Question:

Dear Prabhuji, when you refer to Kṛṣṇa, is he the same Kṛṣṇa as in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and Bhagavad Gita? Meaning, is he the son of Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja?

Answer:

My Kṛṣṇa is the source and origin of all experience; he is the substance of which every experience is made; and he is the space where all experiences happen.

अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते ।
इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः ॥ १०-८॥

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāvasamanvitāḥ

“I am the source of all; from me everything evolves; understanding thus, the wise endowed with loving consciousness worship me.” (Bhagavad Gita, 10.8)

My Kṛṣṇa has assumed the forms of all objects. My Kṛṣṇa is the one nature that lies behind the entire world of names and forms.

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनञ्च ।
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ॥ १५-१५॥

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtirjñānamapohanañca
vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyo
vedāntakṛdvedavideva cāham

“And I am seated in the hearts of all, from me come memory, knowledge, as well as their absence. I am verily that which has to be known in all the Vedas; I am indeed the author of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (Bhagavad Gita, 15.15)

My Kṛṣṇa is the absolute, ultimate, omnipresent, immanent, transcendental reality. My Kṛṣṇa is the all-inclusive, all-transcendent Supreme God.

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः ।
अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च ॥ १०-२०॥

ahamātmā guḍākeśa
sarva-bhūtāśaya-sthitaḥ
aham ādiś ca madhyaṁ ca
bhūtānāmanta eva ca

“I am the Self, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the Beginning, the Middle and also the End of all beings.” (Bhagavad Gita, 10.20)

My Kṛṣṇa is also Vrajendra Nandan Kṛṣṇa Śyāmasundara, the son of Devaki and Vāsudeva as well as of Mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, as well as the beloved of Rādhā, the gopīs, and all the glorious inhabitants of Vrindavana. My Kṛṣṇa is called by very diverse names in different cultures, traditions, and languages, such as Allah, Jehovah, God, Adonai, Father, Universal Consciousness, Brahman, Ultimate Reality, and so on. However, they all refer and point to the same Truth.