Prabhupāda: So last night we discussed about the origin, source of everything. So it is explained here, namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya (SB 1.1.1). This is already ascertained, that Vāsudeva, the Supreme Lord . . . the Supreme Lord is Vāsudeva because He is present everywhere. This evening, there was some discussion that God has no particular name, but His names are there on account of His different type of activities. Just like God is present everywhere, therefore His name is Vāsudeva. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, that God is within this universe, aṇḍāntara-stham, and not only within the universe, but He is in everyone's heart, and also He is within the atom. Therefore God is unlimited. God is not limited to become gigantic universal form, but He is also able to enter within the atom. Therefore, in the Vedic language, God is described, aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān: "He is greater than the greatest and the smaller than the smallest." God has expanded Himself in two different types. He has expanded Himself as svāṁśa, or personal expansion, and another expansion is vibhinnāṁśa, separated expansion.
So God expands Himself personally:
- rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
- nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
- kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.39)
By His personal incarnation He expands as Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Vāmana and so many, thousands. That is His personal expansion. Here is Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda. They are also personal expansion. So that is one type of expansion. Another type expansion is the vibhinnāṁśa, just like we are. We are also expansion of God, but this is . . . vibhinnāṁśa means a smallest particle. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is combination of bright molecules. So very small parts, bright, brightened part, combined together, that is called sunshine. So we living entities, we are also small, bright particles as part and parcel of God. In this way God is expanded everywhere.
The Māyāvādī impersonalists, they think, "If God is expanded everywhere, then where is God personally?" That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
- jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
- mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
- na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ
- (BG 9.4)
Kṛṣṇa, or God, says that "I am expanded in My impersonal form everywhere. Everything is existing on account of Me. But still, I am not everything." Just like God has expanded in this microphone. The microphone is also expansion of God's energy, but that does not mean we have to worship the microphone. So God is . . . has got that power, that although He has expanded Himself in His impersonal form everywhere, still, He has got His original existence. A small example can be given in this connection. Just like a father, he has given birth to hundreds of children. That does not mean the father is finished. These children is expansion of the father, but father keeps himself as father. So in this way He is Vāsudeva, means He is present everywhere. He says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat (BG 13.14): He has got His hands and legs and eyes everywhere, because the part and parcel expansion of God, either viṣṇu-tattva or jīva-tattva, they are everywhere.
Besides that, God is existing in everyone's heart, the Supersoul. So the Supersoul is giving direction to the individual soul. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo (BG 15.15). Hṛdi means "in the heart." "I am situated in everyone's heart." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15): because God is situated within my heart, therefore He is giving me direction. So our remembrance and forgetfulness is due to God. Sometimes we forget something and try to remember. Immediately God helps us: "It is this." And we say, "Yes, yes, now I remember." "Now I remember" means we were forgetting; Kṛṣṇa immediately gives him, "It is this." Then I remember. In this way, God, by His plenary expansion, He is situated everywhere. Therefore His name is Vāsudeva.
Now, Vāsudeva is the origin of everything. So that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). Anyone who has understood that everything, whatever we see, that is Vāsudeva . . . but we should always remember that Vāsudeva is everything; still, everything is not Vāsudeva. Just like in a big factory. In your country or in America, that Ford, Mr. Ford, he has got very big factory. So in the factory, everywhere the Mr. Ford is there. But if you have to see Mr. Ford, you cannot see the car Ford and you become satisfied. The car is also written there, "Ford." So if I want to see Mr. Ford, and if we see the car and we say, "Now I have met with Mr. Ford," that is foolishness. (laughter) The car is Ford, but Ford is not the car. In this way try to understand. Everything is God, but everything is not God. In this way you have to understand. Don't be misled by the Māyāvādī philosophy that "Everything is God and my knowledge is finished." That is imperfect knowledge.