From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of māyā and become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as "the character of the living force in immortality." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individuals. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in our thoughts and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Among the minute living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. Like each of these living entities, the Lord is an individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and thus in the Bhagavad-gītā He is addressed as Acyuta, which means "He who never falls down." This name is appropriate because in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna falls into illusion but Kṛṣṇa does not. Kṛṣṇa Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, "When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency." (BG 4.6)
BG 04.06 ajo 'pi sann avyayatma... cited
Expressions researched:
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates"
|"I am the Lord of all living entities"
|"I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form"
|"ajo 'pi sann avyayatma"
|"bhutanam isvaro 'pi san"
|"prakrtim svam adhisthaya"
|"sambhavamy atma-mayaya"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.
The Lord has spoken about the peculiarity of His birth: although He may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past "births," whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before. If someone is asked what he did exactly at the same time one day earlier, it would be very difficult for a common man to answer immediately. He would surely have to dredge his memory to recall what he was doing exactly at the same time one day before. And yet, men often dare claim to be God, or Kṛṣṇa. One should not be misled by such meaningless claims. Then again, the Lord explains His prakṛti, or His form. Prakṛti means "nature," as well as svarūpa, or "one's own form." The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His body, as the common living entity changes from one body to another. The conditioned soul may have one kind of body in the present birth, but he has a different body in the next birth. In the material world, the living entity has no fixed body but transmigrates from one body to another. The Lord, however, does not do so. Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body, by His internal potency. In other words, Kṛṣṇa appears in this material world in His original eternal form, with two hands, holding a flute. He appears exactly in His eternal body, uncontaminated by this material world. Although He appears in the same transcendental body and is Lord of the universe, it still appears that He takes His birth like an ordinary living entity. And although His body does not deteriorate like a material body, it still appears that Lord Kṛṣṇa grows from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth. But astonishingly enough He never ages beyond youth. At the time of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, He had many grandchildren at home; or, in other words, He had sufficiently aged by material calculations. Still He looked just like a young man twenty or twenty-five years old. We never see a picture of Kṛṣṇa in old age because He never grows old like us, although He is the oldest person in the whole creation—past, present, and future. Neither His body nor His intelligence ever deteriorates or changes. Therefore, it is clear that in spite of His being in the material world, He is the same unborn, eternal form of bliss and knowledge, changeless in His transcendental body and intelligence. Factually, His appearance and disappearance are like the sun's rising, moving before us, and then disappearing from our eyesight. When the sun is out of sight, we think that the sun is set, and when the sun is before our eyes, we think that the sun is on the horizon. Actually, the sun is always in its fixed position, but owing to our defective, insufficient senses, we calculate the appearance and disappearance of the sun in the sky. And because Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance are completely different from that of any ordinary, common living entity, it is evident that He is eternal, blissful knowledge by His internal potency—and He is never contaminated by material nature. The Vedas also confirm that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unborn yet He still appears to take His birth in multimanifestations. The Vedic supplementary literatures also confirm that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body. In the Bhāgavatam, He appears before His mother as Nārāyaṇa, with four hands and the decorations of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, bestowed upon the living entities so that they can concentrate on the Supreme Lord as He is, and not on mental concoctions or imaginations, which the impersonalist wrongly thinks the Lord's forms to be. The word māyā, or ātma-māyā, refers to the Lord's causeless mercy, according to the Viśva-kośa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all of His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another body. He is the Lord of all living entities because He performs wonderful and superhuman activities while He is on this earth. Therefore, the Lord is always the same Absolute Truth and is without differentiation between His form and self, or between His quality and body. A question may now be raised as to why the Lord appears and disappears in this world. This is explained in the next verse.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
The human soul says: I take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears in His various eternal forms and walks on the surface of the world. I take shelter of Him only, because He can give me relief from all fear and from Him I have received this condition of life, which is just befitting my impious activities.
The word calac-caraṇāravindam refers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who actually walks or travels upon the surface of the world. For example, Lord Rāmacandra actually walked on the surface of the world, and Lord Kṛṣṇa also walked just like an ordinary man. The prayer is therefore offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who descends to the surface of this earth, or any part of this universe, for the protection of the pious and the destruction of the impious. It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā that when there is an increase of irreligion and discrepancies arise in the real religious activities, the Supreme Lord comes to protect the pious and kill the impious. This verse indicates Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Another significant point in this verse is that the Lord comes, icchayā, by His own will. As Kṛṣṇa confirms in Bhagavad-gītā, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: (BG 4.6) "I appear at My will, by My internal potential power." He is not forced to come by the laws of material nature. It is stated here, icchayā: He does not assume any form, as the impersonalists think, because He comes at His own will, and the form in which He descends is His eternal form. As the Supreme Lord puts the living entity into the condition of horrible existence, He can also deliver him, and therefore one should seek shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa demands, "Give up everything and surrender unto Me." And it is also said in Bhagavad-gītā that anyone who approaches Him does not come back again to accept a form in material existence, but goes back to Godhead, back home, never to return.
SB Canto 4
Lord Śiva said that since his heart was always filled with the conception of Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of the Supreme Lord's presence within his mind and heart, he was always offering obeisances unto that Supreme Godhead. In other words, Lord Śiva is always in trance, samādhi. This samādhi is not under the control of the devotee; it is under the control of Vāsudeva, for the entire internal energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead acts under His order. Of course, the material energy also acts by His order, but His direct will is specifically executed through the spiritual energy. Thus by His spiritual energy He reveals Himself. It is stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā. Ātma-māyayā means "internal potency." By His sweet will He reveals Himself by His internal potency, being satisfied by the transcendental loving service of the devotee. The devotee never commands, "My dear Lord, please come here so that I can see You." It is not the position of the devotee to command the Supreme Personality of Godhead to come before him or to dance before him.
SB Canto 5
The various forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such as Nārāyaṇa and Viṣṇu, are beautifully decorated with different weapons. The Lord exhibits those forms to maintain all the varied planets created by His personal potency, yogamāyā.
In Bhagavad-gītā (4.6) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: "I appear by My internal potency. "The word ātma-māyā refers to the Lord's personal potency, yogamāyā. After creating both the material world and spiritual world through yogamāyā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally maintains them by expanding Himself in different categories as the Viṣṇu mūrtis and the demigods. He maintains the material creation from beginning to end, and He personally maintains the spiritual world.
SB Canto 6
Considered with scrutiny, the conclusion of nondevotees, who say that God has no name, and that of devotees, who know that His name is not material, are practically the same. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no material name, form, birth, appearance or disappearance, but nevertheless, He takes His birth (janma). As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6):
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
Although the Lord is unborn (aja) and His body never undergoes material changes, He nevertheless appears as an incarnation, maintaining Himself always in the transcendental stage (śuddha-sattva). Thus He exhibits His transcendental forms, names and activities. That is His special mercy toward His devotees. Others may continue merely arguing about whether the Absolute Truth has form or not, but when a devotee, by the grace of the Lord, sees the Lord personally, he becomes spiritually ecstatic.
By His own potency, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has multifarious potencies, appeared in the form of a dwarf as Urukrama, the twelfth son of Aditi. In the womb of His wife, whose name was Kīrti, He begot one son, named Bṛhatśloka, who had many sons, headed by Saubhaga.
As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6):
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." When the Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnates, He does not need any help from the external energy, for He appears as He is by His own potency. The spiritual potency is also called māyā. It is said, ato māyāmayaṁ viṣṇuṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ: the body accepted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called māyāmaya. This does not mean that He is formed of the external energy; this māyā refers to His internal potency.
SB Canto 7
When Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears in His original spiritual potency (sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)), He is not forced to accept a form made by material nature. Therefore the Lord is addressed as īśvara, the controller of māyā. He is not controlled by māyā. When a demon continuously thinks of Kṛṣṇa because of enmity toward Him, he is certainly freed from the sinful reactions of his life. To think of Kṛṣṇa in any way, in terms of His name, form, qualities, paraphernalia or anything pertaining to Him, is beneficial for everyone. Sṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Thinking of Kṛṣṇa, hearing the holy name of Kṛṣṇa or hearing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa will make one pure, and then he will become a devotee. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore trying to introduce the system of somehow or other letting everyone hear the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and take Kṛṣṇa's prasāda. Thus one will gradually become a devotee, and his life will be successful.
Śrī Nārada Muni said: After first offering my obeisances unto Lord Kṛṣṇa, the protector of the religious principles of all living entities, let me explain the principles of the eternal religious system, of which I have heard from the mouth of Nārāyaṇa.
The word aja refers to Kṛṣṇa, who explains in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā: "I am ever existing, and thus I never take birth. There is no change in My existence."
SB Canto 8
When Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa how He could remember incidents that had taken place so long ago, the Lord answered that Arjuna was also present at that time. Because Arjuna is Kṛṣṇa's friend, wherever Kṛṣṇa goes, Arjuna goes. But the difference is that Kṛṣṇa remembers everything, whereas the living entity like Arjuna, being a minute particle of the Supreme Lord, forgets. Therefore it is said, the Lord's vigilance is never diminished. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramātmā feature is always present within the hearts of all living entities, and from Him come memory, knowledge and forgetfulness. This is also indicated in this verse by the word suparṇam, which means "friend." In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.6) it is therefore said, dvā suparṇa-sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte: two birds are sitting on the same tree as friends. One bird is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other is simply observing. This observing bird is always present as a friend to the eating bird and giving him remembrance of things he wanted to do. Thus if we take into account the Supreme Personality of Godhead in our daily affairs, we can see Him or at least perceive His presence everywhere.
The names of the Lord like Rāma and Kṛṣṇa are nondifferent from the person Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. Thus by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra one constantly associates with Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore becomes liberated. A practical example is Ajāmila, who always remained transcendental to his activities simply by chanting the name Nārāyaṇa. If this was true of Ajāmila, what is to be said of the Supreme Lord? When the Lord comes to this material world, He does not become a product of matter. This is confirmed throughout Bhagavad-gītā (janma-karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9), avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11)). Therefore, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead—Rāma or Kṛṣṇa—descends to act transcendentally for our benefit, we should not consider Him an ordinary human being. When the Lord comes, He does so on the basis of His spiritual potency (sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)). Because He is not forced to come by the material energy, He is always transcendental. One should not consider the Supreme Lord an ordinary human being. Material names and forms are contaminated, but spiritual name and spiritual form are transcendental.
