtha(1469-1539) of Madhvacharya's Sampradaya.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very merciful to the fallen jiva-souls however, the most merciful and forgiving manifestation of Godhead is actually Lord Nityananda Prabhu (Balarama in Krsna lila) who is always with Lord Caitanya.
Lord Caitanya is the proponent for the Vaisnava school of Bhakti yoga, meaning loving devotion to Krsna (God), based on Bhagavata Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam) and Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
Of various expansions of Krsna, Lord Caitanya is revered as the combination of Radha and Krsna's loving devotional exchanges with each other, popularised with the ecstatic chanting of the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra, and also composed the Siksastakam (eight devotional prayers) in Sanskrit.
Sri Siksastakam prayers by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu-
1 - Glory to the Sri Krsna Sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
2 - O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names, like Krsna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.
3 - One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.
4 - O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth.
5 - O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krsna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.
6 - O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?
7 - O Govinda! Feeling Your separations I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.
8 - I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally.
All Glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!
As said above, Gaudiya Vaisnavas revere Him as a Krsna with the mood and complexion of His source of inspiration Radha.
Over the three centuries following the disappearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition evolved into the form in which we largely find it today in contemporary India.
In the early years of the tradition, the followers of Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya and other companions of Caitanya Mahaprabhu educated and initiated people, each in their own villages across Bengal.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested a select few among his followers, who later came to be known as the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, to systematically present his theology of bhakti in their writings.
This theology emphasized the devotee's relationship to the Divine Couple, Radha and Krsna, and looked to Caitanya as the embodiment of both Radha and Krsna the Supreme Personalities of Godhead.
The six are
1 - Rupa Goswami,
2 - Sanatana Goswami,
3 - Gopala Bhatta Goswami,
4 - Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami,
5 - Raghunatha dasa Goswami,
6 - Jiva Goswami.
In the second generation of the tradition, Narottama, Srinivasa and Shyamananda, three students of Jiva Goswami, the youngest among the six Goswamis, were instrumental in spreading the theology across Bengal and Orissa.
HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE
The festival of Kheturi (approx 1574)
This festival has been observed for 447 years. The festival marks the death anniversary of the renowned Vaisnava saint Sri Narottam Das Thakur (on the fifth day of Bengali month of Kartik).
The festival goes back to Narottom Das Thakur, known for his devotional verses on Radha and Krsna. The son of King Krsnananda Dutta and Narayani Devi of the then Goura Pargana in Rajsahi, he renounced his royal claims at a very young age to immerse himself in spiritual leanings in Vrindavan.
Narottam was the initiator of the Kheturi Festival, celebrating 'Goura Purnima,' the birth of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
17th–18th century
During the 17th–18th centuries, there was a period of general decline in the movement's strength and popularity, its "lethargic state", characterized by decreased public preaching and the rise of persons following and promoting tantric teachings and practices.
These groups are called apasampradayas by the followers of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
In the 17th century, Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur held great merit in clarifying core doctrinal issues over the practice of raganuga-bhakti through works such as Raga-vartma-chandrika.
His student Baladeva Vidyabhushan wrote a famous commentary on the Vedanta-sutra called Govinda Bhashya.
The 18th century saw a number of luminaries headed by Siddha Jayakrsna Das Babaji of Kamyavan and Siddha Krsnadas Babaji of Govardhan.
The latter, a widely renowned teacher of the mode of internal worship (raga-bhajan) practiced in the tradition, is largely responsible for the current form of devotional practice embraced by some of the traditions based in Vrindavan.
From the very beginning of Caitanya's bhakti movement in Bengal, Haridasa Thakur and other Muslim by birth were the participants.
This openness received a boost from Bhaktivinoda Thakur's broad-minded vision in the late 19th century and was institutionalized by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in his Gaudiya Matha in the 20th century.
This period was followed by a renaissance, which began at the start of the 20th century both in India and the West.
One pioneer of the Gaudiya Vaisnavism in the West was Premananda Bharati (1858–1914) who, in 1902, founded the short-lived "Krsna Samaj" society in New York City and built a temple in Los Angeles. His followers formed several organizations including the now defunct Order of Living Service Universal Truth Temple.
These changes happened largely in India due to the efforts of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, who also held the position of a deputy magistrate with the British government.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur's son grew up to be both an eminent scholar and a highly influential Vaisnava preacher, and was later known as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur.
In 1918, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati founded Gaudiya Math in India, and later sixty-four Gaudiya Matha monasteries in India, Burma and Europe.
In 1933, the first European preaching center was established in London (London Glouster House, Cornwall Garden, W7 South Kensington) under the name "Gaudiya Mission Society of London".
Soon after Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's passing (1 January 1937 at 62), a dispute began, which divided the original Gaudiya Math mission into two administrative bodies still in existence today.
In a settlement, they divided the sixty-four Gaudiya Math centers into two groups: the Sri Caitanya Math headed by Bhakti Vilasa Tirtha Maharaj and the Gaudiya Mission headed by Ananta Vasudev (Bhakti Prasad Puri Maharaj).
Many of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's disciples disagreed with the spirit of these two factions and/or started their own missions to expand their guru's mission.
In the 1960s, his disciple A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada went to the West to spread Gaudiya-Vaisnavism and establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), an organization that continues growing strongly today with millions of followers around the world.
