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Material creation (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

This material creation, material manifestation is compared with a banyan tree whose root is upward.
Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: be upwards root. That means it is reflection. Just like you stand on the riverside, the tree will be reflected on the river, on the water, as obverted. That means that is reflection. As soon as we say that this is a tree, the root of which is up, that means it is reflection. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they do not take account of the mathematical calculation, 380 degree. They are taking account of... 360 degree, the whole circle. They are taking account only 180 degree. And other 180 degree they're making void. But actually, the whole point is 360 degree. That is geomatrical calculation. If you simply know 180 degree, then the other 180 degree is unknown to you. So real life, real variety, real beauty, real knowledge, everything in reality is there in the spiritual world. It is only reflection.

"I have entered into this whole material creation and that is My partial manifestation of energy."
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: "The whole material existence is simply a partial manifestation of My energy." Ekāṁśena. Viṣṭabhyāham. Aham. "I have entered into this whole material creation and that is My partial manifestation of energy." Just like what is your, this body? The body is the, a manifestation of your energy. The seed, living entity, is put into the mother's womb and he expands. This body is expanding. But because you are limited, so much. That's all. Three feet or six feet. That's all. No more. You cannot expand more than that. This is crude example. But He's unlimited. He's expanding.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

The Kāraṇa Ocean wherefrom the beginning of creation, material creation.
Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: Nirvāṇa conception is marginal position between brahmajyoti and this material world.

Haṁsadūta: Just on the brink.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kāraṇārṇava. Kāraṇārṇava. The Kāraṇa Ocean wherefrom the beginning of creation, material creation, that is nirvāṇa.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

If God wants to do something, why He has to do something? Everything, as soon as He desires, everything is there. He wants "Let there be material creation."
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.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But there is a direction.

Prabhupāda: Direction, yes. That is said, mayādhyakṣena prakṛtiḥ: (BG 9.10) "Under My direction." So if it is possible for a common man like me, how much it is possible for God? That we have to understand. Now I want to go to India, London. Now everything arrangement is made. I can go immediately. So similarly, if God wants to do something, why He has to do something? Everything, as soon as He desires, everything is there. He wants "Let there be material creation." There is, immediately. This is God. We are thinking in my terms. "Oh, such a huge universe! How a person can create? Where he got this tool? Where he's got the hammer? And how he constructed it?" I am thinking like that. Because I am limited, I am thinking in my limited way. So I am denying,

Complete in everything. That is the conception of God. Complete in power, complete in knowledge, complete in beauty, complete in opulence... Everything complete. That is the conception of God. Everything complete. There is no scarcity. Everything complete, unlimited. So what is your idea of this material creation?
Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: What is your idea of God?

David Wynne: Everything.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

David Wynne: It seems... I, I mean I, I don't know. I've thought of it, of course, many times as every intelligent person has, but it's, my idea of God is on the consciousness of the whole world, of all that we could possibly envisage, its consciousness is, that's God, and we're the little bits of it. But would you tell me...?

Prabhupāda: Complete in everything. That is the conception of God. Complete in power, complete in knowledge, complete in beauty, complete in opulence... Everything complete. That is the conception of God. Everything complete. There is no scarcity. Everything complete, unlimited. So what is your idea of this material creation? Material means so much land, so much water, so much air, so much fire. So who created these things?

Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda-vid jñāne. Jñāna means knowledge. That means the history of Veda means from the date of creation of this material world. Now find out the date of creation of the material world. Approximately, nobody can give what is the date of.
Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Those who know Sanskrit, they know what is the meaning of Veda. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda-vid jñāne. Jñāna means knowledge. That means the history of Veda means from the date of creation of this material world. Now find out the date of creation of the material world. Approximately, nobody can give what is the date of. We can, we cannot... Date of Brahmā, he got the, first of all, the Vedic knowledge. Now, one day of Brahmā you cannot calculate. One day of Brahmā. And the... When Brahmā's night is there, there is devastation up to some extent. So again in the daytime of Brahmā, that creation takes place. There are two kinds of devastation. One devastation is at the night of Brahmā and one final devastation is the whole cosmic manifestation finished. So these teeny people, they are after the dates of Vedas, and that is ludicrous, that is...(laughs) Just like there are many microbes, they grow in the evening and die just in the day beginning. So whole night is their span of life. So our life is like that. What history you can write? Therefore, we receive Vedic knowledge from the authorities. And what is the value of these dates?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

This material creation, there was no necessity. But because there are criminals who want to enjoy, therefore God has given this facility, "All right, you enjoy."
Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: One man is in the prison house. So he supports, "Why government has created the prison house?" There must be somebody.

