Prabhupāda:
- ...yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
- asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ
- yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu
- (BG 7.1)
Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. That is also dictionary word. In the... I consulted the Oxford Dictionary, "God." God means "the Supreme Being." And the Supreme means... That is also stated in the dictionary, "The greatest authority." So God means the greatest authority, supreme, Supreme Being. We have got little idea of supreme. Suppose when you go to work in our office, the proprietor of the establishment or the managing director of the establishment, he's called the supreme. We have got experience of the Supreme Court. In India, we have got Supreme Court. If there is any judgment which is not accepted by the litigant, he can go to the Supreme Court. And in the judgment given in the Supreme is final. No more any appeal. That is final. Supreme means that, final.
So bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. We are all beings. We are also living entities. Similarly, Bhagavān, or God, He's also a living entity. As living entity, we are the same. But He's the supreme living entity. No more greater than Him. Here, we can distinguish. I am here. You may be greater than me. Another person may be greater than you. Another person may be greater than him. In this way, you go on searching, greater, greater, greater, greater, and when you come to a person, nobody is greater than him, that is God. Nowadays, it has become a fashions, so many gods. Especially, they come to your country, Western country. But God cannot be plural number. God is always singular number, one. If God is plural number, then that is not God. That plural-number God may be the living entities. We are living entities, and God is also living entity, but the supreme living entity. That is the difference. It is Vedic statement.
- nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
- eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān
- (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
Description of God. He's nitya. Nitya means eternal. And we living entities, we are also eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We, at the present moment, in the material condition, we are changing body. That change of body is called death. Actually, the living entity within the body, he has no death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. This description we have got in the Vedic literature. So God is also nitya, eternal. We are also eternal. God is also cognizant, and we are also cognizant. We have got knowledge, and God has got knowledge. The difference is that I have got knowledge limited within this limit of this body. I have no knowledge what is going on in your body; neither you know what is going on in my body. Therefore, we are individuals. But God is, although individual, He's spread everywhere. That is God.
Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). God is within this universe, within yourself, within myself, within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu... Paramāṇu means atom. He's within the atom also. But I, you, we are limited within this body. We are limited. I cannot say that I understand what is going in your body, pains and pleasure. That I cannot say. But I can understand pains and pleasure of my body. So the quality is the same. God has knowledge. You, you, me, we have got knowledge. But our knowledge is limited. God's knowledge is unlimited. But knowledge is there, cognizant. Therefore the Vedas says nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme eternal amongst all other eternals. He's the supreme cognizant amongst all other cognizants. This is the difference.