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In the Vedas the definition of God is given, "God has nothing to do"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.10, Purport:

All these living entities, although born under the glance of the Supreme Lord, take their different bodies according to their past deeds and desires. So the Lord is not directly attached to this material creation. He simply glances over material nature; material nature is thus activated, and everything is created immediately. Because He glances over material nature, there is undoubtedly activity on the part of the Supreme Lord, but He has nothing to do with the manifestation of the material world directly. This example is given in the smṛti: when there is a fragrant flower before someone, the fragrance is touched by the smelling power of the person, yet the smelling and the flower are detached from one another. There is a similar connection between the material world and the Supreme Personality of Godhead; actually He has nothing to do with this material world, but He creates by His glance and ordains. In summary, material nature, without the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot do anything. Yet the Supreme Personality is detached from all material activities.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.2, Purport:

The Kāraṇa Ocean is therefore called the Causal Ocean. Kāraṇa means "causal." We should not foolishly accept the atheistic theory of creation. The description of the atheists is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. The atheist does not believe in the creator, but he cannot give a good theory to explain the creation. Material nature has no power to create without the power of the puruṣa, just as a prakṛti, or woman, cannot produce a child without the connection of a puruṣa, or man. The puruṣa impregnates, and the prakṛti delivers. We should not expect milk from the fleshy bags on the neck of a goat, although they look like breastly nipples. Similarly, we should not expect any creative power from the material ingredients; we must believe in the power of the puruṣa, who impregnates prakṛti, or nature. Because the Lord wished to lie down in meditation, the material energy created innumerable universes at once, in each of them the Lord lay down, and thus all the planets and the different paraphernalia were created at once by the will of the Lord. The Lord has unlimited potencies, and thus He can act as He likes by perfect planning, although personally He has nothing to do. No one is greater than or equal to Him. That is the verdict of the Vedas.

SB 1.3.3, Translation:

It is believed that all the universal planetary systems are situated on the extensive body of the puruṣa, but He has nothing to do with the created material ingredients. His body is eternally in spiritual existence par excellence.

SB 1.7.23, Purport:

The Lord is addressed herein as the original Personality of Godhead. From Him all other Personalities of Godhead expand. The all-pervasive Lord Viṣṇu is Lord Kṛṣṇa's plenary portion or expansion. The Lord expands Himself in innumerable forms of Godhead and living beings, along with His different energies. But Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original primeval Lord from whom everything emanates. The all-pervasive feature of the Lord experienced within the manifested world is also a partial representation of the Lord. Paramātmā, therefore, is included within Him. He is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He has nothing to do with the actions and reactions of the material manifestation because He is far above the material creation. Darkness is a perverse representation of the sun, and therefore the existence of darkness depends on the existence of the sun, but in the sun proper there is no trace of darkness. As the sun is full of light only, similarly the Absolute Personality of Godhead, beyond the material existence, is full of bliss. He is not only full of bliss, but also full of transcendental variegatedness.

SB 1.8.30, Purport:

The transcendental pastimes of the Lord are not only bewildering but also apparently contradictory. In other words, they are all inconceivable to the limited thinking power of the human being. The Lord is the all-prevailing Supersoul of all existence, and yet He appears in the form of a boar amongst the animals, in the form of a human being as Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, etc., in the form of a ṛṣi like Nārāyaṇa, and in the form of an aquatic like a fish. Yet it is said that He is unborn, and He has nothing to do. In the śruti mantra it is said that the Supreme Brahman has nothing to do. No one is equal to or greater than Him. He has manifold energies, and everything is performed by Him perfectly by automatic knowledge, strength and activity.

SB 1.9.21, Translation and Purport:

Being the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is present in everyone's heart. He is equally kind to everyone, and He is free from the false ego of differentiation. Therefore whatever He does is free from material inebriety. He is equibalanced.

Because He is absolute, there is nothing different from Him. He is kaivalya; there is nothing except Himself. Everything and everyone is the manifestation of His energy, and thus He is present everywhere by His energy, being nondifferent from it, just as the sun is present wherever there is sunshine. The sun is identified with every inch of the sun rays and every molecular particle of the rays. Similarly, the Lord is distributed by His different energies. He is Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, present in everyone as the supreme guidance, and therefore He is already the chariot driver and counsel of all living beings. When He, therefore, exhibits Himself as chariot driver of Arjuna, there is no change in His exalted position. It is the power of devotional service only that demonstrates Him as the chariot driver or the messenger. Since He has nothing to do with the material conception of life because He is absolute spiritual identity, there is for Him no superior or inferior action. Being the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He has no false ego, and so He does not identify Himself with anything different from Him. The material conception of ego is equibalanced in Him. He does not feel, therefore, inferior by becoming the chariot driver of His pure devotee. It is the glory of the pure devotee that only he can bring about service from the affectionate Lord.

SB 1.9.47, Translation and Purport:

All the great sages then glorified Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who was present there, by confidential Vedic hymns. Then all of them returned to their respective hermitages, bearing always Lord Kṛṣṇa within their hearts.

The devotees of the Lord are always in the heart of the Lord, and the Lord is always in the hearts of the devotees. That is the sweet relation between the Lord and His devotees. Due to unalloyed love and devotion for the Lord, the devotees always see Him within themselves, and the Lord also, although He has nothing to do and nothing to aspire to, is always busy in attending to the welfare of His devotees. For the ordinary living beings the law of nature is there for all actions and reactions, but He is always anxious to put His devotees on the right path. The devotees, therefore, are under the direct care of the Lord.

SB 1.10.2, Purport:

This world is compared to a forest fire caused by the cohesion of bamboo bushes. Such a forest fire takes place automatically, for bamboo cohesion occurs without external cause. Similarly, in the material world the wrath of those who want to lord it over material nature interacts, and the fire of war takes place, exhausting the unwanted population. Such fires or wars take place, and the Lord has nothing to do with them. But because He wants to maintain the creation, He desires the mass of people to follow the right path of self-realization, which enables the living beings to enter into the kingdom of God. The Lord wants the suffering human beings to come back home, back to Him, and cease to suffer the threefold material pangs. The whole plan of creation is made in that way, and one who does not come to his senses suffers in the material world by pangs inflicted by the illusory energy of the Lord.

SB 1.18.20, Purport:

The Personality of Godhead in His Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu feature begets Brahmā, the first created person in the material world, from His navel lotus stem and not in the womb of the goddess of fortune, who is eternally engaged in His service. These are some of the instances of His complete independence and perfection. That He has nothing to do does not mean that He is impersonal. He is transcendentally so full of inconceivable potencies that simply by His willing, everything is done without physical or personal endeavor. He is called, therefore, Yogeśvara, or the Lord of all mystic powers.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.33, Purport:

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.12), the modes of nature act under His direction only, and as such no natural functions are blind or automatic. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived. The Vedas say that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally, as is always the case with superiors, but everything is done by His direction. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.48), it is said that all the universes and the heads of them (the Brahmās) exist only for the duration of His breathing period. The same is confirmed here. The air on which the universes and the planets within the universes exist is nothing but a bit of the breath of the unchallengeable virāṭ-puruṣa.

SB 2.6.40-41, Purport:

Being full of all opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, certainly He is the Supreme Person. And because He is a person, He has many personal qualities, although He is transcendental to the material modes. We have already discussed the statement, itthaṁ-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ (SB 1.7.10). His transcendental qualities are so attractive that even the liberated souls (ātmārāmas) are also attracted by them. Although possessed of all personal qualities, He is nevertheless omnipotent. Therefore, personally He has nothing to do, for everything is being carried out by His omnipotent energies.

SB 2.7.15, Purport:

The Lord's holy name is called śravaṇa-maṅgala. This means that one receives everything auspicious simply by hearing the holy name. In another place in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, His holy name is described as puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana. It is a pious act simply to chant and hear all about the Lord. The Lord descends on this earth and acts like others in connection with the activities of the world just to create subject matters for hearing about Him; otherwise the Lord has nothing to do in this world, nor has He any obligation to do anything. He comes out of His own causeless mercy and acts as He desires, the Vedas and purāṇas are full of descriptions of His different activities so that people in general may naturally be eager to hear and read something about His activities. Generally, however, the modern fictions and novels of the world occupy a greater part of people's valuable time. Such literatures cannot do good to anyone; on the contrary, they agitate the young mind unnecessarily and increase the modes of passion and ignorance, leading to increasing bondage to the material conditions. The same aptitude for hearing and reading is better utilized in hearing and reading of the Lord's activities. This will give one all-around benefit.

SB 2.8.23, Purport:

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead and fountainhead of all other incarnations, is the only independent person. He enjoys His pastimes by creation as He desires and gives them up to the external energy at the time of annihilation. By His internal potency only, He kills the demon Pūtanā, even though enjoying His pastimes in the lap of His mother Yaśodā. And when He desires to leave this world He creates the pastimes of killing His own family members (Yadu-kula) and remains unaffected by such annihilation. He is the witness of everything that is happening, and yet He has nothing to do with anything. He is independent in every respect. Mahārāja Parīkṣit desired to know more perfectly, for a pure devotee ought to know well.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.2.20, Purport:

The Lord appeared for the mission of diminishing the burden of the world, and Arjuna was assisting the Lord by fighting on His behalf. Arjuna personally declined to fight, and the whole instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā was given to Arjuna to engage him in the fight. As a pure devotee of the Lord, Arjuna agreed to fight in preference to his own decision, and thus Arjuna fought to assist the Lord in His mission of diminishing the burden of the world. All the activities of a pure devotee are executed on behalf of the Lord because a pure devotee of the Lord has nothing to do for his personal interest. Arjuna's killing was as good as killing by the Lord Himself. As soon as Arjuna shot an arrow at an enemy, that enemy became purified of all material contaminations and became eligible to be transferred to the spiritual sky.

SB 3.4.16, Purport:

Pure devotees of the Lord are not very much concerned with philosophical speculation in regard to transcendental knowledge of the Lord. Nor is it possible to acquire complete knowledge of the Lord. Whatever little knowledge they have about the Lord is sufficient for them because devotees are simply satisfied in hearing and chanting about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. This gives them all transcendental bliss. But some of the pastimes of the Lord appear contradictory, even to such pure devotees, and thus Uddhava asked the Lord about some of the contradictory incidents in His pastimes. The Lord is described as having nothing to do personally, and it is actually so because even in the creation and sustenance of the material world, the Lord has nothing to do. It seems contradictory, then, to hear that the Lord personally lifts the Govardhana Hill for the protection of His unalloyed devotees. The Lord is the Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead appearing like a man, but Uddhava had doubts whether He could have so many transcendental activities.

SB 3.4.16, Purport:

There is no difference between the Personality of Godhead and the impersonal Brahman. How then can the Lord have so many things to do, whereas the impersonal Brahman is stated to have nothing to do either materially or spiritually? If the Lord is ever unborn, how then is He born as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī? He is fearful even to kāla, the supreme fear, and yet the Lord is afraid of fighting Jarāsandha and takes shelter in a fort. How can one who is full in Himself take pleasure in the association of many women? How can He take wives and, just like a householder, take pleasure in the association of family members, children, relatives and parents? All these apparently contradictory happenings bewilder even the greatest learned scholars, who, thus bewildered, cannot understand whether inactivity is a fact or whether His activities are only imitations.

The solution is that the Lord has nothing to do with anything mundane. All His activities are transcendental. This cannot be understood by the mundane speculators. For the mundane speculators there is certainly a kind of bewilderment, but for the transcendental devotees there is nothing astonishing in this. The Brahman conception of the Absolute Truth is certainly the negation of all mundane activities, but the Para-brahman conception is full with transcendental activities. One who knows the distinctions between the conception of Brahman and the conception of Supreme Brahman is certainly the real transcendentalist. There is no bewilderment for such transcendentalists. The Lord Himself also declares in Bhagavad-gītā (10.2), "Even the great sages and demigods can know hardly anything about My activities and transcendental potencies." The right explanation of the Lord's activities is given by Grandfather Bhīṣmadeva (SB 1.9.16)

SB 3.9.15, Purport:

The activities of the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are a kind of imitation of the activities going on in the material world. He is just like an actor on a stage. An actor imitates the activities of a king on stage, although actually he is not the king. Similarly, when the Lord incarnates, He imitates parts with which He has nothing to do. In Bhagavad-gītā (4.14), it is said that the Lord has nothing to do with the activities in which He is supposedly engaged: na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā. The Lord is omnipotent; simply by His will He can perform anything and everything. When the Lord appeared as Lord Kṛṣṇa, He played the part of the son of Yaśodā and Nanda, and He lifted the Govardhana Hill, although lifting a hill is not His concern. He can lift millions of Govardhana Hills by His simple desire; He does not need to lift it with His hand. But He imitates the ordinary living entity by this lifting, and at the same time He exhibits His supernatural power. Thus His name is chanted as the lifter of Govardhana Hill, or Śrī Govardhana-dhārī.