Dr. Patel: You go in. "So let me go in."

Prabhupāda: But government does not want that. Only the criminals are sent there. That's all. Similarly, this material creation, there was no necessity. But because there are criminals who want to enjoy, therefore God has given this facility, "All right, you enjoy."

So the Mahā-Viṣṇu, the origin of the material creation.
Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, when He appears within this material world... That is also in the Bhāgavatam, that He appears as Viṣṇu incarnation. But actually, Kṛṣṇa is the... In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ (Bs. 5.48). You understand?

Prof. Regamay: Yes, I understand.

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇur mahān, Mahā-Viṣṇu, yasya iha kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So the Mahā-Viṣṇu, the origin of the material creation... There is Mahā-Viṣṇu in the Causal Ocean. From Him the Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu enters into each and every universe. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). So jagad-aṇḍa-nātha is Brahmā. So he is produced on the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And this Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu is expansion of Mahā-Viṣṇu. And Mahā-Viṣṇu is kalā viśeṣaḥ, partial expansion of Kṛṣṇa.

Within their power, so many things they're imagining. That is not possible. He can make a big hole only. That's all. Then where he'll stand? Suppose he finishes the earth. Then he is also finished. Then what is the credit?
Morning Walk -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Paramahaṁsa: If the material creation is created by Kṛṣṇa, then man cannot destroy it although they are thinking that if they have a nuclear war, then they will destroy the earth.

Prabhupāda: What they will destroy?

Paramahaṁsa: They're thinking the earth will just blow up with all the atomic bombs.

Prabhupāda: That means this earth will be finished?

Paramahaṁsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: They're expecting that?

Paramahaṁsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: The earth will be finished?

Bhagavān: They think it's within their power.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Bhagavān: It's within their power.

Prabhupāda: Within their power, so many things they're imagining. That is not possible. He can make a big hole only. That's all. Then where he'll stand? Suppose he finishes the earth. Then he is also finished. Then what is the credit? If you suicide, if you cut your own throat, is that very good credit? Then what is the credit? Suppose he has manufactured something that the earth will be finished. Then he'll be also finished. So what is God's loss?

Yes. Just like in the Bible it is said, "There was only word in the beginning." So in the beginning, there was word. That means that word is not the word of this material creation.
Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: So an interpretation of a scripture, whether it be Bible or Bhagavad-gītā, cannot simply be an opinion, but it must be based on logic and reason.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like in the Bible it is said, "There was only word in the beginning." So in the beginning, there was word. That means that word is not the word of this material creation.

Whole world, whole universe, whole material creation is centered around that. It is the pivot.
Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana:

Gurudāsa: The United Nations is also encouraging sex.

Prabhupāda: They do not know except this thing, anyone. Anyone. They have no other desire. That without sex life there can be higher transcendental, eternal pleasure, they do not know it. Whole world, whole universe, whole material creation is centered around that. It is the pivot. That I have already explained. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). That is there. They do not know anything else.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Yes. But they are not manifested yet. Because it was like sleeping. When there is no creation and..., there is sleeping stage.
Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That still is not the answer. What we want is, at the time of creation of the material world, when all the species, 8,400,000 species...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They are all simultaneously manifested, just at once?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. But they are not manifested yet. Because it was like sleeping. When there is no creation and..., there is sleeping stage. Just like in the sleeping stage, even at the present moment, at night, the dog is sleeping, the bird is sleeping, the man is sleeping, the tiger is... Everyone is sleeping at night. But in the morning, as soon as they awake, they understand, "I am tiger," "I am dog," "I am man," "I am this," "I am that." Everyone remembers that "I have to do this. I have to do that. I have to go there. I have to bring money from there." All duties come immediately. So all these living creatures who are sleeping at night, but when there is morning, they again become the same. That is creation.

Ether you cannot feel touch. Air you can feel touch.
Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Atreya Ṛṣi: All the creation, the material creation, is made of five elements.

Yoga student: What is the fifth besides earth, air, fire and water?

Prabhupāda: Ether.

Yoga student: Ether. How does ether distinguish...