Lord Brahmā said: Although You are never born, Your appearance and disappearance as an incarnation never cease. You are always free from the material qualities, and You are the shelter of transcendental bliss resembling an ocean. Eternally existing in Your transcendental form, You are the supreme subtle of the most extremely subtle. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto You, the Supreme, whose existence is inconceivable.
The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6):
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." In the following verse in Bhagavad-gītā (4.7), the Lord says:
- yadā yadā hi dharmasya
- glānir bhavati bhārata
- abhyutthānam adharmasya
- tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time descend Myself." Thus although the Supreme Lord is unborn, there is no cessation to His appearance in different forms as incarnations like Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rāma. Since His incarnations are eternal, the various activities performed by these incarnations are also eternal. The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not appear because He is forced to do so by karma like ordinary living entities who are forced to accept a certain type of body. It is to be understood that the Lord's body and activities are all transcendental, being free from the contamination of the material modes of nature. These pastimes are transcendental bliss to the Lord. The word aparigaṇya-dhāmne is very significant. There is no limit to the Lord's appearance in different incarnations. All of these incarnations are eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.
Atheists generally follow the Bauddha philosophical conclusion that at death everything is finished. Hiraṇyakaśipu, being an atheist, thought this way. Because Lord Viṣṇu was not visible to him, he thought that the Lord was dead. Even today, many people follow the philosophy that God is dead. But God is never dead. Even the living entity, who is part of God, never dies. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit: "For the soul there is never birth or death." This is the statement of Bhagavad-gītā (2.20). Even the ordinary living entity never takes birth or dies. What then is to be said of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the chief of all living entities? He certainly never takes birth or dies. Ajo'pi sann avyayātmā (BG 4.6). Both the Lord and the living entity exist as unborn and inexhaustible personalities. Thus Hiraṇyakaśipu's conclusion that Viṣṇu was dead was wrong.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Kṛṣṇa is described in this verse as māyā-manuṣya because He descends exactly like a human being. He is not obliged to come here, like karmīs, or ordinary living beings; rather, He appears by His own internal energy (sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)) just to show favor to the fallen conditioned souls. Kṛṣṇa is always situated in His original position as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), and anyone who renders service to Him is also situated in his original, spiritual identity (svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6)). This is the highest perfection of human life.
The asuras wrongly think that Kṛṣṇa took birth like an ordinary child and passed away from this world like an ordinary man. Such asuric conceptions are rejected by persons in knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san (BG 4.6). As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord is aja, unborn, and He is the supreme controller of everything. Nonetheless, He appeared as the child of Devakī. This verse describes the inconceivable potency of the Lord, who appeared like the full moon. Understanding the special significance of the appearance of the Supreme Godhead, one should never regard Him as having taken birth like an ordinary child.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After thus instructing His father and mother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, remained silent. In their presence, by His internal energy, He then transformed Himself into a small human child. [In other words, He transformed Himself into His original form: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: whatever is done by the Supreme Personality of Godhead is done by His spiritual energy; nothing is forced upon Him by the material energy. This is the difference between the Lord and an ordinary living being. The Vedas say:
- parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
- svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
- (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)
(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)
It is natural for the Lord to be untinged by material qualities, and because everything is perfectly present in His spiritual energy, as soon as He desires something, it is immediately done. The Lord is not a prākṛta-śiśu, a child of this world, but by His personal energy He appeared like one.
Droṇa and Dharā said: Please permit us to be born on the planet earth so that after our appearance, the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller and master of all planets, will also appear and spread devotional service, the ultimate goal of life, so that those born in this material world may very easily be delivered from the miserable condition of materialistic life by accepting this devotional service.
This statement by Droṇa clearly indicates that Droṇa and Dharā are the eternal father and mother of Kṛṣṇa. Whenever there is a necessity of Kṛṣṇa's appearance, Droṇa and Dharā appear first, and then Kṛṣṇa appears. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā that His birth is not ordinary (janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9)).
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." (BG 4.6) Before Kṛṣṇa's appearance, Droṇa and Dharā appear in order to become His father and mother. It is they who appear as Nanda Mahārāja and his wife, Yaśodā. In other words, it is not possible for a sādhana-siddha living being to become the father or mother of Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa's father and mother are already designated. But by following the principles exhibited by Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā and their associates, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, ordinary living beings may attain such affection as exhibited by Nanda and Yaśodā.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
CC Adi-lila
Quoting from the revealed scriptures in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), Madhvācārya has stated that mother material nature, which is conceived of as the illusory energy, Durgā, has three divisions, namely śrī, bhū and nīlā. She is the illusory energy for those who are weak in spiritual strength because such energies are created energies of Lord Viṣṇu. Although each energy has no direct relationship with the unlimited, they are subordinate to the Lord because the Lord is the master of all energies.
The spiritual potency is manifested in the spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa's form, qualities, activities and entourage are all spiritual. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.6):
- ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, by My spiritual potency I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." Ātma-māyā refers to the spiritual potency. When Kṛṣṇa comes to this or any other universe, He does so with His spiritual potency. We take birth by the force of the material potency, but as stated here with reference to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, the kṣetra-jña, or living entity, belongs to the spiritual potency; thus when we free ourselves from the clutches of the material potency we can also enter the spiritual world.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of māyāand become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as "the character of the living force in immortality." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individuals. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in our thoughts and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Among the minute living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. Like each of these living entities, the Lord is an individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and thus in the Bhagavad-gītā He is addressed as Acyuta, which means "He who never falls down." This name is appropriate because in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna falls into illusion but Kṛṣṇa does not. Kṛṣṇa Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, "When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency." (BG 4.6)
Renunciation Through Wisdom
In the innumerable universes, Lord Kṛṣṇa reveals His earthly pastimes with His intimate friend and eternal associate Arjuna. The Lord makes this clear in two Bhagavad-gītā verses (4.5-6):
- bahūni me vyatītāni
- janmāni tava cārjuna
- tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
- na tvaṁ vettha parantapa
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy! Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.
As for those unfortunate souls who do not strive for the supreme goal of entering the eternal pastimes of the Supreme Lord and instead become attracted to the mundane practices of karma, jñāna, and yoga, which ultimately elevate one to the heavenly planets—such souls must once again take birth in this material world. Although they may reach a high status in this cosmic system, they must come down as if on a ferris wheel.
Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)
The Lord's birth on the face of the earth is certainly very mysterious, and therefore it is difficult for ordinary men to believe in His birth. How can the all-powerful Lord take birth, seemingly like an ordinary man? The matter is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.6), where the Lord says,
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, by My transcendental potency I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form." From the śāstra we learn that the Lord takes birth not only in the family of human beings but also in the families of demigods, aquatics, animals, and so on. One may argue that an ordinary living being is eternal and unborn like the Lord and also takes birth in different species of life, and so there is no difference between the Lord and an ordinary living being. The difference is, however, that while an ordinary living being changes his body when he transmigrates from one species of life to another, the Lord never changes His body: He appears in His original body, without any change. Also, while there is a vast difference between the ordinary living entity and his body, there is no difference between the Lord and His body because He is pure spirit. In other words, there is no distinction between His body and His soul.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Devotee: "The Māyāvādī may argue that the individuality spoken of by Kṛṣṇa is not spiritual but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is material, how can one distinguish Kṛṣṇa's individuality?"
Prabhupāda: They also think of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, as material. That is also condemned by Kṛṣṇa. You'll find, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "Because I have appeared just like a human being, these rascals deride at Me that I am also one of them." Mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascal. Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan says, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa... It is the soul within the Kṛṣṇa." That means he identifies Kṛṣṇa as one of us. His body and His soul different. But Kṛṣṇa is not... Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). "I appear in My own, original stature. I do not change." We change. The individual soul... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). He's conducted by, influenced by this prakṛti, nature, but He's not conducted or influenced by the nature. He comes in His own influence, as He is, ātma-māyayā. This is the distinction. Therefore He does not change body. When I come, I change bodies. This time I may have this body; next time I may have another body. That is material, and therefore I forget. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter that "Many times you and I came. You have forgotten (BG 4.5)." Because we change our material body therefore we forget. These things all will be explained. Go on.
So this argument the butchers or the animal killers or any kind of killer, they cannot put argument. That "Here, Bhagavad-gītā says that soul is never killed, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), even after destroying the body. So why you are complaining that we are killing?" So this is the argument, that you cannot even kill the body. That is not allowed. That is sinful. Ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate. So nobody kills anybody, neither anybody is killed by others. This is one thing. Again, in a different way, Kṛṣṇa says, na jāyate: the living entity never takes birth. The birth is of the body or the death is of the body. Living entity, the spiritual spark, then that being Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, as Kṛṣṇa does not take birth, does not die... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. You'll find in the Fourth Chapter. Ajo 'pi. Kṛṣṇa is aja. Aja means who never takes birth. Similarly, we being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we also never take birth. The birth and death is of this body, and we are so absorbed in the bodily concept of life that when there is birth or death of the body we feel the pains and pleasures. There is no pleasure of course. Birth and death, it is very painful. Because... That is already explained. The consciousness of the soul is spread all over the body. Therefore, the pains and pleasures felt on account of this body. So Kṛṣṇa has already advised that such kinds of pains and pleasure, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya (BG 2.14), touching the skin only, one should not be very much bothered. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. In this way if we think about our position, self-realization, how we are different from the body... Actually, this is meditation. If we think very seriously about ourselves and about the body, that is self-realization. Self-realization means I am not this body, I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am spirit soul. That is self-realization.