SB 3.21.11, Purport:

The descriptions in verses 9-11 of the Lord in His transcendental, eternal form are understood to be descriptions from the authoritative Vedic version. These descriptions are certainly not the imagination of Kardama Muni. The decorations of the Lord are beyond material conception, as admitted even by impersonalists like Śaṅkarācārya: Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has nothing to do with the material creation. The varieties of the transcendental Lord—His body, His form, His dress, His instruction, His words—are not manufactured by the material energy, but are all confirmed in the Vedic literature. By performance of yoga Kardama Muni actually saw the Supreme Lord as He is. There was no point in seeing an imagined form of God after practicing yoga for ten thousand years. The perfection of yoga, therefore, does not terminate in voidness or impersonalism; on the contrary, the perfection of yoga is attained when one actually sees the Personality of Godhead in His eternal form.

SB 3.22.4, Purport:

The entire social structure of varṇa and āśrama is a cooperative system meant to uplift all to the highest platform of spiritual realization. The brāhmaṇas are intended to be protected by the kṣatriyas, and the kṣatriyas also are intended to be enlightened by the brāhmaṇas. When the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas cooperate nicely, the other subordinate divisions, the vaiśyas, or mercantile people, and the śūdras, or laborer class, automatically flourish. The entire elaborate system of Vedic society was therefore based on the importance of the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. The Lord is the real protector, but He is unattached to the affairs of protection. He creates brāhmaṇas for the protection of the kṣatriyas, and kṣatriyas for the protection of the brāhmaṇas. He remains aloof from all activities; therefore, He is called nirvikāra, "without activity." He has nothing to do. He is so great that He does not perform action personally, but His energies act. The brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, and anything that we see, are different energies acting upon one another.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.12.6, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (12.7), teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt. This means that the Lord, in order to show specific favor to the devotee, directs the devotee from within in such a way that ultimately he is delivered from the entanglement of material existence. No one but the Supreme Lord can help the living entity be delivered from the entanglement of this material world. The material energy is a manifestation of one of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's varieties of potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). This material energy is one of the Lord's potencies, as much as heat and light are potencies of fire. The material energy is not different from the Supreme Godhead, but at the same time He has nothing to do with the material energy.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.3.4-5, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with material perception. Even the impersonalist Śaṅkarācārya says. nārāyaṇaḥ paro 'vyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa. the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material conception." We cannot concoct the form and attributes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We must simply accept the description given in Vedic literatures about the Lord's form and activities.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.4.33, Purport:

Unintelligent persons say that the Lord does nothing. Actually He has nothing to do, but nevertheless He has to do everything, because without His sanction no one can do anything. The unintelligent, however, cannot see how He is working and how the entire material nature is working under His direction. His different potencies work perfectly.

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)

(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)

He has nothing to do personally, for since His potencies are perfect, everything is immediately done by His will. Persons to whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not revealed cannot see how He is working, and therefore they think that even if there is God, He has nothing to do or has no particular name.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.29, Purport:

The Lord can fulfill many purposes through one action. Thus the killing of Hiraṇyakaśipu and the saving of Prahlāda were enacted simultaneously to prove the truthfulness of the Lord's devotee and the fidelity of the Lord Himself to His own purpose. The Lord acts only to satisfy the desires of His devotees; otherwise He has nothing to do. As confirmed in the Vedic language, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: the Lord has nothing to do personally, for everything is done through His different potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). The Lord has multifarious energies, through which everything is done. Thus when He personally does something, it is only to satisfy His devotee. The Lord is known as bhakta-vatsala because He very much favors His devoted servant.

SB 7.10.3, Purport:

When the Lord Himself appears as an incarnation within this material world, He is not allured by the material atmosphere, and He has nothing to do with material activity, yet by His example He teaches the common man how to become a devotee. Similarly, a devotee who comes here in accordance with the order of the Supreme Lord shows by his personal behavior how to become a pure devotee. A pure devotee, therefore, is a practical example for all living entities, including Lord Brahmā.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.3.22-24, Translation and Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead creates His minor parts and parcels, the jīva-tattva, beginning with Lord Brahmā, the demigods and the expansions of Vedic knowledge (Sāma, Ṛg, Yajur and Atharva) and including all other living entities, moving and nonmoving, with their different names and characteristics. As the sparks of a fire or the shining rays of the sun emanate from their source and merge into it again and again, the mind, the intelligence, the senses, the gross and subtle material bodies, and the continuous transformations of the different modes of nature all emanate from the Lord and again merge into Him. He is neither demigod nor demon, neither human nor bird or beast. He is not woman, man, or neuter, nor is He an animal. He is not a material quality, a fruitive activity, a manifestation or nonmanifestation. He is the last word in the discrimination of "not this, not this," and He is unlimited. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

This is a summary description of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's unlimited potency. That supreme one is acting in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His different potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). Each and every potency is acting quite naturally (svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca). Therefore the Lord is unlimited. Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: nothing is equal to Him, nor is anything greater than Him. Although He manifests Himself in so many ways, personally He has nothing to do (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate), for everything is done by expansions of His unlimited energies.

SB 8.5.22, Purport:

Although the Lord is impartial, He gives special attention to His devotees. Therefore the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.8):

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium." The Lord has nothing to do with anyone's protection or destruction, but for the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this material world He apparently has to act either in goodness, in passion or in darkness. Actually, however, He is unaffected by these modes of material nature. He is the Supreme Lord of everyone. As a king sometimes punishes or rewards someone to maintain law and order, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although having nothing to do with the activities of this material world, sometimes appears as various incarnations according to the time, place and object.

SB 8.5.44, Purport:

We can simply understand that behind the activities of material nature is the Supreme Lord, by whose indications everything takes place, although we cannot see Him. Even without seeing Him, we should offer Him our respectful obeisances. We should know that He is complete. Everything is done systematically by His energies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)), and therefore He has nothing to do (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate). As indicated here by the word upaśānta-śaktaye, His different energies act, but although He sets these energies in action, He Himself has nothing to do. He is not attached to anything, for He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, let us offer our respectful obeisances unto Him.

SB 8.17.23, Purport:

A forest fire begins when two pieces of wood rub against one another, being agitated by the wind. Actually, however, fire belongs neither to the wood nor to the wind; it is always different from both. Similarly, here it is to be understood that the union of Kaśyapa Muni and Aditi was not like the sexual intercourse of ordinary human beings. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with the human secretions of sexual intercourse. He is always completely aloof from such material combinations.

SB 8.18.1, Purport:

The word amṛta-bhūḥ is significant in this verse. The Lord sometimes appears like an ordinary child taking birth, but this does not mean that He is subject to birth, death or old age. One must be very intelligent to understand the appearance and activities of the Supreme Lord in His incarnations. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9): janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. One should try to understand that the Lord's appearance and disappearance and His activities are all divyam, or transcendental. The Lord has nothing to do with material activities. One who understands the appearance, disappearance and activities of the Lord is immediately liberated. After giving up his body, he never again has to accept a material body, but is transferred to the spiritual world (tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so 'rjuna (BG 4.9)).

SB Canto 9

SB 9.11.20, Purport:

As stated in the Vedas (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8):

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)

"The Supreme Lord has nothing to do, and no one is found to be equal to or greater than Him, for everything is done naturally and systematically by His multifarious energies." The Lord has nothing to do (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate); whatever He does is His pastime. The Lord has no duty to perform to oblige anyone. Nonetheless, He appears to act to protect His devotees or kill His enemies. Of course, no one can be the Lord's enemy, since who could be more powerful than the Lord? There is actually no question of anyone's being His enemy, but when the Lord wants to take pleasure in pastimes, He comes down to this material world and acts like a human being, thus showing His wonderful, glorious activities to please the devotees. His devotees always want to see the Lord victorious in varied activities, and therefore, to please Himself and them, the Lord sometimes agrees to act as a human being and perform wonderful, uncommon pastimes for the satisfaction of the devotees.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.3.19, Purport:

As stated in the Vedas:

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)

"The Supreme Lord has nothing to do, and no one is found to be equal to or greater than Him, for everything is done naturally and systematically by His multifarious energies." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8) Creation, maintenance and annihilation are all conducted personally by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and this is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10)). Yet ultimately the Lord does not need to do anything, and therefore He is nirvikāra, changeless. Because everything is done under His direction, He is called sṛṣṭi-kartā, the master of creation. Similarly, He is the master of annihilation. When a master sits in one place while his servants work in different duties, whatever the servants are doing is ultimately an activity of the master, although he is doing nothing (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate). The Lord's potencies are so numerous that everything is nicely done. Therefore, He is naturally still and is not directly the doer of anything in this material world.

SB 10.13.14, Purport:

The Vedas (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8) assert that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do personally (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate) because He is doing everything through His energies and potencies (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)). Nonetheless, here we see that He took personal care to find the calves of His friends. This was Kṛṣṇa's causeless mercy. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) all the affairs of the entire world and the entire cosmic manifestation are working under His direction, through His different energies. Still, when there is a need to take care of His friends, He does this personally. Kṛṣṇa assured His friends, "Don't be afraid. I am going personally to search for your calves." This was Kṛṣṇa's causeless mercy.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 2.103, Purport:

The internal potency of the Lord, which is called cit-śakti or antaraṅga-śakti, exhibits variegatedness in the transcendental Vaikuṇṭha cosmos. Besides ourselves, there are unlimited numbers of liberated living beings who associate with the Personality of Godhead in His innumerable features. The material cosmos displays the external energy, in which the conditioned living beings are provided all liberty to go back to the Personality of Godhead after leaving the material tabernacle. The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8) informs us:

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)

"The Supreme Lord is one without a second. He has nothing to do personally, nor does He have material senses. No one is equal to Him or greater than Him. He has unlimited, variegated potencies of different names, which exist within Him as autonomous attributes and provide Him full knowledge, power and pastimes."

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

Understanding that the Absolute displays varied pastimes by the influence of His energies at once removes the apparent incongruity of His inconceivably opposite energies. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.4.16) gives the following description of the inconceivable potency of the Lord:

karmāṇy anīhasya bhavo ’bhavasya te
durgāśrayo ’thāri-bhayāt palāyanam
kālātmano yat pramadā-yutāśrayaḥ
svātman-rateḥ khidyati dhīr vidām iha

"Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do, He nevertheless acts; although He is always unborn, He nevertheless takes birth; although He is time, fearful to everyone, He flees Mathurā in fear of His enemy to take shelter in a fort; and although He is self-sufficient, He marries 16,000 women. These pastimes seem like bewildering contradictions, even to the most intelligent." Had these activities of the Lord not been a reality, sages would not have been puzzled by them. Therefore such activities should never be considered imaginary. Whenever the Lord desires, His inconceivable energy (yogamāyā) serves Him in creating and performing such pastimes.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 8:

Lord Śiva, in association with māyā, has many forms, which are generally numbered at eleven. Lord Śiva is not one of the living entities; he is more or less Kṛṣṇa Himself. The example of milk and yogurt is often given in this regard: Yogurt is a preparation of milk, but still yogurt cannot be used as milk. Similarly, Lord Śiva is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa, but he cannot act like Kṛṣṇa, nor can we derive the spiritual restoration from Lord Śiva that we derive from Kṛṣṇa. The essential difference is that Lord Śiva has a connection with material nature but Viṣṇu, or Lord Kṛṣṇa, has nothing to do with material nature. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.88.3) it is stated that Lord Śiva is a combination of three kinds of transformed consciousness known as vaikārika, taijasa and tāmasa.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 22:

Kṛṣṇa does not change His constitutional position, not even when He appears in this material world. Ordinary living entities have their constitutional spiritual positions covered. They appear in different bodies, and under the different bodily concepts of life they act. But Kṛṣṇa does not change His body. He appears in His own body and is therefore not affected by the modes of material nature. In the First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 38, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that the special prerogative of the supreme controller is that He is not at all affected by the modes of nature. The practical example of this is that devotees who are under the protection of the Lord are also not affected by material nature. To overcome the influence of material nature is very difficult, but the devotees or the saintly persons who are under the protection of the Lord are not affected. So what need is there to speak of the Lord Himself? To be more clear, although the Lord sometimes appears in this material world, He has nothing to do with the modes of material nature, and He acts with full independence in His transcendental position. This is the special quality of the Lord.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 33:

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti: (BG 4.14) Kṛṣṇa never enjoys or suffers the results of His activities. Therefore it is not possible for Him to act irreligiously. He is transcendental to all religious duties and principles. He is untouched by the modes of material nature. He is the supreme controller of all living entities, whether in human society, in demigod society in the heavenly planets, or in lower forms of life, and He is also the supreme controller of material nature; therefore, He has nothing to do with religious or irreligious principles.

