Page 29 - Sri Canakya Niti

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govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. “I worship Govinda—
Kṛṣṇa—the primeval Lord.” Govinda (literally, “One who gives
pleasure to the cows and the senses”) is a popular name of Kṛṣṇa,
and the Supreme Lord is twice addressed as such by Arjuna in the
Bhagavad-gītā. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself explains that He personally is the
divine origin of Viṣṇu to Arjuna with the words ādi tyānām ahaṁ
viṣṇuḥ: “Among Ādityas, I am Viṣṇu.” (Bg 10.21) Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the
Ādi-puruṣa or original Godhead expands into His various forms of
Viṣṇu for the creation and maintenance of this unlimited material
universe.
In his Śrī Govinda-virudāvali (2) Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, the great
Vaiṣṇava ācārya in the Gauḍīya sampradāya confi rms:

O lotus-eyed Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, when You wish to enjoy Your
pastimes in this material world, You appoint the demigod Brahmā
to create a place for them. Then You appoint the demigod Śiva to
eventually remove them.

Here Cāṇakya Paṇḍita invokes all auspiciousness for his nīti-śāstra
by offering reverence unto Him who is the source of all demigods, as
well as the repository of all common sense and morality.

Now, having offered due obeisances to the Personality of Godhead,
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita states his purpose, explaining the essence of nīti.
Nīti does not mean simply “politics” as is often understood. Cāṇakya-
nīti is replete with common sense advice for living a fuller life here
in this material world, while keeping one eye focused upon spiritual
development. In a nutshell, it is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita’s expressed wish
that we seize the situation at hand, assuring future progress in both the
here and hereafter. Life’s ultimate goal is the achievement of loving
service unto the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa through the grace of the
bona fide spiritual master. This exalted goal of transcendence may be

actively pursued by the devotee even if he lives comfortably in this
world, by keeping his needs to a minimum and living in compliance
with the laws of both man and God. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita shows us how
all this and more can be achieved by treading softly yet deliberately.
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