So the soul cannot be killed. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. And the soul has no birth, no death. As Kṛṣṇa is eternal, Kṛṣṇa has no birth and death... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter. Aja. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Aja. Or viṣṇu-tattva. Aja. We are also aja. Aja means who does not take birth. So the both Kṛṣṇa, or God, and the living entities, they are eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The only difference is because we are a small particle, therefore we are prone to be covered by material energy. This is the difference. We become cyuta, fallen down. But Kṛṣṇa is Acyuta. He never falls down. That is the difference. So just like cloud. Cloud can cover a portion of sunlight. Not that cloud can cover the, all the sunlight. That is not possible. Suppose now this sky is covered with cloud, maybe hundred miles, two hundred miles or five hundred miles. But what is five hundred miles in comparison to the sun, millions and trillions of miles? So the cloud covers our eyes, not the sun. Similarly, māyā can cover the eyes of the living entity. Māyā does not cover the Supreme Person. No. That is not possible.
Madhudviṣa: "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Madhudviṣa: Purport: "The Lord has spoken about the peculiarity of this verse. Although He may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past births, whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before. If somebody is asked what he did exactly at the same time one day earlier, it would be very difficult for him to answer immediately. He would have to dredge his memory to recall what he was doing. And yet men often dare to claim to be God or Kṛṣṇa. One should not be misled by such meaningless claims. Then again, the Lord explains His prakṛti or His form. Prakṛti means nature as well as svarūpa, or one's own form. The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His body as the common living entity does from one to another. The conditioned soul may have one kind of body in the present birth, but he has a different one in the next birth. In the material world the living entity transmigrates in this way. The Lord, however, does not do so. Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body by His internal potency. In other words, Kṛṣṇa appears in this material world in His original eternal form with two hands and holding a flute."
Prabhupāda: Yes. In your Bible also it is said that "Man is made after God," not that God is made after man. The atheist class, they say that "You have created a God according to your own feature," but no scripture says like that. God has eternal two hands, two legs. So man... God is so kind that man is also made according to His form. That is a special facility given to man, not that somebody imagines God, "Because man has two hands, therefore God has two hands." No. That is not a fact. Here it is explained nicely. Go on.
Now, the next question is that if He does not change His body, why He takes, comes as incarnation? These are very difficult questions. There are some, many difference of opinions amongst the philosophers. Somebody says that Kṛṣṇa assumes the material body when He comes. No. He doesn't assume the material body like us. Then He could not remember. Just, here is a critical point. If He would have accepted material body like us, then He could not remember because we have got this material body, and due to this material body and change, we cannot remember anything. Therefore the natural conclusion is that He does not change His body.
In the next verse, He says,
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
Now this is called... As we generally call, "God is almighty, all-powerful." Now, here this all-powerfulness is explained. That ajo 'pi: "Although I have no birth... I am eternal." Similarly, the living entity, he has also no birth. This birth which we considered as birth, this is a birth of this body. I am also aja. Not that I was born at a certain time and I shall die at a such time. The birth and death which we have accepted, it is due to this body. But I am not this body. That point we have already discussed, that I am not this body.
Now, here Kṛṣṇa says that "Although I am aja..."
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
Just like Kṛṣṇa's birth, Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance, is just like the sun, is just like the sun. Now, sun, in the morning, you'll see that it, it appears as if it is born from the eastern horizon. It is not born. The sun is always in the sky. It is the position of the earth in which we understand that sun is now rising from the eastern horizon. He's neither rising, nor he's dipping into the sea. He is, the sun is as it is, in his position, but due to the position, changing position of this earth, we see that the sun is rising and sun is setting. Similarly, the Kṛṣṇa, when He comes as incarnation, He comes just like this, in the same way.
So we should always remember that we are reading Bhagavad-gītā and we should understand it as it is. We should not make any interpretation. That is a wrong thing. And if there was some necessity of interpretation, we should not think that Kṛṣṇa left the matter for being interpreted by in later age by some scholar. Oh, He could have disclosed it Himself. He was quite competent. No. There is no question of interpretation. We have to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. If we cannot understand, that is a defect in me, not in the Bhagavad-gītā. So we have to find out the defect in me. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san: "Although I am the Lord, I am the Supreme Lord of everything and although I am unborn, aja, and avyayātmā, I have no change, still, prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya." Prakṛtiṁ svām.
One may question that "Why? The Supreme Lord is all-good. Why He has got higher nature and lower nature?" Yes, He has got because He says. You cannot say that there is no higher nature and lower nature. There is also higher nature. Now, here the Lord says that "When I come as incarnation, when I appear..." Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. Svām means His higher nature. He does not accept this material nature. He does not accept this material nature.
Just like the example... We can give very tangible example. Just like in the prison house sometimes the head of the country goes to visit, to see, to inspect how the prison life is going on or to give them some instruction, some good lesson, that "Why you are rotting in prison? You become good citizen." Now, suppose the head of the state goes to the prison and to instruct the prisoners, and if the prisoners think, "Oh, he is also a prisoner. The head of the state who has come to instruct, he is also one of the prisoners, like us."
So similarly, if we think that Kṛṣṇa is like us, He is also assumed a material body and He is one of us, then it is a mistake. It is a mistake. That is explained. In the later chapters you'll find. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Oh, because I appear just like a man, the foolish man considers Me as one of them. But I am not as one of... I am not one of them." Here it is clearly said that "I appear, I appear." Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. "I appear in My own spiritual nature. I don't accept this lower nature, this material nature." So we are, when we appear... Just like we have appeared. We have appeared in this material world, accepting this material body, the lower nature. But when Kṛṣṇa comes, He does not accept the lower nature. He comes in His original, superior, or higher, nature. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. Here it is clearly said, prakṛtiṁ svām. Svām means own, personal, internal nature.
Just like everybody has got some personal affair and some public affair. Everybody. A man, high-court judge, he may be, as a public man, he may be a different personality in the high-court bench. But at home he's a different person, a different person. In the high-court bench one has to address that person, "My Lord," but at home his wife addressing him by his own name, "Mr. Harry! Harry! Why don't you do it?" Oh, there is no question of "My Lord."
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got two nature, lower and higher nature. The higher nature is internal potency. That is His real life. So here Kṛṣṇa says that "I come." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san: "Because I need not come here. I need not come." Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Just like if He's the Supreme Lord, why does He come here? Yes, He does not need come here, but if He comes here, we cannot object. We cannot object. We cannot say that He cannot come here. He is free. He is svayambhu; He is fully independent. If He likes, He can come. Just like the example: If the head of the state goes to a prison house, it is not that he as been forced to come there just like other prisoners, but he comes to inspect, to see. It is his du..., it is his liking.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa comes here with a purpose. What is that purpose? He comes here to reclaim these fallen souls. We are part and parcel... We are... Kṛṣṇa loves us more than we love Him. We do not love Him. But Kṛṣṇa loves. Kṛṣṇa loves every living being. He says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: (BG 14.4) "Every living being, whatever form he is, that doesn't matter, I am the bīja-pradaḥ pitā, I am the seed-giving father."
So the father is always affectionate to the sons. The sons may forget the father, but the father cannot forget. So Kṛṣṇa comes here out of His love for us to deliver us, to give us the right path. Sarva-dharmān parityajya: (BG 18.66) "My dear sons, why you are rotting in this miserable world? You come to Me. I'll give you all protection. You are the son of the Supreme. So you can enjoy life very supremely, very magnificently, without any death. Why you are rotting?" That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa comes just like we are come here, being obliged, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27), forced by the laws of nature according to our karma. He does not come like that. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and myself.
Thank you very much. Now, if there is any question, you can ask. (break)
At that time, Kṛṣṇa gave him a special elevation, to see that form. That is not possible to see by every man. You, perhaps you know it. So at certain stage one has to be elevated to understand Kṛṣṇa. But these questions are common thing. Common thing. Just like there is a verse in Brahma-saṁhitā.
- premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
- santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
- yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.38)
And Kṛṣṇa says also that sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). "I appear and disappear by My own energy." We are forced by the other energy. Just like I have got human body now. Now I shall have to change my body after my death. That change of body is not in my hand. Factually, it is in my hand, because according to karma, if I work nicely, then you get good body. And if you do not work nicely, then we get bad body. That we can understand from the śāstra. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). How we can understand? Śāstra-cakṣusā. You have to see through the śāstra. Otherwise, we have no eyes to see past, present, future.
Bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna. As individuals, we are taking birth. That Kṛṣṇa's birth will be explained in the next verse. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Ajaḥ. Ajaḥ means "who does not take birth." We are also aja. Na janma... What is that? Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin...na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ. That is the description of the living entities. A living entity, as we are, we also do not take birth. We are eternal, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is eternal; we are also eternal. Kṛṣṇa is individual; we are also individual. The difference is that He is īśvaraḥ paramaḥ, He's the supreme controller, and we are... We are also controller, but limited, very minute controller. That is the difference. God is great, and we are a small particle. That is the difference.
Pradyumna: (leads chanting)
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
Translation: "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original, transcendental form."
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, explaining the method of His appearance and disappearance. People do not know it. Just like the sun. Because we do not see at night, formerly some people used to think "The sun is now dead, or gone." But later on, by scientific method, they have come to know the sun is always in the sky. Due to our different position, we do not see the sun at night. Otherwise, the sun is there. This is... If this is possible for an ordinary material thing, how much it is greatly possible for the Supreme Spirit.
Therefore ajo 'pi san. Kṛṣṇa has no birth, no death. We have also no birth and death because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We have no birth and death; that is explained already in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit...na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
So if so much power is there for the small particle of the Supreme Soul, how much the Supreme Soul, who is all-pervading, universal form, how much potency he has got, you can just imagine. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ajo 'pi: "Although I have no birth and death." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Ātmā means this body, ātmā means this mind, and ātmā means the soul. Three things, they are called ātmā. So Kṛṣṇa's either body or mind or the soul, there is no difference. Kṛṣṇa's body is avyaya. Our body is vyaya, it deteriorates, changes. (sound of children talking in background) Ask them to stop. Or no, let them go away.
So in all the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Saṁhitās, the same thing is described in different way. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). In this way. Here Kṛṣṇa Himself describes Himself that ajo 'pi and avyayātmā. Avyayātmā. It does... Kṛṣṇa's body, mind, there is no difference, absolute. What is Kṛṣṇa's body, that is Kṛṣṇa's soul. What is Kṛṣṇa's mind, that is Kṛṣṇa's soul. Or what is Kṛṣṇa's soul, that is Kṛṣṇa's body, that is Kṛṣṇa. Avyayātmā. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. Īśvaraḥ. He's not ordinary living being. Bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. That is the difference. He's īśvaraḥ. We are not īśvaraḥ. We may be īśvaraḥ. Īśvaraḥ means controller. But that, we are not the supreme īśvara. The supreme īśvara is called Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). We are not supreme īśvara.