Krsna Book 47:

When the gopīs understood that Uddhava had a message from Kṛṣṇa, they became very happy and called him to a secluded place and offered him a nice sitting place. They wanted to talk with him very freely and did not want to be embarrassed before unknown persons. They welcomed him with polite words, in great submissiveness: “We know that you are a most confidential associate of Kṛṣṇa and that He has therefore sent you to Vṛndāvana to give solace to His father and mother. We can understand that family affection is very strong. Even great sages who have taken to the renounced order of life cannot give up family affection cent percent. Sometimes they think of their family members. Kṛṣṇa has therefore sent you to His father and mother; otherwise He has no further business in Vṛndāvana. He is now in town. What does He have to know about Vṛndāvana village or the cows' pasturing grounds? These are not at all useful for Kṛṣṇa because He is now a man of the city.

"Surely He has nothing to do with persons who do not happen to be His family members. Friendships with those outside the family continue as long as there is some selfish interest in them; otherwise, why should one bother about those outside the family? Specifically, a person attached to the wives of others is interested in them as long as there is a need of sense gratification, just as bumblebees have interest in flowers as long as they want to take the honey out of them. It is psychologically very natural that a prostitute does not care for her paramour as soon as he loses his money. Similarly, when the citizens find that a government is incapable of giving them full protection, they leave the country. A student, after finishing his education, gives up his relationship with the teacher and the school. A priest, after taking his reward from the worshiper, gives him up. When the fruit season is over, birds are no longer interested in the tree. Just after eating in the house of a host, the guest gives up his relationship with him. After a forest fire, when there is a scarcity of green grass, deer and other animals give up the forest. And so a man, after enjoying his girlfriend, gives up his connection with her." In this way, all the gopīs indirectly accused Kṛṣṇa by citing many examples.

Krsna Book 47:

Another gopī said, "Kṛṣṇa has killed His enemy, and He has victoriously achieved the kingdom of Kaṁsa. Maybe He is married with a king's daughter by this time and living happily among His kinsmen and friends. Therefore, why should He come to this village of Vṛndāvana?"

Another gopī said, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and He is self-sufficient. He has no business either with us, the girls in the Vṛndāvana forest, or with the city girls in Mathurā. He is the great Supersoul; He has nothing to do with any of us, either here or there."

Krsna Book 57:

When Kṛṣṇa was informed by Satyabhāmā of the murder of His father-in-law, He began to lament like an ordinary man. His great sorrow is, again, a strange thing. Lord Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do with action and reaction, but because He was playing the part of a human being, He expressed His full sympathy for the bereavement of Satyabhāmā, and His eyes filled with tears when He heard about the death of His father-in-law. He thus began to lament, "Oh, what unhappy incidents have taken place!" Then Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, along with Satyabhāmā, immediately returned to Dvārakā and began to make plans to kill Śatadhanvā and take away the jewel. Although he was a great outlaw in the city, Śatadhanvā was still very much afraid of Kṛṣṇa's power, and thus when Kṛṣṇa arrived he became most afraid.

Krsna Book 70:

From the Vedic mantras we learn that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. But if the Supreme Lord has nothing to do, how can we speak of the activities of the Supreme Lord? From the previous chapter it is clear that no one can act the way Lord Kṛṣṇa does. We should clearly note this fact: the activities of the Lord should be followed, but they cannot be imitated. For example, Kṛṣṇa's ideal life as a householder can be followed, but if one wants to imitate Kṛṣṇa by expanding into many forms, that is not possible. We should always remember, therefore, that Lord Kṛṣṇa, although playing the part of a human being, simultaneously maintains the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can follow Lord Kṛṣṇa's dealings with His wives as an ordinary human being, but His dealings with more than sixteen thousand wives at one time cannot be imitated. The conclusion is that to become ideal householders we should follow in the footsteps of Lord Kṛṣṇa as He displayed His daily activities, but we cannot imitate Him at any stage of our life.

Krsna Book 74:

"We cannot even ascertain which caste this Kṛṣṇa belongs to or what His actual occupational duty is." Actually, Kṛṣṇa does not belong to any caste, nor does He have to perform any occupational duty. It is stated in the Vedas that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do as His prescribed duty. Whatever has to be done on His behalf is executed by His different energies.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 2:

Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, enjoins everyone to give up all such conditional engagements dictated by the various modes of nature. Such varieties of engagements of the living entity arise out of ignorance perpetuated by the modes of nature. Therefore, the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (5.13) that He is not the cause of anyone's particular work, nor the authority, nor the result of such work—but that all these come out of the various modes of nature. Thus, all acts performed by the living entity—except those with transcendental results—are self—created engagements arising from an abuse of the free will, and therefore such acts or engagements are never to be considered as if the works and the results were somehow ordained by the almighty Godhead. Such works are all material and are therefore conditioned and directed by the modes of nature. The Personality of Godhead has nothing to do with such works.

Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)

Mukunda-mala-stotra mantra 2, Purport:

The Lord is the supreme controller of the material elements, and being endless and beginningless, He exists in all times—past, present, and future. And because He is absolute, He has nothing to do with vice and virtue. In other words, for Him "vices" and "virtues" are one and the same; otherwise the Lord would not be the Absolute Truth.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

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

Viṣṇujana: "Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one changing his position from one tree to another or from one body to another."

Prabhupāda: Now here... He's giving trouble to the friend. I am giving to my sincere friend Kṛṣṇa simply trouble. Just like a bird is flying from one tree to another. The friend bird is also there. He has no business, he has no interest to be there because he is not eating anything from the tree. He has nothing to do. But because his friend is there, he goes. So we are changing our body as the bird, the changing from one tree to another. But Kṛṣṇa, the supreme bird, is also going with me. Go on.

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

So here Lord says that yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo 'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ: "Just like the tortoise closes his senses according to his wish, similarly, the person who is able to use his senses according to his own control, he is to be understood that he's situated in the spiritual platform." Use of the senses is not bad, but one should use when it is needed, not according to the dictation of the senses. Not according to the dictation of the senses. You'll find here in the Bhagavad-gītā later on that God says that "Sex intercourse for generating a child is Myself." God says, "I am." But beyond that, sexual intercourse is not... The Lord says, "I have nothing to do with that." So in every way, in every way, it does not prohibit that we should not use our senses. No. We shall use our senses when it is required, not according to the dictation of the senses. That should... We should be in that platform. If I am following the dictation of my senses, then I am not the master of the senses. I am the servant of the senses. So actually our position is like that. Because we have forgotten our real master, real master, the Supreme Lord, by illusory energy we have been put to be servant of the senses. Instead of becoming servant of the Supreme, we have become the servant of the senses.

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

Now, Kṛṣṇa says,

na me pārthāsti kartavyaṁ
triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana
nānavāptam avāptavyaṁ
varta eva ca karmaṇi
(BG 3.22)

"Now see, Arjuna. I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I have nothing to do in this world for gaining something." Everyone does something with the purpose of some gain. Without gain nobody works—either spiritual gain or material gain. Somebody works for material gain, and somebody works for spiritual gain. There must be some gain. But Lord Kṛṣṇa, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Supreme Personality of Godhead means He is full with opulence, all opulence. Now, what are the things we, generally, people aspire after? People, generally they want wealth. They want riches. They want to be very highly rich man, accumulate wealth, millions and millions of rupees. Then somebody wants to become very strong man. Somebody wants to become very beautiful man. Somebody wants to become very learned man. Somebody wants to be very famous man, so on. There are six opulences. I have discussed in this hall many times.

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

In the Upaniṣad you will find the definition of Brahman. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "The Supreme Brahman has nothing to do." That is the distinction. We have got everything to do. Suppose we want spiritual perfection. So we have to do something. We have to perform something. We have to act practically. We have to go, accept penance, we have to accept... Just like we are trying to chant

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

So the idea is that "I may be elevated to the perfect position." So anything, if we desire, we have to do something. But the definition of Brahman and God is that He has nothing to do. The Veda, Upaniṣad, say. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "He has nothing to do." Still, He is God.

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

Now, here He says which I was going to explain from Vedic scripture. So Kṛṣṇa says, na me pārthāsti kartavyam: "I have nothing to do." He has nothing to do; still, He is so powerful? Yes. That is confirmed in the Vedic scripture, that Brahman, the nature of Brahman, is described like this, na tasya kāryam karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "The nature of Brahman is that He has nothing to do." He has nothing to do. That is the difference between God and ourself. We have to do everything to achieve a certain aim, but God has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: "And nobody is found who is equal to Him and or greater than Him." Nobody is found. These are the definition in the Vedic literature, that "God has nothing to do. Nobody is equal to Him, and nobody is greater than Him."

That means everyone is below Him. Everyone is below Him. Nobody can be equal with God. Even such great demigods like Śiva and Brahmā... They are considered to be the highest demigods. Still, in the scriptures it is said that nobody should place all these demigods, even Śiva and Brahmā, on equal footing with Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. God, who is actually God, He has nothing to do. He has nothing to do. He is God from the very beginning. And He is all-powerful with all opulences. That is the God. So Kṛṣṇa says, "I have nothing to do," triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana, "not only in this earth, but in the three worlds, anywhere, anywhere I can go, anywhere I can work, anywhere I can see. But still, I have nothing to do."

Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:

Darkness, one meaning of darkness is ignorance. And another darkness, you know, without, absence of light. So this nature of this material world is darkness. So if we understand the Kṛṣṇa science, and the activities of Kṛṣṇa, how He comes, how He works, what is the mission of His activity...

Because as the Supreme Lord, He has nothing to do. But why He comes? In the Vedic literature you'll find, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. The description of the Supreme Brahman is described there, that, Upaniṣad... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "The Supreme, the Absolute, He has nothing to do." He has nothing to do. Just like if we want to do, have something, we have to do. But there, the Absolute, He has nothing to do.

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

And Kṛṣṇa also confirms this, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "Simply if one understands tattvataḥ, in truth, what I am, why I descend, why I become a child of Yaśodā, why I become son of Vasudeva, janma, and why I act, why I take part in the battlefield..."

He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Veda says. The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Why He has to do? He's full, complete. He has nothing to do. He has nothing to aspire. There is nothing wanting. We are working for... Because we want so many things. But He has no want. He's ātma-tṛpta, fully complete. Thus He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is description of God. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

So we shall pray to Rādhārāṇī... What is Rādhārāṇī? Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). The Supreme Lord has many potencies. Na tasya kāryam karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Therefore He has nothing to do. He has got so many potencies. Just like big man, a rich man. He's sitting. But his energies, his potencies, are working. Big, big factory. And he knows everything. Similarly, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. He has got many multi-potencies. One of them is this pleasure potency. Pleasure potency...

Lecture on BG 4.11-18 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1969:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fourteen: "There is no work that affects Me, nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work."

Prabhupāda: Because He does not belong to any community or anything of this material world He has nothing to do. We work. Why we work? Because we want some material profit. He hasn't got to take any profit so why should He work? He says therefore that "There is no work that affects Me." But still He comes. Why? That is explained in the beginning. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). When there is discrepancies in the matter of religiosity I come down to make things all right. To set things in right order." That is His work. Go on.

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

Why Kṛṣṇa has to work? Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to work because He is self-sufficient. If we want something, we conditioned soul, we have to work very hard for it. But Kṛṣṇa He can, by simply will, He can create the whole universe. So why should He work? Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca. This is the Vedic information. The Supreme Absolute Truth, God, has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is equal to Him, nobody is greater than Him. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energies are multi. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. It is multi-energies working so nicely that we are seeing that it is automatically being (done). Not automatically. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10), under His direction. But the machine, but the energy is so subtle, it appears like "Oh, it is has become automatically." But it is not being automatically. There is superintendence. But parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca.

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

Kṛṣṇa is a great science. So if we study Kṛṣṇa science with great attention, then the result will be that we shall be free from the reaction of our activities. This is clearly said here, na mam karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). The Lord has nothing to do. He is full. He has nothing to do. But why He does? Just to set example. Set example. He's not bound up by the works which He is doing in the material world. This science has to be learned. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. And anyone who understands this transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he is also becoming free from the reaction of karma.

Lecture on BG 4.20 -- Bombay, April 9, 1974:

Therefore these big mūḍhas who simply falsely thinking that "I have become now liberated by meditation or by some jugglery of powers," so they have been described in the Bhāgavatam as vimukta-māninaḥ. They are falsely thinking that they have become liberated, they have become Nārāyaṇa. How you can become Nārāyaṇa? The śāstra says,

yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ
brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ
samatvenaiva vīkṣeta
sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
(CC Madhya 18.116)

Nārāyaṇaṁ devam. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says, nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ: "Nārāyaṇa is transcendental. He has nothing to do with this material world."

