Young man: I'd like to know the relation...
Prabhupāda: Paramahaṁsa? Bring those ice. Put. That's all. Hm?
Young man: I'd like to know the relation between Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, how Viṣṇu became Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Being, and He has got many expansion. So Viṣṇu is also expansion.
- rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
- nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
- kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.39)
This is in the Vedas, Brahma-saṁhitā. Kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ sama... Kṛṣṇa means the original. And He expands in so many forms, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu: Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Viṣṇu, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Balarāma—so many thousands. But the original person is Kṛṣṇa. (Pause) Therefore I asked, "What is the idea of God?" I suppose you are all Mohammedan.
Young man: We were brought up as Mohammedans.
Prabhupāda: So what is the conception of God in Islam?
Young man: Even as a Mohammedan, I didn't have very good teaching. My teachers didn't know the Koran very well, and therefore they gave me no concept of God when I was a child. I don't know what the Mohammedan concept of God is.
Prabhupāda: Any one of you cannot explain? You have got?
Young man: I think it's the all-powerful one who's omnipotent, the same as in all religions. There is one God.
Prabhupāda: So His form... What is the form?
Young man: What is His form? He created the world...
Prabhupāda: That is His action. What is His form?
Young man: A heavenly being.
Young man (2): There is no form given for God. It's spiritual.
Prabhupāda: The description must be there.
Girl: He's a human being. He's got a human form.
Prabhupāda: That I am asking, what is the form?
Young man: Well, the only thing... It just says that He created man after His own image. So...
Prabhupāda: That is the Christian idea.
Young man: Yeah. And the...
Prabhupāda: The Mohammedan, Islam is also same idea?
Young man: Well, since the Old Testament, part of the Old Testament, is very similar to the Koran, I presume the creation of Adam, that bit, is also taken from the Old Testament. But He is projected as a great judge really, a supreme judge.
Prabhupāda: Yes, He must be the supreme judge because He is Supreme Being. So He is not only... Supreme judge means supreme knowledge.
Young man: Yes. Somehow in modern religion they very much emphasize on the fact that He judges. And I could never accept that idea for example, that the Supreme Being judges, because judging is a low activity. It's a... Spiritual people don't judge. So how come...
Prabhupāda: Spiritual...?
Young man: Leader.
Prabhupāda: They do not judge?
Young man: That's what I thought.
Prabhupāda: No, judgment is there everywhere. Unless there is judgment, how you can discriminate, "This is spiritual; this is material"? Judgment must be there for intelligent person. Otherwise how you can distinguish? We are distinguishing every moment—"This is good. This is bad"—in the relative world. So there is judgment. So God—the supreme judge. So as soon as there is question of judgment, then what is our position? There must be good and bad, so that if we have lived a very nice, good life, then by the judgment of God we get better position. And if we have not done so, then you get degraded position. Therefore, for human being it is very sanguine to understand how we are going to be judged by the Supreme. So if we are following the rules and regulation given by God, then the judgment will be better. And if we are not following the laws, the judgment will not be in favor. This is natural to conclude. Then we have to judge what is sin, what is piety, how to be pious, how one becomes sinful. So many things will come.