Prabhupāda: The sky. Ether is... Presence of ether by sound.

Yoga student: How is ether distinct from air?

Prabhupāda: Ether you cannot feel touch. Air you can feel touch.

So heat and light is the cause of all this material creation.
Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: One feature of God is impersonal. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine is spreading all over the universe. It is impersonal. But the quality of the sunshine is heat and light. The heat and light means energy. So as in the material calculation, the heat and light is the cause of all creation. Just like at the present moment there is not sufficient heat; therefore the trees have no leaves. And as soon as there will be little more heat they will be all green. So you can take it that the creation of the foliage is due to the heat. Similarly light. So heat and light is the cause of all this material creation. And heat and light is coming from the sunshine, er, sun. Therefore heat becomes the origin of creation even in this material world.

No, it is not material creation. Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is not material creation. It is from the spiritual world.
Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Spiritual thing does not depend on anything material.

Jesuit: The sum product that the full prayer is certainly a spiritual experience created by a material use of lips and things like that, it makes a noise.

Prabhupāda: No, it is not material creation. Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is not material creation. It is from the spiritual world.

He is situated in His impersonal, the whole material creation or any creation.
Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is the person. God is ultimately a person. And then, by His another potency, He is situated everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramānu-cay... He is situated within the atom also. That is called Paramātmā, Supersoul. And He is situated in His impersonal, the whole material creation or any creation. The example is given just like fire. Fire is one place but its heat and light is expanded to mines. Just like the sun. It is a fire light, but heat and light is expanded throughout the universe. So similarly, God is one and His energy is expanded everywhere. You can understand Him by His energies.

So in the beginning Kṛṣṇa was there, then creation took place. Similarly in the beginning of this body, "I am spirit soul," was there. Then the body comes out. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is there, therefore the whole cosmic manifestation has come about.
Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: By inductive reason you cannot reach the truth perfectly.

Harikeśa: Because it's beyond the material creation and you have to use the material senses and mind to understand. It's not possible.

Prabhupāda: Therefore, our point is deductive. What Kṛṣṇa says, that is perfect.

Harikeśa: So first prove the existence of God and the existence of the spirit soul...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: ...and then, they'll just have to explain...

Prabhupāda: And then it's creation.

Harikeśa: And that it's creation. They'll just have to accept they have desires.

Prabhupāda: Aham evāsam evāgre. This is the Bhāgavata's first instruction to Brahma. Aham evāsam agre. Agre means in the beginning. So in the beginning Kṛṣṇa was there, then creation took place. Similarly in the beginning of this body, "I am spirit soul," was there. Then the body comes out. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is there, therefore the whole cosmic manifestation has come about. Aham evāsam agre. And at the end of the creation, Kṛṣṇa is there. Similarly at the end of this body, I am there. Again I'll create another body. This is going on.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That's all right, but He creates by His energy. Just like I am creating this institution, but I am not doing directly, but my men or my assistants, they are doing it.
Morning Walk -- February 5, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Whatever condition, there is God. That you have to accept.

Hṛdayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Now, what is that God?

Hṛdayānanda: Well, God does not directly take part in the material creation. He simply created...

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but He creates by His energy. Just like I am creating this institution, but I am not doing directly, but my men or my assistants, they are doing it.

This creation, material creation, anything, material creation.... Just like this microphone is a material creation. So how to deal with it, there is some literature. Is it not?
Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Mike Robinson: I see. Now, we've had two readings from your scriptures. Where did these scriptures comes from? Can you explain that briefly?

Prabhupāda: This is coming from Vedic literature, which is eternal. That is also eternal. But when there is creation, this creation, material creation, anything, material creation.... Just like this microphone is a material creation. So how to deal with it, there is some literature. Is it not?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

This is only fragmental part of material creation.
Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...and millions of Vaikuṇṭhalokas, planets, and the topmost planet is Goloka Vṛndāvana. This is the spiritual nature. This is material, within this universe, and that is spiritual. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ: (BG 8.20) "another nature, which is indestructible." This is the whole situation. Now, how you show it, that you think over. This is only fragmental part of material creation. And each universe is floating in the..., like a football. Football floats in the water. It is like that. And each universe, half filled up with water, Garbhodakaśāyī. And the planetary system is hanging on that half filled-up water.

Page Title:Material creation (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas
Created:28 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=20, Let=0
No. of Quotes:20