Lecture on BG 7.8 -- Bombay, February 23, 1974:

We have already explained that Kṛṣṇa has multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). That is the Vedic version, that the Absolute Truth, Supreme Person, has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa also: whatever we are experiencing, that is simply Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like we can experience the heat and light from the sun. We can understand the constitution of the sun globe. Although we are ninety-three million miles, away from the sun, but by his energy, heat and light, we can understand what is the sun. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, He has got multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate.

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

This is the version of Upaniṣad. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryam. Why? And because... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. And nobody is equal to Him. Neither greater than Him. And He hasn't got to do anything because He has got so many energies. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Everything is being done by His energy very perfectly.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Calcutta, March 9, 1972:

Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Idaṁ sarvam. Whatever we are seeing, they are simply expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like a big merchant, a big industrialist, he has got big, big factories. So these factories, he, one can say that this is Mr. Birla's factory or Mr. such and such gentleman's factory, Tata's factory. But still, although the factory belongs to Tata, the factory is running on by the energy of Tata, but you cannot find, if you want to see where is Tata here, Mr. Tata, that you cannot see. Tata is seen sitting in his room and is pulling button and everything is going on. Similarly, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto (Bs. 5.37). Kṛṣṇa in His place, He is with Rādhārāṇī. He is enjoying playing on His flute. Why He has to do anything? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This is Vedic injunction. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. If we can see ordinary, a Mr. Tata or Mr. Birla, has nothing to do, everything is being done by his energy, so how great energy has got the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just we can imagine.

Lecture on BG 9.11 -- Calcutta, June 30, 1973:

Just like we direct, a big businessman, he is sitting in his room alone, but he is directing the whole factory, whole business, everything. That is being done. Although Kṛṣṇa is in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He has nothing to do... Why God has something to do? Then what kind of God He is? Here we see practically a big man, a big minister, a big prime minister or president, he is also sitting, giving direction. He has nothing to do. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa also, He has nothing to do. Kṛṣṇa is enjoying. Just like you see Kṛṣṇa's form, He is enjoying with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He has nothing to do. That is confirmed in the Vedic literature: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Why God should be busy doing something?

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

You do not know the method how it is being worked, but there is method. It is so quick and it is so perfect that even without my knowledge it is coming out. It is scientific. Therefore the Vedas says, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, para: "The Supreme Lord has got multi-varieties of energy, and they are working." Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "He has nothing to do."

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

Just like a big man. A big man is sitting in his office. He wants to do something. Some business man has come, talking, and he wants to sign. He simply pushes one button, and everything, agreement and everything, comes immediately signed. So because his management is so perfect, his business is so perfect that so many men are working in his office. He has to simply desire, pushing a button, and everything is accom... Similarly, we have to understand. These are the Vedic description, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva: "The Supreme Lord has got multi-various energies. They are acting. He hasn't got to do anything personally." Just like a big man in establishment, he hasn't got to do anything personally. But he has got so many energies, so many servants, secretaries, that everything is done quick, at once.

The Vedic information is also that, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has nothing to do with, personally. We want to see that "If God has created this flower, why don't you see? Why I do not see that He is creating?" That is nonsense. You cannot see God in that way, but you can see Him by His work. Just like you cannot go and see the sun. But when it arises, when it diffuses, the sunshine is there, you can immediately understand that the sun is there in the sky. The sun is always there in the sky. So it requires intelligence how to understand the existence of God. The Vedic information says, parāsya śaktiḥ, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. "He has nothing to do." Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody is better expert or craftsman than God." Adhika, sama: "neither equal to Him, nor greater than Him." Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport) "His energies are working in so many ways," svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca, "that it appears that he has got perfect knowledge and perfect workmanship." Everything is perfect.

Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:

Just like Kṛṣṇa says, "I have got My body. But My body is not like your body. My body is different." That body is described, sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat. He has got such a body—it is expanded—that everywhere He has got His eyes and legs and hands and all other senses. In the next verse it is confirmed, sarvendriya-guṇābhāsam. He can see. Therefore He has got the eyes, guṇābhāsa, the origin of seeing power. But sarvendriya-vivarjitam. But He has no these material senses. When it is said sarvendriya-vivarjitam, "devoid of all senses," that means He's devoid of..., He has nothing to do with these material senses. He has got senses. He has got eyes, He has got ears, legs, everything. But they are not material. They are spiritual, but we cannot see spiritual.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Edinburgh, July 17, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa therefore comes, so many activities. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). Kṛṣṇa says that He has nothing to do. What He has to do? But still, He's killing so many demons, He's giving protection (to) so many devotees. Because He has come to reestablish what is religious principles. So by His personal activities He establishes. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. He's ātmārāma, Kṛṣṇa. He is self-satisfied; He has nothing to do. But to teach us He comes. In this way we should live. From the very beginning of His childhood. Read the purport.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973:

So living entity is also prakṛti, another energy of Kṛṣṇa. Just like this material world is one creation, material creation. Similarly, there is spiritual energy also. Kṛṣṇa has multi-energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Na tasya kāryam... This is Vedic injunction. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. God has nothing to do with His hands and legs. He is so powerful that He has got so many energies... Just like big man here, he does not do anything with his hands, but he has got so many assistants. As soon as he wants to do something, immediately it is done. If it is possible for ordinary human being, how much energy is in stock of Kṛṣṇa, and how He can perform everything perfectly. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Everything comes out nicely. So much energy is there. Inconceivable energy. That is God.

Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- New Vrindaban, September 7, 1972:

So nobody can say that "Without working hard, I shall achieve something." That is not possible. But our tendency is that we do not wish to work; therefore, at the end of the week, we take some, I mean to say, leisure, go out of the city, and try to forget all our hard labor throughout the week. But on Monday, again we have to come back. This is going on. Nobody actually... Because a living entity by nature, being part and parcel of God, he wants also enjoy life without work. That is his tendency. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is enjoying with gopīs, with Rādhārāṇī. But He's not working. He hasn't got to work. We don't hear from Bhāgavatam, any Vedic literature, that Kṛṣṇa has a great factory, and He has to go office at ten o'clock, and then bring money, and then enjoy with Rādhārāṇī. No. (laughter) We don't want that such kind of rascal God. (laughter) We want God who hasn't got to work anything. That is God. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. That is the Vedic information. God has nothing to do.

Then what kind of God He is? He is simply for enjoyment. One European gentleman went to Calcutta. He saw many temples, and when he came to our temple, he saw the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. He went to other temples also, Kālī's. So he remarked, "Here is God." His remark was that "I saw in other temples, they are working. The Goddess Kālī is working. But here, He's enjoying." So God, that description is there in the Vedānta-sūtra, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

Although He's cause of everything, but he hasn't got to work. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. That is Vedic information. In the Upaniṣad you'll find, He has nothing to do.

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate

We do not find anyone equal to Him or greater than Him. That is God. God is great. "Great" means nobody should be greater than Him. And God says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "There is no other superior authority than Me." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8): "I am the origin of everything." So other demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, even Lord Viṣṇu, mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate—everyone emanates from Him. And from them emanate so many things. Just like Brahmā, so many creatures have come out. But the original, ādyam, anādi... Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Govinda is the original person.

Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- Detroit, August 3, 1975, University Lecture:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is educating people in this way, that Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer. You have seen Kṛṣṇa's picture. He is always enjoying. He is not working. That is Kṛṣṇa. God... In the Vedas the definition of God is given, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "God has nothing to do." He is enjoyer. Where He will do? He will not work. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya sama adhikaś ca dṛśyat: "Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him." That is God. Nowadays so many gods coming from India... So God is one. Na tasya sama adhikaś ca. Nobody can be equal to Him; nobody can be greater than Him. That is God.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Delhi, November 16, 1973:

In the Vedas it is said, Upaniṣad, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

The Supreme Absolute Truth, He has nothing to do. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. Everything is being done by His potencies. Just like a big man, a big business man, or a big, the president of the state, he personally does not do anything. But his energies, his secretaries and others, they do everything. He simply signs or gives sanction. So this is the fact. God has nothing to do. Everything is being done very nicely by His energies. Just like the sunshine or the sun planet is one of the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the whole material world is being conducted very nicely by the sunshine... This is scientific. Due to the sunshine all the planets, they are rotating in their prescribed orbit and nobody is colliding with one another. Everything is going nicely, sunshine. Due to sunshine, the seasonal changes are taking place, and the varieties of trees, plants are growing. Everything is going on. The moon is also working under sunshine. And due to the moon, there are waves in the sea. There are changes of the ebb tide and low tide. So one energy of the sunshine is doing so much things.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

Upendra: "Material nature has no power to create without the power of the puruṣa as much as a prakṛti or woman cannot produce any child without the connection of a puruṣa. The puruṣa impregnates and the prakṛti delivers. We should not expect milk from the fleshy bags in the neck of the goat although they look like breastly nipples. Similarly we should not expect any creative power from the material ingredients. We must believe in the power of the puruṣa who impregnates the prakṛti or nature. And because the Lord wished for lying down in meditation the material energy created innumerable universes also at once and in each of them the Lord lay Himself down, and thus all the planets and the different paraphernalia was created at once by the will of the Lord. The Lord has unlimited potencies and as such He can perform as He likes in perfect planning although personally He has nothing to do and no body is greater or equal to Him."

Prabhupāda: In the Bible also it is said, "God said 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." That means God is the origin of creation. Yes. Go on.

Upendra: "That is the verdict of Veda." Text 3. Translation: "It is conceived that all the universal planetary system are situated on the extensive bodily features of the puruṣa but He has nothing to do with the created material ingredients."

Prabhupāda: This is universal form of the Lord, virāṭ-puruṣa. Here is also. This is more or less imaginary. But virāṭ-puruṣa... Just like Arjuna was shown the virāṭ-puruṣa, universal form. That is not eternal. That was causal or temporary; for the time being it was shown to Arjuna.

Lecture on SB 1.5.1-8 -- New Vrindaban, May 23, 1969:

So He has nothing to do. So who is that God? That Kṛṣṇa. He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying, playing His flute, and Rādhārāṇī is serving. Oh, He is not taking a sword and fighting. Why He should fight? He hasn't got to fight. Then one can say, "Then why He was in the battlefield?" Yes, battlefield He was. He was not to fight there. He was to see the fun, how the fight is going on. He was to give instruction. He was to give, deliver this Bhagavad-gītā. He was not fighting. That is God. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He's instructing Arjuna, His friend, that "You fight." By His simple will everything would have been done, fighting would have been finished. He says that nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin. "I have already planned it. If you don't fight, don't think that these persons who have assembled here, they will go back home. They are already finished. That plan is already made. Simply you take the credit, that you are Kṛṣṇa's friend, you have won the battle. That's all. I am giving you this chance of taking the credit." This is God. God hasn't got (chuckling) to labor and meditate and push nose, and he becomes God. No. God is God. Simply by His will, God. Everything is God. So this bluffing, that by meditation one can become, by silent, becoming silent, one become God, this condition... God is not under any condition. Why God should be under condition?

Lecture on SB 1.7.11 -- Vrndavana, September 10, 1976:

If one is mad after Bhagavān, he's as good as Bhagavān. Harer ākṣipta. One who is mad after Bhagavān, he's as good as Bhagavān. Therefore bādarāyaṇi is addressed here as Bhagavān. In the spiritual world, Bhagavān and His paraphernalia, there is no difference. Don't think that the calf or the cows in Vṛndāvana is less than Kṛṣṇa. No. They're as good as Kṛṣṇa. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are expansion of Kṛṣṇa's ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Kṛṣṇa wants to play with the cows and calves. So He's ānanda-cinmaya. His spiritual potency appears as cows and calves. Therefore we see Kṛṣṇa is embracing the calves and cows. He's not embracing a material cow. He has nothing to do with material. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.8.20 -- Mayapura, September 30, 1974:

So we are forced to come here and suffer or enjoy the fruits of our last karma. That is one thing. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa does not come, being forced by nature or for His karma. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). Kṛṣṇa says that He also works, karma, to show example, but He is not affected by the result of the karma. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma... Neither He has got any desire to work for something to gain something. He is full. Why He should try for gaining...? We work something. We work to gain something, to make some profit. But Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to do any profit. He is self-sufficient. Whatever He wants, immediately present. Omnipotent, omniscient. Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do like that. Therefore why does He come? He has got a different mission. What is that? Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām. He says, "I come for this purpose, to rescue the sādhus, the devotees, and to cut down the demons." Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8).