Try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Then your life will be successful. Kṛṣṇa is explaining. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya (BG 4.7). He'll explain that, why He comes. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san sambhavāmi yuge yuge, why? Just to remind us, what is Kṛṣṇa. Just to teach us. Because we misunderstand. We are so fools and rascals. We misunderstand Kṛṣṇa. We cannot understand. If we simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). The simple thing. Just try to understand Kṛṣṇa. This simple, one thing will make your life successful.
So Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro... prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. Prakṛtiṁ svām. Personal, personal energy, or personal form. Kṛṣṇa is... He has got His personal form, that Śyāmasundara, with flute. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). He's very fond of tending cows. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham... Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam. He's very fond of playing on flute. Aravinda-dalāyatākṣam. His eyes are just like petals of the lotus flower. These are described in the Vedic literature.
So Kṛṣṇa is not formless, but His... What kind of form He has got, He is describing Himself. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. How we are... We are forced to take birth by the manipulation of the external, material energy.
- prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
- guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- kartāham iti manyate
- (BG 3.27)
Ahaṅkāra... We are under the clutches of the external energy, or material energy. Kṛṣṇa has got multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).
Māyā means energy also. māyā means energy. And māyā means illusion also. And māyā means affection. There are different meanings of māyā. So here it is said prakṛtim... Prakṛtim and māyā. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. He has got multi-energies. That energies have been divided into three: external energy, internal energy, and marginal energy. That you will, also, you will find in the Seventh Chapter.
Still... We should not take Kṛṣṇa as one of us because He is bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Just like a crude example may be given. When there was independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi went to jail, and many, many big leaders. But there are other criminals also, pickpockets and thieves and murderers. If they would think, "Now Mahatma Gandhi has come into jail. We are the same. We are the same." No. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes, if the rascals and fools think that "Kṛṣṇa is also like us, as we have come into this material world," they are fools. No. We are forced. Just like criminal, a pickpocket or a thief, a rogue, a murderer. He is forced to... So of course, here, Mahatma Gandhi was also forced. But that is not the case. Because He is the controller. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. He... The material energy cannot force Kṛṣṇa. Because He's īśvaraḥ. He's the controller. A controller cannot be forced.
But still, just to make us fit to understand Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is describing Himself, what He is. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. He comes with His own energy. He's not forced by the external energy. We are forced. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We, as we develop different modes of nature by the association of this external energy, we get our particular body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapatti (SB 3.31.1). But Kṛṣṇa does not do so.
Prabhupāda:
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
Now, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is describing how He incarnates Himself for the benefit of conditioned souls in the material world. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, He descends. The Sanskrit word is avatāra. Avatāra. Avatāra, avatāra. Avatāra means who comes from higher plane down to this material world. He's called avatāra. So sometimes Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa comes Himself and sometimes He sends His representative also, for deliverance of the conditioned souls.
So Lord says, Kṛṣṇa says, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā: "Although I have no business to come down here, and I am eternal..." Both of us are, the Lord and the living ent..., we are, both of us are eternal. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Īśvara. Why He comes? When Lord comes, He comes out of His good will. And when we come, we are forced. We have been forced to accept this body under the condition of the material nature. So when Lord comes or His representative comes, they do not accept the condition of the material nature. That is the distinction between ordinary living entity and the Supreme Lord or His representative. Just like Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. So he could not be crucified. It is a, I mean to say, false notion. There was, there was resurrection. Because God or God's representative, they are not under the laws of this material nature. That's a very, I mean to say, wide subject matter. We shall gradually understand as we make progress in the Bhagavad-gītā. So Kṛṣṇa says that "Although I am the Lord of everything, still, I assume this incarnation and I come. I come."
Prakṛtiṁ svām adhi... The difference is that prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. Prakṛti. Prakṛti means nature. Now, we have got this body offered by the material nature. In the Seventh Chapter you'll find that God has two kinds of nature. One is called lower nature. One is called the lower nature and the other is called the higher nature. That thing will be very nicely analyzed in the Seventh Chapter, when we go to the Seventh Chapter. Now we are in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter. So the Lord has two kinds of nature. One is called lower nature, another is called higher nature, or superior nature or, I mean to say, inferior nature. This nature, this material nature, is inferior nature. And beyond this inferior nature, there is superior nature. And how superior, inferior is calculated?
Now, we are now in contact with inferior nature. That is our conditional life. We are also su... Actually, as spirit soul, we belong to the superior nature. Just like God is superior nature. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. The Lord says that "I come down, I incarnate Myself in My superior nature." Svām adhiṣṭhāya. But what is our position? Although we belong to the superior nature, we have come to this material world not in superior nature, but we are in contact with the inferior nature. Therefore death takes place. Our birth and death is due to this body. The body is subject to be annihilation at a certain period, and that we accept as death. And similarly, when we accept another body and come out of the mother's womb to work here, then we call it birth. And when we give up that body and go to another to take another body, that we call death. So this birth and death is due to this inferior nature.
In last night we have discussed that how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He descends, what is the reason of His descending on this material platform. That we have partially discussed last night, that although He is the supreme authority of all energies, although He is unborn, although He is the Lord of all planets or all creation, material creation and spiritual creation, He comes.
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
He comes not being forced by the laws of material nature, but He comes out of His own energy. This point we have discussed last night.
Kṛṣṇa says, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Mama māyā. Māyā is under His control. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ. Prakṛti is working under His direction, under His superintendence. So we should know Kṛṣṇa like that. We should not.... Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because He is speaking like a man, we are thinking that Kṛṣṇa came, and Kṛṣṇa is now dead, and His instruction is also dead, obsolete. No, that is not. Kṛṣṇa is ever-existing, nityo nityānām. We are also ever-existing. We are covered by this material body, but Kṛṣṇa is not covered by the material body. He comes in His original body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Yuge yuge sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). So Kṛṣṇa comes to save us and gives us His instruction so that after His disappearance from this world, people will take advantage of His instruction and make his life perfect. This is Bhagavad-gītā.
Devotee: "This Bhagavad-gītā is the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nobody can become Kṛṣṇa conscious simply by mundane scholarship."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Simply because you have got some titles: M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C., you'll understand Bhagavad-gītā, it is not possible. This is transcendental science. It requires different senses to understand. And that sense you have to create, you have to purify by rendering service. Otherwise, even great scholars, like so many doctors and Ph.D.s, they mistake what is Kṛṣṇa. They cannot understand. It is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes as He is. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Although He is unborn, He comes to make us know how God is, you see? Go on.
So God has a form just like a human being, two hands, two legs, and He Himself comes to show Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. He is not nirākāra. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha, vigraha means form. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ (BG 7.24). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You know. Avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannam. "The original is impersonal Brahman. Now He has taken form." This conclusion, who makes? Avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ (BG 7.24): "Those who are less intelligent, whose intelligence is very poor, they consider that ultimately I am nirākāra. I have taken the form." Sākāra-nirākāra. No. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: (BG 4.6) "I come out of My good will." Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham: (BG 4.7) "At that time I appear." Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). We have to understand Him in truth, not by imagination, not by malinterpretation, but by fact. The fact is being explained by Kṛṣṇa Himself. Why we should go to understand Kṛṣṇa by the commentary of some less intelligent, some poor fund of knowledge? Why we should go?
So there is no difference of the philosophy. You have to accept. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is the Vedic instruction. What is meaning of God? God means the head of the living entities. What is the difficulty to understand it? Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. Nitya means eternal. We are also eternal. And God is also eternal. So what is the difference? So qualitatively we are one. Because God is eternal, I am also eternal. I am now somehow or other in diseased condition, that I have to change my body. But God does not change His body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He says, ātma-māyayā: "By My own will-power. I am not forced." Just like according to my karma, I have been forced to accept this material body, certain type of body. I cannot dictate. As I am creating another body by my karma, so the karma, by... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). Another place. So why the living entities are getting different types of bodies? That is also answered: kāraṇam, the reason is guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Kāraṇam, the cause, is the material nature.
One has to learn how Kṛṣṇa can eat. Kṛṣṇa can eat simply by seeing. Simply, Kṛṣṇa's all parts, all the indriyas, different parts of the body, limbs, they're as good as Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can eat, just like we eat through our mouth, but Kṛṣṇa can eat with His eyes. That is absolute. We have, because we are not absolute, we have got distinction between my, our eyes and our hands, our mouth. There are distinction which is called sagata viveḥ. We have got difference of body between yourself and myself, and in the body also there are differences. My eyes are different from my hands, my hands are different from my legs. But Kṛṣṇa, being Absolute, He has no such distinction. That they do not understand. Therefore they can not imagine how God, Kṛṣṇa, can have a form. "If He has a form, then the form is like this, our," the Māyāvādīs they say. They believe that when Brahman comes, He accepts a material body. That is defied by Kṛṣṇa: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11), "Because I come as a human being, these rascals take Me as one of the human being." This is the beginning. Mūḍhā, this word is used, very word. Mūḍhā means rascal. Because Kṛṣṇa comes as this child of Yaśodā-mātā, or as the son of Vāsudeva, therefore these Māyāvādīs, they mistake that Kṛṣṇa or Brahman has taken the form, accepting the body from māyā. But that's not the fact. Kṛṣṇa is not under māyā. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: not accepting this material energy. He's ordering, sambhavāmi yuge yuge, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6).
Spirit cannot be counteracted by any material reaction. That is spirit. So therefore, the theory that in the fire the living entity dies, it is not; otherwise how these ślokas are there in the Second Chapter? Adāhyo 'yam, akledyo 'yam, aśoṣya 'yam. That means anything material, that can be cut into pieces, but the soul cannot be cut into pieces. Acchedyo 'yam. It cannot be cut into pieces. Acchedyo' yam. Adāhyo 'yam: it cannot be burned into ashes in the fire. Akledyo 'yam aśoṣya 'yam: by the reaction of the five elements, earth, water, fire, air, that is not applicable in the soul. So if they're not applicable to the soul, which is minute particle of the Supreme Soul, how it is applicable to the Supreme Soul? Therefore it is a miscalculation that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Soul, is affected by this material nature. That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Besides that, Kṛṣṇa says that material nature works under His direction, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). There are other evidences.
