In the materialistic view, there is difference between the substance and the name. Just like water. If you are thirsty, simply if I chant "water, water, water," it will not quench your thirst. You require the substance, water. So similarly, a . . . a person's photograph or a statue is different from the person. If there is a photograph of a certain gentleman and if you want to do business with the photograph, it is not possible. You'll have to seek for the actual person.
But in case of Kṛṣṇa, it is not like that. Kṛṣṇa the person and Kṛṣṇa's name, Hare Kṛṣṇa, the same thing. It is not that we are chanting "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa" and this Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is different. No. Nāma rūpe kṛṣṇa avatāra. The name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa the person, identical.
Just like we are worshiping the form of Rādhā-Govinda, Rādhā-Mādhava, Rādhā-Dāmodara. So this form, atheists will say that, "This is statue." But a theist person, who knows Kṛṣṇa, he will see this form of Kṛṣṇa not different from the original person Kṛṣṇa. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He entered the Jagannātha temple, He immediately fainted: "Here is My Lord." Others who are going in the Jagannātha temple, they are seeing something made of wood.
Therefore śāstra forbids, arcye śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhir sa eva narakaḥ (Padma Purāṇa). Arcye śilā-dhīr. Arca-mūrti, the form worshiped in the temple, if somebody thinks it is made of wood, it is made of stone, that is nārakī-buddhiḥ. No devotee will say. Only the nondevotee, atheist class of men, will say it, that "They are worshiping wood. They are worshiping stone." But devotee knows that His worshipable Lord is present here personally. It is a question of revising, or reforming, the perception. The whole Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is reforming or purifying the senses.
- sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
- tat-paratvena nirmalam
- hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
- (CC Madhya 19.170)
Bhakti means to purify the senses.
- premāñjana cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
- santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
- yaṁ śyāmasundaranam acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.38)
Real devotee, santaḥ, saintly persons, their eyes are purified by the ointment of love of Godhead. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). They are seeing Kṛṣṇa or his worshipable God . . . Kṛṣṇa has many forms. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu. Kṛṣṇa has His form as Lord Rāmacandra, as Varāha, as Kūrma, as Nṛsiṁha. Ananta-koṭi. Innumerable forms He has got. All of them are Kṛṣṇa.
So a devotee, on account of his eyes being smeared with the ointment of love of God, he sees Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours within his heart. That is the vision of the devotee. Atheist class will say, "Where is God?" because he has no eyes to see the God. But a theist class, or a devotee, he sees God, or Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours. He does not see anything else. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, sthāvara jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti (CC Madhya 8.274). A devotee, mahā-bhāgavata, highly advanced devotee, he sees trees, but he does not see the tree; he sees Kṛṣṇa. How? Has he gone mad? No. Actually he sees.
But what is this tree? The tree, outwardly, is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Your body, my body, the tree's body, the dog's body, the cat's body—what are these bodies? The bodies are made of the external, material energy. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). The material elements, they are simply Kṛṣṇa's external energy. So as soon as a devotee sees anything material, he sees immediately the energy of Kṛṣṇa, and along with the energy of Kṛṣṇa, he sees immediately Kṛṣṇa. Reactory. With reference to the context.
Just like you are reading some portion of a book. As soon as there is some reference, immediately you see the person. Suppose you are phoning, talking on telephone with somebody. As soon as hear the body, as soon as hear his sound, immediately you see your friend. It is not very difficult to understand. Simply one has to know the person or one has . . . must have the knowledge. So one who has got knowledge, perfect knowledge of the constitution of this material body, he does not see the body, he sees Kṛṣṇa.