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

As Kṛṣṇa is ānandamaya... We see Kṛṣṇa is always engaged in pastimes, either with the cowherd boys or with the gopīs or with His father, mother, or in the fight of battlefield, Kurukṣetra, or in killing some demon. But His pastimes are always there. He's never inactive. He's never inactive. There it is said, viśvātmann ajasya akartuḥ. He has nothing to do, but still He is acting. Akartuḥ. Akartuḥ means He has nothing to do. Here, so far we are concerned, we have to do something in the material world. We are destined. Śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "If you do not work, you cannot maintain even your body. You have to work." You see therefore all living entities... At night, millions and trillions of living entities, they come, fly and work. The work has no meaning. The work is death. Still, they are working. So what to speak of others? The birds, the sparrows, they are working, from here to there, here... And we are also working. So that is the nature of material existence.

But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Akartuḥ. He has nothing to do. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). He has not... But He comes as a human being just to teach us how to work, how to work. That He explains in the Bhagavad-gītā, how to work and be happy. But not to work, Kṛṣṇa has never... And neither this place is like that, that you will not work, and everything will come automatically. Things are coming automatically, but you have to pick up the things by working. That is the nature. Just like you have got gold mine under your feet. So you have to take it by working, by digging. You cannot say, "Now I have got the gold mine. Now sit down tightly." No. That is not material nature. But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. That is the Vedic instruction. That is akartuḥ. He has nothing to do. Why He has nothing to do? Now, because He has got many energies. Just like nowadays, by electronics, one man is sitting... We have seen the pilot. He's sitting in his place. He's simply pushing on the button, and the whole, big gigantic 747 is flying in the sky. We see the pilot is sitting there. He's doing nothing, but he's doing everything. But the electronic arrangement is so perfect. But sitting in one place he is working the big gigantic machine. As it is possible for a small material man, how much it is possible for Kṛṣṇa. Although He does not do anything, still, He's viśvātman: He is controlling the whole universe, viśvātman. He's the vital force, viśvāt... This is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa. Kuntī is helping us. Every devotee, Vaiṣṇava, they voluntarily takes this business just to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, to explain Kṛṣṇa, just like Kuntī is explaining, because if we understand Kṛṣṇa thoroughly, then we are liberated. Therefore Kṛṣṇa..., Kuntī's trying that "Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is helping Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, it is His duty." No, it is not His duty. He's doing it voluntarily, but He has nothing to do with it. That is Kṛṣṇa. Na me karma-phale spṛhā. He has nothing to do. We are forced to do. According to our karma-phala, we are forced to do. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Here we have to, we are forced to accept happiness or distress according to destiny. You cannot deny, that "I'll not take this distressed condition of life. I'll simply take the happiness portion." That you cannot do. You must. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. That is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. (aside:) Why you are standing? You can sit down. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa is akartuḥ. Ātmanaḥ..., although He is the vital force of everything.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa says, "Under My superintendence" So Kṛṣṇa is active, but He has nothing to do. This is acintya, inconceivable. He is very active because He is supervising the whole activities of the universe, but still, He has nothing to do. That is Kṛṣṇa. We have to understand that. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ. "He is seeing, but acakṣuḥ. Acakṣuḥ means... You may say, "Not seeing." Acakṣuḥ. He does not place His eyesight, but still, He's seeing. How it is? Now, He can see from any part of His body. Just like I close my eyes—I cannot see you. My seeing activities stop. But because, although I am, I have closed my eyes, but my hands are there. So Kṛṣṇa can see by hands, by nails. That is Kṛṣṇa. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti... This very word is used, paśyanti. The limbs of the body of Kṛṣṇa, any part, He can see. Although He may close His eyes, but because other parts of the body are open, therefore He can see. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.

Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Mayapura, October 12, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. He is the Supreme. Why He shall have some thing to do? Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇam... This is the definition in the Vedas: "God has nothing to do. He is self-sufficient. Neither He has got any aspiration." Just like we are thinking of purchasing this land, that land. Why Kṛṣṇa will think like that? Because every land is belonging to Him. So He has nothing to purchase. Everything is there. So why He comes? That is the same way, as Kṛṣṇa says personally. He comes for paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). He wants to give protection to the devotees, to glorify the devotees. That is His business. Otherwise He has no business. He has nothing to do. Just like a devotee has nothing to do except serving Kṛṣṇa, except to see Kṛṣṇa is pleased, similarly, Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do, but He wants to glorify His devotee. This is reciprocation. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). If you... If you dedicate your life for glorifying the Supreme Lord, the Lord is also ready. His business is to glorify you. Otherwise, He has no business.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Mayapur, October 14, 1974:

So this is called faith. This is called faith. Unless you have got faith, you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Ādau śraddhā. Śraddhā: "Yes, Kṛṣṇa can make anything possible." That faith we must maintain. That is the basic... That has been explained by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, what is faith. "Faith means complete conviction." Śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya (Cc. Madhya 22.62). That is faith. Viśvāsa. If I say something and if you believe cent percent, that is called faith. That is called faith. Not that "It may be," or... No. So śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa. Viśvāsa means faith. How? What kind of faith? Sudṛḍha niścaya, firm faith, without any doubt. Niścaya. And what is that faith? Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. If one is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, then his all duty is done, finished. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. As Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do—He has got so much potency that things are done very automatically—similarly, if you faith, have faith in Kṛṣṇa-kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma—then everything will be done automatically. Kṛṣṇa will do for him. What is the difficulty there?

So this big, big lump of matter, earthly planet, they are actually not heavy, but it becomes heavier when there are demons. Demons means material activities. If there is spiritual activity, it remains very light. And if there is too much material activity and materialistic persons, it become heavier and troublesome.

Lecture on SB 1.10.11-12 -- Mayapura, June 25, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa takes birth. That is Janmāṣṭamī. So if anyone tries to understand why the Aja, the Unborn, takes birth, janma karma... And God, Kṛṣṇa, who has nothing to do... That is the Vedic information. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Why He has to do? Actually He hasn't got to do anything. He has to enjoy only. Just like we see the Deity Kṛṣṇa is not working in the factory as a factory manager. He's enjoying the company of Rādhārāṇī. We have to work. If we enjoy with our so-called Rādhārāṇī, then we'll starve to death. We have to work. But God is not like that. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. These are the informations from Vedas, Upaniṣads, that He has nothing to do. Yes. That is real God. If God has to work, God has to do something, then what kind of God He is? Here, the so-called imitation Gods, even a rich man, he does not do anything. And why God will work? Therefore God comes... He's aja, unborn. He comes, janma, karma, He works also. Just like Kṛṣṇa. He worked ordinary cowherd's boy. He worked as ordinary politician. He worked as ordinary philosopher, left the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā and so many other instructions, sublime instructions.

Lecture on SB 1.15.36 -- Los Angeles, December 14, 1973:

The is description of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Person. Because it is said, tasya. Tasya means He's a person. So what kind of person? Like me? Whole day working, for money? No. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vid... He has nothing to do. See here. Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Simply He is enjoying, playing on flute and enjoying with Rādhārāṇī. That's all. He hasn't got to go to office, to the factory. (laughter) He hasn't got. He is simply to enjoy. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). And we also take, imitate that enjoyment. We also want to mix, young boys and girls, dance together. Because we imitate Kṛṣṇa. The same thing is there. With gopīs Kṛṣṇa is dancing. Here also we are dancing, in nightclub, and this club, that club. But that will not give you satisfaction, because it is imitation. If you want real dancing, come to Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted.

Lecture on SB 1.15.39 -- Los Angeles, December 17, 1973:

What is God, the idea is given in the Vedas, Upaniṣad, na tasya kāryam. First thing is that He has nothing to do personally. That is first qualification of God. If He has to do something personally, then He is not God. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody can be equal to Him or greater than Him." This is definition of God. Any subject matter... Suppose opulence, riches. So nobody can be richer than God or nobody can be equal with God. This is greatness. "God is great." How He is great? That is defined every..., particularly. He is great because nobody equally rich with Him. Nobody is richer than Him. That is God. Everybody is poorer than Him. Therefore na tat-samaḥ. Sama means equal, and adhika means greater. How God can be great? If somebody is greater than Him, how God is great? If somebody is equal to Him, then how He is great? Just see how the definition is given perfectly. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "He has nothing to do." Because He is great, why He should work? All the subordinates will work. We are all subordinate. Therefore we shall work for God. But we have made our formula, that "God shall work for me." "God, give us our daily bread. We have nothing to do. Simply give us our bread." What is this? But the Vaiṣṇava idea is that "Without giving bread to God, God will die." Yaśodā-māyi is thinking, "If I do not give Kṛṣṇa to eat something nice, Kṛṣṇa will become lean and thin." That is love of Godhead, how to serve Kṛṣṇa, how to serve God. Sevonmukhe. That is real religion. When we are not to take service from God, but we are ready to give service to God, that is real religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Adhokṣaje. God is beyond our senses. Therefore He is Adhokṣaja.

Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, June 12, 1972:

Aja means who never takes birth. Ever-existing. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san, sambhavāmi yuge yuge. So aja, one who does not take birth, but still we see that Kṛṣṇa is taking birth. We are observing the birth anniversary of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So therefore what is the mystery? He does not take birth. Still, we are observing the birth anniversary of Kṛṣṇa, Janmāṣṭamī. So this is to be understood, tattvataḥ, in truth. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, Veda says that na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. "The Supreme Lord God has nothing to do." Why He shall do? So... And again, we see that Kṛṣṇa, since the day of His appearance at His maternal uncle's prison till His going back to His own home, He was always active.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

I am not this body. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa is both body and soul together. Kṛṣṇa is everything. Kṛṣṇa has no such difference as material and spiritual. For Kṛṣṇa, everything is spiritual. Because material and spiritual, they are two energies only, but they are energy of Kṛṣṇa. So for Kṛṣṇa, there is no such distinction, material or spiritual. He can convert the material into spiritual and the spiritual into material because He is the original source of these two energies. He is the original source. The same example: just like an expert electrician, he can convert the heater into cooler and the cooler into heater, although they are two opposites. Because he knows how to utilize the electrical energy. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that "These material elements, they are also My energy. And the spiritual energy, the jīva-bhūtas, they are also My energy." And the whole cosmic manifestation is combination of this material and spiritual energy. Therefore ... But Kṛṣṇa is Absolute.

He has nothing to do with material or spiritual. Another example can be given. Just like government. Government has got many departments, the criminal department and the educational department. (The) educational department is giving knowledge to the citizens, and the criminal department is punishing, chastising the citizens. Now, to us, we find difference, that "In this department government is so liberal, is giving education. People are becoming learned, enjoying. And this department ... So government is discriminating. This department is favorable, and this department is not favorable." But to the government, it is not like that. To the government, both the departments are equal. Rather, sometimes, the government has to spend more to the criminal department than to the educational department. Because they have to maintain both these departments. To run on the street politically, they have to maintain both these. Similarly, because the individual soul has got little independence, is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa has full independence.

Lecture on SB 2.8.7 -- Los Angeles, February 10, 1975:

So that is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ordinary living being. Kṛṣṇa remembers everything, knows everything. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni: (BG 7.26) "I know everything." That is Kṛṣṇa. But we do not know. That is the difference. Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. He's also a person, but He is not a person like us, like you, like me. His personality is supreme. Nobody is greater than Him. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. These are the Vedic information. He's individual, but He has nothing to do. He's such individual. Just like Kṛṣṇa is here. The whole world is going on under Kṛṣṇa's direction, but He has nothing to do. He's enjoying with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. That is Kṛṣṇa's position. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). He has to create one universe or destroy one universe—He hasn't to take any attention. He's engaged in His pleasure—Kṛṣṇa, the reservoir of pleasure. His pleasure is never disturbed by all these activities. He's so perfect.

Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

Just like Kṛṣṇa comes as a human being in this material world, but He is not affected with any of the qualities of the material world. That is therefore called nirguṇa. Nirguṇa means the material qualities cannot touch you. Similarly, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa also, when he is in service of Kṛṣṇa, he is also nirguṇa. The material qualities cannot touch him. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). He immediately becomes transcendental to all the material qualities. But that does not mean I cannot act in the material quality. Kṛṣṇa is working just like ordinary prince. He was born of a king, in the royal family. But He has nothing to do. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti (BG 4.14). Kṛṣṇa is not affected.

Lecture on SB 2.9.16 -- Tokyo, April 30, 1972:

So simply by that attitude... These things are described, that there is not a single dust in the Vaikuṇṭha world. Everything is clean, but still, they are trying to sweep, make it clean, the stairway. This is service attitude. Actually, as Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do—He is complete—similarly, His servants there, they also have nothing to do. Everything is nice. There is no question of sweeping or cleansing or cooking. These things are not required. But still, they are ready to serve. And Kṛṣṇa, or Nārāyaṇa, is very favorably looking upon them. Abhimukham. Dṛg... What is that? Dṛk?