If we engage ourself in the service of Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Vāsudeva is another name of Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Vasudeva, and Vāsudeva means all-pervading also... So Kṛṣṇa is both. He is the son of Vasudeva. He appears. He accepts. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He is the original source of everything, still, He appears like a human being, becoming the son of His devotee like Vasudeva or Nanda Mahārāja, like that, or Mahārāja Daśaratha. That is his option. He can appear from anywhere.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So when there was no material creation, Kṛṣṇa was there. Therefore His body is not... Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma ajo 'pi san avyayātmā: "I am born," avyayātmā, "eternal body; still, I take birth." Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san: "I am the Lord of everyone; still, I appear." These things are to be understood. And if we can understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam... (BG 4.9). These are all transcendental knowledge. They are not ordinary knowledge. Divyam, transcendental. His appearance, His disappearance, His work, His activity, His pastimes, they are all transcendental. So anyone who can try to understand Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental position beyond creation, beyond creation... Even Śaṅkarācārya, the impersonalist, he says nārāyaṇa paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation." Avyakta.
So it is the question of creating the mind, the intelligence. Therefore if you constantly keep yourself, your mind, absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, then you get next time, next life, a body like Kṛṣṇa, which means sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is not like us. But we think that Kṛṣṇa is like us. That is also condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "The rascal fools, they think Me as ordinary human being." They, all the big, big ācāryas of our country, Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, many, many big, big stalwarts, they have accepted, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Are they fools that they are worshiping a human being? Are they fools, so big, big scholars, stalwarts? No. Only the fools consider that Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being. He comes to give us lesson what is actually God. God is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Therefore it is His mercy that He comes before us to show what is actually God. But Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm... (BG 9.11). Somebody says, "Well, God, why God will come? He is so big. Why He will come?" But why He will not come? If He is so big, why you restrict Him not to come? If He is very big, is it under your laws that He will not come? If He is very big, then He has the freedom to come. You cannot restrict.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: (BG 4.6) "Under My own laws I come." Not that by your laws. Just like as we go somewhere, sometimes we are put into the prison house, not by my personal law, by the law of the state. Similarly, this is a prison house. This whole universe, material universe, is a prison house. There is no freedom. We are thinking that we are free, but actually, nobody has got freedom. A little contamination of disease, immediately you are diseased. Where is your freedom? If you eat a little more than you can digest, immediately there is disease. So where is your freedom? So therefore we are called conditioned soul.
But actually God is not formless. Several times I have explained. God has got His form. (aside:) What is that sound? He is person. He has got His activities. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, janma karma, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He is aja, nobody has to die, aja. Aja means birth. Nobody takes birth. Either the living entity or God, na jāyate na mriyate. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the living entities, we are all living entities, na jāyate, they do not take birth, neither they do die. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, at any time. Then what is this death and birth? The death and birth is simply change of the body. The subtle body and the gross body.
Unless one understands Kṛṣṇa perfectly well, he cannot understand what is Paramātmā, which is realized by yogic principles. But when you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you understand Paramātmā and Brahman also. This is the verdict of the śāstra. Just like if you have got one lakh of rupees, your possession of few thousands of rupees or few hundred of rupees are already there.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). The same thing, tattvataḥ. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Kṛṣṇa says that "My appearance," ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā, "how I appear, how I disappear, if anyone understands in truth..." Because we do not understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, therefore we consider Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Mūḍhāḥ means asses or rascals. They consider Kṛṣṇa as something of this material world. But He is not that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If anyone understands Kṛṣṇa as Absolute Truth, then immediately his mission of life is complete. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Therefore this is tattva-jñāna. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). This is tattva-jñāna. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa, what He is.
Māyāvāda means the māyā has covered everything; so māyā has covered Kṛṣṇa also. This is Māyāvāda philosophy. "Because māyā has covered me, you and everyone, therefore māyā has covered Kṛṣṇa. Unless Kṛṣṇa or the Absolute Truth, Brahman, becomes covered by māyā, he cannot take a form." This is Māyāvāda philosophy. As we have taken form, because the prakṛti, material nature, has helped us to take this form, similarly, their philosophy is, even the Absolute Truth, Brahman, He incarnates, He accepts a body of this material nature.
But that is not the fact. Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: (BG 4.6) "I am not external energy. I come in My own energy." And the Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not understand. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ. Therefore they have been described as mūḍhāḥ, asses, fools, rascals. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Because I have come here in the form of a human being, they take it for acceptance that 'Kṛṣṇa is another human being.' " But that is not fact. Here, if one sees Kṛṣṇa through bhakti-yoga as Vyāsadeva saw, bhakti-yogena manasi... (SB 1.7.4).
So bhagavān devakī-suta. Bhagavān. People may inquire, "What kind of Bhagavān He is? He has taken birth as the Devakī-suta. Any ordinary man, he takes birth as the son of such and such gentleman or such and such mother. So what kind of Bhagavān He is?" Therefore we have to understand how Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). He appears as the son of Devakī or Vasudeva. We have to know this. And if you can know then you become immediately liberated. Our business is liberation. This is our main business. What is the purpose of getting this opportunity of human life? That we must understand. We should not waste our valuable life like the cats and dogs. This is our main business. To understand God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the life. Brahman, paraṁ brahma. Brahman, paraṁ brahma, or, Brahman's, I mean to say, potencies. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. These things are there. We should understand. That is our business. So if we understand why Bhagavān appears as the son of Devakī, then you become liberated. This is the... Bhagavān says janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). You have to learn it tattvataḥ, in truth. Not superficially. Then you'll understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān, appears as the son of Devakī or son of Vasudeva. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He's aja... Aja means who never takes birth. Still, He takes birth. Contradictory. This is inconceivable.
Unless God has got inconceivable energy, He's not God. This has been discussed by Jīva Gosvāmī. If you do not accept inconceivable energy of God, then there is no God. This is inconceivable. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. This is God. How it happens, how it is possible, if you understand properly, then you become liberated simply by understanding this, that Bhagavān, why He shall not appear as the son? Why you shall restrict? God is not under your restriction. That is God. If He becomes under your rules and regulation, then He's not God. That is inconceivable. How ajo 'pi, although unborn, how He takes birth. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi. Bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. He's the Supreme Controller, but He likes to be controlled by Mother Yaśodā. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. He controls everyone, but why He accepts one lady, innocent lady, not very educated, not Vedantist, a village lady, interested in churning curd and butter. Not Vedantist. And He has become just like a very affectionate son of this village lady. "Mother, let me suck your breast."
So this is God's pastimes. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. He is eko hi...bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying the necessities of life to all the living entities. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). But He is begging from Mother Yaśodā, "Kindly allow Me to suck your breast." And when mother refuses, He becomes angry. He breaks the pot of butter and so on, so on. You know this. This is called transcendental pastimes. And at the same time when it is required, He immediately lifts the Govardhana Hill. Immediately. Although He is dependent on Mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja. Nanda Mahārāja is seeing, "Oh, this little boy has lifted Govardhana Hill? Oh! How it is possible? Let me help." He's trying to help Him by sticking the stick on the Govardhana Hill that it may not fall down. You see? He has already lifted. Still, because father, affectionate, he's thinking, "The childish boy, he has lifted the Govardhana Hill. It may now fall down. Let me help Him." This is going on. This is called transcendental pastimes.
Māyāvādī philosophers, they abuse that Viṣṇu's body is. Viṣṇu comes, appears, He accepts a material body. That is condemned, condemned by Bhagavān in Bhagavad-gītā. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). He does not accept any material body. Tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. Ātma-māyayā. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Not with material help. Ātma-māyayā, cit-śakti. So Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's soul and Kṛṣṇa's body. Just like we have got. We are different from this body. And Kṛṣṇa is not different from the body. He does not change His body. Although He assumes several avatāra, but he does not change His body. Advaitam acyutam... Acyuta, not different from the original personification, identification. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Although He assumes so many varieties of viṣṇu-tattva, still, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). Therefore viṣṇu-tattva is, never looks like old man. Nava-yauvanam. Always young. Kṛṣṇa always young. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca.
Supreme vital force is Kṛṣṇa or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore where is the question of His taking birth, appearance and disappearance? In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said: janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means it is spiritual. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Aja means unborn. Avyayātmā, without any destruction. So Kṛṣṇa is existing as in the beginning of this stotra, Kuntīdevī addressed Kṛṣṇa that: "You are within, You are without, still invisible." Kṛṣṇa is within, without. That we have explained. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart. Therefore He is within everything. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He, He is within the atom even. And without also.
So Kṛṣṇa is described here as Aja. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Ajo 'pi. "I am unborn." Yes. Kṛṣṇa is unborn. We are also unborn. But difference is that we have been entangled with this material body. Therefore we cannot keep our position as unborn. We have to take birth, transmigrate from one body to another, and there is no guarantee what kind of body you are going to get next. But you have to accept.
So to understand kṛṣṇa-līlā... So therefore we have to understand Kṛṣṇa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa, from these books, Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā, but not directly. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends, bhāgavata giyā paro bhāgavata sthāne. Just try to understand Bhāgavata or Bhagavān from the realized soul, not from the professional man. So here: kecid āhur ajaṁ jātam (SB 1.8.32). Āhuḥ ajaṁ jātam. Contradiction. Now Kṛṣṇa says, ajo 'pi: "Although I am birthless, I do not take birth," ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san... He is the Supreme Being, He's the master of everyone, and He never takes birth. Still, He takes birth—contradiction. He never takes birth, aja; at the same time... Ajo 'pi... Here it is said, kecid āhur ajam. God, or Kṛṣṇa, is aja. He never takes birth. But again he (she) says, jātam: "He has taken birth." This contradiction should be understood. The Vedas, there are many such contradictions like that. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ: "Kṛṣṇa, or God, sees, but He has no eyes." Similarly, God, Kṛṣṇa, takes His birth although He never takes birth. These are contradictions. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ. Apāṇi-pādo javano grahītā: "He has no leg, but He goes so fast, nobody can compete Him." These are Vedic statements. You'll find in the Upaniṣads, apāṇi-pāda: "He has no leg, He has no hand," but javano grahītā, "but if you offer Him something, He takes." Kṛṣṇa says... It is not my word.
