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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.21.11
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 11
- vinyasta-caraṇāmbhojam
- aṁsa-deśe garutmataḥ
- dṛṣṭvā khe 'vasthitaṁ vakṣaḥ-
- śriyaṁ kaustubha-kandharam
vinyastahaving been placed — having been placed; caraṇalotus feet-ambhojamlotus feet — lotus feet; aṁsaon the shoulders-deśeon the shoulders — on the shoulders; garutmataḥof Garuḍa — of Garuḍa; dṛṣṭvāhaving seen — having seen; khein the air — in the air; avasthitamstanding — standing; vakṣaḥon His chest — on His chest; śriyamauspicious mark — auspicious mark; kaustubhathe Kaustubha gem — the Kaustubha gem; kandharamneck — neck.
A golden streak on His chest, the famous Kaustubha gem suspended from His neck, He stood in the air with His lotus feet placed on the shoulders of Garuḍa.
The descriptions in verses 9-11 of the Lord in His transcendental, eternal form are understood to be descriptions from the authoritative Vedic version. These descriptions are certainly not the imagination of Kardama Muni. The decorations of the Lord are beyond material conception, as admitted even by impersonalists like Śaṅkarācārya: Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has nothing to do with the material creation. The varieties of the transcendental Lord—His body, His form, His dress, His instruction, His words—are not manufactured by the material energy, but are all confirmed in the Vedic literature. By performance of yoga Kardama Muni actually saw the Supreme Lord as He is. There was no point in seeing an imagined form of God after practicing yoga for ten thousand years. The perfection of yoga, therefore, does not terminate in voidness or impersonalism; on the contrary, the perfection of yoga is attained when one actually sees the Personality of Godhead in His eternal form. The process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to deliver the form of Kṛṣṇa directly. The form of Kṛṣṇa is described in the authoritative Vedic literature Brahma-saṁhitā: His abode is made of cintāmaṇi stone, and the Lord plays there as a cowherd boy and is served by many thousands of gopīs. These descriptions are authoritative, and a Kṛṣṇa conscious person takes them directly, acts on them, preaches them and practices devotional service as enjoined in the authoritative scriptures.