Lecture on SB 3.25.3 -- Bombay, November 3, 1974:

. Parā-prakṛti expansion. So Kṛṣṇa is always svacchandātmā. He has no anxiety. Svacchandātmā ātma-māyayā. Yad yad vidhatte bhagavān svacchandātmā. Whatever... Even if He's killing a demon, there is no anxiety. That is Kṛṣṇa. Even if He's killing, He has no anxiety. Svacchandātmā. That is also, I mean to say, confirmed in the Vedic language. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). So He has nothing to do personally. His energies act. Then try to understand why Bhagavān is attributed with the word svacchandātmā.

Lecture on SB 3.26.4 -- Bombay, December 16, 1974:

In the Upaniṣad also it is said, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of God, He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaḥ. Nobody is equal to Him. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcit: (BG 7.7) "There is nothing superior than Me, the Supreme." In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). That is the Supreme Truth.

Lecture on SB 3.26.18 -- Bombay, December 27, 1974:

So we are getting different types of body according to the... Kṛṣṇa does not give directly, but He is the Supreme Lord. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is the Vedic information. He has nothing to do. Simply His order is sufficient. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
(BG 18.61)

So Kṛṣṇa orders only māyā that "Give this living entity a body like a demigod, or a dog, or a pig, or a tree." So there are 8,400,000 varieties of body. He has to manage all these. How He is managing? Is He managing personally? No. He is managing through His potency, ātma-māyayā.

Lecture on SB 3.26.41 -- Bombay, January 16, 1975:

The Vaiṣṇava will enjoy, will learn from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how Kṛṣṇa is working in everything. That will enlighten the devotee that how Kṛṣṇa is great, by His different energies how He is working in every field of activities. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He is present here, Kṛṣṇa. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Everything is ready. Either automatically or in order to accept service from the devotee, He is assuming that "I am dependent on you. If you dress Me, then I can be dressed." But actually that is not the fact. He is dressing Himself by giving you intelligence. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te. Those who are desirous to serve Him, then Kṛṣṇa gives him intelligence how to serve Him.

Lecture on SB 3.26.42 -- Bombay, January 17, 1975:

Bhautikānāṁ vikāreṇa. Just like earth, water, fire, air, they are bhautika. But they are not mixing together. The original, I mean to say, manipulator is Kṛṣṇa. Just like we have got experience, I have given just now experience, that oil is there. Suppose oil is acid, and soda is called alkali. The acid is there, alkali is there, but when a person comes, mix it proportionately, it becomes another product: soap. Similarly, everything is being manufactured like that, but how it is done? That is the expert handling of the Supreme Lord. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies, subtle laws, and He is working. But still, He has nothing to do Himself. That is God. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Although He is handling... He is doing everything. Otherwise how it is possible? We have got experience. There is oil, and there is alkali, or soda, but they are not mixing together. For mixing together, you require another, living energy. Otherwise, automatically, there cannot be soap. The soap factory is there, but the manufacturer is also there.

Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1975:

Parasparārtham means mutual help. The brāhmaṇas should give advice to the kṣatriyas, to the government, and the government, according to the nice good advice, should maintain the state. In this way there will be peaceful condition of the society. Therefore there is the institution of varṇāśrama. Cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā... Kṛṣṇa says, "I have made this varṇāśrama for the benefit of the whole human society, although I don't belong to any varṇa, āśrama." Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do, but to maintain the human society very peaceful, advancing in spiritual knowledge, this varṇāśrama is required. Therefore sometimes I become very eager to start a varṇāśrama college. We have nothing to do with varṇāśrama, we Kṛṣṇa..., But we want to see that the whole human society is peaceful. That is our mission.

Lecture on SB 6.1.43 -- Los Angeles, July 24, 1975:

So anyway, this is a machine, and the machine is given by God. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). God has nothing to do. He simply orders His maidservant, this material nature. The material nature is God's maidservant, lower-grade maidservant. He has got many maidservants, Lakṣmīs. They are all goddess of fortune. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). He has got so many. The gopīs are maidservants. The Lakṣmīs are maidservant.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa is not serving anybody. He is simply enjoying. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka... Others like us, they first of all work very hard, and then enjoys. Kṛṣṇa never works. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate. Still, He enjoys. That is Kṛṣṇa. Na tasya... This is the Vedic information. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate: "God, Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do." You see, therefore, Kṛṣṇa always dancing with the gopīs and playing with the cowherd boys. And when He feels fatigue, He lies down on the Yamunā and immediately His friends come. Somebody fans Him; somebody gives massage. Therefore He is the master. Anywhere He goes, He is master. Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. "Then who is controller?" No, there is no controller of Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. Here we are director of such and such, president of United States, but I am not supreme controller. As soon as the public wants, immediately pulls me down. That we do not understand, that we are posing ourself as master controller, but I am controlled by somebody else. So he is not controller. Here we will find a controller to some extent, but he is controlled by another controller. So Kṛṣṇa means He is controller, but nobody is there to control Him. That is Kṛṣṇa; that is God. This is the science of understanding. God means He is controller of everything, but He has no controller.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:

Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do because everything is being done by His energy. Although He is the ultimate source of everything, but He is doing everything by His energy. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svabhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. And it appears that it is being automatically done. Not. It is not automatically done. It is done by Kṛṣṇa's energy. So this material energy is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. It is not a different energy. Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ. Now, this petrol is liquid thing, so āpa. It is a kind of liquid thing, āpa, so it is Kṛṣṇa's energies. So our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that Kṛṣṇa's energies should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So everything can be utilized for service of Kṛṣṇa. So when you use this petrol for Kṛṣṇa's, spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if we can use one thousand or one hundred thousand motor cars using petrol for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the proper utilization of petrol. (applause)

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 18, 1968:

In the Upaniṣads, it is said, na tasya sama adhikasya dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him. Na tasya sama adhikasya dṛśyate. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). And His energies are manifested in so many ways. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. And He has nothing to do. Everyone... Take any important man. Take your president. Just like the president of United States of America, he is considered to be the supreme man in the States, but as soon as there was some disturbance in Central Europe, immediately he had to call meetings of his Cabinet and to consider how to deal with the situation. So he has to do something always. If he does not do anything, then he's no more the supreme man. But in the Vedic literature we find, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. That is superiority. If he has to do something, then he's not supreme. He cannot be. He's acting.

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 18, 1968:

You'll be interested to know that one European gentleman, he went to Calcutta, and he visited several temples in Calcutta. And he visited our temple also. Our temple is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Just the picture, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. So he went to the temple of Goddess Kālī. He saw the Goddess Kālī's very ferocious feature, and he (she) has got one, what is called, chopper in her hand, and it is, she's chopping the heads of the demons, and she has the garland of the heads of the demons, and engaged in fighting. So he's supposed to be intelligent man. He said that "I find in this temple there is God." "Why? Why you conclude like that?" "That in every temple I saw, that the god, deity, is doing something. But here I see the God is enjoying. He has nothing to do." Very nice conclusion. This is Vedic conclusion. Why, if he's God...? Nowadays the nonsense are becoming God by meditation. But does it mean by meditation one can become God? Do you think a dog meditates and becomes God? This is all nonsense. (shouting:) God is God! Always God! Just like Kṛṣṇa. He's God in the lap of His mother.

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 18, 1968:

So this God, this child God in the lap of His mother, He's God. He did not become God by meditation, by penance, or by austerity or by following the rules and regulations. Why? He's substantially God. The God's manifestation is always there. That is God. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. If anyone has to do something to become God, he's a dog. He's not God. Immediately. Immediately understand. If somebody advertises that by meditation he has become God, by worshiping such and such deity he has become God, immediately take that he is dog. Because the Vedic definition says, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Why God has to do something to become God? If you manufacture something gold, that is chemical gold, that is not gold. Gold is natural. Similarly, God is natural.

Lecture on SB 7.9.31 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1976:

This material creation is done by Mahā-Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu. The original Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Original God—īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1)—He is simply playing on flute and enjoying the company of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He has nothing to do. And how things are taking place? Creation, He's the creator? By expansion, svāṁśa. From Kṛṣṇa the expansion is Balarāma; from Balarāma the expansion is Saṅkarṣaṇa, then Aniruddha, Pradyumna, like that, then Nārāyaṇa, then again Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, dvitīya-catur-vyūha. From this Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu. Therefore Mahā-Viṣṇu is described, kalā-viśeṣaḥ. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo (Bs. 5.48). This Mahā-Viṣṇu, from whom, by His breathing only, millions and trillions of universes are coming, and each universe there is a Brahmā, jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. Just like in this universe there is one Brahmā. He creates again so many demigods, animals, human beings in each universe. Again we create so many also. Each of us, although we are very insignificant, still in the history we find one man begets hundreds of children.

Lecture on SB 7.9.46 -- Vrndavana, April 1, 1976:

Here it is said, āpavarga. Āpavarga. Āpa. Ā-pavarga. Ā means just the opposite, ā, "not." And pavarga, pavarga I have several times explained to you. Pa means pariśrama, laboring, working very hard. This material world, everyone is working very hard-man, animal, bird, beasts, everyone. It is meant for that, just opposite of the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there is no question of working, what to speak of hard working. There is no question. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is the definition of God: na tasya karyam kāraṇam ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. You see. Kṛṣṇa is simply enjoying. He has nothing to do. He hasn't got to go to the market. We are servants. We go to the market and prepare food for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's simply playing on His flute. And if you, with devotion, offer Him food, He will eat. He has nothing to go. So similarly, those who are servants of Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual world, they also haven't got to do anything, what to speak of hard work.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 2, 1973:

After being liberated from this material contamination, that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am not this matter; I am Brahman..." That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. In the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, one is joyful, prasannātmā. That is the symptoms of brahma-bhūtaḥ. Prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Because he has nothing to do with material world, therefore sometimes it is said, "It is mithyā," because I have nothing to do. It may be very important thing, but unless you realize Kṛṣṇa, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54), by devotional service, even by lifting yourself to that stage, transcendental stage of Brahman realization, there is chance of falling down.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

So because we are part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, we are also trying to achieve that life, that "There will be no, no more to work. Let me accumulate some bank balance, the interest will come, and I shall sit down in a nice apartment, and everything will come automatically and I will enjoy life." That is actually life, because we are part and parcel of God. So God has nothing to do. Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. So we also have nothing to do. Why we are working? They are taking, "This is pleasure." This material life means... Because mostly they are infected with two qualities of material modes of nature, namely ignorance and passion. So impeded by this ignorance and passion they are working very hard, just like an ass, and still they are thinking that "I am happy."

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

External energy. Durgā. But they have no information of the cit potency. Therefore, they think that Kṛṣṇa appears in the form of māyā. Just like we have got this body, material body, this is gift by the māyā.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
(BG 3.27)
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya
sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu
(BG 13.22)

Kāraṇam. We are getting this body according to our association with the different modes of material nature. But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do with this material nature. Material nature is controlled by Him, and we are controlled by the material nature. That is the difference. He is controller, and you are controlled. They do not understand. They think that if I make null and void these conditions of controlling, then I become uncontrolled.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got so many energies, subtle energies, that He appears to be doing nothing. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is at Vṛndāvana. He is playing as cowherds boy, or He is dancing with the cowherd girls, or He is going to the pasturing ground with the cows as if He has nothing to do. He is free. Why He is free? Because He has got so many energies to act that He hasn't got to see personally whether things are being done or not done. This is the Absolute Truth qualification. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate, na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. There is another qualification: that Supreme Personality of Godhead is so that nobody is equal or higher than Him in opulences.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu concludes, therefore, that cid-ānanda-teṅho, tāṅra sthāna, parivāra. Therefore anything of Kṛṣṇa, or anything of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is spiritual. Spiritual. Deha. Deha means body. His body is spiritual, His abode is spiritual, and His paraphernalia, parivāra, His friends, His mother, His father, His beloved—everything spiritual. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). He's expansion of all spiritual. Tāṅre kahe-prākṛta-sattvera vikāra. And Śaṅkarācārya says that "The Absolute is imperson, but when He comes, appears, He assumes a form which is in the modes of goodness." He does not say, of course, in the modes of ignorance. Modes of goodness. No. When Kṛṣṇa comes, He has nothing to do with modes of goodness even. What is this goodness here in this material world? This is also matter. So there is no value, even goodness. One has to transcend the modes of goodness. That is transcendental, or aprakṛta.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:

Now, the Māyāvāda philosophers, their point of view is the Absolute Truth is imperson and there is no different energy. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's challenge is that Absolute Truth has got multi-energies. That is also stated in the Upaniṣads: parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). The Absolute Truth has multi-energies, innumerable energies. And such energies have been divided into three divisions. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva..., na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. Why He has to do? Because His energies are working. Therefore, He has energy. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "The whole universe in its avyakta-mūrti, nonmanifested form, I am." Ahaṁ tatam idaṁ sarvam. Aham. "But at the same time, aham is there." Aham means "I." And the word avyakta is there, "nonmanifest." So Kṛṣṇa is manifest. Then what is this nonmanifest? The nonmanifest is the energy of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.112 -- Bombay, November 24, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa also said in the Bhagavad-gītā, śarīra yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. In this... This material world means everyone has to work. Otherwise he cannot live. Therefore it is called karma-samjñā. Karma-samjñā anyā. And avidyā. If I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. If Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do, then—I am also part and parcel—I will also have nothing to do. Everything will be there, present. But that is our real constitutional position. We don't require to work. Everything is there for my enjoyment. But because we are now in this avidyā, ignorance, this material darkness, therefore I have to work. Avidyā-karma-samjñā. Karma is meant for this materialistic person. Bhakta does not require to take to karma, karma, jñāna, yoga, nothing. These are all material. Karma, jñāna, yoga, and bhakti. There are four primary principles for spiritual realization. So out of the four, karma, jñāna and yoga, they are all material, but bhakti is not material. That is spiritual.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.154-157 -- New York, December 7, 1966:

Śriyaḥ means beauty. Nobody can be more beautiful than Kṛṣṇa. And jñāna, knowledge. Nobody can be more knower and full of knowledge than Kṛṣṇa. And renunciation. And He is also, at the..., having so many opulences. He is renouncer of... He has nothing to do with all these things. He does not depend for His Godheadship on these qualifications. He is renouncer at the same time. So here also Lord Caitanya substantiates that ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa: "He's full of six opulences." Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa yāṅra goloka-nitya-dhāma. Nitya-dhāma means He's homely. Homely. He's the proprietor of all land, but just like a king. A king is the proprietor of the whole state; still, he has got his personal residence, which is called palace, royal palace. So similarly, although Lord is the proprietor of everything, every land, every space, every, any, anywhere... This is the proprietorship of Lord, of God's.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.281-293 -- New York, December 18, 1966:

In the Vedas there is a prayer, Sahasra-śīrṣā. That is very famous prayer. That prayer is offered to this Viṣṇu. Which Viṣṇu? The Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Viṣṇu who has entered in every universe, that Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.

ei ta' dvitīya-puruṣa-brahmāṇḍera īśvara
māyāra 'āśraya' haya, tabu māyā-pāra

Although this Viṣṇu is the shelter, shelter of the material energy, still, He has nothing to do with this material energy. He is free from the contamination of material energy. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a verse: apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ ca yad apāśrayam. When Vyāsadeva, he was just attempting to write Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by bhakti-yoga, he saw two things: apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇam. He saw the Supreme Personality and the material energy, apāśrayam, just far away from Him. Because this māyā's task is very thankless task.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966:

As you dance, kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, so similarly Śiva also dances for annihilation. There is fire. By his dancing, there will be fire. Saṁhārārthe māyā-saṅge rudra-rūpa dhari. Māyā-saṅge. He has got connection with this material energy, and he is meant for destruction. Material energy is under the, I mean to say, control of this Śiva-rūpa of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is called father. He is called father, and the material energy is called mother. Father and mother, Durgā.

māyā-saṅga-vikāri rudra-bhinnābhinna rūpa
jīva-tattva haya, nahe kṛṣṇera 'svarūpa'

And because he has connection with this illusory energy, therefore he is not exactly God. God has nothing to do with this material energy, illusory energy. He is never illusioned. But Śiva, Lord Śiva, he has connection with Durgā, the material energy. Therefore his position is between the living entity and Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.313-317 -- New York, December 21, 1966:

God is giving you. God is giving you. So you should always remember that pālanārtha. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Eko, that one supreme eternal, He is providing all the necessities of so many, innumerable living entities. Don't you see? We are mad after economic development from morning to late at night. In our cars, in our trucks we are going hither and thither. But there are many, many millions of living creatures; they have no economic problem. Who is providing them? Who is providing them? Providing, Kṛṣṇa is providing them. Viṣṇu is providing them.

pālanārtha svāṁśa viṣṇu-rūpe avatāra
sattva-guṇa draṣṭā tāte guṇa-māyā-pāra

He is, although in this material world, He is transcendentally situated. He has nothing to do with this material world.

svarūpa-aiśvarya-pūrṇa, kṛṣṇa-sama prāya

Kṛṣṇa-sama prāya. Now, I have already told you. Prāya means He is almost like Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is cent percent, He is 94%. Therefore it is said, kṛṣṇa-sama prāya. All these Viṣṇu-mūrti, They are kṛṣṇa-sama prāya, or almost like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa aṁśī. The difference is that Kṛṣṇa is the original teṅho aṁśa and this Viṣṇu is plenary expansion. This is the difference between Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970:

Kṛṣṇa, although He is always in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying in the company of His associates, the gopīs and the cowherds boy, His mother, His father. Free, completely free. And those who are associates, they are still more free. Because when the associates are in danger, Kṛṣṇa has got some anxiety how to save them, but the associates, they have no anxiety. "Oh, there is Kṛṣṇa." Just see. (chuckles) The associates, they have no anxiety.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has nothing to do Himself because His energies are so complete that simply by His desire, the energies work svābhāvikī, automatically. Just like the energy within a seed. You implant it, put it in, within the earth, put little water, and it fructifies. It becomes a big tree, banyan tree. The energy is so perfect. We can study by ordinary understanding. The banyan tree, one fruit, and there are thousands of seeds within one fruit. And each seed is containing another banyan tree. This is a fact.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- London, August 29, 1971:

The Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally. Na tasya kāryam. He has nothing to do. Just like here in this material world we find some very big man, political head or business head; personally, he has nothing to do. Because he has got so many assistants, secretaries, that personally he hasn't got to do anything. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full with six opulences, why He will have to do something? No. He has got many assistants. Sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādas tat. In the Bhagavad-gītā: "He has got everywhere His hands and legs." You'll find Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do. He's simply engaged in enjoyment with gopīs and Rādhārāṇī. He's not engaged in killing the demons. When Kṛṣṇa kills the demons He's Vasudeva Kṛṣṇa; He's not original Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

And in the Vedic literature we find the definition: na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Now, are we in that position that we have nothing to do? Oh, if you do not work I cannot eat even. The whole function is stopped. But the definition is na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Now, take for example this beautiful flower. This beautiful flower, you have to accept there is a great brain behind this beauty. Because here we have got so many artists. When they draw picture, oh, how nicely they apply their brain, their painting, everything, then... But that beauty is not as beautiful as this flower. If ordinary beauty painted by a, an artist, it takes so much time and labor, do you think that this beauty is done automatically? What is the explanation? This is nonsense, that there is no brain behind it. There is. That is the brain of God. That is explained: na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Although it is so beautifully done, but He has nothing to do. How? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energy is so powerful that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca: everything is coming out as natural product, energy. Just like so many things happening in your body. The hair is growing. Can you explain how the hair is growing? You do not know even in your body how things are taking place. But there is energy. It is accepted that there is energy in your body which is helping to grow so many things in your body. So if you have got so much energy that things are taking automatically, just imagine how much energy He has got.

So these are explained in the Vedic literature. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate: "He has nothing to do and nobody is equal or greater than Him." Therefore God is great. Nobody can be equal. You cannot claim that you are God. Then you claim "God," I claim "God," he, she claims "God," he claims "God." Then what is the meaning of "God"? Nobody... God is great. Nobody can be greater than Him. Then how you can claim that you are God, I am God? Then either you do not know what is the definition of God or you are foolishly claiming that you are God. You must... If you claim, if you come here and introduce yourself, "I am President Johnson," oh, you must present your credential that you are President Johnson. Otherwise, we shall say you are crazy. So if you cannot present yourself even like ordinary president—you are claiming that you're God—how much nonsense you are. Don't claim in that way. There is no equal to God.

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

If you make analytical study: "Oh, there is blood, there is vein, there is muscle, there is skin, there is bone, everything complete," as much as there is blood, vein, muscle, bones, everything in the whole body, so, as part and parcel, the, all the qualities, or all the ingredients of God are there. But he is a small quantity; therefore part and parcel. But even it is small quantity, if you actually come to the platform of God, then you'll become almost equal like God. But you cannot be God. That is not possible. Then there is no meaning of God, because God is great. And in the Vedic literature it is confirmed that na tasya kāryaṁ ca vidyate na tasya sama adhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody's greater than Him, nobody's equal to Him. He, He has nothing to do. Everything is being performed by His multi-energies."

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

Young woman: May I ask another question?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Young woman: Thank you. Do you say that God has nothing to do?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Young woman: But He has lots of energies, and...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Young woman: ...it is the energy that creates beautiful things?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming here and giving us a chance to speak about the absolute artist. Kṛṣṇa's name is Naṭabara, Naṭabara. Naṭabara means the greatest dramatic dancer. And another, His name, is Naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā. He is dancing in such a nice way that He (is) attracting everyone. So in the Vedas it is said about Kṛṣṇa how great artist He is. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. The Absolute Personality of Godhead, He has nothing to do personally. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Kāryam means work. He hasn't got to perform any work, although He is the greatest worker. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate. And nobody is found greater than Him or equal to Him. In this world every one of us, we know that "Somebody is lower than me, somebody is greater than me, and somebody is equal to me." That is our experience. We cannot say that I am or you are absolute. Nobody is absolute. However you may be great in the estimation of others, you will find somebody is greater than you, and somebody is lower than you, and somebody is equal to you. But so far the greatest Absolute Personality of Godhead is concerned, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate. By experimental study, by research work by great saintly persons, sages, they have concluded, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody is found samaḥ," means "equal to Him, or adhikaḥ." Adhikaḥ means greater. That is the experience. And still, He has nothing to do.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

In the Vedas, Upaniṣad: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. God has nothing to do personally. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samas cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to him or greater than Him. Nobody. That is God. If somebody is competitor, one God competitor, another God competitor... Just like nowadays it has become a fashion to become God, and there are competitions between one "God" and another. But actually, nobody can compete with God. That is God. Na tasya sama. Sama means equal. Adhikasya, or greater. That means greater. That means everyone subordinate. Everyone subordinate. Everyone is lower than God.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 27, 1973:

Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. And what is that religious principle? The religious principle is not man-made. Just like we have manufactured so many religious principles: this is Hindu dharma, this is Muslim dharma, this is Christian dharma, and this is this, this is that. So many. Kṛṣṇa does not come to reestablish the principles of this man-made religion. No. He has nothing to do. Because they are manufactured, concocted by imperfect men, they are not religious principles. The religious system means, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Religion means the principles which is given by God Himself. That is religion. You cannot imagine.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

God means na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do; He has simply to desire. I think in your Christian Bible also it is said, "God said 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." He has to simply desire. Other things will be done by His energies. Just like big man, a king or president, his simply sanction order—"This must be done"—the things will be done by the subordinates, by... He has go so many energies, secretaries. So why not for God, the Supreme Being, God? So therefore the Vedic instruction is, God has nothing to do, practically. Simply His desire is sufficient. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. There is nobody equal to Him or above Him. Everyone must be below, subordinate. That is Vedic instruction. And that has been selected or that has been concluded, who is that Supreme Being. That we also get from Vedic information.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: God has nothing to struggle. He is so powerful that He has nothing to do. That is the Vedic injunction. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. The Vedic description of God is like this, He has nothing to do. That is right because just like a big man, a big leader, a king, personally he has nothing to do. He has got so many servants, secretaries, ministers, soldiers, so why he has got to do anything? So he has nothing to do. That is described in the Veda, na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. There is nothing to do actually. Therefore we see Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa picture, the Supreme Lord He is playing on his flute and enjoying. That is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), that is Vedic description, that God is always enjoying, ānandamaya. He has nothing to do. So, because na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate, he has nothing to do because, na tat ca samaḥ abhyadikaś ca dṛśyate, because nobody is greater than Him, nobody is equal to Him. Then how things are happening? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies.

Philosophy Discussion on Jacques Maritain:

Śyāmasundara: He is Absolute. He is pure existence and essence together, but that the..., everything else that exists besides God has these two characteristics of potentiality and actuality.

Prabhupāda: That potentiality, actuality, it is material relativity. In the spiritual world there is same—potentiality, reality—they're one. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the rascal scholars, they think that Kṛṣṇa's body and Kṛṣṇa's soul is different, as it is, what is called, expressed by Dr. Radhakrishnan. But that is not the fact. There is no such difference. Kṛṣṇa also says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). Because He comes in a human form, rascals think of Him as ordinary human being. But He is not that. He is absolute. He has nothing to do with the body and soul as we have got. He is body and soul together-potentiality and the actuality. Similarly, anyone who gets a spiritual body, he also gets the same position. There will be no difference between actuality and potentiality.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samādhikaś ca dṛśyate. This is from Upaniṣad. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate svabhaviki-jnana-bala-kriya ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). It is said that nobody is seeing... This is called research. You are accepting any nonsense as God, and they do not have any information from the..., that God means na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samādhikaś ca dṛśyate: "God has nothing to do, no responsibility. Nobody is found greater than Him."