So Kṛṣṇa is the supreme pure. We are also pure, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Just like a small particle of gold is also gold. The value is gold. It is not iron or something low-grade metal. The same. Similarly, as Kṛṣṇa... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said Kṛṣṇa is aja. He never takes birth. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He is the Lord of all living entities, still, by His desire, He appears. Our appearance in this material world is also the same desire, but that is not independent.
The real problem is to solve the question of birth and death. They do not touch it. They are making plan for economic development and other things. Economic development... Suppose you become rich man for twenty years or fifty years, utmost, at the present moment. Then you become a cat and dog in next life. Then what is your economic development? But they do not know that there is life after death. We have to prepare for the next life. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Then according to my karma, by superior inspection, I'll get next birth. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is plainly spoken: janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says, "Simply try to understand My janma. I take birth." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. He's aja. Every one of us aja. Na jāyate na mriyate. We don't take birth, don't die, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa must be aja.
Now the real solution is... Here it is stated, dhyāyan na āvarteta yato gataḥ. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā also, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. Dhāma means place. Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor of all planets. So every place belongs to Him. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram. But He has a supreme place, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama, where, if you go, you will never return. Yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6). That is Kṛṣṇa-loka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. If you go there, then you do not come back again. There are many confirmation in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) "My dear Kaunteya, Arjuna," janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, "if anyone knows what I am, what I am, Kṛṣṇa, My birth, or janma..." Kṛṣṇa's janma, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. He has no birth, but still, He appears like taken birth. You can understand very easily. Just like every morning the sun is rising. It is not that a new sun is coming. The same sun of yesterday. It is not that it was finished yesterday. The sun was existing there in the sky, but on different position of this planet, I saw the sun is now set. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. If we have no birth and death, how Kṛṣṇa has birth and death? That is not the...
Therefore it is said, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He has no birth and death, still, He appears just like He has taken birth from Devakī's womb. It is just like the sun is rising from the eastern side. It does not mean that the eastern side has given birth to the sun. No. Sun is very big than the eastern side. But it appears like that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9).
This is solution, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyam: "This is My appearance on this material world, how God appears." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Nobody takes birth. Even we do not take birth; we simply change body. So what to speak of God? God and we, we are qualitatively one. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). But He is the chief living entity. Just like you have got your chief American, means the president of your country, similarly, everywhere must be there, one chief man. Just like in the society, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness society, you accept me as the chief. So you have to accept one chief. Either you are a political party or social party or religious party or Communist party... Just like Communist party, they have got their chief men. Lenin, Stalin.
In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "Anyone who understands about My birth and appearance..." Lord does not take birth. Aja. Aja means who never takes birth. Ever-existing. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, sambhavāmi yuge yuge. So aja, one who does not take birth, but still we see that Kṛṣṇa is taking birth. We are observing the birth anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So therefore what is the mystery? He does not take birth. Still, we are observing the birth anniversary of Kṛṣṇa, Janmāṣṭamī. So this is to be understood, tattvataḥ, in truth. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, Veda says that na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. "The Supreme Lord God has nothing to do." Why He shall do? So... And again, we see that Kṛṣṇa, since the day of His appearance at His maternal uncle's prison till His going back to His own home, He was always active.
Pradyumna: "The form of the Lord which was manifested before Brahmā..." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...intelligence that our form we change or we die, so Kṛṣṇa never dies. Kṛṣṇa never dies. The evidence of death is... Just like in our past life we had some body and we died. We have got another body. Kṛṣṇa does not die means He does not change His body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). If He would have died, then He could not recollect in His mind the incident which happened millions of years ago. He says, vivasvān, proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha. When Arjuna inquired that "You say that You instructed this Bhagavad-gītā, this science, to Vivasvān long, long, millions of years ago. How can I believe it?" Therefore He said, "I remember it. You don't remember. Therefore I do not die. You die." This is it. One who can remember, he does not die. Just like I... So long I can remember of my childhood activities, boyhood activities, I have not died. Is it not? Although the body is gone. This is the evidence that Kṛṣṇa does not die. Try to understand this point. Death means forgetting everything. That is death. But if you can remember, that is not death. It is clear?
Kṛṣṇa is not alone. Kṛṣṇa is always with His friends, either gopīs or the cowherd boys, or with His father, with His mother. You'll never find Kṛṣṇa alone. Just like here is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not alone. Kṛṣṇa is with His Rādhārāṇī and with His devotees. Just like a king. When we say that "The king is coming here," or "The president is coming here," so it means that president is not coming alone, but he's coming with his secretaries, with his ministers, with so many others. In England, the Queen has bodyguards. So similarly, when we... Yoga ādhyātmikaḥ. Yoga means connection, and ātmā, ātmā means this soul, actually, but sometimes ātmā means the mind, ātmā means the body also. So body has nothing to do with the Supreme Being, because Supreme Being is complete spirit. He has no material covering. One who thinks that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Being, has got a material covering, covered by māyā, as we are, covered by māyā, this material energy... Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Kṛṣṇa does not say that "I come here as ordinary living being." Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). One has to learn how Kṛṣṇa takes birth. It is not ordinary birth. Had it been ordinary birth, then why we should observe the Janmāṣṭamī ceremony? It is divyam, divine, transcendental. Everything of Kṛṣṇa is divine. And if we think Kṛṣṇa as like us, then according to the statement of the Bhagavad-gītā, immediately we become a mūḍha. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11).
So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He says that sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā... (BG 4.6). Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā. Kṛṣṇa and the living entities, both of them are the same quality, but when the living entities come in this material world, he is forced by the prakṛti, by the material nature. But when Kṛṣṇa comes, He is not forced, but by His free will, yadṛcchayā upagatām... Yadṛcchayaivopagatām abhyapadyata līlayā.
So we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is our constitutional position to live with Kṛṣṇa. Just like the part and parcel of my body, this finger. Finger is the part and parcel of my body. It must live with the body; then it is active. And if you cut the finger and throw on the ground, you may call, "It is finger," but it is useless. Unless it is in contact with the body, acting with the body... Then it is valuable. Take any example, any machine, the screw in the machine, a very insignificant part, but so long it is attached with the whole machine, it has got value. If one screw is lost, if you have to purchase from the market, you will have to pay some value. But the same screw, if it is not attached to the machine, it has no value. Similarly, we are very insignificant spiritual spark. We are, by quality, the same because we are spirit, eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. So we also do not die, we do not take birth. And Kṛṣṇa is also: ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. He is also aja; we are also aja. But He is bhūtānām īśvaraḥ. Bhūtānām, all the living entities, He is the Supreme. Nityo nityānām. Nityo nityānām. He is the chief, leader.
So, so many things, these rascals they do not believe, atheists. When things are described about God which is not conceivable by us, they say, "It is mythology, it is imagination." But that is not the fact. The fact is that Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, they have got spiritual expansion. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Ātma-māyā. Kṛṣṇa said, "I appear in My spiritual potency." We... Our body is not ātma-māyayā. It is given by māyā.
There is injunction. The demigod worship, there is injunction that "You do this." But for whom? For the less intelligent person. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajanti anya-devatāḥ: (BG 7.20) "Except God, the Supreme Lord, when the other demigod worship is allowed, that is for the person, hṛta-jñānāḥ, one who does not know his ultimate goal of life, for them." But one who is interested to stop the cycle of birth and death, they must come to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise it is not possible. Hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti. Kṛṣṇa, Hari, also says, Kṛṣṇa also says, māṁ ca yo What is that? What is that verse? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Janma karma me divyam. Kṛṣṇa says that "I appear." Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). "I take birth as the son of Devakī, or I am raised as the son of Mother Yaśodā. So one should understand that ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā: I am aja, I never take birth, but why I come and take birth as a child of Devakī or Yaśodā?" If we simply understand this fact, janma karma me divyaṁ, janati yo tattvataḥ, if anyone understands, then he becomes free from the cycle of birth and death. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9).
Without the spirit soul, there is no question of creation. Creation, maintenance and destruction, three things are going on on account of presence of the Supreme Soul. Therefore the three principal deities—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara—are there, guṇa-avatāra. He is not within the guṇa; therefore He expands Himself as guṇāvatāra: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But He's turya of the guṇas. Just like if we enter into the fire, we'll be burned, but sometimes the fire brigade men, they enter into the fire... They have got suit and contradictory dress that they can enter into the fire. Similarly, māyā... Māyā is very strong, but Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, when He comes within this material world—yuge yuge sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)—He comes in His own original turya status. He does not become affected. Guṇāṁś ca yuṅkṣe. He's not affected. This is the position of Kṛṣṇa. He's always transcendental. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. Na māṁ limpanti karma... Karmāṇi. Yes. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). This is position.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So whenever Kṛṣṇa appears, Arjuna also appears. Kṛṣṇa has got His associates. Arjuna is one of the associates. But the, that is the difference between living entity and God. God remembers and the living entity does not remember. He forgets. And another conclusion is: Why Kṛṣṇa remembers and why the living entity does not remember? The reason is that living entity changes the body, Kṛṣṇa does not change the body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). When Kṛṣṇa appears, He appears in His original body, but because He looks like ordinary man, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11), the rascals and fools, they think Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man, human being.
Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form, but not this form. Those who have no knowledge about Kṛṣṇa, they are thinking Kṛṣṇa is māyā. These bhaktas, they are worshiping the māyā form. Their philosophy is when Kṛṣṇa comes, when God comes, He takes a material form. No, that's not right. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā, the ātma-māyayā means cit potency. These Māyāvādī philosophers they have no information that cit potency. That is ahlādinī śakti, that is Rādhārāṇī. They have got experience of this material potency. External energy. Durgā. But they have no information of the cit potency. Therefore, they think that Kṛṣṇa appears in the form of māyā. Just like we have got this body, material body, this is gift by the māyā.