Although sharing a common set of core beliefs, there are a number of philosophical differences between Gaudiya Vaisnavism and other Vaisnava Sampradaya schools.
1 - For example in Gaudiya Vaisnavism Krsna is seen as the original Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of ALL causes and source of all Visnu/Narayana Forms of God.
This is based on the verse 1.3.28 of the Bhagavata Purana or Srimad Bhagavatam (krsnas tu bhagavan svayam) and other scriptures like the Brahma Samhita.
This belief is shared by the Nimbarka and Vallabha sampradayas, but not by the Ramanuja and Madhva schools, who sadly view Krsna as an avatar of Visnu.
2 - In Gaudiya Vaisnavism Krsna's consort, Radha is similarly viewed as the source of all other Saktis, including Lakshmi and Sita.
3 - Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the most recent Avatar of Krsna to descend in this current Kali-yuga.
4 - Some other sampradayas also sadly view Lord Caitanya as a devotee of Krsna only, and not the combination of Radha and Krsna.
Also Lord Caitanya did like Himself outwardly being called Krsna and would, in fact, avoid being addressed as such.
In this regard His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami states,
When Lord Caitanya was addressed as Lord Krsna, He denied it. Indeed, He sometimes placed His hands over His ears, protesting that one should not be addressed as the Supreme Lord.
However at times Caitanya would exhibit a different mood with His close disciples and would welcome worship of himself as the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, and at a few occasions, is said to have exhibited his Universal form.
Rupa Goswami, when first meeting with Caitanya, composed the following verse showing his belief in Caitanya Mahaprabhu's divinity:
"O most munificent incarnation! You are Krsna Himself appearing as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden colour of Srimati Radharani, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krsna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You."
Lord Caitanya's followers point at verses throughout the Puranic literatures as evidence to support this claim. Evidences such as the Krsna-varnam verse Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.32 have many interpretations by scholars, including Sridhara Svami who is accepted as authority by Mahaprabhu Himself.
Gaudiya Vaisnava theology is prominently expounded by Jiva Goswami in his Sat-sandarbhas, six elaborate treatises on various aspects of God.
Other prominent Gaudiya Vaisnava theologians are his uncles, Rupa Gosvami author of Sri Bhakti rasamrta sindhu, Sanatana Gosvami author of Hari bhakti vilasa, Visvanatha Chakravarti author of Sri Camatkara candrika and Baladeva Vidyabhushana author of Govinda Bhashya a commentary on Vedanta Sutra.
Historical perspective.
Historically within Vedanta teachings there are two conflicting philosophies regarding the relationship between living beings (jiva-soul or atma) and God (Krsna) (Ishvara, Brahman or Bhagavan).
Advaita schools assert the monistic view that the individual jiva-soul and Kṛṣṇa are one and the same, whereas Dvaita schools give the dualistic argument that the individual jiva-soul and Kṛṣṇa are eternally separate.
The philosophy of Achintya-bheda-abheda-Tattva includes elements of both viewpoints.
The individual living jiva-soul is intrinsically linked with the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, and yet at the same time is not the same as Kṛṣṇa. Each individual jiva-soul has their own unique personality separate from Krsna's Personality. The exact nature of this relationship is inconceivable to the human mind.
The individual jiva-soul is considered to be part and parcel of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Same in quality but not in quantity just like the relationship between the Sun-disc and the sun-rays.
Krsna having all opulence in fullness, the jiva-soul however, having only a partial expression of His divine opulence. Krsna in this context is also compared to a fire and the jiva-souls as sparks coming off of the flame.
The theological tenet of achintya-bheda-abheda tattva reconciles the mystery that Krsna is simultaneously "one with and different from His creation."
In this sense Vaisnava theology is panentheistic as in "no way" does it deny the separate existence of God (Krsna) in His own Personal form.
However, at the same time, creation (or what is termed in Vaisnava theology as the 'cosmic or material manifestation') is never separated from Kṛṣṇa. He always exercises supreme control over his material creation through His expansions of Maha-Visnu, Garbhodakashayi Visnu and Paramatma (Supersoul).
Srila Prabhupada - "One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya bheda-and-abheda-tattva—simultaneous oneness and difference." (BG, Ch 7 text 8 Purport (1983 edition)
The analogy often used as an explanation in this context is the relationship between the Sun-disc and the Sunshine.
For example, both the Sun-disc and sunshine are part of the same reality, but there is a great difference between having a beam of sunshine in your room, and being in close proximity to the sun itself. Qualitatively the Sun-disc and the Sunshine are not different, but as quantities they are very different.
This analogy is applied to the living beings and God - the jiva-soul being of a similar quality to the Supreme being, but not sharing the qualities to an infinite extent, as would the Personality of Godhead himself. Thus, there is a difference between the individual jiva-souls (the marginal potency) and the Supreme Lord.
And that is the jiva-souls ALWAYS have their unique quality of free will which is having an independent personality separate from Krsna's Personality that allows them to voluntarily make personal contributions in their relationship with Kṛṣṇa making it a "two-way" exchange of loving emotions.
Absolute control refers to the command a puppet master has over his puppet's every actions that only denies self expression and individual contributions the jiva-souls can offer to enrich, enhance and add variety to the relationship with Visnu and Kṛṣṇa in both Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavana.**^^.
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