Talk:Īshvara Bhāva: Bhagavān as the Lord
By Vishal Agarwal
In this mode, the Bhakta has a feeling of being in awe of Bhagavān because He is our Protector, Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, Lord, Glorious, and is the most Beautiful, Powerful, Eternal, etc. In a way, this Bhāva is very similar to the Shānta Bhāva but the difference is that the Bhakta has a more emotional relationship with a Deity, typically Saguṇa Īshvara (Vishnu, Shiva, or Devī in modern times) than in the Shānta Bhāva. Many mantras of the Vedas reflect this mode of Bhakti towards the Deva-s:
O Vishnu! Men do not comprehend your greatness, as you are growing through yourself beyond all measure. We, human beings, know from the Earth only two regions of the Universe, i.e., the Earth and the atmosphere, whereas O God! You know the highest region of the Universe. Rigveda 7.99.1
O Deva Vishnu! None of those who are born or who were born in the past has reached the farthest limit of your greatness. You have propped the vast and high heaven and fixed the eastern horizon of the Earth. Rigveda 7.99.2
He, O men, is Indra whose command is obeyed by horses, cows, villages, and chariots. He created the sun and the Dawn. He is the guide of the waters. Rigveda 2.12.7
Both Heaven and Earth bow down before him. Even the mountains tremble before His might. He, O men, is Indra who is famed as the Soma drinker, lightning-armed, and wielder of thunderbolts. Rigveda 2.12.13
O Indra! In your bounty, you nourish the blooming and fruit-bearing plants and maintain the flow of rivers according to your eternal law. You, yourself being immense, have created in every direction and matchless luminaries of Heaven. So you are praiseworthy indeed. Rigveda 2.13.7
O Indra! Even if there be a hundred Heavens and a hundred Earths, they cannot match you; nor can, O thunderbolt wielder! A thousand suns together with both worlds, come up, to your greatness. Rigveda 8.70.5
In a beautiful expression of this Bhāva, Krishna declares to Arjuna-
I am the final Destination (Goal), the Provider, the Master of all, the Witness of everything, the Abode (in which the whole universe resides), worth seeking the shelter of, and the Friend of all. And I am the origin and the Dissolution, the Foundation of everything, the Resting Place and the immortal cause of everything. Gita 9.18
And after Krishna reveals his Vishvarūpa (Universal Form) to Arjuna, the latter prays in the Īshvara Bhāva Bhakti-
Arjuna prayed to Krishna: You are the Imperishable, the Supreme Being, the One to be known. You are the great refuge of this Universe. You are the unchanging guardian of the eternal Dharm. You are, I know, the most ancient Being. Gita 11.18 O You of boundless forms! You are the Primal Deva of devas, the Ancient Being. You are the supreme refuge of the Universe. You are the knower, and the One to be known. You are the Supreme Goal. By You is the Universe pervaded. Gita 11.38 Salutations to You from the front and to You from the behind. Salutations to You on every side. Lord, You are everything. Infinite in power and infinite in prowess. You pervade all. Therefore, You are all. Gita 11.40 Therefore, I prostrate myself before You in adoration and crave Your forgiveness. Forgive me, O Lord, as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved. Gita 11.44
In a similar vein, a Gandharva named Pushpadanta, regretting a transgression against the Lord, is said to have composed a splendid hymn describing his awe for the omniscience, omnipotence, magnificence, etc. of his Iṣhta-devatā Shiva-
Bhagavān Shiva, even if Devi Saraswati were to write eternally using the longest branch of the celestial tree for her pen, using the whole earth as paper, a mountain of blue pigment for the ink, the ocean as the inkpot – even then O Lord, Your attributes cannot be fully described. Pushpadanta’s Shivamahimnah Stotra, verse 32
In the following narrative, Bhagavān Brahmā realizes the majesty of Krishna and His Divine Nature, exhibiting exemplary Īshvara Bhāva Bhakti -
Story: Lord Brahmā Realizes that Bhagavān is Infinite (Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.13-14):
Krishna would go often with the other cowherd boys of their village to graze their cows on the banks of the river Yamuna. There, they would play and Krishna would play his flute while the cows grazed.
One day, some calves grazed away from the bank into a jungle. The cowherds got scared that some wild animals might kill and eat them. To allay their fears, Krishna offered to go and search for them. When Krishna left the scene, Lord Brahmā thought of a plan to test the power of Lord Vishnu. He thought, “Lord Vishnu has taken the form of a child. Surely, as a child, God cannot display his infinite powers. So let me see what wonderful miracles this child Krishna can show me!”
So Brahma immediately went to the banks of Yamuna where the cowherds and cows were waiting for Krishna. He put them to sleep through his powers, and immediately transported them to a cave. When Krishna returned with the calves after finding them in the jungle, he saw that all his friends and cows were missing from the spot where he had left them! He immediately realized that Brahma was the culprit. Instead of bring Brahma to the task, Krishna saw this as an opportunity to teach him the power of God.
So Krishna immediately multiplied Himself into all the cows and cowherds who had been kidnapped by Brahma. These creations of Krishna were identical in every respect to the kidnapped cows and cowherds. Then, as the sunset came, they all went back to their village where their mothers received them with a lot of love. Almost a year came to pass. Krishna and the new cowherds and cows continued to come to the banks of Yamuna to graze and drink as usual. Meanwhile, Brahma had returned to his abode. When he returned back to the earth, he was stunned to find all the cowherds and cows with Krishna at the same spot where he had kidnapped them. He rushed to the cave and found all of them sleeping peacefully, just as Brahma had placed them there.
Brahma was filled with remorse for having tried to test the power of God. To pacify Brahma, Krishna merged back the new cowherds and cows into himself. He showed Brahma that even while He was with the cowherds on the banks of Yamuna, he was also simultaneously present in his village playing with other cowherds. Brahma realized that although he had tried to trick God, he was the one who got tricked! He approached Krishna and fell at his feet. He sang a hymn in praise of God and said,
“O Lord, you appear as a little kid with a flute in your hand causing people to think that you are a mere boy. But you reveal your true form to your devotees who love you. But this devotion is so difficult for those people whose minds are filled with ego. I thought that I was great because I created this Universe from an egg of matter. But you are so infinite Lord, that an infinite number of these eggs can come out of each pore of your body and create infinite Universes! You exist inside the entire Universe, and also outside it. You exist even when the Universe no longer exists! It is You Who creates all this with Maya and we all get fooled. The fact is that this Universe exists only because of You. Without your powers, it will not exist. Please grant me the gift that I may be devoted to you always.”
Krishna blessed him and Brahma returned to his abode. All the cowherds and cows that had been put to sleep woke up as if nothing had happened, and they spent the rest of the day as a picnic. The site where this miracle happened still exists in Vrindavan in north India today.