Compare (Lectures, BG)

Expressions researched:
"comparable" |"compare" |"compared" |"compares" |"comparing"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: compare or compared or compares or comparing or comparable not "compare to" not "compared to" not "comparing to" not "compares to" not "comparable to" not "compare with " not "compared with" not "comparing with " not "compares with " not "comparable with"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

Bhāvam means the spiritual nature. Yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti. Mad-bhāvam means just like the nature or the transcendental nature of the Supreme Being. As we have described above, that the Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He has His form, but His form is eternal, sat; and full of knowledge, cit; and full of bliss, ānanda. Now just we can compare our present body, whether this body is sac-cid-ānanda. No. This body is asat. Instead of being sat it is asat.

Lecture on BG 1.24-25 -- London, July 20, 1973:

And if you think that they are so sinful they cannot be taken, then transfer all their sins unto me. You take them. You take them." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to smile that "Even if I take the all the living entities of the universe, but do you know, this universe is only one fragmental part of other, all other universes. There are many other universes." And He compared that "In a bag where, bag full of mustard seeds..." Just imagine, a big bag of mustard seeds. "And this universe is just like one mustard seed."

Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:

Who knows this? Who knows this science, that saṅkaro narakāyaiva, if you produce unwanted hellish condition? Who is caring for that? The world is in hellish condition, we can perceive, but they are trying in a different way. They want to remain demons; at the same time, they want to become leaders. So at the present moment, comparing the social status 5000 years ago... According to Darwin's theory, 5000 years ago, men were uncivilized, uncivilized. Now this literature is written by uncivilized men.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

The devotee, a great devotee, King Kulaśekhara. He has a nice book, Mukunda-mālā-stotra. I began translating, commenting, this line in Vṛndāvana. So the first verse is he's comparing his mind with the swan. I think you have seen, Jayānanda, when we were walking in Seattle in that park, in a lake the swan were diving near the lotus. You have seen? Yes. That is the practice. The swan takes pleasure where there is, I mean to say, what is called, lotus or lily, lilies. There's a stem. They dive and they entangle their long neck with the... That is their sporting. So Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, we call, lotus feet.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very much pleased by his proposition and He smiled. He said that "This brahmāṇḍa, this universe, is only just like a mustard grain in the bag of mustard seeds." Our point is that there are so many universes. Just compare. You take a bag of mustard seeds and pick up one grain. In comparison to the pack of mustard seeds what is the value of this one grain? Similarly, this universe is like that. There are so many universes. The modern scientists, they are trying to go to other planets. Even they go, what is the credit there?

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

Viṣṇujana: "...confirm this concept of two kinds of souls by comparing them to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds, the individual atomic soul, is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird is simply watching his friend. Of these two birds, although they are the same in quality, one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing his activity. Kṛṣṇa is the witnessing bird and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant."

Prabhupāda: That is the eternal relationship. These are confirmed in Vedic literature just like Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. The system is whatever is mentioned in the Vedas, that is authoritatively accepted. That is the Vedic understanding.

Lecture on BG 2.21-22 -- London, August 26, 1973:

Similarly, when the same child grows or changes body, he requires another shoe. Similarly, the soul is changing his body exactly as we change our garments. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. Jīrṇāni means when it is old enough, not fit for use, yathā vihāya, as we give it up... Vihāya means give it up. Navāni, new garment. Naraḥ aparāṇi gṛhṇāti. Now the body has been compared herein as the garment. Just like coat and shirt. The tailor cuts the coat according to the body. Similarly, this material body, if it is shirt and coat, then this is cut according to the spiritual body. The spiritual body is not nirākāra, without form. If it is without form, then how the garment, the coat and shirt, has got hands and legs? It is common sense. The coat has got hand or the pant has got legs because the person who is using the coat, he has got hands and legs.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). They do not know how much potential the Lord is, how much powerful He is. They are comparing the power of the Supreme Lord with his own power. A frog philosophy. The Dr. Frog. Frog is considering, "Atlantic Ocean may be a little bigger than the well." Because he is living always. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya It is, Sanskrit it is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Kūpa means well, and maṇḍūka means the frog. The frog is perpetually within the well, and if somebody informs him that there is another big span of water, Atlantic Ocean, he simply calculates that "It may be a little more than this well, little more than this well."

Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973:

This is Māyāvāda. Kṛṣṇa may be accepted as the Supreme God, but He has accepted a material body. That means they want to compare Kṛṣṇa with ordinary living entity, and that is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is said that avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because Kṛṣṇa comes in His original form... Original form is two-handed. It is also accepted in the Bible: "Man is made after the image of God." So God has got two-handed. Even the four-handed Viṣṇu form is not the original form. Viṣṇu form is secondary manifestation of Saṅkarṣaṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is never affected by māyā. This is point.

Lecture on BG 3.17-20 -- New York, May 27, 1966:

The śāstra injunction is that, so far Vedic literatures are concerned, they are very much strict about association, free association of man and woman. They are very much strict. They have compared woman as fire and man as the pot of butter. So, according to strict Vedic principle, except one's own wife, nobody sit down in a private place with woman, even she happens to be a mother, even she happens to be a daughter, even she happens to be a sister. So much restriction is there. Mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā nāviviktāsano bhavet: (SB 9.19.17) "Either she is your mother, either she is your daughter, either she is your sister, don't sit down in a secluded place alone with woman." So such a stricture is there.

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

Now, take a brāhmaṇa who has come from India and compare his character and the character of our student, how he has become more than a brāhmaṇa, the so-called brāhmaṇa. This is practical. The so-called brāhmaṇas, they have come here, they are doing all nonsense, not following any rules and regulation. But still, they are claiming that they are brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa is not meant like that. Kṛṣṇa says cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13).

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

Madhudviṣa: "The comparison of the embryo being covered by the womb is an allegory illustrating the most awkward position of the child in the womb, who is so helpless that it cannot even move. This stage of living condition can be compared also to the trees. The trees are living entities, but they have been put into that condition of life by such a great exhibition of lust that they are almost devoid of consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Yes. So what is your question?

Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

When such materialistic men are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they are afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence.

Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:

"The Supreme Being, who is called Kṛṣṇa, or all-attractive, He has His body of eternity, full of knowledge and blissfulness." Now, compare your this body. This body is not eternal; it is temporary. It is born at a certain date and it will be finished at a certain date. Therefore it is not eternal. Neither this body is full of knowledge. It is full of ignorance. If I ask you how many hairs you have got on your head, you do not know. Similarly, we have got this body. I am claiming my body, but I am not in full knowledge of my own body.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

These are the different items. But either you practice the different items or simply take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all these practices will be automatically done. Kecit kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ (SB 6.1.15). If you become vāsudeva-parāyaṇa, then these things will be practiced.

Just like everyone in this country. In the morning the manager of the Central Bank came. He was very much praising that how these European, American boys have become so nice. Because they have taken to bhakti-yoga. It is compared: nīhāram, nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Nīhāram iva bhās... Nīhāram means... What is called? Mist or frost? The...? In the morning sometimes?

Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974:

Similarly, śūdra: paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam. Śūdra means he is satisfied by serving somebody. Just like a dog. He is satisfied having a nice master, that's all. Sometimes it is compared, the śūdras, like the dogs. So kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhim. This guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13)—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya that will be explained in the next verse.

Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Bombay, April 3, 1974:

How the moon is shining, 200,000 miles away? Still, the shining is so perfect. Can you make any lamp like that? Have you got such brain? Then how you can compare yourself with Kṛṣṇa? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. But he has got the power. You can create one imitation moon or imitation sun, but that is not in your power. But still, you are so falsely proud of your scientific knowledge. What scientific knowledge you have got? So in this way, if we study Kṛṣṇa, then we can understand that, as Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā.... Karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14).

Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Vrndavana, August 6, 1974:

He knows everything. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). Kṛṣṇa says, "I know everything." In the Bhāgavatam it is said, janmādy asya anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Kṛṣṇa knows everything. But I do not know. I do not know how many hairs are here. And still I am claiming I am Kṛṣṇa.

