Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #13 – The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Śrīla Prabhupāda had a way with words in his translation of Sanskrit to English. The word bhagavān is the most common term for God. It means one who possesses all opulence and that is usually translated as the Supreme Lord. When Śrīla Prabhupāda used that term to refer to Śrī Krishna, he often translated the term as “The Supreme Personality of Godhead.” [emphasis mine] Why?

First a question that will help unpack the answer.

How is Krishna first referred to in both the Gītā, the book spoken by Krishna, and the Bhāgavatam, the main book about Krishna?

He is introduced to the reader in both texts as the chariot driver of Arjuna.

Coincidence? I don’t think so. I think both texts are composed in that way to affirm that Krishna is best deemed the Supreme Personality and not just The Supreme Lord. Here’s how.

When one is dealing with a subordinate, whose relationship is reverential, to reciprocate that mood one must maintain one’s identity and mood as a superior. A person in that disposition, however, is so much more than that. One can be, for example, also a friend or even a lover. Therefore, to appropriately reciprocate with a subordinate’s mood of reverence, so much of oneself must be concealed. Simply put, position covers personality.

In other words, the full revelation of a person occurs only when rank is put aside. And that’s why it is so significant that one is introduced to Krishna in both texts as the chariot driver of His friend and not as his lord. It insightfully portends Krishna’s intimate and fullest nature in such a visceral way.

What are persons if not the mood and identity displayed in their relationships as a child, a parent, a friend, or a lover? The fullest manifestation of being is not therefore in rank or position, but in personality and thus Krishna is just not the Supreme Position of Godhead, but something even more. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is of note in this regard that in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, one of the most important seminal texts in krishna-bhakti tradition from Śrī Caitanya, Krishna is first defined as akhila–rasa–amṛta–mūrtiḥ — the reservoir of all pleasure, in which exist all the mellows of devotional service, namely śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and mādhurya.

Śrīla Prabhupāda certainly had a way with words. Śrī-bhagavān uvāca — “The Supreme Personality of Godhead said!”