God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian

Expressions researched:
"God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian" |"God is neither Hindu nor Muslim" |"God is neither Hindu, nor Muslim, nor Christian"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

In each, every language, the "Kṛṣṇa" word is there, dictionary. He's also stated as "Hindu God." But Kṛṣṇa is not Hindu god or Muslim God. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. God is God.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, January 13, 1973:

So Bhagavān does... Is not manufactured by some process. Bhagavān is Bhagavān, always Bhagavān. Either He is representing as a child, as a boy or a youth, He never becomes old. That is another feature of Bhagavān. That is another aiśvarya. We want to keep our youthhood by so many ways, but Kṛṣṇa is always young. Bhagavān is always young. Bhagavān never becomes old. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He's the Purāṇa-puruṣam. Purāṇa-puruṣam means the oldest person. Be..., because He's ādyam, beginning of all puruṣas. Puruṣa means the three Puruṣas, Viṣṇu—Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. They are called Puruṣa. So ādyaṁ puruṣam. He's male, person. He's not imperson. Imperson is only His one bodily feature. So in spite of His being ādyam, ādi-puruṣam, the cause of all causes, cause of Mahā-Viṣṇu, cause of Brahmā, still nava-yauvanaṁ ca, He never becomes old, God never becomes old. That is His opulence. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ. Yaśasaḥ, I have already explained. He's so famous still. You cannot find in the history of the world, five thousand years ago, who appeared and still famous. You don't find. There is not a single instance within the human history. But Kṛṣṇa, He appeared five thousand years ago, during the Battle of Kurukṣetra, before that, and still He's famous. Not only famous in India, but He's famous all over the world. In each, every language, the "Kṛṣṇa" word is there, dictionary. He's also stated as "Hindu God." But Kṛṣṇa is not Hindu god or Muslim God. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. God is God. So Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān. Svayaṁ Bhagavān. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). There are... There may be many Bhagavāns, but Kṛṣṇa is the original Bhagavān.

Simply we are teaching that "Become God conscious." God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. He's God. And we are also not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. This is our bodily designation.

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

So smaraṇaṁ vandanam. So there is no difference between this process and that process. Simply we are teaching that "Become God conscious." God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. He's God. And we are also not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. This is our bodily designation. We are all pure, part and parcel of the Supreme. As God is pure, so we are also pure. So we have fallen in this turmoil of this material ocean, and there is tossing of the waves. So we are suffering. We don't identify with the tossing of the waves because I have nothing to do with this tossing. I simply pray, "Kṛṣṇa, please pick me up from these tossing waves. Some way or other, I am fallen here."

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

(Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)

"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, somehow or other, I forgot You, and I am fallen in this..." As soon as I forget Kṛṣṇa this māyā or illusion, ocean of illusion is there. It at once captures me. That is my position. So anyway, Kṛṣṇa has prescribed this devotional service, very nice. You can very happily perform. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). Śravaṇādike apaśyamāne tasmin sa tad-viṣaye puruṣottamaḥ, aham ādir bhavāmi.

General Lectures

Don't think that Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in your English dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa is a Hindu God." He's not Hindu, He's not Muslim, or He's not Christian. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. It is bodily designations, "I am Hindu, you are Christian."

Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl:

So the Christians believe in Lord Jesus Christ as son of God. But we are presenting the father, God Himself. So there is no contradiction. If there is son, there must be a father also. Without father, there cannot be son. So if you believe in the son, then you must believe in the father also. The father is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya

sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yaḥ

ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

(BG 14.4)

He is the seed-giving father for all living entities. So Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in your English dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa is a Hindu God." He's not Hindu, He's not Muslim, or He's not Christian. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. It is bodily designations, "I am Hindu, you are Christian." This is bodily... Just like dress. You have got some black coat. Another has got some white coat. That does not meant we are different because we are in different coat or shirt. As human being, we are all sons of God. We are one. That is the conception. So at the present moment, we have divided the world on account of this shirt and coat. That is not. That is not good. Actually, the whole world or the whole universe belongs to God. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

One who is completely free from the reaction of sinful life, he can completely devote in the service of the Lord. So the common platform is there. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim, nor the method of approaching God may be different, but the ultimate end is how to love God or how to serve God.

Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:

Just like in Bible also there are so many commandments that "You shall not do this," because they are sinful. A sinful man cannot approach God. That is the verdict of Vedic literature.

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ

janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām

te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā

bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

(BG 7.28)

One who is completely free from the reaction of sinful life, he can completely devote in the service of the Lord. So the common platform is there. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim, nor the method of approaching God may be different, but the ultimate end is how to love God or how to serve God. One cannot serve anybody without love. In the material world one serves another for matter of money exchange, reward. But serving God is not that. Here it is stated, ahaituky apratihatā. Service of God is without motive. Here in the material world we serve somebody with a motive, for some material gain. But in the spiritual world, to serve God means "It is my duty. I love him. I want to serve Him." Just like mother loves child. It is not like the maidservant who is paid. Mother loves spontaneously child, as duty. He (she) loves to serve the child. Similarly, when our love of God will be spontaneous, without any motive, and without being impeded... Love of God cannot be checked by any material condition. It is not that because a man is poor, therefore he cannot love God. No. If a man is very rich, therefore he cannot love. No. Ahaituky apratihatā. Whatever you may be, you can learn how to love God without any impediment. And if we come to that stage of life—here it is said, yayātmā suprasīdati—then you will be fully satisfied and pleased.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

We want to see that you are lover of God. God is one. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. So we want to see that you love God, that is all.

Room Conversation and Interview with Ian Polsen -- July 31, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: That's all. People after sense gratification. A diseased man, who cannot digest, if he thinks that "I shall eat this, I shall eat that, I shall eat that," but actually he cannot digest. Eating this or that, how it will help him? (laughs) If you have lost your digesting power, then if you change, "I eat this, I shall eat that," that will not help you. So the modern civilized man, he has lost the point how he can be happy. He is simply changing the program of sense gratification. That's all.

Ian Polsen: Becoming more and more desperate.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. He has no other idea. Just like here in this material world the highest pleasure is sex life, so they are changing, different types of sex life, that's all. (break)

(break) We want to see that you are lover of God. God is one. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. So we want to see that you love God, that is all. That is our mission.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Our only proposal is that you try to love God. That's all. God is one. God is neither Hindu, nor Muslim, nor Christian. God is God. So let us love God. That's all. That is perfection of life.

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Jesuit Priest: Well, anyhow, thank you very much, father, for letting us talk and for letting us listen to you.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much for your coming here.

Jesuit Priest: Very nice to come here, and congratulations for...

Prabhupāda: No, our only proposal is that you try to love God. That's all. God is one. God is neither Hindu, nor Muslim, nor Christian. God is God. So let us love God. That's all. That is perfection of life.

Mother: Well, you can rest assured, we do that.

Prabhupāda: Yes, do that.

Mother: Yes, we do that.

Prabhupāda: That is our...

Jesuit Priest: I wouldn't have given up my life to Him fifty-two years ago to be a Jesuit priest unless I loved God, would I?

Prabhupāda: No. Unless you love God, how you have become priest?

Jesuit Priest: And I'm not only one, but there happen to be thirty-three thousand of us in the world.

Prabhupāda: Because you have become a priest, that means you love God.

Jesuit Priest: Yes. Fifty-two years ago I made up my mind.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is understood.