Text 3
yo mam ajam anadim ca
vetti loka-maheshvaram
asammudhah sa martyesu
sarva-papaih pramucyate
Translation
He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds—he only, undeluded among men, is freed from all sins.
Commentary by Srila Prabhupada
As stated in the Seventh Chapter (7.3), manushyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye: those who are trying to elevate themselves to the platform of spiritual realization are not ordinary men; they are superior to millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization. But out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual situation, one who can come to the understanding that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the unborn, is the most successful spiritually realized person. In that stage only, when one has fully understood Krishna’s supreme position, can one be free completely from all sinful reactions.
Here the Lord is described by the word aja, meaning “unborn,” but He is distinct from the living entities who are described in the Second Chapter as aja. The Lord is different from the living entities who are taking birth and dying due to material attachment. The conditioned souls are changing their bodies, but His body is not changeable. Even when He comes to this material world, He comes as the same unborn; therefore in the Fourth Chapter it is said that the Lord, by His internal potency, is not under the inferior, material energy, but is always in the superior energy.
In this verse the words vetti loka-maheshvaram indicate that one should know that Lord Krishna is the supreme proprietor of the planetary systems of the universe. He was existing before the creation, and He is different from His creation. All the demigods were created within this material world, but as far as Krishna is concerned, it is said that He is not created; therefore Krishna is different even from the great demigods like Brahma and Shiva. And because He is the creator of Brahma, Shiva and all the other demigods, He is the Supreme Person of all planets.
Sri Krishna is therefore different from everything that is created, and anyone who knows Him as such immediately becomes liberated from all sinful reactions. One must be liberated from all sinful activities to be in the knowledge of the Supreme Lord. Only by devotional service can He be known and not by any other means, as stated in Bhagavad-gita.
One should not try to understand Krishna as a human being. As stated previously, only a foolish person thinks Him to be a human being. This is again expressed here in a different way. A man who is not foolish, who is intelligent enough to understand the constitutional position of the Godhead, is always free from all sinful reactions.
If Krishna is known as the son of Devaki, then how can He be unborn? That is also explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam: When He appeared before Devaki and Vasudeva, He was not born as an ordinary child; He appeared in His original form, and then He transformed Himself into an ordinary child.
Anything done under the direction of Krishna is transcendental. It cannot be contaminated by material reactions, which may be auspicious or inauspicious. The conception that there are things auspicious and inauspicious in the material world is more or less a mental concoction because there is nothing auspicious in the material world. Everything is inauspicious because the very material nature is inauspicious. We simply imagine it to be auspicious. Real auspiciousness depends on activities in Krishna consciousness in full devotion and service. Therefore if we at all want our activities to be auspicious, then we should work under the directions of the Supreme Lord. Such directions are given in authoritative scriptures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, or from a bona fide spiritual master. Because the spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord, his direction is directly the direction of the Supreme Lord. The spiritual master, saintly persons and scriptures direct in the same way. There is no contradiction in these three sources. All actions done under such direction are free from the reactions of pious or impious activities of this material world. The transcendental attitude of the devotee in the performance of activities is actually that of renunciation, and this is called sannyasa. As stated in the first verse of the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, one who acts as a matter of duty because he has been ordered to do so by the Supreme Lord, and who does not seek shelter in the fruits of his activities (anasritah karma-phalam), is a true renouncer. Anyone acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord is actually a sannyasi and a yogi, and not the man who has simply taken the dress of the sannyasi, or a pseudo yogi.
Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur
"But surely the devatas and rsis know about birth of you, the supreme brahman, whose body is unlimited by all time and space."
Placing his index finger on his chest the Lord speaks this verse. "He who knows that I am without birth and am beginningless is free from sin."
"But does not everyone know that Brahma has a beginning, but that you, paramatma, are without birth because of having no beginning?"
"He who knows that I am unborn, and also born to Vasudeva, and am still without beginning, is freed from all sins." ca here signifies that he is also born. By using the word mam, Krishna indicates his birth from Vasudeva. This refers back to the Lord's previous statement in chapter four, "He who knows that my birth and activities are transcendental..."
"I take birth, but because I am paramatma, I am eternally without birth." Both these conditions are absolute truth, a demonstration of the acintya sakti. The Lord has said, ajo' pi son avyayatma... sambhavami, "Though I am unborn, I appear." Uddhava also says:
karmany anihasya bhavo 'bhavasya te
durgasrayo 'thari-bhayat palayanam
kalatmano yat pramada-yutasramah
svatman-rateh khidyati dhir vidam iha
My Lord, even the learned sages become disturbed in their intelligence when they see that Your Greatness engages in fruitive work although You are free from all desires, that You take birth although You are unborn, that You flee out of fear of the enemy and take shelter in a fort although You are the controller of invincible time, and that You enjoy householder life surrounded by many women although You enjoy in Your Self. SB 3.4.16
The commentary in the Laghu Bhagavatamrta says:
tat tan na vastavam cet syad vidam buddhi-bhramas tada
na syad evety ato 'cintya saktir lilasu karanam
If all this were not true, then all perceptions would be illusory. But that is not so. Thus the acintya sakti is the cause of his pastimes. Laghu Bhagavatamrta 1.5.119
In my childhood, during the Damodara lila, it is inconceivable that I could be bound by strings of bells, but not by the cords of mother Yasoda. In the same way, my birth and non-birth are also inconceivable.
The Lord then speaks of his powers, which are hard to understand. He who knows that though I am your chariot driver, I am also the great controller of all the planets, he alone is not bewildered among men, and is free of all sins, which are an obstacle to bhakti. But he who, though accepting that the Lord is unborn, without beginning and is the controller of all beings, thinks that his being born is just a semblance of birth, is bewildered, and is not freed from all sins.