So do not compare Kṛṣṇa with any human body. That is great offense. To think of Kṛṣṇa as, ordinary human being and as equal, or a human being is Kṛṣṇa, these are, two things are offensive. Aparādha. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

The snake charmer in India, they sing very nicely, flute, and the snake comes and... (laughter) Like this. Immediately. I have seen. And when he comes, then they have got methods to capture the snake. And besides that, there is another example, of foolish man. The foolish men are compared like the frogs. The general example is that somebody is chanting or singing something. The example is that by such singing they are losing their duration of life. As the frog sings... Have you heard any sound of the frog?

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

So God has form, but He has got a form which is full of pleasure, full of knowledge, and eternal. Now compare your body. Your body is neither eternal nor full of pleasure nor full of knowledge. Therefore God has form, but He has got a different form. But as soon as we speak of form, we think the form must be like this. Therefore the opposite, no form. That's no knowledge.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

Of course, you have no experience. In India I have got experience because these calves and cows, they go on the pasturing ground, and in rainy season their hoofs makes holes, and in that hole there are some water. So that water... This great ocean is compared like that water. So nobody has any difficulty to cross over it. So bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padam: "And for them, those who have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for them is waiting paraṁ padam, the supreme abode."

Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:

Just imagine what is his qualification. He is direct friend of Kṛṣṇa, and he is a great warrior. He has got administrative capacity, and at the same time his knowledge... Comparing his knowledge, this Bhagavad-gītā he understood within one hour. This Bhagavad-gītā, which is not understood in one life at the present moment, he understood this Bhagavad-gītā in one hour. So how much intelligent he was. And he belong to the royal family. All facilities were there. And he... He is accepting that "It is not possible for me." But do you think what was impossible for Arjuna five thousand years before in such favorable circumstances, is it possible for you to discharge?

Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:

There is disease; there is war; there is pestilence; there is famine—so many disturbances. So our duration of life is smaller, and at the same time, we are disturbed, and we are not intelligent, and we are unfortunate at the same time. At the present moment, you will find, 80% people, they are unfortunate. If we compare what is fortune or misfortune, then we'll find, in every country, 80% people, they are unfortunate, and therefore this world is getting to Communism because they are fighting. They are fighting. So this is the condition of the present day.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

What is your position? Why do you compare Kṛṣṇa with you? Yes, Kṛṣṇa can expand. So many examples are given. Don't think because you cannot expand, therefore Kṛṣṇa cannot expand. that is the defect of nonsensical philosophy. They formally say "God is great." But, when actually he thinks, "Oh, how much great He should be? I cannot do this.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:

You must have belly. You must have legs. Then it is complete. The head is most important part of the body—that is all right—but leg is also required. You cannot neglect leg. So similarly, this division is very scientific: intelligent class of men and martial class of men and productive class of men and laborer class of men. When we compare the laborer class of men with intellect, intellectual class of men, there is difference. But both of them are important factors to maintain this body. That is called varṇāśrama-dharma.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

That means He has got a different type of eyes, but He has got His eyes. He is not nirākāra, but not ākāra like us. His body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. So His body is made of such qualities. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Then you can compare your body. If we compare, if I think of my body, it is not sat. Sat means eternal. This body will be finished. So it is not sat. It is asat. Sat means which exists, and asat means which does not exist. Therefore, how you can say Kṛṣṇa's body and my body is the same? No.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

The milk is nothing, but it is cow's blood transformed. Just like mother's milk. The mother's milk, wherefrom it comes? It comes from the blood, but transformed in such a way that it becomes nutritious to the child, tasteful to the child. Similarly, cow's milk also, a most nutritious and valuable food. So it is compared that this Bhagavad-gītā is the milk of the cow of Vedic literature. And the milkman is Kṛṣṇa Himself. And the drinker of the milk is..., we are, Arjuna, through Arjuna. So these things are there.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:

They are also important. That is the system given by the Lord Himself.

Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). To cooperate, to understand... It is also compared that the brāhmaṇa is the head of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the virāṭ-puruṣa. So brāhmaṇa's business is, because it is the head, to give direction to the society, to the spiritual society, daiva-varṇāśrama, how to conduct the life and occupation of the society. That is brāhmaṇa's business.

Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:

So one friend belongs to the Arya-samaj. He asked me this question, that "You are offering in the temple, but does Kṛṣṇa eat?" Certainly He eats. Why not? "No, the things are there. How He eats?" Why you are comparing your eating and Kṛṣṇa's eating the same? Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). These rascals do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. He thinks, "Kṛṣṇa is like me." These rascals. They do not know what Kṛṣṇa. Why?