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Puruṣottama: Lugdoos.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. All right. Take. Distribute little. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Just like Kṛṣṇa. He is the Lord, but He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying with His friends, with Radharani, with cowherds boy, with gopīs. That is greatness. He has nothing to think, "How to provide?" (chuckles) That is greatness. He is taking the cows as a sporting. You see? And when He was called for killing Kaṁsa, He left everything, renounced everything. Aiśvarya samagrasya yaśasaḥ... Everything in full, so much love, so much everything, but at once, in a moment, He renounced everything, went to..., left Vṛndāvana, and all these devotees, they began to cry for Kṛṣṇa for the rest of life. And whenever Kṛṣṇa was reminded, oh, He will say, "I am very soon coming. Don't worry. I am very soon coming." (chuckles) You see?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Just like I am head of the institution. I have nothing to do. I say, "Karandhara, do it." Immediately does. I say you, do it, immediately... I say him. I have got so many secretaries. I will ask him. Similarly, why God will create.

Room Conversation -- September 1, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: So the Lord is not directly attached to this material creation. He simply glances over material nature; material nature is thus activated, and everything is created immediately. Because He glances over material nature, there is undoubtedly activity on the part of the Supreme Lord, but He has nothing to do with the manifestation of the material world directly. This example is given in the smṛti: when there is a fragrant flower before someone, the fragrance is touched by the smelling power of the person, yet the smelling and the flower are detached from one another. There is a similar connection between the material world and the Supreme Personality of Godhead; actually He has nothing to do with this material world, but He creates by His glance and ordains. In summary, material nature, without the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot do anything. Yet the Supreme Personality is detached from all material activities.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He, he was perfect Vaiṣṇava, but when he was king, he was fighting like anything. Not that, "Oh, I am now become Vaiṣṇava. I cannot kill." What is this? He killed like anything. When the Yakṣas attacked his kingdom, he was killing like anything then the Yakṣa-rāja came and asked him to pardon this. He immediately accepted. So he wanted to give him some benediction, that "You are so great that simply on my request, you have stopped killing these rascals, Yakṣas. So you can take some benediction from me." He said, "That's all right. Thank you. You give me the benediction that I may be a pure lover of Kṛṣṇa. That's all." This benediction he asked. Although he was so powerful and, the Yakṣa-rāja, he could give him the wealth of the whole universe. But he made that, "Thank you very much. You give me this benediction that I may remain a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa." This is Vaiṣṇava. He is doing everything, but his aim is to please Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, even if we take to varṇāśrama, we do not belong to any... Just like Kṛṣṇa says, mayā sṛṣṭam. "I have inaugurated." But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do with varṇāśrama. Similarly, if we act as varṇāśrama, still, we have nothing to do with the varṇāśrama.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1975, Mayapur:

Satsvarūpa: There is one purport that says that Kṛṣṇa is different than Viṣṇu because He's not, He has nothing to do with the material world.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So Śaṅkarācārya has tried to impress this fact, but the rascals followed in a different way. Just like a cloth, big cloth, that is impersonal. Now, you cut it into coat. It becomes like person. So similarly this whole material world is impersonal, but because we have taken a certain portion of it and make my body, it looks like person. And God is not like that. He is spiritual person. He has nothing to do with material. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). What Śaṅkarācārya impressed, that they are after demigods, so "The demigods, they are not actual person. Real person is Nārāyaṇa." That is Śaṅkarācārya's version.

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1975, San Francisco:

Dharmādhyakṣa: There's a case in Africa when the British took over Africa, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that they had to charge the natives a tax, let's say, fifty dollars a year, and they would work... To make fifty dollars a year they would... (break) ...transcending dualities.

Prabhupāda: First-class men. Our definition of God is: na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. "He has nothing to do." This is God. Na tasya karyaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate: "He has nothing to do." He is simply enjoying, dancing with the gopīs, that's all. Why He should go to work? Then what kind of God he is? Na tasya karyaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate.

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1975, San Francisco:

Devotee: This Guru Maharaji claims to be God, but he had to go to childbirth class to learn how to have one child.

Prabhupāda: You should not talk about him, these rascals. Na tasya kāryam kāraṇam ca vidyate, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate. This is the definition of God, that he has nothing to do personally. When Kṛṣṇa kills the demons outside Vṛndāvana, He is not original Kṛṣṇa; He is Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). When Kṛṣṇa is acting universally, that is Vāsudeva. Original Kṛṣṇa is always in Vṛndāvana.

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, they think that God is in the other world, so that in this world we can serve our wife and family, and when we go to the other world we'll serve God.

Prabhupāda: Then God is separated from this world. How much imperfect knowledge it is. God has created this world, and He has nothing to do with. Just see. They say God created this world, but He has nothing to do with it.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: God has got multi-energies. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is the description. He hasn't got to do anything. Just like so many things are being manufactured within my body. I haven't got to directly work for it. So similarly, the God's gigantic... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him. We are... He is God, and we are subordinate because we have many equals, but He has no equal. He is unlimited; we are limited. Parāsya śaktir vivdhaiva śrūyate. He has got multi-energies. The energies are working. Just like here there are so many instruments within this box, but you just push one button and it works.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Dr. Sukla: So you think they might be misused.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they are being misused. They take Kṛṣṇa as debauch. They do not understand. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs, they are described in the Tenth Canto. That is also middle of Tenth Canto, and nine cantos required to understand Kṛṣṇa, beginning with janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So that is the Absolute Truth. These things should be discussed in the beginning. Then when one is fully convinced that Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do with this material world, as Śaṅkarācārya said, nārāyaṇaḥ para avyaktāt, avyaktāt anna sambhava. This material world is a production... (break) It has to be purified. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). When it is nirmalam, then it is first-class. The first process is nirmalam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam (SB 7.5.23). This process is first-class. Not all of a sudden jump over. This literature, that is (indistinct), that should be kept in reserve for persons who are already liberated. Otherwise it will be misunderstood.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: Then he is servant, always servant?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nityānām, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaḥ... (Hindi) Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). (Hindi) That is his foolishness. And foolish person will accept. Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Therefore He shall remain the Supreme always. We have to refer to the Vedic śāstras. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is description of Bhagavān. That He has nothing to do, na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. (Hindi) (Explains in Hindi that Kṛṣṇa does not need or show any magic, when He was just a child He killed Pūtanā. Not that by meditation He became God. Bhagavān is always Bhagavān.) Either he is three months old or three years old or three hundred years old. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate, nobody can be equal or greater than Him. If someone is equal to Him then how He is Bhagavān?

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: How can he be supreme if he can fall down?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). "I have nothing to do, and neither if anyway I act, the resultant action does not effect Me." But we are all karma-phala vatya. (?) So how God and myself can be equal? Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. There is daiva, there is superior arrangement. According to my karma I get a different type of body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1).

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We cannot jump over the Lord without going through the potency. So those who are impersonalists, they cannot understand. But those who are intelligent, they can understand that God is person, He has got multi-potencies, and through the potencies He's working so nicely. This is Vedic injunction. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport).

na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

God has nothing to do personally. As we see a very big rich man, he hasn't got to do anything personally, but he has got so many assistants. They're doing everything. Similarly, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. But when the things are done, svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā. The knowledge is so perfect and things are done so nicely that it is automatically being done. And the rascals who cannot see behind there is God, they simply see this nature: "The nature is working automatically." It is not the fact.

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: If you describe, "I mean God... by the word God, I mean this," then see whether it is applicable to Jehovah or to Kṛṣṇa. It is not the name. It is the person and the symptom. Just like water is liquid. So you say water, I say jal. But the liquidity of water is the same. So first of all you know what is the nature of God. Then you may say "Jehovah," I may say "Kṛṣṇa," another may say something else. It doesn't matter. Water is water. That is liquid. That's all. So first of all ascertain what is the symptom of God. Can we challenge them that "What is the symptom? How do you know that here is God?" Just like we understand here is water.

Rāmeśvara: Yes, but their idea is all nonsense.

Prabhupāda: Therefore prove that "You are rascal, nonsense. You do not know what is God."

Rāmeśvara: They think that God has nothing to do. He does everything by His thinking. Just like in the Bible it says...

Prabhupāda: That why do you say nothing to do, rascal? That is doing. He is doing by thinking; that means...

Rāmeśvara: Yes. It is said in the Bible He created the world just by His thoughts.

Prabhupāda: That means—that's all right—that God is so powerful that He can do by His thinking. We also admit. But that does not mean God is not doing. But He is doing in a finer way. You rascal, you do in a grosser way. God does in a finer way. But that does not mean God is inactive.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri:

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
(BG 18.61)

"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine made of the material energy."

Prabhupāda: Supplied by māyā, the machine, this, that. He has nothing to do. Karaṇ... This is also Vedic mantra. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Just like I am an ordinary man. If I want to do something, I ask one or two, "Do this." I ask somebody, "Bring some money." I ask somebody that "You do this." So if an ordinary man can do, why God should do anything? Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. He can do everything, because nobody is equal to Him, but still does not do anything. Why? Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energy are so mighty millions that simply by indicating the energy, it will do. This is God. This is God. Just like big man, big industrialist, he simply pushes his button, and the secretary comes: "I want this." Immediately. This is... Ordinary human being can do. So why God has to do? He'll simply dance with the gopīs. That's all. That is God. He'll enjoy. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitā... That is God. Therefore everything is done by God's agent or His expansion. Otherwise God has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Simply indication. Here it is said that Īśvara, the Lord, is situated everyone's heart. He can understand "What this rascal wants." He's so kind, He's living as friend. "My dear son, please come back. Why you are desiring so many nonsense things?" But the child will not hear. He wants. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare. He wants sense gratification this way, that way, that way, that way. So He gives him facility: "All right." And all facility. He wants to become a tiger, "All fixed." Nails, jaws, fangs—"Become a tiger." Yantra. The body is yantra, perfect yantra. That is supplied by māyā. Māyā. Daiva-netreṇa. He wants this, to give up this body. This machine is dead. Now you simply think of a tiger, and you are carried to the womb of the tiger. And the mother gives the body of a tiger. He comes out, enjoys. This is transmigration. The art is so fine.

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Madhusudana -- Los Angeles 1 February, 1968:

Yes, when Jagannatha goes to sleep and when He rises up, to ring the bell is the custom. Ringing of bell is required even for offering prasadam. That is the system in all the Temples in Vrindaban. Your question; Does the Lord go to sleep so early and before everyone, and wake up so late, after everybody? The Lord is independent and complete. He has nothing to do with everyone. He is Lord. After He wakes up He is washed, not before.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 24 April, 1970:

The Veda says that God has no legs or hands, but still He accepts all the sacrificial offerings. He has no eyes, but He can see everywhere—past, present, and future. He has no ears, and still He hears everything that you are talking. He knows every nook and corner, but nobody knows Him, what He is. He has nothing to do, and nobody is equal to or greater than Him. He has got immense potencies and therefore everything in His creation is performed as perfectly as anything. In the Bhagavad-gita also there are many statements confirming the above Vedic descriptions. So when Vedas say that He has no hands and legs, He has no eyes, He has no ears, but still He can accept our sacrificial offerings and He can see everything, these statements clearly indicate that God has hands and legs, but they are not exactly like ours. In the Bhagavad-gita you will find that Krishna says "I am sitting in everyone's heart, and from Me one remembers, forgets, speculates, and so on."

His name is Hrsikesa which means the Master of All Senses. We are exercising our senses, therefore, according to His direction. In that sense, if every living entity is working under His direction, then all the legs and hands which are existing all over his creation are His legs and hands. We are simply instrumental. When the Veda says that He has nothing to do, it means that He has so many hands and legs that personally He has nothing to do. It is not very difficult to understand that a big business man is sitting in his room and thousands of workers are engaged in different activities under his direction. So practically the business man's brain is working, but when we see the business man alone in the room we see that he is not working. So we have to understand God from authoritative sources by spiritual education by being trained under the experienced guidance of a self-realized personality, otherwise how we can understand such vast subject matter delineating about God?

Page Title:In the Vedas the definition of God is given, "God has nothing to do"
Compiler:Titiksu, Visnu Murti, Mayapur
Created:14 of Sep, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=31, CC=2, OB=10, Lec=77, Con=17, Let=2
No. of Quotes:140