Sunday, June 26, 2016

FIVE OPULENCES

Interesting...The earth personified is offering prayers to Lord Krishna after He has killed...liberated...her demonic son Bhaumasura. We usually see the list of five opulences of the Supreme Personality as: strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. But here the earth personified identifies the five opulences as....
"You possess all kinds of religions, fame, property, knowledge and
renunciation; You are the shelter of all five opulences..." KB 2.4
Religions appear to correspond to strength. So it is not simply physical bodily strength, although there is certainly a display of that by the Lord in incarnation as an human being... but the strength of religion... piety.
And beauty corresponding to "property." Again not so much simply physical bodily beauty although there is certainly that to an unlimited degree in the Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated as an human being....
The definition of "property" may be of some help in seeing an expanded understanding.
Property: an attribute, quality, or characteristic of something.
So beauty is not limited to a "visual' experience..
Sometimes when there is an especially delightful or profound event we say... "Ah, the beauty of it."
Reference to this expanded understanding of beauty can be found in KB 2.5. Krishna has tried to provoke Rukmini to argue with him by suggesting she made a mistake in desiring Him to become her husband. He is glorifying the princes who were suitors for her in marriage. They were all demons, so it is quite amusing but Rukmini does not appreciate the joke. Just the thought of living without her intimate service to Lord Krishna is enough to catapult her into an extreme mood of separation and she loses consciousness, collapsing.
But here is a line from Krishna's suggestions about the qualifications of the princes where beauty is expanded to include personal properties as well as visual appearance.
"...they were well-behaved, learned, famous among kings, beautiful in their bodily features and personal qualifications..." KB 2.5
Show more reactio

No comments:

Post a Comment