Lecture on BG 8.28-9.2 -- New York, November 21, 1966:

"The knowledge which I am just trying to impart, this is rāja-vidyā, the king of all knowledge." Rāja-vidyā. Rāja means "king," and vidyā means "knowledge." There are... Just like in our ordinary course of life we find somebody king, somebody subject, similarly, He's comparing this knowledge as the topmost, the king of all knowledge. Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyam. Rāja-guhyam means "very confidential." And pavitram. Pavitram means "very pure," idam, "this knowledge." And uttamam. Uttamam means "which is transcendental." Ut means "trans-," and tama means "darkness."

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:

Our existence, body, should have been like Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is the original father, the son's body is as good as the father's body. But when we learn from the śāstra that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), His form is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and when we compare our, this body, material body, it is neither eternal, neither full of knowledge, neither full of bliss.

Lecture on BG 10.4 -- New York, January 3, 1967:

And guru-karṇa-dhāram. And if you have got a nice spiritual master who is captain, good captain, who can help you to ply your ship on the same. So nṛ-deham ādyam su-labhaṁ su-durlabham. And atmosphere is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, created by the Supreme Lord by delivering you the message of Bhagavad-gītā. So you have got very good atmosphere. Just you compare in the same way: If in Atlantic Ocean there is no wind, there is no hurricane, and you have got a very good ship and very good captain, now take this opportunity of crossing. If you don't cross, then you are committing suicide. Oh, very nice.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:

Qualitatively we are one. As God is spirit, so I am also spirit. But His body is very big, gigantic, the universal body, which Kṛṣṇa showed to Arjuna, the virāṭa-rūpa. But my body is not gigantic. It is small. Maybe we call the elephant's body gigantic or similar other animal's body, but still God's body is still more gigantic. You cannot compare. Eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā you'll know how gigantic body has Kṛṣṇa. So as I have got this body but my spiritual identity is very small, if we study in this way, it is very easy to understand what is God, what I am, what is this world. Just like I am not this body, I am within the body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). I am the proprietor of the body.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973:

So you compare. You call any educated person. Just like I told you several times, that that Professor Kotovsky, big man in Russia, he said "That there is no life. After finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see how much ajñānam. He does not know. So the whole world is going on under ajñānam. If they accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, there is chance of having jñānam. Otherwise they remain in ajñānam. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Calcutta, February 26, 1974:

The entanglement of this material world is compared here to a banyan tree. For one who is engaged in fruitive activities, there is no end to the banyan tree. He wanders from one branch to another, to another, to another. The tree of this material world has no end, and for one who is attached to this tree, there is no possibility of liberation. The Vedic hymns, meant for elevating oneself, are called the leaves of this tree. This tree's roots grow upward because they begin from where Brahmā is located, the topmost planet of this universe.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: So take Mus..., Islamic culture. Just finish. If you are interest in Islamic culture, take it to it. Just finish. What is the use of comparing, this and that? Why you waste your time? You like Islamic culture, you take it. There is no question of...

Devotee: There are so many similarities.

Prabhupāda: That's very nice. You take to Islamic culture. That's very nice. But what is the use of comparing?

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Tokyo, January 28, 1975:

These impersonalists, they cannot think of that a person can be so unlimitedly powerful. Therefore they become impersonalist. They cannot think of. The impersonalists, they cannot imagine... They imagine, "When one is person, he is a person like me. I cannot do this. Therefore He cannot do." Therefore they are mūḍha. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). They are comparing Kṛṣṇa with themself. As he is a person, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is a person. He does not know. The Vedas inform that "Although He is person, He is maintaining all unlimited persons." That they do not know.

Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974:

First of all we are very minute part and parcel of Bhagavān. Mamaivāṁśaḥ. So, according to our position, we have got our knowledge, we have got our understanding, proportionately. Just like fire, big fire and a small spot fire. Both of them are fire, but you cannot compare the small fragment of fire with the big fire. That is not possible. The big ocean and a small drop of water from the ocean. Because the taste of the small drop of ocean is the same, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they conclude that "I am the same."