The impersonalists, they do not know that Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's body, not different. They take it for acceptance that when God, Brahman comes, He accepts a material body. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ (BG 9.11). He comes... Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He comes as He is. Otherwise how He can act so wonderfully? When He was on the lap of His mother, three months old, how He could kill the gigantic demon, Pūtanā? He's not different from His body. He simply appears according to the necessity. Kṛṣṇa has no such difference, body and soul. He's full, complete, spiritual. We have got, in this conditional state, soul and body difference. Dehi and deha. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). So dehāntaraṁ prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to accept another body. So this, these things we should know. Kṛṣṇa is complete, pūrṇa-brahman. There is nothing like material and spiritual in Kṛṣṇa's body. Go on.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand; therefore they think that "This Kṛṣṇa-līlā is māyā." Therefore we call them Māyāvādī. Everything... Māyā māyā, neti neti. They take Kṛṣṇa also as māyā; therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. Because a living entity comes in this material world accepting this material body, similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes, they think that He has also a material body. This is Māyāvādī. Kṛṣṇa has no such thing. Therefore you'll find in Dr. Radhakrishnan's book, when Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), he says, "Not to the Kṛṣṇa person, but the Absolute which is within the Kṛṣṇa." He does not know that Kṛṣṇa is not different from His body. That he does not know. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6).
- yadā yadā hi dharmasya
- glānir bhavati bhārata
- abhyutthānam adharmasya
- tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
- (BG 4.7)
Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He does not accept this mayic body. Etad īśanam īśasya. That is the, I mean to say, power, omnipotency of Kṛṣṇa. Even He accepts this material body, it does not mean that He is material. Just like we see the Deity, the Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity, in our front. Everyone will say, "Oh, this is a Deity made of brass, material." But no, it is not material. You have to study in that way.
"The whole cosmic manifestation is rolling on under My superintendence." Mayādhyakṣeṇa. "Under My order, under My supervision," prakṛtiḥ, "this, oh, the huge, gigantic material nature, is working under Me," hetunānena, "and, on this account, there is rules and regulations, everything is being done nicely." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Because Brahman, or the Supreme Lord, is the greatest, therefore His body cannot be made of this material nature." Because material nature is created at a certain interval, and who creates? Creates, the Supreme Lord. The creator, therefore, cannot be under the material nature. If I am creator of something, so I cannot be under the, that particular thing which is created. It is logical. So therefore, because the Supreme Brahman, or Bhagavān, is the creator of this material nature, He cannot be under the control of māyā. He is... And that is also stated in Bhagavad-gītā, many places. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Ātma-māyayā. Not this māyā. Māyā means potency. So we have got the experience of this potency, material potency, but there is another potency which is called spiritual potency. So spiritual potency is the internal energy of Kṛṣṇa, and material potency is the external energy. So Kṛṣṇa says that "Whenever I come," yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7), "whenever there is discrepancies in the discharging of religious principles," adharmasya abhyutthānam abhyutthānam adharmasya, "and there is great predominance of irreligiosity," tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, "I, at that time, I come." Paritra... Why? Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām: (BG 4.8) "Just to save the pious and the righteous and to vanquish the impious."
So dehi. Dehi means possessor of this body, the owner of this body. So owner of this body is different from this body. But in case of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu-tattva, there is no such difference, the self and the body, no difference. That is confirmed in the Kūrma Purāṇa. Unfortunately the Māyāvādīs, they, either due to their poor fund of knowledge of the śāstras or by their whims, they say that "Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, when comes, or the Absolute Truth when He descends, He assumes, He accepts, a material body." That is not the fact. Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). It is not that Kṛṣṇa accepts a material body. No. Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction, material world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Because I present myself, descend Myself as a human being, the mūḍhas, or the rascals, they think of Me or deride at Me." The Māyāvādīs, they will never worship the transcendental form of the Lord. They'll not worship. They will worship the imperson. And Kṛṣṇa has said, kleśo adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām. Of course, impersonal, personal, is the same Absolute Truth. But if you try to reach the Absolute Truth through His impersonal attachment, then it will be more troublesome. The jñānīs, those who want to understand the Absolute Truth by their material, imperfect knowledge, how... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our manipulation of the senses is not possible to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
In the beginning, the Veda says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no..., not personality. Brahma. He is person, of course. We say personality, but this personality is not material personality. Sighram cale evam sakala-vasta grahana kare: "He walks very quickly and He can accept whatever is offered to Him." So these very statements in the Vedas confirm that He has hands and legs, but not hands and legs like us. Apakrta. That we cannot understand. Aprakṛta. Prakṛta and aprakṛta. Prakṛta means things which are created, and aprakṛta means which are never created, sanātana. That we cannot understand. As soon as there is statement of the Absolute Truth's form, transcendental form, we think that He has a form like us. How it can be? That is quite reasonable. God cannot be possessing a form which is like us. No. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He descends, He comes down, as He is, ātma-māyayā. He descends, He comes down, as He is, ātma-māyayā. We accept this form given to us by the material energy. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). According to the association of particular type of guṇa, quality, we get a form. But Kṛṣṇa is not within the influence of the material qualities. His form is different.
So here Caitanya Mahāprabhu quotes one verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa: viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). You cannot say that the Absolute Person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no energy. Niḥśakti. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that the energy generates when impersonal Brahman enters into this material energy, or māyā. He has got a body of māyā. No. That's not the fact. Kṛṣṇa hasn't got the body created by this material world as we have got. Kṛṣṇa says, therefore, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Those who are foolish persons, poor fund of knowledge, such person thinks that I assume a body with the help of material energy." Kṛṣṇa says Himself that sambhavamy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6)—His own energy. That own energy is this viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā, spiritual energy. He does not accept a material energy, a body of material energy. Viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā (CC Madhya 6.154). So kṣetrajña, these living entities, they are also parā-śakti, cit-śakti. As we can experience two kinds of śaktis... One is cit-śakti and one is jara-śakti. Just like so long the cit-śakti is there within this body, it is living, it is moving, and as soon as the cit-śakti, the soul, departs from this body, there is no more movement. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the chief śakti, or..., not śakti, śaktimān, from whom—janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1)—from Him this material world is coming out. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8).
So you are spark, spiritual spark. You are simply changing dress. That is your conditioned stage. So Lord Caitanya says, advaya-jñāna-tattva kṛṣṇa-svayaṁ bhagavān. Svayaṁ bhagavān, the Absolute Truth... 'Svarūpa śakti' rūpe tāṅra haya avasthāna: "He is situated in His internal potency." Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says,
- yadā yadā hi dharmasya
- glānir bhavati bhārata
- abhyutthānam adharmasya...
- (BG 4.7)
- paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
- vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.8)
Ātma-māyayā, internal potency. He is situated in the spiritual world by internal potency. And this is, this material world, His external potency. Therefore, although external potency is also Kṛṣṇa's potency—it is not different from Kṛṣṇa—but Kṛṣṇa is not here in the external potency. Kṛṣṇa is in the internal potency, although this potency is not different. Therefore it is inferior. It is inferior energy, it is called.
Festival Lectures
Generally, those who are followers of speculative process, or jñāna-mārga, they finally reach to understand that he is one with the Supreme Absolute Truth. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But the devotional service is so nice that a devotee is not satisfied that "I am one with the Supreme," but by his service he becomes greater than the Supreme. Just like Nanda Mahārāja. He is not anxious to become one with God, but he underwent so great penances that he became the father of God. That is possible. A devotee is so great that he can pray the Supreme Lord as his son. Of course, it is a very subtle science for understanding of spiritual knowledge. So today Nanda-mahotsava is celebrated because the father of Kṛṣṇa... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said. Although God is unborn and He is the Supreme, still, by love, He accepts one of His devotees as His father and appears as his son. So today is very nice day, that Kṛṣṇa has appeared. The Supreme Lord has appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. So there is some arrangement of prasādam on account of Nanda Mahārāja. So you can distribute and enjoy.
So this material world is full of anxiety. I have several times explained, asad-grahāt. Because we have accepted something which is not eternal. Anything which is not eternal will always create disturbance. But because the Lord is eternal, therefore He is śāntam. Whenever we'll find the face of Lord Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, Viṣṇu, you'll find smiling with peace. As soon as you'll see you become also peaceful. His very face is so nice. Śāntam. And śāśvatam. Śāṣvatam means original. It's not that Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, as the Māyāvādī philosophers say, that the impersonal Brahman appears in form. This is rascaldom. Actually, He appears in His own form, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). We are accepting this form not by our own potency. I have accepted this body, you have accepted this body, not by your own will. You have been forced to accept a particular type of body according to your work. You cannot make choice. Otherwise, everyone would have made his choice to take birth in America or some place like that, or heavenly planets. Oh, that is not choice. Just like if the foreigners, they apply for immigration, there is, the choice depends on the highest authority.
General Lectures
So Kṛṣṇa can change superior energy into inferior energy and inferior energy into superior energy. That is His omnipotency. As such, when Kṛṣṇa appears within this material world, even though He assumes a so-called material body, according to the Māyāvādī philosophers, that is not material. He can change into spiritual. That is His omnipotency. Sambhavāmy ātmā-māyayā (BG 4.6). Just like the electrical engineer, the same electrical energy, he can use it for refrigerator and he can use it for heater. It is his manipulation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, by His Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, He can turn this material world into spiritual world simply by changing the consciousness. That is in His power. Therefore anything in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should not be considered as material.
Prabhupāda: It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, ajo 'pi. Ajo 'pi: "I am never..." You are also not born, every one of us. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, spirit soul, so nobody is born. Na jāyate na mriyate vā: "Nobody takes birth; nobody dies." Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "At any time." These things are there. And Kṛṣṇa, about Himself, He says, ajo 'pi: "Although I am unborn." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san: "Although I am unborn." So Kṛṣṇa is never born. Just like in the morning there is sunrise. If you say the sun is born, that is mistake. Sun is seen. He is not born.
Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: ...what happens to the material elements. The material elements disintegrate, disintegrate...
