Prabhupāda: Brahman is always greater than anything. If you limit within some limited idea, that is not brahma-jñāna. Brahman is unlimited, the greatest. Bṛhatvān bṛhanatvat(?). So Brahman includes everything—nirākāra, sākāra, and whatever you can speak. But Brahman ultimately is sākāra. It's not nirākāra. That is the verdict of the śāstra.
- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
- (SB 1.2.11)
This is brahma-jñāna. Brahman . . . Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1). Everything Brahman, but there is division—brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Just like the sun. The sunshine is impersonal, but the sun globe is localized and the sun-god is person, but the same sun. Similarly, you have to understand Brahman. When you cannot understand the real nature of Brahman, then it is nirākāra. And when you partially understand, Paramātmā, then localized. And you fully understand, that is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
Devotees: Jaya! (applause)
Indian man (6): It is said that first athāto brahma jijñāsā, and then it is said athāto brahma jijñāsā. It is said by one Yājñavalkya. Is there any difference between these two?
Prabhupāda: So brahma-jijñāsā means spiritual inquiry. So the cat and dog cannot inquire. It is not possible. But when you have got this human form of body, especially born in India and especially born in a brāhmaṇa family, if you misuse your life like cats and dogs, that is a great loss.
Indian man (7): Idol worship, impersonal, considered as a stepping stone. Is it fact?
Prabhupāda: I don't follow. What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Is worshiping the idol a stepping stone?"
Indian man (7): Idol worship, mūrti-pūjā, is considered as a stepping stone only. When you attain something, then you need not do it.
Prabhupāda: So unless you step one by one, how you can go to the topmost? You have to.