Prabhupāda: The material body...
Hayagrīva: They're distributed in nature.
Prabhupāda: ...it finishes, but of course this idea can be maintained. In the higher sense, that is not gross body; that is spiritual body. That is applicable to God and special representative of God, not to all. Then that is not material body; that is spiritual body. Means when God appears He appears in His spiritual body. It does not change. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that millions of years ago He spoke to the sun-god, and Arjuna questioned, "How it is to be understood that millions of years ago You spoke it?" So He said that "Yes, I did. You were also present, but you do not remember. I remember." So how it is possible? One who does not change the body, He can remember. Just like when we do not change the body, I can remember, but when we change body we do not remember. This is the principle. So this resurrection, I do not know what the exact meaning, but as to the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He comes in His original body, not covered by material body. Therefore, because He has no material body, there is no change.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (3): Before the birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was God existing? God exhibit temporally...
Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to learn what is the birth of Kṛṣṇa. You do not know. Janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). You do not know what is the birth. You are thinking that He is, like ordinary man He has taken birth. Otherwise why does He say, janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ? Nobody knows what is His birth? He thinks He's... Just like a child sees daily that the sun rises from the eastern side—therefore eastern side is the father of sun. Is eastern side father of the sun? Sun is always there, but you see in the morning it is appearing from the eastern side. That's all. It is your angle of vision, not that sun is born, taking birth from the eastern side. Sun is always there in the sky. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is always there but to the foolish person it appears that He is born. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Ajo 'pi: "I have no birth." Ajaḥ. This very word is used. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. So how you can compare Kṛṣṇa's birth like ordinary birth? If anyone knows what is Kṛṣṇa's birth he becomes liberated. Janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ. So that knowledge is not tattvataḥ knowledge, that Kṛṣṇa's birth. Kṛṣṇa's birth is every moment. Just like sun. Now here it is not sunshine but in another place the sunshine is rising. So is that the birth, or when the sun will rise here, that will be birth? Which will be the birth of sun?
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: We cannot understand even the Personality of Godhead, what to speak of other things? "God is a person:"—it is a very difficult subject matter for ordinary man to take it, very difficult subject. That is stated in the... Even the demigods they cannot understand. That is... Because he's thinking materially that "This cosmic manifestation, then creation, is so big, and it is created by a person. How it is possible?" But... Because they do not know what is that person. Simply by the word "person," he is afraid: "Oh, oh, oh, oh."
Revatīnandana: "He's like me. I can't do it. Therefore not a person."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Revatīnandana: "No person except He's like me."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore the Vedic scripture says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His person is different. Sac-cid-ānanda. That is not exactly with our personality. This is material. This is temporary personality. Now I am man. Next time I may become dog, Next time become demigod. It is changing. It is not eternal, sat. So God is not like that. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He does not come here being forced by the material energy. He comes by His spiritual energy. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā. Find out this. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Therefore, as soon as He's accepted as ordinary man, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). He does not know what is the power behind that. Read it.
Pradyumna: Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya...
Prabhupāda: Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya.
Pradyumna: Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original, transcendental form."
Prabhupāda: Read the purport.
Professor: No, but of course, there are different kinds of knowledge and...
Prabhupāda: No, our principle is to get perfect knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He's above these defects. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni vartamānāni ca... (BG 7.26). Find out this verse.
Pradyumna: Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: First of all, you find out that verse: bahūni me janmāni vyatītāni tava cārjuna.
Pradyumna:
- śrī bhagavān uvāca
- bahūni me vyatītāni
- janmāni tava cārjuna
- tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
- na tvaṁ vettha parantapa
"The Blessed Lord said, 'Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!' "
Prabhupāda: Purport.
Pradyumna: "In the Brahma-saṁhitā we have information of many, many incarnations of the Lord. It is stated there:
- advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
- ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
- vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.33)
'I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Govinda, or Kṛṣṇa, who is the original person, absolute, infallible, without beginning...' "
Prabhupāda: Infallible. Infallible. This word is used. Acyuta. Hm.
Pradyumna: "...without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still, the same original, the oldest and the person always appearing as a fresh youth... (Pradyumna goes on reading the purport until:) ...in the following verse." Then the next verse.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Pradyumna: Then the next verse.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Pradyumna:
- ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā
- bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san
- prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
- sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
- (BG 4.6)
Prabhupāda: That's all. So this Bhagavad-gītā, at least, should be introduced in all colleges. And Professor Dimock has recommended. Just...
Professor: Well, it is quite widely read, the Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Professor: The Bhagavad-gītā is quite widely read.
Pradyumna: This is an introduction by Professor Dimock.
Professor: Yes, I've seen it. I read it. But it is quite widely read, you know. I mean the translations...
Prabhupāda: But one thing is that other Bhagavad-gītās, they have interpreted in their own (indistinct) not as it is. That is the difference. Just like you, you must have read Bhagavad-gītā by Radhakrishnan.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: Eh? Bolo. Chandobhai? Chandobhai knows the whole Bhagavad-gītā by heart.
Prabhupāda: That is very nice.
Dr. Patel: He knows it by heart.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Dr. Patel: I can't... I can't remember. I, I, I sometimes remember, but he remembers perpetually. Eh?
Prabhupāda: So. What is that?
Chandobhai: Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe tiṣṭhati arjuna (BG 18.61). Let us say that only.
Prabhupāda: Eh? What is that?
Chandobhai:
- īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
- hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
- bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
- yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
- (BG 18.61)
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Chandobhai: Tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Chandobhai: ...tat prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Chandobhai: I think that is the crux of the whole thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So īśvara... That, this, this, I was discussing the other day. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Īśvara. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi sann avyayātmā. So Kṛṣṇa is always īśvara. We are īśvara in the family or in the office or in my society. But we are not that type of īśvara, that I can live within the heart of everyone. Therefore there is distinction between this īśvara and we īśvara. The Māyāvādīs, they do not understand this. He claims that "I am the same īśvara." But do you remain in everyone's heart? Can you study, can you study what I am thinking now? But still, they will say, "I am the same." This is Māyāvādī philosophy's defect.
Chandobhai: Difference.
Prabhupāda: No, this is defect. They do not understand their incapability, and still, they claim, "I am the same, one, So 'ham." This is their deficiency. Here is the de... īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe... (BG 18.61). Do you stay... Can you stay, can you say what I am thinking now?
Dr. Patel: They consider body of Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Avyaktam, avyaktam, the Absolute Truth is avyaktam. And when Absolute Truth comes, incarnation, He accepts this mayic body.
Dr. Patel: Only body, and the real is inside.
Prabhupāda: And that has been commented by Dr. Rādhākrishnan. When Kṛṣṇa says that man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), he says that "It is not to the Kṛṣṇa person, but what is within Him. Within Him." That means he is under the theory that Kṛṣṇa's body is māyā. So you haven't got to surrender to the body of Kṛṣṇa. But this fool does not know that there is no such distinction in Kṛṣṇa.
Mr. Sar: Avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannam manyante mām...
Prabhupāda: Ah! No, Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction as body and soul. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. He comes in His own, original body. Sambhavāmi yuge... Prakṛtiṁ svām. Not this prakṛti. Svām, the spiritual body. That they do not take.
Mr. Sar: Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam.
Prabhupāda: Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). That Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that He can come in a spiritual body. Otherwise how He remembers millions of years. If His body's changing, it is material, then how He can remember?
Dr. Patel:
- yo mām ajam anādiṁ ca
- vetti loka-maheśvaram
- asamūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu
- sarva-papaiḥ pramucyate
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the understanding of Kṛṣṇa. Yo mām ajam. Ajam. "Because Kṛṣṇa appears as born of Vasudeva and Devaki..." That is mūrkha. He appears. He appears, ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, sambhavāmi. That is His extraordinary power, how He ap... But when one understands that He is aja, there is no birth of Kṛṣṇa... Aja, and?
Dr. Patel: Maheśvaram.
Prabhupāda: Maheśvaram, mahā īśvaram. There are īśvaras, but parameśvara or mahā-īśvara, that is Kṛṣṇa.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: In the ordinary human, this material body, nobody can be controller of the laws of nature. That is not possible. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Unless one has got spiritual body, it is not possible to be unaffected by this material world. Kṛṣṇa never became old although He lived for a 125 years. He never became old. Now, how you can say...?
Dr. Patel: He was the controller of māyā but we are being controlled by the māyā.
Prabhupāda: No, no, anyway, a 125-years-old and looking like a young man of twenty years old. How it is possible in a material body?
Dr. Patel: So all the avatāras of God, they come with a controlling...
Prabhupāda: Ātma-māyā.
Dr. Patel: Controlling.
Prabhupāda: Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). They do not come under the control of this mahāmāyā. They have got their own spiritual potency. Āhlādinī-śakti. Ātmanaṁ sṛjāmy aham. Ātmanam: Myself, I advent." How it can be like ordinary man? We are... karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). We get body. But He says....
Dr. Patel: And it is by His own free will.
Prabhupāda: Yes, as He likes. He likes to appear as fish, that's all. Not that... Ordinary fish, it is forced to take the body of a fish.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: If the dress has got hand and leg, then the person who is putting on the dress, he must have hand and... So this is the conclusion. When in the śāstra it is said that "God has no leg, no hand," that... In the Upaniṣad it said that "He has no leg, but He can walk swifter than anyone." So that means He has got a different type of leg. And that is summarized, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His vigraha, His form, is not material form. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśri... (BG 9.11). Because Kṛṣṇa comes as a human being, the foolish mūḍha-mūḍha means rascal-rascal thinks that "He is also one of us." But Kṛṣṇa says, "No, no," sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6), "I come here in My original, spiritual form." Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā. So these are to be understood. So manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Because they cannot understand—they cannot make distinction what is spiritual, what is material-therefore they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye. First of all one has to understand what is material, what is spiritual. So unless one comes to the spiritual understanding, he cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddhaye means "for spiritual understanding." And yatatām api siddhānām (BG 7.3).
| Page Title: | BG 04.06 ajo 'pi sann avyayatma... cited |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 24 of Feb, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=15, CC=3, OB=3, Lec=69, Con=8, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 99 |